n a masterstroke. He and his
comrades had been complimented together upon their honesty.

"The relief came duly; and in this frame of mind--a little sly,
but more than three parts triumphant--he returned to Ile Lezan and
was made welcome as something of a hero. (To do him credit, he had
worked hard in recovering the bodies from the wreck.) At all times
it is good to arrive home after a spell on the lighthouse.
The smell of nets drying and of flowers in the gardens, the faces on
the quay, and the handshakes, and the first church-going--they all
count. But to Lucien these things were for once as little compared
with the secret he carried. His marriage now was assured, and that
first evening--the Eve of Noel--he walked with Jeanne up the road to
the cottage, and facing it, told her his secret. They could be
married now. He promised it, and indicated the house with a wave of
the hand almost proprietary.

"But Jeanne looked at him as one scared, and said: 'Shall I marry a
thief?'

"Then, very quietly, she asked for a look at the jewels, and he
handed them to her. She had never set eyes on diamonds before, but
all women have an instinct for jewels, and these made her gasp.
'Yes,' she owned, 'I could not have believed that the world contained
such beautiful things. I am sorry thou hast done this wickedness,
but I understand how they tempted thee.'

"'What is this you are chanting?' demanded Lucien. 'The stones were
nothing to me. I thought only that by selling them we two could set
up house as man and wife.'

"'My dear one,' said Jeanne, 'what happiness could we have known with
this between us?' What with the diamonds in her hand and the little
cottage there facing her, so long desired, she was forced to shut her
eyes for a moment; but when she opened them again her voice was quite
firm. 'We must restore them where they belong. It may be that Pere
Thomas can help us; but I must think of a way. Give them to me, and
let me keep them while I think of a way.'

"'You do not love me as I love you,' said Lucien in his anger and
disappointment; but he knew, all the same, that he spoke an untruth.

"Jeanne took the diamonds home with her, to her bedroom, and sat for
some time on the edge of her bed, thinking out a way. In the midst
of her thinking she stood up, walked over to the glass, and clasped
the finest of the necklaces about her throat. . . . I suppose no
woman of this country ever wore the like of it--n