'It will be, if we give him time,' replied Burkut; 'and all the more surely, if we say it is there already. That is simple, since Nushapore knows that the guardianship of the signet was not with my lord always. It is but to withdraw the charge of theft, saying that we have found the ring returned to its rightful owner, the Nawâbin.' This time Jehân ground his teeth; he felt his impotence, even against this man, horribly. 'And then?' he asked sullenly. 'And then we shall be free to watch Lateefa. We can give him time to go to his hiding-place. And then we can search him--and thy house. But without the police! We must have no more of _their_ methods. It hath cost me somewhat to get beyond them now, which sum shall be as a debt between thee and me--but there must be no more of it!' 'But the pearls?' replied Jehân uneasily; 'the pearls and that jade Sobrai, whom God curse.' Burkut gave a sudden blink of his long eyes. 'Say rather, may God curse those who led virtue astray! 'Tis a tale, my lord, to dissolve heart and liver! Kidnapped by order, almost by force. Bribed to a _sahib's_ pleasure by pearls. By four pearls taken--oh! most horrible!--from a string which the head of her house had, with tears, sold to that same _sahib_! Sold in his honourable indigence, which had not hesitated to wrench the last ornament from the necks of virtuous women in order to keep them virtuous----' He paused in his periods for breath. '_Wâh!_' said Jehân stupidly--his jaw had almost fallen in sheer surprise--'that runs well. But the proof?' Burkut smiled a superior smile. 'Thy reluctance to allow publicity. Thy instant assertion that the pearls were thine. Lo! is not the whole true, save that Lucanaster _sahib_ gave the pearls to Sobrai? And that is for him to prove. "_Tie a lie to a truth and the two will sink or swim together_" is good wisdom!' 'But they must see the pearls--they said so but yesterday. The magistrate _sahib_----' 'Go to him, and make thy confession. Say that there was but this untruth. The pearls were not, they had been thine. Say that, even now, if thou canst but get the girl back in secret----' 'In secret,' echoed Jehân fiercely, 'when already the police----' Burkut lost patience then. 'Fool! canst not thou see that in that lies the gain? _Thou_ canst stand aloof, but the hell-doomed must answer! And not the one; but all. Lo! it is a tale for the bazaars! for the newspapers! And 'tis not as if thou couldst keep it secret longer. Thou canst not. Therefore use it against those whose fault it is that thou canst not.' He paused, suddenly folded his hands in the attitude of service, and said reverently: 'What orders hath the Pillar of Justice, the Mighty in Power, the Disposer of Slaves, regarding a necklace of pearls, and one Sobrai Begum, a woman of his household?' The sarcasm bit deep, and Jehân Aziz, the Rightful Heir to such power, swore, this time, horribly, feeling as Burkut intended, that revenge was better than nothing.