"Did you see anybody leaving the place when you entered?" he asked. "There was no one about here when I came in--either at the street door or at the side door," replied Lauriston, readily. "The whole place was quiet--deserted--except for him. And--he was dead when I found him." The inspector drew Ayscough aside and they talked in whispers for a few minutes, eyeing Lauriston now and then; eventually they approached him. "I understand you're known here, and that you live in the neighbourhood," said the inspector. "You'll not object if the sergeant goes round with you to your lodgings--you'll no doubt be able to satisfy him about your respectability, and so on. I don't want to suggest anything--but--you understand?" "I understand," replied Lauriston. "I'll show or tell him anything he likes. I've told you the plain truth." "Go with him now," directed the inspector; "you know what to do, Ayscough!" Half an hour later, when the dead man had been carried to his room, and the shop and house had been closed, Melky Rubinstein, who had come in while the police were still there, and had remained when they had gone, stood talking to Zillah in the upstairs sitting-room. Melky was unusually grave: Zillah had already gathered that the police had some suspicion about Lauriston. "I'll go round there and see what the detective fellow's doing with him," said Melky. "I ain't got no suspicion about him--not me! But--it's an awkward position--and them rings, too! Now, if he'd only ha' shown 'em to me, first, Zillah--see?" "Do go, Melky!" urged Zillah tearfully. "Of course, he'd nothing to do with it. Oh!--I wish I'd never gone out!" Melky went downstairs. He paused for a moment in the little parlour, glancing meditatively at the place where the old man had been found dead. And suddenly his keen eyes saw an object which lay close to the fender, half hidden by a tassel of the hearthrug, and he stooped and picked it up--a solitaire stud, made of platinum, and ornamented with a curious device. CHAPTER FIVE THE TWO LETTERS Once outside the shop, Lauriston turned sharply on the detective. "Look here!" he said. "I wish you'd just tell me the truth. Am I suspected? Am I--in some way or other--in custody?" Ayscough laughed quietly, wagging his head. "Certainly not in custody," he answered. "And as to the other--well, you know, Mr. Lauriston, supposing we put it in this way?--suppose you'd been me, and I'd been you, half-an-hour ago? What would you have thought if you'd found me in the situation and under the circumstances in which I found you? Come, now!" "Yes," replied Lauriston, after a moment's reflection. "I suppose it's natural that you should suspect me--finding me there, alone with the old man. But--"