It was Melky's firm belief--already--that the stud had been dropped in Daniel Multenius's back parlour by some person who had no business there--in other words by the old man's assailant. And ever since he had found the stud, Melky had been wondering and speculating on his chances of finding its owner. Of one thing he was already certain: that the owner, whoever he was, was no ordinary person. Ordinary, everyday persons do not wear studs or tie-pins on chains made of platinum--the most valuable of all the metals. How came a solitaire stud, made of a metal far more valuable than gold, and designed and ornamented in a peculiar fashion, to be lying on the hearthrug of old Daniel Multenius's room? It was not to be believed that the old man had dropped it there--no, affirmed Melky to himself, with conviction, that bit of personal property had been dropped there, out of a loose shirt-cuff by some man who had called on Daniel not long before Andie Lauriston had gone in, and who for some mysterious reason had scragged the old fellow. And now the question was--who was that man? "Got to find that out, somehow!" mused Melky. "Else that poor chap'll be in a nice fix--s'elp me, he will! And that 'ud never do!" Melky, in spite of his keenness as a business man, and the fact that from boyhood he had had to fight the world by himself, had a peculiarly soft heart--he tended altogether to verge on the sentimental. He had watched Lauriston narrowly, and had developed a decided feeling for him--moreover, he now knew that his cousin Zillah, hitherto adamant to many admirers, had fallen in love with Lauriston: clearly, Lauriston must be saved. Melky knew police ways and methods, and he felt sure that whatever Ayscough, a good-natured man, might think, the superior authorities would view Lauriston's presence in the pawnshop with strong suspicion. Therefore--the real culprit must be found. And he, Melky Rubinstein--he must have a go at that game. He finished his supper, thinking hard all the time he ate and drank; finally he approached the desk to pay his bill. The young woman whom Mrs. Goldmark had left in charge lifted the lid of the desk to get some change--and Melky's astonished eyes immediately fell on an object which lay on top of a little pile of papers. That object was the duplicate of the platinum solitaire which Melky had in his pocket. Without ceremony--being well known there--he at once picked it up. "What's this bit of jewellery?" he demanded. "That?" said the waitress, indifferently. "Oh, one of the girls picked it up the other day off a table where a stranger had been sitting--we think he'd dropped it. Mrs. Goldmark says it's valuable, so she put it away, in case he comes again. But we haven't seen him since." Melky took a good look at the second stud. Then he put it back in the desk, picked up his change, and went away--in significant silence. CHAPTER SIX THE SPANISH MANUSCRIPT