The Washington herald., 1914-01-11

I found It much harder. in fact. that
I had expected.
sat looking at the girl with her
towering crown OF reddish gold hair.
She. In turn. was gpzinE at her own
foolishly distorted reflection in the pol
ished bowl Of the chafing dish from
which I had just served her with capon
la refine. She sat there gazing at her
reflected face. gazing at 1t with a sort Of
studious yet impersonal intentness. Then
I saw her suddenly lean forward in her
chair, still looking at the grotesque i'm
age Of herself in the polished silver. I
could not help noticing her quickly al
tering expression, he inarticulate gasp
of her parted lips, the hand that went
suddenly up to her throat I saw the
fingers feel around the base OF the COM
pactly slender neck, and the momentary
lcok of stupor that once more swept over
her face
She ate a mouthful of capon. studiously
without speaking. Then she looked up at
us again IL was then that her brother.
Benny, for the first time noticed her
change of color.
What's wrong?" he demanded. ~
The girl. when she answered him, spoke
very quietly. But ! could see what a
struggle it was costing her.
Now. Benny, don't want any fuss
don't want either of you to get excited.
for IL can't do bit of good. But my
necklace is gone"
'-Gone?" gasped Benny. 1t can't be-
Its gone she repeated. with her va
cant eyes on me as her brother prodded
and felt about her skirt. and then even
shook out her crumpled opera cloak.
1t was then that reached calmly down
in my waistcoat pocket, for knew that
my moment had come.
Does this happen to be it,? asked.
with all the nonchalance at my COM
mand. And as spoke / unwrapped the
string of pearls with the pigeon-holed
ruby and let them roll out on the white
damask that lay between us.
She looked at them without moving.
her eyes wide with wonder. / could see
the color come back. on to her face.
How" she asked little weakly. as
she reached over and took them up in
her fingers, how did you get Them
You lost them in the theater box
during the first act" j told her. Her
brother Benny wiped his forehead.
And it's up to a woman to drop
$4,000 and never know about II, he
cried.
watched her as she turned them over
in her hands. Then she suddenly looked
up at me. then down at the Jewels, then
up at me again.
This is not my necklace" were the
astonishing words that heard fall from
her, lips.
"oh. yes. they are" / quietly assured
her.
But / am left-handed." she explained.
as she still looked down at them, "and
1 had my clasp, here on the ruby at the
back, made that way. This clasp is right
handed. Don't you see, it's on the wrong
side?',
But you've only got the thing upside
down." cried her brother. And I must
confess that a disagreeable feeling be-
gan to manifest itself in the pit of my
stomach as ne moved closer beside her
and tried to reverse the necklace so that
the clasp would stand a left-handed one.
He twisted and turned 1t fruitlessly for
several momentS
Isn't that the limit?'- he finally mur-
INJURED, sinking back in his chair and re-
garding me with puzzled eyes.
But his bewilderment was nothing as
compared to mine. I reached over for
the string of pearls with the ruby clasp.
took them and turned them over and
over in my hands, weakly, mutely. as
though they themselves might in some
way solve an enigma which seemed in
scrutable. / was still looking dowc at
that lustrous row Of pearls, 80 appealing
to the eye In their absolute and perfect
graduation. when 1 heard the younger
man at my side call my name aloud.
kerfoot!" he said, not exactly In
alarm and not precisely In anxiety, YET