which he felt sure Mrs. Bently would be only too glad to secure in her
emergency.

"You make that offer for them, then--you will purchase them if the lady
agrees to take the sum you have named?" he asked.

"Yes, and the offer shall be open for her acceptance or refusal for three
days."

"Thank you; I will see you again before the time expires," Mr. Cutler
replied; and, taking up the diamonds, which Mr. Arnold had placed in a
small box, he put them carefully away in an inside pocket and left the
store.

When he returned to his hotel he sent his card up to Mrs. Bently, with a
request that she would see him for a few moments in the reception-room.
But he was greatly disappointed when the waiter returned and said that
the lady was out.

He had an engagement for the evening, and thus he would not be able to
see her until the next morning. He was somewhat troubled, for he did not
like to retain her diamonds over night; but since he could not return
them to her, he judged they would be safer about his person than anywhere
else, and so did not remove them from his pocket.

The next morning he was early in his place at breakfast-time and
anxiously awaiting the appearance of Mrs. Bently.

She soon came in, looking much brighter and fresher than she had been the
day before, and he noticed that she was in her traveling-dress.

Could she be contemplating leaving the hotel? he asked himself, with a
sudden sense of depression.

She smiled and bowed as she passed him, and he remarked, in a low tone,
as he returned her salutation:

"I will wait for you in the reception-room."

She nodded assent, but a gleam of amusement shot into her expressive
eyes, which he interpreted to mean that she believed he had failed in his
errand and would be obliged to acknowledge the truth of what she had told
him about her ornaments.

This thought greatly elated him, and he chuckled to himself as he
imagined her astonishment when he should inform her of the offer of the
diamond merchant.

He soon finished his breakfast and repaired to the reception-room, where
he drew forth his morning paper to while away the time until Mrs. Bently
should appear.

But she did not hurry, and he began to grow impatient. Evidently she had
no faith in the genuineness of the stones, and had no intention of
spoiling her breakfast just to be told what she already knew.

It was nearly half an hour before she came to him, but he could forgive
her for making him