A new mystery! The second-hand, as he watched it, moved! He held the timepiece to his ear, and heard a faint tick. The works were running still, though feebly. Then the watch could have been in the sea but a few hours; and it was no doubt some water that had got into it which had retarded without stopping the motion of the wheels. “Eight hours slow!” said Perce, thinking it must be by that time past ten o’clock. Astonished as he was, his purpose to visit the village remained unchanged. Indeed, it seemed to him all the more important that the watch, since he was convinced that it was as yet uninjured, should go to the jeweler’s without delay. He had not meant, from the first, to withhold it from its rightful owner, if he could find that person; but only to keep it from the twins, who might set up what he considered an unjust claim to half its value. He expected to advertise it, after putting it into the jeweler’s hands; he had therefore no motive for disguising from the latter the manner in which it had come into his possession. He was prepared to tell a straightforward story; only leaving out his want of confidence in the twins, of which he couldn’t help feeling ashamed. But unfortunately the jeweler was not in his shop. After a little search, Perce found him walking with a man on the street; and, coming to his side, whispered in his ear that he had a little job for him. As they entered the shop together, Perce did not notice a third man, flushed with excitement and haste, who had followed him at a distance, and was now watching with an air of affected carelessness, to see what he would do. As the jeweler went behind his counter, Perce stood before it, with his back to the door, and said breathlessly, in a low tone, as he produced the watch: “Here’s something I want you to be rather confidential about until——” Until it could be advertised in due form, he was going to say; for he was anxious that no false claimant should get a description of the watch beforehand. But he had hardly yet recovered his breath, and while he was hesitating, the jeweler opened the watch. “Where has this been? In the water?” he asked. “Yes,” said Perce. “And I want you to do whatever is necessary to put it into good order; and to say nothing about it until——” Here he stopped again, and looked quickly around at somebody who just then entered the shop. It was Mr. Hatville, who, having stood a moment at the open door, watching the jeweler and the boy, stepped in quickly but quietly, and laying one hand, with a firm grasp, on Perce’s arm, extended the other over the counter. “Mr. Middleton,” said he, “I don’t think you mean to be a receiver of stolen goods. But it happens that you have my watch!” “Yours, Mr. Hatville!” said the astonished jeweler. “I thought I had seen it before” (for Mr. Hatville had dealt with him at times, and had shown him his chronometer with much pride), “but never in such a condition!”