Mathias, as he conned these paradoxes, smiled to himself a little grimly. It would never do to give utterance to them.

“I think if they know anything I shall be able to find it out,” was all he said.

“D’you mean to put them in the box?” Thornton asked suddenly.

“Not all of them, certainly: Heaven forbid! But we shall have to produce one of them at least, I am afraid.”

“Which?”

“Well. We had intended it to be the Fernandez girl. But she seems⁠ ⁠… unsatisfactory?”

“Exactly.” Then Thornton added, with a characteristic forward jerk: “She was sane enough when she left Jamaica.⁠—Though always a bit of a fool.”