Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1907-05-24
GO e. 3 ssaEE'a au1lline,,s' 81 Pendant
.voa soahoW . II 81 gd-3se
"Father. It has disappeared. .

" ~ - " ~>O w ~>O f~~>O <>O @rV' =
Father. 1t has disappeared. " HsS'
/ Sir Nevil Masterton and were sit
ting in his study, at Masterton lPriory
after breakfast when his only. daugh-
ter. Pauline, rushed In with white
face. LINZ a@Yb3eeH n BIG lst Ut =
my dear little girl, what has dis
appeared ?1Tinauired her father In a
soothing tone, sef,tei;f9g ae5ia 5
MY pearl and diamond pendant!.
The one you gave me just before the
wedding! Oh, father; who can have
taken it?"bnil isleoa 3d Ii alJEta aa i.
Sir ,NeEil smiled. tsYou have mis-
laid It,, that's all! We don't have
anything SO e1piting as burglaries
here - sisi@ i9'5 iagEh 4 igsB
s'.But, father here is the q mpty
case, which I found in the drawer
where locked it up yesterday morn
ing with the. pendant safe inside,''n.
Sir Nevif looked grave. 'qThat
sounds odd,,s he said, slowly. tell
US all about;it. little girl. "asga ID
"a The f.little girl was a fine, tall
young woman of two-and-twenty.
Her mother had died when She was
child, and Sir Nevil's eldest sister,
Miss Priscilla Masterton, had played
hostess at the priory while Pauline
was growing up. She adored her
niece, and Pauline could always get
her own way so far as Aunt Prissy
was concerned. gt3ah nIeg3 sWsH M.
A few months ago the little house
hold had ,receiyedaa ;shock--the an
nouncement of Sir Nevil Masterton's
second marriage. Every one had
come to look upon him as confirmed
widower3 sSGfafin .adt toQ sY liaz.
The new, Lady r asterton was the
famous stage beauty, Miss Lydia
Beaugarde.- She was principal show
girl at the Majestic Theatre, where
her lovely face. and matchless figure
brought her admiration and a hand
some salary, while her strong COM
mon sense and excellent capacity for
looking after herself had kept all ad-
mirers1 at a1respectful distance until
NepiI ,Masterton placed his baronetcy.
and his rent roll at her feet. 49,. sle5s
Pauline tearfully explained to- her
father the exact circumstances of her
loss. She was in, the habit of lock-
ing her fjewelry in a certain drawer,
and then hiding the keys in the COR.
ner of another drawer. The fact that
the keys and the case Of the pendant
were both In their proper places
seemed evidence that the pendant
had been removed by some one inti-l
mately, acquainted with its owners
habits. 'i- . 4l55''s~ sl4a OVAL
Her father tried to comfort her,
and added > t'Leave niesto talk it over
with Mr.. Carter, here. If your pen
dant has really been stolen he is
more likely to get it back for You
than any one eIseiss III q Y-ffe'i e,.ge
] Il realized that to,possess a lreputa-
ton as a sort, Of amateur Sherlock
Holmes involves one occasionally in
awkward responsibilities. but hast
ened to reassdre her as far as possi-1
BILE. d35w 0g O. gHInaEiq Il Hiss IA.
4 lifftYou areoin for it now. Carterl"
said Sir .Neyil grimly. .-1 ,.,,o. go
THAT'S all right" I said, quietly.
l"Just tell me atlittle about the his.
tory of the pendant before we go any
further.YsQ n liea eemaL .e4tf -,
you Sect he began, I'VE
have a good many family Jewels,
which Pauline had come to look upon
as her own particular property. So
that when 7 brought my wife here. a
month or two ago. Pauline did not al.
together like parting with what she
considered her treasures. =
1t was to make up for this con-
tinued Sir Nevilg that I bought her
a pendant, a diamond crown with two
fine pear-shaped pearls hanging down
on little. platinum chains. And it is
this pendant that has now disap-
peared. "gjTs31 81 GU ssts59z4 a.;ssi.a bae
- II sees I said. thoughtfully.-
What about your servants. Master
ton?'s <s - 's''-' ''''S
! They have ali been with me for
years." he said, warmly. I'll should
never suspect any of them" Leo
~ What: about Lady Masterton's
"oh,, yssZRayner.s / forget about
her. She is a girl whom my wife has
known for a long time and In whom
!, she has every confidence - ~. s.p ssgI1
I began to perceive that was go
ing to have rather unpleasant time.
At lunch every one was talking about
the pendant, and. Lady Masterton in
particular seemed much concerned
at her stepdaugh ter's loss. ,.-a4g
: It was din cult to see what possible
motive Lady iMasterton could have
adGfor being coneernedsin the lnys-
teriQps disappearance of her step
daughters ornaments. ts.s.+
/ found myself wondering whether
this brilliant beauty might not have
some poor relation in desperate need
Of money, for whom she might have
committed the theft, not daring to
part with any of her own jewelry for
fear of being discovered. Person
ally, however, was much prepos-
sessed in Lady Masterton s favor. a
&c Then another wild conjecture came
into my mind. Had Pauline herself
simply hidden the jewel to bring dis
credit upon her newly acquired step
mother? .dsEb ola 1 TaSsSi
ra,I was sitting alone in Sir Nevil's
study after lunch, when the door was
softly opened. / was good deallsur-
prised to see Miss Priscilla, or Aunt
Prissy,. as she was always called.
s.Mr. Carter" she began, in mys-
terious whisper, st want to speak to
you about the loss of Pauline's pend
anti" Miss Masterton sighed. 81
am afraid, Mr.. Carter, that the infor-
nation have to give you is of a dis
tressing character $40
Nothing can be more distressing
than the present uncertainty" I de-
clared. 's sssi'
ia I'll felt it was my duty to tell
you," she said, awkwardlysss III
The faded old maid produced her
pocket and then said:
"Pauline's room Is In the left wing
of the priory, next door to my own