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"Are they above the average?" The two girls held their breath. Would the pearl-stringer give the situation away? But Miss Blackburne, true to herself, was discretion incarnate. "I've not seen enough of the pearls, yet, to form an opinion," she replied, "but my impression is that they must be altogether exceptional." "I'm glad your impression is good," said Roger. He turned to his wife.
"You sent for me, Miss Blackburne?" she asked, as she threw open the door. The pearl-stringer stood by the table, looking pale and strange. "Oh, Mrs. Sands," she exclaimed, "you told me the pearls were in their case, but they're not. I found it empty. You must have laid them somewhere else."
The hall was large, and furnished like an extra drawing-room, therefore it was not inhospitable that Roger should leave the pearl-stringer alone there, with the excuse that he must dress for dinner. He was, he explained, going to his club. As he made this announcement, however, and before the butler could carry the message to Mrs. Sands, a dazzling vision appeared.
I'm putting off dinner till half-past eight so he can have plenty of time to get home and change. He didn't make any difficulty when I told him about the pearl-stringer and wanting her at once. He agreed with me that it would be best to do such an errand himself, if it were to be done. And he was very kind. But his manner was different. I'm frightened." "Don't be," said Clo.
Before starting, she left word that if she did not 'phone or return within an hour, inquiries were to be made at the house and in the street whose number she wrote down. The pearl-stringer did, therefore, precisely what she had been asked to do. She abandoned the work laid out for the morning, and dashed off in a taxi on a moment's notice.
Why didn't you show yourself, like a brave man, instead of hiding?" No, he would not tell Beverley that he had been a witness of the scene between her and the pearl-stringer; nor that he was responsible for the vanishing of O'Reilly's envelope. Let her think what she liked about its loss, just as he Roger was free to think what he liked about the loss of the pearls!
Why, yes, Miss Blackburne, the pearl-stringer, had given her the paper that Sunday long ago at Yonkers, to read on the journey home. The paragraph described the up-to-date feature added to some important hotel. Small safes had been placed in the walls of rooms for the benefit of guests, each key being different in design from every other. Clo could not remember the name of the hotel referred to.
Murmuring some civility to Miss Blackburne, Sands turned away. A moment more, and his wife heard his bedroom door shut. At the sound it seemed that her heart must die in her breast! She felt a sensation of physical sickness, and would have given anything not to have the pearl-stringer on her hands. Here the woman was, however, and could not be treated with discourtesy!
Roger was kept waiting only while Miss Blackburne took leave of her mother, gathered together her materials, and packed a small bag; for it was clear that, if the pearl-stringer were to finish her work in one sitting, she would have to spend the night in Park Avenue. The little woman, whose face seemed almost featureless to Roger Sands, was interested in the man as well as in the mission.
"It was a prevarication," answered Mrs. Blackburne, "and I think I should have done the same thing." "Thank goodness!" sighed Ellen. "That's what I wanted to know. You don't blame me, then?" "I feel you acted for the best. And it's done now!" "Yes, it's done, and can't be undone," the pearl-stringer echoed. Roger Sands dined alone at his club that night.
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