See?"
"Are you certain of it--yourself?" demanded Zillah.
Ayscough hesitated and finally shook his head.
"Well, between ourselves, I'm not!" he answered. "I've a feeling from the
first, that the lad's innocent enough. But it's a queer thing--and it's
terribly against him. And--what possible explanation can there be?"
"You say you've seen those marks," said Zillah. "Would you know them
again--on other goods?"
"I should!" replied Ayscough. "I can tell you what they are. There's the
letter M. and then two crosses--one on each side of the letter. Very
small, you know, and worn, too--this man I'm talking of used some sort of
a magnifying glass."
Zillah turned away and went into the shop, which was all in darkness.
Ayscough, waiting, heard the sound of a key being turned, then of a
metallic tinkling; presently the girl came back, carrying a velvet-lined
tray in one hand, and a jeweller's magnifying glass in the other.
"The rings in that tray you're talking about--the one you took away--are
all very old stock," she remarked. "I've heard my grandfather say he'd had
some of them thirty years or more.
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