As no prohibition had been placed upon Lucy with regard to Hervey’s visit and as Mrs. Jasher would be one of the family when she married the Professor, Miss Kendal had no hesitation in reporting all that had taken place.  The narrative excited Mrs. Jasher, and she frequently interrupted with expressions of wonder.  Even Donna Inez grew eloquent, and told the widow how she had defended Sir Frank against the American skipper.

“What a dreadfully wicked man!” said Mrs. Jasher, when in possession of all the facts.  “I really believe that he did kill poor Sidney.”

“No,” said Lucy decisively, “I don’t think that.  He would have murdered him on board had he intended the crime, as he could have done so with more safety.  He is as innocent as Sir Frank.”

“And no one dare say a word against him,” cried Donna Inez with flashing eyes.

“He has a good defender, my dear,” said the widow, patting the girl’s hand.

“I love him,” said Donna Inez, as if that explained everything, and perhaps it did, so far as she was concerned.

Mrs. Jasher smiled indulgently, then turned for further information to Lucy.

“Can it be possible,” she said, “that Widow Anne is guilty?”

“Oh, I don’t think so.  She would not murder her own son, especially when she was so very fond of him.  Archie told me, just before we came here, that he had called to see her.  She still insists that Sidney borrowed the clothes, saying that Archie wanted them.”

“What do you make of that, my dear?”

“Well,” said Miss Kendal, pondering, “either Widow Anne herself was the woman who talked to Sidney through the Sailor’s Rest window, and has invented this story to save herself, or Sidney did get the clothes and intended to use them as a disguise when he fled with the emeralds.”

“In that case,” said Mrs. Jasher, “the woman who talked through the window still remains a problem.  Again, if Sidney Bolton intended to steal the emeralds, he could have done so in Malta, or on board the boat.”

“No,” said Lucy decisively.  “The mummy was taken directly from the seller’s house to the boat, and perhaps Sidney did not find the manuscript until he looked at the mummy.  Then Captain Hervey kept an eye on Sidney, so that he could not open the mummy to steal the emeralds.”

“Still, according to your own showing, Sidney looked at the actual mummy—­he opened the mummy case, that is, else he could not have got the manuscript.”

Lucy nodded.

“I think so, but of course we cannot be sure.  But the packing case in which the mummy was stowed was placed in the hold of the steamer, and if Sidney had wished to steal the emeralds, he could not have done so without exciting Captain Hervey’s suspicions.”

“Then let us say that Sidney robbed the mummy when in the Sailor’s Rest, and took the clothes he borrowed from his mother in order to fly in disguise.  But what of the woman?”