"Then it's true about——"
"About him? Of course it is."
"Oh! I thought she had made it up, shamelessly, because she knew it couldn't be contradicted."
"It could have been contradicted easily enough if it hadn't been true. Everybody has known about it for years."
"But she told the maid the pearls were sham ones."
"I dare say she did. But they weren't."
"Then there is really a doubt whether she did steal the necklace?"
"Oh, I don't think so. It makes it all the more likely. She would think, if it was found out she had got rid of single pearls, she could explain it by her own necklace. The mistake she made was in not being satisfied with taking the pearls. If she had left that rotten little star alone, which can't have been worth more than a hundred pounds or so, I doubt if they would have brought it home to her."
"But she may have taken the star, and not have had time to find the necklace, when Joan came in."
"Oh no. If she had been in the middle of it Joan would have caught her at it. There was the stone to push back, as well as the panel to shut. Besides, the necklace went. Who did take it, if she didn't? Nobody else knew."