“What sort of beads?” said Miss Selina Fanning.
You could feel the silence in the room, while the ladies, who no longer rustled, waited for her answer.
“Gold beads,” Sallie answered, and I’m afraid that that was what they secretly were hoping she would answer!
“Would you know them if you saw them again?” Miss Selina pursued.
The others looked at her in admiration. Why, she was just as good as a man, and a lawyer!
“You better believe I’d know them beads,” cried Sallie. “I’ve seen Jacqueline wear ’em many a time. One big long bead, and then a little round bead, and a real pearl set in the clasp.”
Dramatically Miss Selina took the beads from the Boston cousin, and waved them under Sallie’s eyes, which grew as round as saucers.
“Are these the beads?” asked Miss Selina, in a hollow whisper.
Sallie glanced at them, clutched them, then looked round awestricken at the intent faces of the ladies.
“They’re Jacqueline’s beads, as sure as apples grow on trees,” she said. “However did they get here?”