"

"Edith Crawford, of course," she retorted triumphantly; "he and his
clerk both recognized her."

"When did she try to sell them the earrings?"

"Ah, that is what I cannot quite make out, and there to my mind lies the
only mystery in this case. On the 25th she was certainly in London, and
it is not very likely that she would go back to Edinburgh in order to
dispose of the jewels there, where they could most easily be traced."

"Not very likely, certainly," he assented drily.

"And," added the young girl, "on the day before she left for London,
Lady Donaldson was alive."

"And pray," he said suddenly, as with comic complacency he surveyed a
beautiful knot he had just twisted up between his long fingers, "what
has that fact got to do with it?"

"But it has everything to do with it!" she retorted.

"Ah, there you go," he sighed with comic emphasis. "My teachings don't
seem to have improved your powers of reasoning. You are as bad as the
police. Lady Donaldson has been robbed and murdered, and you immediately
argue that she was robbed and murdered by the same person."

"But--" argued Polly.

"There is no but," he said, getting more and more excited. "See how
simple it is. Edith Crawford wears the diamonds one night, then she
brings them back to Lady Donaldson's room. Remember the maid's
statement: 'My lady said: "Have you put them back, my dear?"--a simple
statement, utterly ignored by the prosecution. But what did it mean?
That Lady Donaldson could not see for herself whether Edith Crawford had
put back the jewels or not, _since she asked the question_."

"Then you argue--"

"I never argue," he interrupted excitedly; "I state undeniable facts.
Edith Crawford, who wanted to steal the jewels, took them then and
there, when she had the opportunity. Why in the world should she have
waited? Lady Donaldson was in bed, and Tremlett, the maid, had gone.

"The next day--namely, the 25th--she tries to dispose of a pair of
earrings to Mr. Campbell; she fails, and decides to go to London, where
she has a better chance. Sir James Fenwick did not think it desirable to
bring forward witnesses to prove what I have since ascertained is a
fact, namely, that on the 27th of October, three days before her arrest,
Miss Crawford crossed over to Belgium, and came back to London the next
day. In Belgium, no doubt, Lady Donaldson's diamonds, taken out of their
settings, calmly repose at this moment, while the money derived from
th