I wandered round Westbourne Grove, and then up into the Harrow
Road, and in a sort of back street there I sneaked into a shanty in a
yard, and stopped in it the rest of the night. And this morning I tried
to pawn the ring."
"Having no idea of its value," suggested Viner, with a glance at
Drillford, who was listening to everything with an immovable countenance.
"I thought it might be worth thirty or forty pounds," answered Hyde. "Of
course, I'd no idea that it was worth what's been said. You see, I'm
fairly presentable, and I thought I could tell a satisfactory story if I
was asked anything at the pawnshop. I didn't anticipate any difficulty
about pawning the ring--I don't think there'd have been any if it hadn't
been for its value. A thousand pounds! of course, I'd no idea of that!"
"And that's the whole truth?" asked Viner.
"It's the whole truth as far as I'm concerned," answered Hyde. "I
certainly picked up that ring in that passage, close by this man who was
lying there. But I didn't know he was dead; I didn't know he'd been
murdered. All I know is that I was absolutely famishing, desperate, in no
condition to think clearly about anything.
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