"Why do you want to go there?" Harry looked down. "I can't exactly say," he observed in a low voice. The Squire looked at him keenly, then leaned forward. "Do you go to Japan to punish the priest who murdered your mother." The young man dropped his cap and half rose from his chair, only to fall into it again. He seemed utterly taken by surprise. "What priest?" he faltered. "You heard me," said Colpster impatiently. "The one who murdered your mother--a priest of the Temple of Kitzuki." "How did you know, sir?" Pentreddle stared open-mouthed. "By putting two and two together. Martha--your mother, that is--sent Miss Carrol to get the emerald, and she could only have got it from you, who had--as you told Theodore--just returned from Japan. By the way, do you know all about the death?" "Yes," said Pentreddle, stooping to pick up his cap and thus hide his emotion, for his lips were trembling. "I read everything in the papers, and I did not come over because I wished to return to Japan and to kill the priest who, I believe, is the assassin." "Are you sure that a priest of Kitzuki killed her?" "Yes, I feel sure." "And to obtain possession of the emerald?" "Yes. I am certain that was the motive for the crime." "You stole the emerald?" "Yes," said Pentreddle boldly. "I did." He laughed softly. "It is very clever of you to guess, unless my poor mother told you." "She told me nothing," snapped the Squire, with a glare. "All she did was to ask me for a London holiday. She got it and went to her death. It was Miss Carrol--you must have read about her in the papers--who suggested that possibly you might have passed her the emerald." "I did, although at the time in the fog and darkness I believed it was my mother. Only when reading about her death did I know that she had been kept at home with a sprained ankle. She----" "Wait a bit," said Colpster, throwing up his hand; "you are confusing me. I want to hear all from the beginning." He paused, and seeing that Pentreddle looked nervous and was beginning to twist his cap again, swiftly made up his mind to a course of action to suggest confidence. "Wait a bit," said Colpster again, and went to the safe. When he returned to the table he placed the Mikado Jewel under the lamp. Harry rose and bent over it quite speechless with astonishment. "I thought it was snatched from Miss Carrol in the Park," he gasped. "So it was. But someone--the thief, I presume--sent it to me. It arrived here without details. You are sure that it is the Jewel?" he asked quickly. "Yes, it's the Jewel right enough," answered Pentreddle, returning to his seat. "But how did the thief know you wanted it?"