"They are, I see, laid loosely in the tray, which is velvet-lined. They were always left like that? Just so. And you don't know how many there were--nor how many there should be there, now? As a matter of fact, there are twenty-seven rings there--you can't say that is the right number?" "No," answered Zillah, "and my grandfather couldn't have said, either. A ring might be dropped into that tray--or a ring taken out. They are all old rings." "But--valuable?" suggested Mr. Parminter. "Some--yes. Others are not very valuable." "Now what do you mean by that word valuable? What, for instance, is the value of the least valuable ring there, and what is that of the most valuable?" Zillah glanced almost indifferently at the tray before her. "Some of these rings are worth no more than five pounds," she replied. "Some--a few--are worth twenty to thirty pounds; one or two are worth more." "And--they are all old?" "They are all of old-fashioned workmanship," said Zillah. "Made a good many years ago, all of them. The diamonds, or pearls, are all right, of course." Mr. Parminter handed over the half-sheet of paper on which Lauriston's rings had been exhibited to the Coroner and the jurymen. "Look at those rings, if you please," he said quietly. "Are they of the same sort, the same class, of rings as those in the tray?" "Yes," admitted Zillah. "Something the same." "What is the value of those rings--separately?" enquired Mr. Parminter. "Please give us your professional opinion." Zillah bent over the two rings for a while, turning them about. "This is worth about thirty, and that about fifty pounds," she replied at last. "In other words, these two rings are similar in style and value to the best rings in that tray?" "Yes." "Do you recognize those two rings?" "No--not at all." Mr. Parminter paused a moment, and caught the jury's attention with a sharp glance of his eye before he turned again to the witness. "Could you have recognized any of the rings in that tray?" he asked. "No!" said Zillah. "I could not." "Then you could not possibly say--one way or another, if those rings were taken out of that tray?" "No!" "The fact is that all those rings--the two on the half-sheet of notepaper, and twenty-seven on the tray--are all of the same class as regards age and style--all very much of a muchness?" "Yes," admitted Zillah. "And you can't--you are on your oath remember!--you can't definitely say that those two rings were not picked up from that tray, amongst the others?" "No," replied Zillah. "But I can't say that they were! And--I don't believe they were. I don't believe they were our rings!" Mr. Parminter smiled quietly and again swept the interested jurymen with his quick glance. Then he turned to Zillah with another set of questions. "How long have you known the last witness--Andrew Lauriston?" he enquired. "Since one day last week," replied Zillah.