The Pagan's Cup Part 17

"The Master has taken His cup to use in heaven," she told the curate, who often came to sit with her. "When he thinks fit he will bring it back again to the altar."

Raston was puzzled by this queer view, but as it prevented the girl from fretting he outwardly agreed with her. Having settled the matter thus, Pearl rarely referred to the loss. She was quite content to wait until the cup was restored. Taking a hint from Raston, Mrs Jeal never discussed the matter. All the same she knew more about the missing cup than the Colester people knew. And it was in this way she explained the matter to Harold Raston.

"Sir," she said one day shortly after her return, "I want you to get me speech with his reverence. I wish to make a statement to him."

"Indeed, Mrs Jeal! What is the statement?"

"It is about the cup, sir. But I prefer to speak to the vicar and to Mr Haverleigh. I hear he is staying with Mr Pratt."

"I believe he is. Some foolish people accuse him of having stolen the cup, Mrs Jeal. I hope you will be able to give us some information likely to lead to its discovery, so that Mr Haverleigh's character can be cleared."

Mrs Jeal screwed up her mouth, and sent out a flash from her wicked eyes. She absolutely refused to speak save in the presence of Mr Tempest and Leo. Therefore, after a consultation with the vicar, Raston went to see Leo, and asked him to come to the Vicarage. Leo was surprised at the summons, and not very willing to obey it. He resented the way in which he had been treated by Mr Tempest. Still, from what was hinted by Mrs Jeal, he fancied that she might be able to clear his character, so he accompanied Raston to the place of meeting.

Mrs Jeal was already in the study, seated beside the vicar's desk. She was dressed in her best, and looked demure as any cat. Tempest reddened when he saw Leo, and held out his hand. Leo refused to take it. "No, sir," he said coldly; "you have not treated me well. I thought you were my friend, but I find you believe me to be a thief."

"Pardon me," replied Tempest, suddenly growing hard, "I do not say that you took the cup. I refuse to believe anything against you until I hear what you have to say in your own defence."

"I make no defence, Mr Tempest," rejoined Leo. "Sybil believes me guiltless; so does Pratt; Raston also is my friend. I can only wait until I am vindicated by time. Or perhaps Mrs Jeal will prove to you that I did not steal the cup," and Leo looked at the crafty face of the woman.

Mrs Jeal at a nod from the vicar, rose and folded her hands. "I can prove that you did steal it, Mr Haverleigh," she said. "I saw you p.a.w.n the cup in London."

CHAPTER X

THE PRICE OF SILENCE

For a few moments there was a dead silence. Tempest looked gravely shocked. Mrs Jeal triumphant, and the curate much disturbed. He had been so certain of Leo's innocence that this precise evidence took his breath away. Leo was thunderstruck, and pa.s.sed his hand across his eyes to make sure that he was not dreaming.

"You saw me p.a.w.n what I never had in my possession!" he said quietly.

Mrs Jeal shrugged her plump shoulders. "I can say no more than I know,"

she said. "Of course, I quite expected you would deny my story."

"I have not heard it yet," replied the accused man, slowly; "and I shall be glad to hear it. At the present moment, I declare most solemnly that I never took the cup. I did not even know it was stolen until I returned from London."

"Where you had p.a.w.ned it," finished Mrs Jeal.

The vicar interposed. He was struck by Leo's calmness, which was not that of a guilty person. "I think you had better tell your story, Mrs Jeal," he said; "then we can hear Mr Haverleigh."

"I thank you for giving me a fair trial, Mr Tempest," said Leo, quietly, and sat down with his eyes on the face of the woman.

Mrs Jeal cleared her throat, and in a slow voice began to speak. She rather enjoyed her position, and made the most of it. "But before speaking of what I know, sir," she said, looking at the vicar, "might I ask if it is true that you have offered a reward for the recovery of the cup?"

"I have not done so myself," said Tempest, gravely; "but Mr Pratt, who presented the cup to me, has offered the sum of fifty pounds to whomsoever will give information likely to lead to its recovery. If you know of anything, Mrs Jeal--"

"I'll get the reward," said the woman, a greedy light in her small eyes.

"Yes, sir, I do know of something. I went up to Battersea, in London, to see my father, who is ill. He is a retired gardener, your reverence, and has invested his savings in a seed shop. My mother is still alive, and she looks after him. They do fairly well out of the shop, and, of course, your reverence, I give them some a.s.sistance, as becomes an only child."

"This is not to the point, Mrs Jeal!"

