ined Paul, "then he got a post in a second-hand bookshop
kept by a man called Garner in the Minories. He had a daughter,
Lillian--"

"My mother," put in Sylvia, softly.

"Yes," went on Beecot, quickly, "and this girl being lonely fell in
love with Norman, as he now called himself. He wasn't an attractive man
with his one eye, so it is hard to say how Miss Garner came to love him.
But she married him in the end. You'll find everything explained at
length in the paper we gave you. Then old Garner died, and Lillian
inherited a considerable sum of money, together with the stock. Her
husband removed the books to Gwynne Street and started business. But
with the money he began to trade in jewels, and you know how he got on."

"That's all plain enough," said Hurd, putting the confession of Norman
into his pocket. "I suppose the man dreaded lest his first wife should
turn up."

"Yes! And that's why he fainted when he saw the brooch. Not knowing that
Jessop had removed it from Maud's mouth and pawned it--"

"I'm not so sure of that," said Hurd, quickly. "Bart overheard him
talking of Stowley and the pawnbroker there."

"Well," said Paul, with a shrug, "he says nothing about it in the
confession. Perhaps he did trace the brooch to the Stowley shop, but if
so, I wonder he did not get it, seeing he wanted it. But when he saw it
in my possession, he thought I might know of Mrs. Krill and might put
her on the track. Hence his fainting. Later, he learned how I became
possessed of it, and tried to buy it. Then came the accident, and I
really believed for a time that Hay had stolen it."

"Aurora says he swore he did not."

"And he didn't," said Paul, going to the door. "Mrs. Purr!"

"You don't mean to say that old woman prigged it?" asked Hurd.

"No. But she warned me against that boy Tray on the day Deborah was
married. Later, I asked her what she meant, and she then told me that
she had learned from Tray's grandmother, a drunken old thief, how the
boy brought home the opal brooch, and--"

Here Mrs. Purr, who had entered and was dropping curtseys to the majesty
of the law, as represented by Hurd, thought an undue advantage was being
taken of her position. She wished to talk herself, and interrupted Paul,
in a shrill voice.

"Granny Clump, she is," said Mrs. Purr, folding her hands under her
apron. "Tray's gran'mother, as 'is name is Tray Clump, I swear on my
Bible oath. A wicked old woman as is famous for drink--"

"I've