"I am not so sure of that. Anyway I deemed it prudent that he should live till we had made search for Samuel Boyd's treasure. If that search had been successful I might have handed the poor clerk over to your tender mercy. But it was not successful. In the safe we found a paltry two hundred pounds, and bills, and documents, and books of accounts. The books were valuable to us, for if they had fallen into other hands, it would have been seen that we were both indebted to the man we killed. Among the bills were many of mine, and some of yours. It was not till then that I learned you owed him money; and your motive for joining me in the robbery was partly explained. The books and bills destroyed, and the man dead, your indebtedness to him was cancelled. You are a cunning dog, Ezra Lynn. There were also Lord Wharton's bills, which, I fear, are valueless to us." "You have not kept them!" cried Dr. Vinsen. "I have, and every document we took away." "But they implicate _me!_" "It is perhaps for that reason I have not destroyed them," said Dr. Pye, coolly. "We sink or swim together, Ezra Lynn, so long as we remain in England. Among the documents was the list of Lady Wharton's jewels, and a statement of how Samuel Boyd became possessed of them, with other statements which informed us that he was expected to present himself at Bournemouth on the following Wednesday, with the fifteen hundred pounds he had arranged to advance to her. But where were the jewels? We hunted for them in vain, and to this hour have been unable to lay hands upon them, although we know they must be there." "They may not be. The burglar who broke into the house on the night you went to Bournemouth may have found them." "No. What we could not find he did not find. On the night I went to Bournemouth!" said Dr. Pye, and for the first time a laugh escaped him. "Tell me another man who could have so successfully imposed upon her ladyship, who would have had the audacity to carry out a deception so hazardous? Do you not feel proud in having a partner so bold and daring? Judge by that of what I am capable, and whether I am fitted to hold command. After what I have seen these five nights past, the image of Samuel Boyd, who lies dead in his grave, would any other man have the hardihood to enter that house? I am a stranger to fear, Ezra Lynn. When our conversation is ended we make search for the lost jewels; it may be the last chance we shall have. To finish the story of that Friday night before you disclose what is in your mind. I made Abel Death secure by plunging him into a state of insensibility from which it was impossible for him to recover till late the following day, and then we removed the books and papers, leaving behind us one document which fixed the guilt of the murder upon Mr. Reginald Boyd." "How is it," asked Dr. Vinsen, "that that accusation has not been produced?"