"Wait and you shall hear," said Mrs Jeal, tartly. "I do not care about
being hurried. You passed the shop; I recognised you at once and
wondered what you were doing in so poor a quarter of the town. Of course
I knew that the cup had been stolen, but I never thought that you had
it under your arm. You had a silk muffler round your throat although the
evening was warm, and apparently you wished to escape observation. I was
determined to find out what you were doing so, I followed you. You went
round the block until it grew darker. Then you returned to the shop, and
entered. I waited on the other side of the road. In half-an-hour you
came out again. You had the great-coat on and your hands in your pocket.
After looking up and down the street to see if anyone was observing you
I saw you walk rapidly to the end. I did not follow as I was anxious to
see why you had been to the pawnshop."
"Why all this anxiety, Mrs Jeal?" asked Tempest, annoyed.
"Well, sir! of course I know that Mrs Gabriel does not approve of Mr
Haverleigh's behaviour--"
"That has nothing to do with the matter," interposed Mr Tempest,
sternly, and Leo gave him a grateful look. "All you have to do is to
state facts."
Mrs Jeal dropped an ironical curtsey. "Very good, sir," said she; "but I
must say that I thought Mrs Gabriel had cut off Mr Haverleigh's
allowance and that he was pawning some jewellery to keep himself in
bread."
"I never pawned anything in my life," said Leo, disgusted at the plain
spite of the woman. "Go on, Mrs Jeal. You saw this man Penny, no doubt?"
"I did that!" cried the woman, triumphantly. "I have known him for many
years. I went into the shop and into his back parlour. On the table I
saw the cup. Yes, gentlemen, you no doubt are surprised. But it was the
very cup I had so often seen on the altar of the chapel."
"It is wholly false!" cried Leo, rising. "I never pawned the cup.
Someone must have impersonated me."
"It was yourself, Mr Haverleigh," insisted the woman. "I had a talk with
Old Penny, but of course I said nothing about having seen the cup
before. I did not mention that I knew you. Penny told me that he had
given you four hundred for the cup. It was worth much more he said, and
he was chuckling over the bargain he had made. I left the cup in his
possession and returned home. Several times I went to the shop to hear
if you had redeemed the cup. But it was still with Penny. I then had to
attend to my father and gave the matter little thought. But when I
returned and heard how you, Mr Haverleigh, had stolen the cup, it became
my duty to let his reverence know what you had done with it. And I
hear," added Mrs Jeal, with a malignant smile, "that your debts have
been paid."
"Who told you so?" asked Raston, who hitherto had been silent.