sitting inside the cell, white-faced, staring at the drab, bare wall, was
enough; he turned to Drillford and nodded. Drillford nodded too, and led
him back to the office.

"That's the man I saw," said Viner.

"Of course!" assented Drillford. "I'd no doubt of it. Well, it's been
a far simpler thing than I'd dared to hope. I'll tell you how we got
him. This morning, about ten o'clock, this chap, who won't give his
name, went into the pawnbroker's shop in Edgware Road, and asked for a
loan on a diamond ring which he produced. Now, Pelver, who happened to
attend to him himself, is a good deal of an expert in diamonds--he's a
jeweller as well as a pawnbroker, and he saw at once that the diamond
in this ring was well worth all of a thousand pounds--a gem of the
first water! He was therefore considerably astonished when his customer
asked for a loan of ten pounds on it--still more so when the fellow
suggested that Pelver should buy it outright for twenty-five. Pelver
asked him some questions as to his property in the ring--he made some
excuses about its having been in his family for some time, and that he
would be glad to realize on it. Under pretence of examining it, Pelver
took the ring to another part of his shop and quietly sent for a
policeman. And the end was, this officer brought the man here, and
Pelver with him, and the ring. Here it is!"

He opened a safe and produced a diamond ring at which Viner stared with
feelings for which he could scarcely account.

"How do you know that's one of Mr. Ashton's rings?" he asked.

"Oh, I soon solved that!" laughed Drillford. "I hurried round to