“Nothing——a freak of mine. I took a notion to find out just what they were worth.”
“And don’t you know?” Her voice was very low, her eyes burned on his face.
“Only approximately, madam, approximately.”
The glance she had fixed on him, fell. She took a step nearer, but did not speak at once.
“What is it?” he cried. “Why do you hesitate to answer my questions?”
“William,” said she, “were it not more to the point to ask why I, who have always been considered an honorable woman, should resort to the subterfuge of stealing my own jewels in order to escape the delivery of them up into other hands?”
“Perhaps,” he muttered; “but we will not go into that. No woman enjoys parting with such gems as these even for a few days.”
She laughed. “But a woman does not resort to crime, run the risk of police investigation and submit to such indignities as are inflicted upon her by the so-called detective agent, for the mere sake of retaining in her possession jewels of any price. She must have another motive——a motive of terror lest an evil greater than these should come upon her——the loss of her husband’s love or trust, the——the——”
“Madam, what have you been doing? What secret underlies all these words?”
“A little one; only a little one. William, do you intend showing that necklace to a dealer to-morrow?”
“Because he would laugh in your face. William, the gems are false——false; there is not a diamond amongst them; only glass, worthless glass!”
He stared at her incredulously; he tore the jewels from his pocket and held them up to the light. Their flash and brilliance seemed to reassure him.
“You are making sport of me, madam. See how they sparkle and throw back the light. Only diamonds shine like that. You do not wish me to take them away from you. Perhaps you fear you may lose them permanently.”
“I tell you they are false,” she insisted. “I had the exchange made in Paris. I received a hundred thousand francs and these imitations for the necklace. Had not the man who manufactured them been an expert, do you suppose I should have dared the experiment of wearing them as I have done, for a whole year now, at every large assemblage I have attended?”
“Millicent! Millicent, is this true?” He looked more than angry, more than dismayed. She herself seemed astonished at the intensity of the emotions she had aroused.