"I am coming to the point shortly," said the woman, with a look at Leo, who made no remark; "but it is necessary that your reverence should understand how it was that I came to see Mr Haverleigh taking the cup to Old Penny's p.a.w.nshop."

Leo could bear it no longer, and started to his feet. "It is absolutely false!" he exclaimed pa.s.sionately. "I did _not_ p.a.w.n the cup. I never had it in my possession. I was never in Battersea in my life, and I do not know the name of Penny."

"Better wait and hear the story, Leo," said Tempest in a more friendly tone. He was beginning to be impressed by the bearing of the young man.

Even in the face of Mrs Jeal's evidence, he thought Leo might be innocent. After all, the evidence was circ.u.mstantial, and that is not always to be relied upon. "You shall have every justice," he said, patting Leo's shoulder.

"I know what I know," said Mrs Jeal when Leo sat down again. "One evening last week I was out late. I had been to get some medicine for my dear father. In Barry Street there is a p.a.w.nshop kept by an old man called Penny. I have known it most of my life. As I pa.s.sed I saw Mr Haverleigh ahead of me. He did not stop immediately at the shop."

"You saw _me_!" cried Leo, bewildered. "How was I dressed?"

"In a blue serge suit, with a hard, fawn-coloured hat," said Mrs Jeal, glibly. "Over your arm you carried a coat, and under it you had a parcel. It was the cup."

"You are telling a pack of lies!" said Leo, angrily. "How did you know the cup was in the parcel?"

"Wait and you shall hear," said Mrs Jeal, tartly. "I do not care about being hurried. You pa.s.sed the shop; I recognised you at once and wondered what you were doing in so poor a quarter of the town. Of course I knew that the cup had been stolen, but I never thought that you had it under your arm. You had a silk m.u.f.fler round your throat although the evening was warm, and apparently you wished to escape observation. I was determined to find out what you were doing so, I followed you. You went round the block until it grew darker. Then you returned to the shop, and entered. I waited on the other side of the road. In half-an-hour you came out again. You had the great-coat on and your hands in your pocket.

After looking up and down the street to see if anyone was observing you I saw you walk rapidly to the end. I did not follow as I was anxious to see why you had been to the p.a.w.nshop."

"Why all this anxiety, Mrs Jeal?" asked Tempest, annoyed.

"Well, sir! of course I know that Mrs Gabriel does not approve of Mr Haverleigh's behaviour--"

"That has nothing to do with the matter," interposed Mr Tempest, sternly, and Leo gave him a grateful look. "All you have to do is to state facts."

Mrs Jeal dropped an ironical curtsey. "Very good, sir," said she; "but I must say that I thought Mrs Gabriel had cut off Mr Haverleigh's allowance and that he was p.a.w.ning some jewellery to keep himself in bread."

"I never p.a.w.ned anything in my life," said Leo, disgusted at the plain spite of the woman. "Go on, Mrs Jeal. You saw this man Penny, no doubt?"

"I did that!" cried the woman, triumphantly. "I have known him for many years. I went into the shop and into his back parlour. On the table I saw the cup. Yes, gentlemen, you no doubt are surprised. But it was the very cup I had so often seen on the altar of the chapel."

"It is wholly false!" cried Leo, rising. "I never p.a.w.ned the cup.

Someone must have impersonated me."

"It was yourself, Mr Haverleigh," insisted the woman. "I had a talk with Old Penny, but of course I said nothing about having seen the cup before. I did not mention that I knew you. Penny told me that he had given you four hundred for the cup. It was worth much more he said, and he was chuckling over the bargain he had made. I left the cup in his possession and returned home. Several times I went to the shop to hear if you had redeemed the cup. But it was still with Penny. I then had to attend to my father and gave the matter little thought. But when I returned and heard how you, Mr Haverleigh, had stolen the cup, it became my duty to let his reverence know what you had done with it. And I hear," added Mrs Jeal, with a malignant smile, "that your debts have been paid."

"Who told you so?" asked Raston, who hitherto had been silent.

"Mrs Gabriel. I went to tell her what Mr Haverleigh had done. She said that she expected as much, as she had refused to give him the money to pay his debts. So that is all I know. I am prepared to take my oath in a court of law that this is true."

There was a pause. Then Tempest observed quietly, "If that is all you have to tell, Mrs Jeal, you can go. I will speak to Mr Haverleigh."

"But will I not--"

"You will do nothing," interrupted the vicar. "Go away and hold your tongue, lest you get into trouble."

"You're going to let him off, I see," said Mrs Jeal, with a toss of her grey head. "Well, I have done my share. Good-day, gentlemen," and she sailed out of the room quite satisfied that she had ruined Leo.