"All the more reason for believing that he spoke truly," said Dane, with a desperate look. "I am sure the thing is evil. There is now an in-drawing power, as you know. Miss Carrol felt it." "I don't believe in all this rubbish. Patricia is a fanciful girl," said Colpster coldly. "The emerald is in my possession, and I intend to keep it. If you dare to tell Akira about it, Theodore, I shall send you out of the house and will never recognize you again as my nephew." "I am not so sure but what I would prefer to be out of the house, while that damned thing is in it," said Theodore between his teeth. "You are playing with fire, uncle. See that you don't get burnt," and with this warning he departed, leaving the old man looking after his back contemptuously. He was a very material man was the Squire, and considered that his nephew was an ass for believing in things which could not be proved by arithmetic. Theodore was not happy in his mind when Akira and Colpster departed, for there were many matters which worried him. Basil, as usual, was following Patricia about the house, and that was one grievance. Now that Mara would not marry him he would certainly lose the chance of inheriting, through her, the desirable acres of Beckleigh, and that was another grievance. Finally, the presence of the charmed Mikado Jewel in the house troubled him very much indeed. He felt certain that Granny Lee's prophecy concerned it, since Akira had spoken of the occult powers of the stone. And Patricia had felt the reversion of the power, so Theodore uneasily considered that it was just possible that the cliff might be shaken down in ruins on the house. He went out and looked at its mighty height, almost expecting to see signs of crumbling. But, of course, there were none. The red cliff stood up boldly and gigantically, as it had stood for centuries past. The sight of its massive grandeur rather reassured Theodore. "It's all rubbish," he muttered to himself, coming in out of the rain, for all the morning there had been a downpour. "I daresay I am making a mountain out of a mole-hill. All the same"--his eyes fell on the safe in the library. In it he knew was the jewel safely locked away. To shift the Mikado emerald he would need to shift the safe, and that was impossible. "Oh, it is all rubbish!" he declared again, and then went to his own rooms. On the way he passed the library, and saw Mara lying on the cushions of the sofa stringing beads: onyx, turquoise, malachite, pink coral and slivers of amethyst. They gleamed like a rainbow as they slid through her deft hands. Theodore wondered where she got them and entered to inquire. "Count Akira gave them to me," said Mara, gaily, and tried the effect of the glittering chain against her pale golden hair; "aren't they lovely?"