"There is another matter, though," remarked Viner. He turned to the visitor. "You said that you and Ashton became very friendly and confidential during your stay in Marseilles. Pray, did he never show you anything of a valuable nature which he carried in his pocketbook?" The barrister's keen eyes suddenly lighted up with recollection. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Now you come to suggest it, he did! A diamond!" "Ah!" said Mr. Pawle. "So you saw that!" "Yes, I saw it," assented Mr. Perkwite. "He showed it to me as a sort of curiosity--a stone which had some romantic history attaching to it. But I was not half as much interested in that as in the other affair." "All the same," remarked Mr. Pawle, "that diamond is worth some fifty or sixty thousand pounds, Perkwite--and it's missing!" Mr. Perkwite looked his astonishment. "You mean--he had it on him when he was murdered?" he asked. "So it's believed," replied Mr. Pawle. "In that case it might form a clue," said the barrister. "When it's heard of," admitted Mr. Pawle, with a grim smile. "Not till then!" "From what we have heard," remarked Viner, "Ashton carried that diamond in the pocketbook which contained his papers--the papers you have told me of, and some of which have certainly come into possession of this claimant person. Now, whoever stole the papers, of course got the diamond." Mr. Perkwite seemed to consider matters during a moment's silence; finally he turned to the old lawyer. "I have been thinking over something that might be done," he said. "I see that the coroner's inquest was adjourned. Now, as that inquest is, of course, being held to inquire into the circumstances of Ashton's death, I suggest that I should come forward as a witness and should prove that Ashton showed certain papers relating to the Ellingham peerage to me at Marseilles; I can tell the story, as a witness. It can then be proved by you, or by Carless, that a man claiming to be the missing Lord Marketstoke showed these stolen papers to you. In the meantime, get the coroner to summon this man as a witness, and take care that he's brought to the court. Once there, let him be asked how he came into possession of these papers? Do you see my idea?" "Capital!" exclaimed Mr. Pawle. "An excellent notion! Much obliged to you, Perkwite. It shall be done--I'll see to it at once. Yes, to be sure, that will put this fellow in a tight corner." "Don't be surprised if he hasn't some very clever explanation to give," said the barrister warningly. "The whole thing is evidently a well-concocted conspiracy. But when is the adjourned inquest?" "Day after tomorrow," replied Mr. Pawle, after glancing at his desk-diary. "And tomorrow morning," remarked Viner, "Hyde comes up before the magistrate again, on remand."