"What a dreadfully wicked man!" said Mrs. Jasher, when in
possession of all the facts. "I really believe that he did kill
poor Sidney."
"No," said Lucy decisively, "I don't think that. He would have
murdered him on board had he intended the crime, as he could have
done so with more safety. He is as innocent as Sir Frank."
"And no one dare say a word against him," cried Donna Inez with
flashing eyes.
"He has a good defender, my dear," said the widow, patting the
girl's hand.
"I love him," said Donna Inez, as if that explained everything,
and perhaps it did, so far as she was concerned.
Mrs. Jasher smiled indulgently, then turned for further
information to Lucy.
"Can it be possible," she said, "that Widow Anne is guilty?"
"Oh, I don't think so. She would not murder her own son,
especially when she was so very fond of him. Archie told me,
just before we came here, that he had called to see her. She
still insists that Sidney borrowed the clothes, saying that
Archie wanted them."
"What do you make of that, my dear?"
"Well," said Miss Kendal, pondering, "either Widow Anne herself
was the woman who talked to Sidney through the Sailor's Rest
window, and has invented this story to save herself, or Sidney
did get the clothes and intended to use them as a disguise when
he fled with the emeralds.
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