mble, and whenever a question was put
directly to Mrs. De Peyster his was the tongue that answered; he was
quite certain his sister Angelica would relent and receive him back
into her respect and love once he had fully proved his worthiness.

"I must say, Mr. Simpson, that I think you have an admirably forgiving
nature," declared Mary. It was clear, though she was silent on the
matter, that she considered his sisters to have cold, hard, New
England hearts.

Mr. Pyecroft withdrew; and Mary, in the high-pitched voice required by
the invalid's misfortune, read "Wormwood" for an hour--until Jack came
to the door and announced that Judge Harvey had again called on them.
Alone, Mrs. De Peyster pondered her poignant problem, What should she
do?--wishful that Matilda were present to talk the affair over with
her. But Matilda was still busy in the kitchen with the odd jobs of
night-end.

Toward ten o'clock Mr. Pyecroft came in again. He stood and gazed
silently down upon her. The one electric light showed her an odd, dry
smile on Mr. Pyecroft's face.

"What is it?" Mrs. De Peyster asked in fear.

"Really, Angelica, you're not half so clever as I believed you."

"What is it?" she repeated huskily.

"This pearl." And from a pocket he drew out the pendant he had
appropriated the night before in Mrs. Gilbert's boarding-house.
"I thought we ought to be prepared with more cash in hand for our
get-away when we decide to make it. So an hour ago I slipped out the
back way, and made for a safe pawnbroker I know of. Angelica, you're
easy. This pearl is nothing but imitation. And you fell for it!" He
shook his head sorrowingly, chidingly. "Here's one case where remorse
might be highly proper--and safest; better just mail it back to the
party you lifted it from."

With good-humored contempt he tossed the pendant upon the bed. Mrs. De
Peyster clutched it and thrust it beneath her pillow.

"I believe, Angelica, my dear," he commented, "that in view of the
capacity this pearl incident has revealed, it is strictly up to me to
assume charge of every detail of our plan."

He sat down and in his fluent manner discussed the day's developments
and their preparations for the future; and he was still talking when,
fifteen minutes later, the door opened and Matilda entered. Her face,
of late so often ashen, was ashen as though almost from habit.

"Oh, oh," she quavered, "the servants' bell rang--and I answered it,
like I'd been told to do-