things. There was one string
of pearls which has been in our family for generations, and each new
owner adds a few more pearls, so that it gets longer and longer, and
more and more valuable. It would have belonged to Ralph's wife some
day. He was so funny about it, so disappointed! He kept saying: `Poor
little girl! it _is_ rough luck!' We said: `Why pity her, when you
haven't the least idea who she is?' He said: `Why not, when I know very
well that I _shall_ know some day!'"

Darsie smiled with politely concealed impatience. She was not in the
least interested in Ralph's problematical wife, but she was devoured
with anxiety to hear further particulars of the exciting burglary.

"Well, well! Go on! You said they only caught one man that night.
That means, I suppose--"

"Yes!" Noreen sighed tragically. "That was the saddest part of it.
The next morning they found another man lying just outside the walled
garden. He had scrambled up, holding on to the fruit-trees, and had
then jumped down and broken his leg, and he was not a stranger, but one
of our very own men--an under-gardener whom we had all liked so much.
Father believed that he had been bribed and led away by the man from
London, and offered to let him off if he would tell all he knew, how
many thieves there had been, and give the names and descriptions of the
ones who had escaped, but he wouldn't. Nothing would make him speak.
We all tried in turns, and then the Vicar came and was shut up with him
for an age, but it was no use. They say `there's honour among thieves,'
and it's true. He wouldn't give the others away, so the two were sent
to prison together, and they are there still. Father says they won't
mind a few months' imprisonment, for when they come out they will get
their share of the money and be quite rich. They'll probably sail off
for America or Australia and buy land, and live in luxury ever after.
It _is_ a shame! Father and mother feel it awfully. Such a dreadful
thing to happen when you ask your friends to stay!"

"Yes! it's a comfort to have nothing to lose. Mother has one diamond
ring, which she always wears above the wedding one, and there's nothing
else worth stealing in the house, except watches and silver spoons, so
that Aunt Maria need fear no qualms on account of her present visitor.
No one will set her house on fire on account of my jewels--a few glass
beads and a gold safety-pin, all told! You see them before you no