The record-union., 1898-01-02

iiiiSSiuS brilliant, L feiIdfheu u LIE
civil shopman. who was examining the
| ornament
.'Oh, there'll be no difficulty about
that, Sir John,'' replied the man read
| lily, for it so happens that We have
still several of these same stones left
over from those We procured for her
ladyship week or so ago, when We
| took out the diamonds from the tiara,
and set them in the buckles, you know" "
Took out the diamonds?" l ex-
| claimed
/ 1es-these present stones are mere
ly French limitations, you see, sir.
nope | am not betraying her ladyship's
| little secret too soon. She informed
me that it was to be a birthday sur
prise for yourself; but a week ago we
received a few lines from Lady Seton
requesting us to have ready some pat
| terms of old-fashioned shoe-buckles for
her to see, and stating that she would
call upon us to inspect them, and to
| give directions regarding some jewels
she wished reset
| l must here mention that I am an old
customer of Messrs. Carbuncles'; they
knew my country address, and I have
often bought jewelry at their estab-
lishment for my wife, but Fanny her.
self had never visited the shop.
| Her ladyship looked in, according
to appointment, on Monday-yes. it was
last Monday week. went on the as
| siStant, who knew me well. land
brought this tiara-which we had the
honor of arranging for you some years
ago, 1 we'll remember-and she stated
that she wished to surprise you with a
| pair of handsome shoe-buclxles to wear
with your fancy dress at her forth
coming ableaux"-Fanny's charitable
| scheme had already been advertised in
the papers-"and wished to know if we
could take the stones out of the tiara
and arrange them in these buckles, re-
placing the diamonds in the tiara with
| first-class paste diamonds, for l scarce
| ly ever wear the tiara, and 1 should
| like, on this special occasion, to see my
husband using his own family Jewels
| her ladyShip remarked. OF course we
could easily make this alteration.
| did venture to point out to her lady
| ship that the paste limitations would
| do better for the buckles, but she only
said, No no, Sir John has given me so
many pretty birthday gifts from your
shop, and now / am resolved to give
him surprise in turn and, of course,
! 1t wasn't for US to argue further with
customer added the man, a little
apprehensively, glancing at me.
If my countenance only expressed half
what I felti
l controlled myself, however for If
what l suspected was the case, it would
| in no wise mend matters to take the
jewelers. assistant into my confidence.
Did Lady Seton call herself to fetch
away the buckles?' / asked
| "Oh, yes, sir; she came again, by ap-
pointment, on the Saturday after, and
took both the buckles and the tiara
| away, paying the bill at the same time
| for it was all to be kept from you And
you won't out to her ladyship that I've
told you her little secret, will you, sir
! only, when you asked about the stones.
| you see"
'Of course it was Lady Seton who
called" 1 said, with affected careless
ness.
"Oh, yes, little lady with blue eyes
and golden hair replied the shopman
confidently, .and the letter we had was
written on your own note-paper, sir;
it's all right, isn't it?'' with, a sudden
tone of anxiety in his voice.
ooh, yes I replied, as coolly as 1
could, s'but-in the circumstances. I
think 1 will just consult my wife before
l have the tiara meddled with" And.
somehow, I got out of the shop and
into hanson, and, after telling the
man to drive to my club, began to de-
liberate what had better do.
1 understood it all now; and, oh, what
~ rifa,1c, na1 ha1 ryl-<
little mink of. Mrs. ST. Clair, To
think that Fanny and l, sensible folks
as we had always considered ourselves.
should have been SO readily fooled by
an adventures! And yet she had
seemed such lady-and then her un-
doubted intimacy with the ST. Ledgers,
But there was no doubt that this lady.
our late guest, had stolen my wife's
diamonds. i saw it all now. / well
remembered that on both the dates
mentioned by the jeweler, Mrs ST
Clair had gone to London on the pre-
text of visits to her dentist; and had
been duly petted and commiserated by
Fanny upon her return. To lady of
Mrs. st. Clair's varied accomplishments,
it had, doubtless, been easy enough to
abstract the diamonds from my wife's
wardrobe by means of a false key-no
doubt the woman travelled with an as
sortment of such thieves equipments
and to afterwards replace the ornament,
which she was aware would not be re-
quired or sought for before the day of
the ball. Indeed but for the acciden-
tai injury to the tiara, the substitution
of the mock for the real stones might
have remained undetected until Fanny
or had died, and the valuation for
probate duty revealed the fact to our
disgusted heirs and executors. We
should never have suspected the trick
that had been played.
Messrs Carbuncles' name and address
were upon the case which held the III
| ara; Mrs. st. Clair had heard me men,
ton the firm as old tradespeople of
mine; and the whole story of the sur
prise" of the shoe-buckles was very
| ingenious device for putting the jew
elers off their guard. To have simply
requested that false stones should be
substituted for the real might have ex-
cited some suspicion. Well, 1 had been
Surprised with a vengeance, and the
question now was how to recover my
property.
BY the time had reached my club
had settled my plans. L knew Mrs. st.
Clairs London address, fiat in Vic
toria street, and bade my cabman
drive me there. Yes, the lady was at
home, and came forward with out
stretched hands and a pretty cry of
mingled surprise and pleasure to greet
me as I entered That surprise be-
came very genuine after a minute or
two, but the pleasure
Well, will not recall one of the most