"Yesterday it was a guess; today, I know."
"How do you know?"
"Because today I saw Mapleson," he said, watching her.
"Yes? Mapleson, of Sontag & Company? I know him very well," she replied with still no expression but amusement. "What then?"
"The ring was pawned with him, a personal matter, the morning after the theft, for the sum of twenty-eight thousand dollars. It was redeemed today."
"By whom?"
"By you, naturally," said McKenna, yet despite his absolute conviction, her composure was such that he was almost shaken in his theory.
"Mapleson never told you that."
"No; he refused to answer. It lay in my mind between you and Mrs. Cheever. The fact that he would not answer, gave me my strongest clue."
"In what way?"