"I didn't know if Mrs. Taggart was still living," continued Lauriston. "But I was out early this morning and I found her. She remembers the rings well enough: she described them accurately--what's more she told me what I didn't know--how they came into my mother's possession. You know as well as I do, John, that my father and mother weren't over well off--and my mother used to make a bit of extra money by letting her rooms to summer visitors. One summer she had a London solicitor, a Mr. Killick, staying there for a month--at least he came for a month, but he was taken ill, and he was there more than two months. My mother nursed him through his illness--and after he'd returned to London, he sent her those rings. And--if there are marks on them," concluded Lauriston, "that correspond with marks on the rings in that tray, all I have to say is that those marks must have been there when Mr. Killick bought them!--for they've never been out of our possession--my mother's and mine--until I took them to pawn." Zillah suddenly clapped her hands--and she and Melky exchanged significant glances which the others did not understand. "That's it!" she exclaimed. "That's what puzzled me at first. Now I'm not puzzled any more. Melky knows what I mean." "What she means, mister," assented Melky, tapping Purdie's arm, "is precisely what struck me at once. It's just as Mr. Lauriston here says--them private marks were on the rings when Mr. Killick bought them. Them two rings, and some of the rings in the tray what's been mentioned all come from the same maker! There ain't nothing wonderful in all that to me and my cousin Zillah there!--we've been brought up in the trade, d'ye see? But the police!--they're that suspicious that--well, the thing to do, gentlemen, is to find this here Mr. Killick." "Just so," agreed Purdie. "Where is he to be found, Andie?" But Lauriston shook his head, disappointedly. "That's just what I don't know!" he answered. "It's five and twenty years since he gave my mother those rings, and according to Mrs. Taggart, he was then a middle-aged man, so he's now getting on in years. But--if he's alive, I can find him." "We've got to find him," said Purdie, firmly. "In my opinion, he can give some evidence that'll be of more importance than the mere identifying of those rings--never mind what it is I'm thinking of, now. We must see to that tomorrow." "But in the meantime," broke in Zillah. "Andie must not go home--to Mrs. Flitwick's! I know what Ayscough meant tonight--and remember, all of you, it was private between him and myself. If he goes home, he may be arrested, any minute. He must be kept out of the way of the police for a bit, and--" Purdie rose from the table and shook his head determinedly.