ll, there's the old amateur theatrical method," said I. "Have a
little play here, reproduce Mrs. Rockerbilt's tiara in paste for one of
the characters to wear, substitute the spurious for the real, and there
you are."

"That is a good idea," said Henriette; "only I hate amateur theatricals.
I'll think it over."

A few days later my mistress summoned me again.

"Bunny, you used to make fairly good sketches, didn't you?" she asked.

"Pretty good," said I. "Chiefly architectural drawings, however--details
of facades and ornamental designs."

"Just the thing!" cried Henriette. "To-night Mrs. Rockerbilt gives a
moonlight reception on her lawns. They adjoin ours. She will wear her
tiara, and I want you when she is in the gardens to hide behind some
convenient bit of shrubbery and make an exact detail sketch of the
tiara. Understand?"

"I do," said I.

"Don't you miss a ruby or a diamond or the teeniest bit of filigree,
Bunny. Get the whole thing to a carat," she commanded.

"And then?" I asked, excitedly.

"Bring it to me; I'll attend to the rest," said she.

[Illustration: "IT WAS NOT ALWAYS EASY TO GET THE RIGHT LIGHT"]

You may be sure that when night came I went at the work in hand with
alacrity. It was not always easy to get the right light on the lady's
tiara, but in several different quarters of the garden I got her
sufficiently well, though unconsciously, posed to accomplish my purpose.
Once I nearly yielded to the temptation to reach my hand through the
shrubbery and snatch the superb ornament from Mrs. Rockerbilt's head,
for she was quite close enough to make this possible, but the vulgarity
of such an operation was so very evident that I put it aside almost as
soon as thought of. And I have always remembered dear old Raffles's
remark, "Take everything in sight, Bunny," he used to say; "but, damn
it, do it like a gentleman, not a professional."

The sketch made, I took it to my room and colored it, so that that
night, when Henriette returned, I had ready for her a perfect pictorial
representation of the much-coveted bauble.

"It is simply perfect, Bunny," she cried, delightedly, as she looked at
it. "You have even got the sparkle of that incomparable ruby in the
front."

Next morning we went to New York, and Henriette, taking my design to a
theatrical property-man we knew on Union Square, left an order for its
exact reproduction in gilt and paste.

"I am going to a little fancy-dress dance, Mr. Si