you the trust isn't such a responsible
one as you imagine."

"We shall see," he smilingly responded, as he put the ornaments carefully
in his purse and arose, "I shall submit them to some reliable dealer in
diamonds, get him to set a value upon them, and will inform you of the
verdict this evening."

"Thank you, Mr. Cutler--you are very kind to be so interested for me,"
the beautiful woman gratefully murmured.

"I would I might," the young man began, eagerly, then suddenly checked
himself and added, "might assist you in some way regarding your other
troubles."

Again he had been on the point of declaring himself, but told himself
that the moment was not a propitious one.

"I am afraid it is too late for that," she responded, with a sigh; "the
case is settled, and Mr. Bently's relatives have won. But, good-by--do
not let me detain you longer."

"I will see you again this evening," he returned, adding, as he passed
out of the room: "I will be very careful of your property, and hope to
bring you a good report."

Mrs. Bently shrugged her graceful shoulders indifferently, as if she had
no faith in his belief, and felt that it would be but a small loss if the
jewels were never returned. Then, with a smile and a bow, she went up
stairs to her own rooms.

CHAPTER II.

THE VICTIM OF A WOMAN'S WILES.

Justin Cutler, after leaving the hotel, went directly to one of the first
jewelers of the city, a well-known diamond expert, and submitted Mrs.
Bently's ornaments to his judgment.

"They are remarkably fine stones." Mr. Arnold remarked, after having
carefully examined them through a microscope; "very pure and clear, most
of them without a flaw. So far as I can see, there is not one of them
that is in the least off-color."

"I thought so," was Mr. Cutler's inward and exultant comment; but he
simply asked, as if he accepted the man's verdict as a matter of course:
"What is your estimate of their value?"

"Well," said the jeweler, smiling, "if you wish to know their real
value just for your own satisfaction, I can give it; but that might
considerably exceed the amount I should be willing to name in case you
might wish to dispose of them to me."

"I understand," Mr. Cutler returned; "but what would they be worth to
you--what would you be willing to give for the stones?"

Mr. Arnold considered the matter a few moments, and then named a sum
which Mr. Cutler deemed a fair price under the circumstances, and one