It was only later that Emma had realized how she must have lost her precious timepiece in that same alley. For years she had bitterly blamed herself for losing the one thing that had meant more to her father than anything else in the whole world – and consequently was dearer to Emma than the greater fortune her father had left to her. Fortunes could be made and lost and made again, but the timepiece held so many memories and so much love that it was irreplaceable. Emma had cherished it, for it had belonged to her mother, Mary, given to her by Emma’s father, Thadius, when they were young and he idolized her so. Now, by some inexplicable quirk of fate, here in her trembling hand was part of that same timepiece.

‘Good grief, Emma darlin’… whatever’s the matter?’ Nelly had seen how shocked and white Emma’s face was.

‘This gold clasp… tell me again, where did you find it?’ Emma’s voice was soft, but strange and fearful to the listening Nelly. When she shook her head and was about to remind Emma that she had only just this minute explained how she found the gold-piece on the carpet, Emma reached out and actually shook Nelly by the arm. ‘Nelly! Where exactly did you find it?’

‘Well, like I said… I found the blessed thing on the carpet.’ Nelly was completely taken aback by Emma’s attitude. She couldn’t ever remember Emma shaking her like that; not in all the years they had known each other. Not even when they were in Australia, and Nelly was constantly getting them both in trouble with the authorities. ‘There… on the carpet… not far from the spot where we’re standing at this minute! It were just lying there, I tell yer.’ A thought suddenly occurred to Nelly, and it was decidedly unpleasant. ‘Hey! You never think I stole the bugger, d’yer?’ She was deeply hurt at the prospect of Emma believing that she had reverted to her old bad ways.

‘No, no… I don’t think that, Nelly,’ Emma reassured her, ‘but I can’t understand… how this clasp came to be in this house.’ Her voice trailed off as she lowered her confused gaze to the carpet; after a while she went to the nearest chair, where she sat stiffly, staring at the spot where, a moment before, she had been standing. Her forehead was creased into a deep frown, and even from a distance away, Nelly could clearly see that Emma was trembling.

‘It is yours, ain’t it, gal?’ Nelly didn’t know what to make of it at all. She sauntered to where Emma sat, her own face twisted into a frown as she looked down on Emma. ‘Like I said… it ain’t mine. So, does it belong ter yer, or don’t it?’ When Emma gently nodded in response to the direct question, Nelly was still not satisfied, insisting, ‘Then if it’s yourn… whatever’s the matter? Ain’t yer glad ter gerrit back? By! The way yer paled at the sight o’ that gold-piece, anybody’d think you’d seen a ghost!’