Zillah leaned suddenly back against the table by which she was standing, and Ayscough, who was narrowly watching the effect of his news, saw her turn very pale. She stood staring at him during a moment's silence; then she let a sharp exclamation escape her lips, and in the same instant her colour came back--heightened from surprise and indignation. "Impossible!" she said. "I can't believe it; There may be marks inside our rings--that's likely enough. But how could those marks correspond with the marks in his rings?" "I tell you it is so!" answered Ayscough. "I've seen the marks in both--with my own eyes. It occurred to one of our bosses this evening to have all the rings carefully examined by an expert--he got a man from one of the jeweller's shops in Edgware Road. This chap very soon pointed out that inside the two rings which young Lauriston says are his, and come to him from his mother, are certain private marks--jewellers' marks, this man called 'em--which are absolutely identical with similar marks which are inside some of the rings in the tray which was found on this table. That's a fact!--I tell you I've seen 'em--all! And--you see the significance of it! Of course, our people are now dead certain that young Lauriston's story is false, and that he grabbed those two rings out of that tray. See?" "Are you certain of it--yourself?" demanded Zillah. Ayscough hesitated and finally shook his head. "Well, between ourselves, I'm not!" he answered. "I've a feeling from the first, that the lad's innocent enough. But it's a queer thing--and it's terribly against him. And--what possible explanation can there be?" "You say you've seen those marks," said Zillah. "Would you know them again--on other goods?" "I should!" replied Ayscough. "I can tell you what they are. There's the letter M. and then two crosses--one on each side of the letter. Very small, you know, and worn, too--this man I'm talking of used some sort of a magnifying glass." Zillah turned away and went into the shop, which was all in darkness. Ayscough, waiting, heard the sound of a key being turned, then of a metallic tinkling; presently the girl came back, carrying a velvet-lined tray in one hand, and a jeweller's magnifying glass in the other. "The rings in that tray you're talking about--the one you took away--are all very old stock," she remarked. "I've heard my grandfather say he'd had some of them thirty years or more. Here are some similar ones--we'll see if they're marked in the same fashion." Five minutes later, Zillah had laid aside several rings marked in the way Ayscough had indicated, and she turned from them to him with a look of alarm.