“Then what is he going to do about this murder business?”

“He can do nothing at present, as, if he remains in Pierside, he will lose his new command.  To-morrow he drops down stream, but meantime he intends to write out the whole story of the theft of the mummy.  I have promised to give him fifty pounds for doing so, as I want to get back the mummy, free of charge, from Braddock.”

“I think Braddock will stick to the mummy in any event,” said Random grimly.

“Not when Hervey writes out his evidence.  He will not have it completed by the time he sails, as he is very busy.  But he has promised to send off a boat to the jetty near the Fort to-morrow evening, when he is dropping down stream.  I shall be there with fifty pounds in gold.”

“Supposing he fails to stop or send the boat?”

“Then he will not get his fifty pounds,” retorted Don Pedro.  “The man is a rascal, and deserves prison rather than reward, but since the mummy was stolen by him thirty years back, he alone can prove my ownership.”

“But why take all this trouble?” argued the baronet.  “I can buy the mummy from Braddock.”

“No,” said Don Pedro.  “I have a right to my own property.”

Random lingered until late in the afternoon and until darkness fell, as he was anxious to see Donna Inez.  But she did not appear until late.  Meanwhile Archie Hope put in an appearance, having come to see Don Pedro with an account of his interview with Widow Anne.  Before coming to the inn he had called on Professor Braddock, and from him had heard all about the wickedness of Mrs. Jasher.  His surprise was very great.

“I should not have believed it,” he declared.  “Poor woman!”

“Ah,” said Random, rather pleased, “you are more merciful than the Professor, Hope.  He calls her a bad woman.”

“Humph!  I don’t think that Braddock is so good that he can afford to throw a stone,” said Archie rather sourly.  “Mrs. Jasher has not behaved well, but I should like to hear her complete story before judging.  There must be a lot of good in her, or Lucy, who has been with her a great deal, would have found her out long ago.  I go by a woman’s judgment of a woman.  But Mrs. Jasher must have been anxious to marry.”

“She was; as Professor Braddock knows,” said Random quickly.

“I am not thinking of that so much as of what Widow Anne told me.”

“Oh,” said Don Pedro, looking up from where he was seated, “so you have seen that old woman?  What does she say about the clothes?”

“She sticks to her story.  Sidney, she declares, borrowed the clothes to give to me for a model.  Now, I never asked Bolton to do this, so I fancy the disguise must have been intended for himself, or for Mrs. Jasher.”

“But what had Mrs. Jasher to do with him?” demanded Random sharply.

“Well, it’s odd,” replied Hope slowly, “but Mrs. Bolton declares that her son was in love with Mrs. Jasher, and when he returned from Malta intended to marry her.”