Chris had no reply for a moment or two. Rawlins's suggestion had burst upon her like a bomb. And it was all so dreadfully, horribly probable. Henson could have done this thing with absolute impunity. It was impossible to imagine for a moment that David Steel was the criminal. Who else could it be, then, but Reginald Henson? "I'm afraid this has come as a shock to you," Rawlins said, quietly. "It has, indeed," said Chris. "And your reasoning is so dreadfully logical." "Well, I may be wrong, after all," Rawlins suggested. Chris shook her head doubtfully. She felt absolutely assured that Rawlins was right. But, then, Henson would hardly have run so terrible a risk for a little thing like that. He could easily have silenced Van Sneck by a specious promise or two. There must be another reason for-- It came to Chris in a moment. She saw the light quite plainly. "Mr. Smith," she said, eagerly, "where did you first meet Henson and Van Sneck?" "We first came together some eight years ago in Amsterdam." "Would you mind telling me what your business was?" "So far as I can recollect it was connected with some old silver--William and Mary and Queen Anne cups and _jardinieres_. We had made a bit of a find that we could authenticate, but we wanted a lot of the stuff, well--faked. You see, Van Sneck was an authority on that kind of thing, and we employed him to cut marks off small genuine things and attach them to spurious large ones. On the whole, we made a very successful business of it for a long time." "You found Van Sneck an excellent copyist. Did he ever copy anything for you?" "No. But Henson employed him now and again. Van Sneck could construct a thing from a mere description. There was a ring he did for Henson--" "Was that called Prince Rupert's ring, by any chance?" "That was the name of the ring. Why?" "We will come to that presently. Did you ever see Prince Rupert's ring?" "Well, I did. It was in Amsterdam again, about a year later than the time I mentioned just now. Henson brought the real ring for Van Sneck to copy. Van Sneck went into raptures over it. He said he had never seen anything of the kind so beautiful. He made a copy of the ring, which he handed back with the original to Henson." Chris nodded. This pretty faithful copy of the ring was the one that Henson had used as a magnet to draw Lady Littimer's money and the same one that had found its way into Steel's possession. But Chris had another idea to follow up. "You hinted to me just now that Henson was short of money," she said. "Do you mean to say he is in dire need of some large sum?" "That's it," Rawlins replied. "I rather fancy there has been some stir with the police over some business up at Huddersfield some years ago." "A so-called home both there and at Brighton?"