I regarded it through a strong pocket lens. As I did so I could not restrain an exclamation.
"The world to a China orange, it is a diamond!"
The words had scarcely escaped my lips than there came a tapping at the door.
"Come in!" I cried, supposing it was Bob. It was not Bob, it was Pugh. Instinctively I put the lens and the crystal behind my back. At sight of me in my nightshirt Pugh began to shake his head.
"What hours, Tress, what hours! Why, my dear Tress, I've breakfasted, read the papers and my letters, came all the way from my house here, and you're not up!"
"Don't I look as though I were up?"
"Ah, Tress! Tress!" He approached the dressing-table. His eye fell upon the ruins. "What's this?"
"That's the solution to the puzzle."
"Have you—have you solved it fairly, Tress?"
"It has solved itself. Our handling, and tapping, and hammering must have freed the springs which the box contained, and during the night, while I slept, they have caused it to come open."