"I didn't know if Mrs. Taggart was still living," continued Lauriston.
"But I was out early this morning and I found her. She remembers the rings
well enough: she described them accurately--what's more she told me what I
didn't know--how they came into my mother's possession. You know as well
as I do, John, that my father and mother weren't over well off--and my
mother used to make a bit of extra money by letting her rooms to summer
visitors. One summer she had a London solicitor, a Mr. Killick, staying
there for a month--at least he came for a month, but he was taken ill, and
he was there more than two months. My mother nursed him through his
illness--and after he'd returned to London, he sent her those rings. And--
if there are marks on them," concluded Lauriston, "that correspond with
marks on the rings in that tray, all I have to say is that those marks
must have been there when Mr. Killick bought them!--for they've never been
out of our possession--my mother's and mine--until I took them to pawn."
Zillah suddenly clapped her hands--and she and Melky exchanged significant
glances which the others did not understand.
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