When alone, he sat down before
the fire, wondering who could have dared so very greatly, and for
what reason the emerald had been handed to him. If it had been
sent to Don Pedro, or even to Professor Braddock, it would have
been much more reasonable.
It first occurred to him that Mrs. Jasher, out of gratitude for
the way in which he had treated her, had sent him the jewel.
Remembering his former experience, he smelt the parcel, but could
detect no sign of the famous Chinese scent which had proved a
clue to the letter. Of course the direction on the packet and
the inscribed slip of paper were in feigned handwriting, so he
could gather nothing from that. Still, he did not think that
Mrs. Jasher had sent the emerald. She was desperately hard up,
and if she had become possessed of the gem by murder--presuming
her to have been the woman who talked to Bolton through the
window--she assuredly would have sold it to supply her own
needs. Certainly, if guilty, she would still possess the other
emerald, of equal value; but undoubtedly, had she risked her neck
to gain a fortune, she would have kept the entire plunder which
was likely to cost her so dear. No; whomsoever it was who had
repented at the eleventh hour, Mrs.
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