Not that anyone did say anything; for Random
and Hope kept the contents of the confession to themselves.
There would be time enough for Mrs. Jasher's reputation to be
smirched when those same contents were made public.
When the poor woman died, Random left the doctor and the servant
to look after the corpse, and went into the parlor. Here he met
Hope with the confession in his hand. Luckily, Painter was not
in the room at the moment, else he would have prevented the
artist from taking away the same. Hope--as directed by Mrs.
Jasher--had found the confession, written on many sheets, lying
on the desk. It broke off abruptly towards the end, and was not
signed. Apparently at this point Mrs. Jasher had been
interrupted--as she had said--by the tapping of Cockatoo at the
window. Probably she had admitted him at once, and on her
refusal to give him the emerald, and on her confessing what she
had written, he had overturned the lights for the purpose of
murdering her. Only too well had the Kanaka succeeded in his
wickedness.
Archie slipped the confession into his pocket before the
policeman returned, and then left the cottage with Random and the
doctor, since nothing else could now be done.
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