ounced Mrs. Gushington-Andrews in my most blase but butlerian
tones. The lady fairly rushed by me, and in a moment her arms were about
Henriette's neck.

"You dear, sweet thing!" cried Mrs. Gushington-Andrews. "And you look
so exquisitely charming to-day--"

[Illustration: "AND THEN THERE CAME A RIPPING SOUND"]

And then there came a ripping sound. The two women started to draw away
from each other; five of the crescents catching in the rope, in the
impulsive jerking back of Mrs. Gushington-Andrews in order that she
might gaze into Henrietta's eyes, cut through the marvellous cords of
the exquisite jewels. There was a cry of dismay both from Henriette and
her guest, and the rug beneath their feet was simply white with riches.
In a moment I was upon my knees scooping them up by the handful.

"Oh, dear, how very unfortunate!" cried Henriette. "Here, dear," she
added, holding out a pair of teacups. "Let James pour them into this,"
and James, otherwise myself, did so to the extent of five teacups full
of them and then he discreetly retired.

* * * * *

"Well, Bunny," said Henriette, breathlessly, two hours later when her
last guest had gone. "Tell me quickly--what was the result?"

"These, madam," said I, handing her a small plush bag into which I had
poured the "salvage" taken from my sticky palms. "A good afternoon's
work," I added.

And, egad, it was: seventeen pearls of a value of twelve hundred dollars
each, fifteen worth scarcely less than nine hundred dollars apiece, and
some twenty-seven or eight smaller ones that we held to be worth in the
neighborhood of five hundred dollars each.

"Splendid!" cried Henrietta "Roughly speaking, Bunny, we've pulled in
between forty and fifty thousand dollars to-day."

[Illustration: "I, OF COURSE, DID NOT TELL HENRIETTE OF EIGHT BEAUTIES I
HAD KEPT OUT"]

"About that," said I, with an inward chuckle, for I, of course, did not
tell Henriette of eight beauties I had kept out of the returns for
myself. "But what are we going to do when Mrs. Gushington-Andrews
finds out that they are gone?"

"I shall provide for that," said this wonderful woman. "I shall throw
her off the scent by sending you over to her at once with sixteen of
these assorted. I hate to give them up, but I think it advisable to pay
that much as a sort of insurance against suspicion. Even then we'll be
thirty-five thousand dollars to the good. And, by-the-way, Bunny, I want