"Drive on. What is it?"
Old Spicer took a pocket-handkerchief from his pocket and quietly spread it on her lap.
"Did you ever see that before?" he asked.
Cora Bell's face instantly became ashy pale, and had she not clutched at the table by her side, she must have sunk to the floor.
"Ah! I see you know it," said the detective, in his quiet, matter-of-fact tones.
"I knew it! I knew it!" she murmured, excitedly.
"I saw you did," he repeated.
But without paying any attention to his remark, she went on:
"I knew I was right the moment I thought of it. You're a detective."
Then, with a reckless—an almost despairing air: