kes," she explained,
"as Queen Catharine of Russia, and this tiara is a copy of the very
famous lost negligee crown of that unhappy queen. Do you think you can
let me have it by Tuesday next?"

"Easily, madam," said Sikes. "It is a beautiful thing and it will give
me real pleasure to reproduce it. I'll guarantee it will be so like the
original that the queen herself couldn't tell 'em apart. It will cost
you forty-eight dollars.

"Agreed," said Henriette.

And Sikes was true to his word. The following Tuesday afternoon brought
to my New York apartment--for of course Mrs. Raffles did not give Sikes
her right name--an absolutely faultless copy of Mrs. Rockerbilt's
chiefest glory. It was so like that none but an expert in gems could
have told the copy from the original, and when I bore the package back
to Newport and displayed its contents to my mistress she flew into an
ecstasy of delight.

"We'll have the original in a week if you keep your nerve, Bunny," she
cried.

"Theatricals?" said I.

"No, indeed," said Henriette. "If Mrs. Rockerbilt knew this copy was in
existence she'd never wear the other in public again as long as she
lived without bringing a dozen detectives along with her. No, indeed--a
dinner. I want you to connect the electric lights of the dining-room
with the push-button at my foot, so that at any moment I can throw the
dining-room into darkness. Mrs. Rockerbilt will sit at my left--Tommy
Dare to the right. She will wear her famous coiffure surmounted by the
tiara. At the moment you are passing the poisson I will throw the room
into darkness, and you--"

"I positively decline, Henriette, to substitute one tiara for another in
the dark. Why, darn it all, she'd scream the minute I tried it," I
protested.

"Of course she would," said she, impatiently. "And that is why I don't
propose any such idiotic performance. You will merely stumble in the
dark and manage your elbow so awkwardly that Mrs. Rockerbilt's coiffure
will be entirely disarranged by it. She will scream, of course, and I
will instantly restore the light, after which _I_ will attend to the
substitution. Now don't fail me and the tiara will be ours."

[Illustration: "ALL WAS AS HENRIETTE HAD FORETOLD"]

I stand ready with affidavits to prove that that dinner was the most
exciting affair of my life. At one time it seemed to me that I could not
possibly perform my share of the conspiracy without detection, but a
glance at Henriette, sitt