For Poldew, too, Johnson set out early next morning on foot. He was particularly anxious to be present when Finland was brought before the magistrate. He still believed in Jack's innocence, but for the life of him he could not understand his reticence. He stepped out briskly into the cool fresh air, his mind full of the case. He had not gone far before he met Pharaoh Lee. He thought of Slade's theory, and determined to say a word or two to the gipsy. "Good morning, Lee. I'm glad to meet you," he said gravely. "I particularly wish to speak to you--about Zara." "Have you news of her, rye?" "No; but I have been talking to Slade, the policeman, about her." "Ah, he knows something for sure. Is she with him? Is he her husband? Was it he took her away from me? Speak, rye, speak." Johnson shook his head. "Slade is married to another woman," he said slowly; "but he thinks that Zara was in love with a man named Jack Finland." "What, rye? With the Gentile who killed your lady? I have heard talk of him." "We are not yet able to say if Finland killed my ward, Lee. We have no right, because he stands accused of such a crime, to judge him guilty of it until he has had a fair chance of proving his innocence. He is to be examined at Poldew to-day; in fact, I am now on my way there to be present at his examination. Whether Slade has changed his mind in the mean while, I cannot say; but a day or two back he suspected Zara of this murder!" "I'll wring his neck for him if he dares to say that," cried Pharaoh in his wrath. "Job! how does he make it out?" "Oh, he has evidence to go upon, you may depend." Then the minister related to him Slade's discovery of the ear-ring, and the deductions he had drawn from it. He mentioned, too, that Finland had sold the pearls. "Now, it would seem," continued Johnson, "that Zara, on the evidence of the ear-ring, killed Bithiah out of jealousy, robbed her dead body of the pearls, and gave them to Finland to dispose of in London. For all we know, he may have returned here to take Zara off to the South Seas, in the schooner which he bought with the money." "Do you believe this, rye?" "No, frankly, I don't. I believe that the ear-ring belonged to Miss Arnott, and that she lost it during her quarrel with Bithiah. It was probably dropped in the field by the poor girl herself when she struggled with her assailant. As to Finland, notwithstanding his disposal of the pearls, I cannot make up my mind to believe him guilty of murder." "Who knows, rye? A man will do much for a woman's sake. If this sailor loved Zara----" "He did not. He loved Bithiah!" Pharaoh deliberated for a moment. "I will go with you to Poldew, rye," he said. "It is necessary that I should hear the truth." "So be it, Lee; let us hope that is what we shall hear." They continued their way in silence; neither was inclined to speak.