"Where have you kept them?"
"Locked up in my trunk."
"Have you ever, at any time, or any occasion, shown them to any person?
Think!"
"No," answered Lauriston. "I can't say that I ever have."
"Not even at the time of your mother's death?"
"No! I took possession, of course, of all her effects. I don't remember
showing the rings to anybody."
"You kept them in your trunk until you took them out to raise money on
them?"
"Yes--that's so," admitted Lauriston.
"How much money had you--in the world--when you went to the pawnshop
yesterday afternoon?" demanded Mr. Parminter, with a sudden keen glance.
Lauriston flushed scarlet.
"If you insist on knowing," he said. "I'd just nothing."
There was another murmur in court--of pity from the sentimental ladies in
the public seats, who, being well acquainted with the pawnshops
themselves, and with the necessities which drove them there were
experiencing much fellow-feeling for the poor young man in the witness-
box. But Lauriston suddenly smiled--triumphantly.
"All the same," he added, glancing at Mr. Parminter. "I'd forty pounds, in
my letters, less than an hour afterwards.
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