"That's it. It was the idea that Henson conveyed to me when I saw him at Moreton Wells. It appears that a certain Inspector Marley, of the Brighton Police, is the same man who used to have the warrants for the Huddersfield affair in his hands. Henson felt pretty sure that Marley had recognised him. He told me that if the worst came to the worst he had something he could sell to Littimer for a large sum of money." "I know," Chris exclaimed. "It is the Prince Rupert's ring." "Well, I can't say anything about that. Is this ring a valuable property?" "Not in itself. But the loss of it has caused a dreadful lot of misery and suffering. Mr. Smith, Reginald Henson had no business with that ring at all. He stole it and made it appear as if somebody else had done so by means of conveying the copy to the very last person who should have possessed it. That sad business broke up a happy home and has made five people miserable for many years. And whichever way you turn, whichever way you look, you find the cloven foot of Henson everywhere. Now, what you have told me just now gives me a new idea. The secret that Henson was going to sell to Lord Littimer for a large sum was the story of the missing ring and the restitution of the same." "Kind of brazening it out, you mean?" "Yes. Lord Littimer would give three times ten thousand pounds to have that ring again. But at this point Henson has met with a serious check in his plans. Driven into a corner, he has resolved to make a clean breast of it to Lord Littimer. He procures the ring from his strong box, and then he makes a discovery." "Which is more than I have. Pray proceed." "He discovers that he has not got the real Prince Rupert's ring." Rawlins looked up with a slightly puzzled air. "Will you kindly tell me what you mean?" he said. "It was a forgery. Van Sneck made a copy from a mere description. That copy served its purpose with a vengeance, and is now at the bottom of the North Sea. I need not go into details, because it is a family secret, and does not concern our conversation at all. At that time the _real_ ring came into Henson's possession, and he wanted a copy to hold over the head of an unfortunate lady whom he would have ruined before long. You told me just now that Van Sneck had fallen in love with Prince Rupert's ring and could hardly bear to part with it. He didn't." "No? But how could he retain it?" "Quite easily. The copy was quite faithful, but still _it was_ a copy. But secretly Van Sneck makes a copy that would deceive everybody but an expert, and this he hands over to--" "To Henson as the real ring," Rawlins cried, excitedly. Chris smiled, a little pleased at her acumen. "Precisely," she said. "I see that you are inclined to be of my opinion." "Well, upon my word, I am," Rawlins confessed. "But I don't quite see why--"