He was quick to notice that two men were watching him
with particularly close attention--one was Ayscough, the other, the old
solicitor. And as he resumed his account he glanced meaningly at Mr.
Killick.
"I daresay some of you would like to question me--and Stephen Purvis, too
--on what I've already told you?" he said. "You're welcome to ask any
questions you like--any of you--when I've done. But--let me finish--for
then perhaps you'll fully understand what we were at.
"Purvis and I walked up and down in Oxford and Cambridge Terrace for some
time--discussing the situation. The more I considered the matter, the more
I was certain that my first theory was right--the Chinaman had got the
diamond and the bank-notes. I was aware of these two Chinamen as tenants of
Multenius's furnished house--as a matter of fact, I had been present, at
the shop in Praed Street, on one of my two visits there when they
concluded their arrangements with him. What I now thought was this--one of
them had called on the old man to do some business, or to pay the rent,
and had found him in a fit, or dead, as the result of one, had seen the
diamond and the money on the table, placed there in readiness for Purvis's
coming, and had possessed himself of both and made off.
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