Leoni looked at me with a strange expression. He seemed to be trying to read in the lowest depths of my soul.
"Why don't you answer?" I said; "what is there so surprising in my question?"
"What the devil does it mean?" he replied calmly.
"It means that I went into your room to-day, and found this on your floor. Thereupon I feared that, in the excitement of our flight and the confusion of our travels, you might have forgotten to send back the other jewels. For my own part, I hardly reminded you of it; my brain was in such a whirl."
As I concluded, I handed him the pin. I spoke so naturally and was so far from dreaming of suspecting him, that he saw it at once; and, taking the pin with the utmost calmness, he said:
"Parbleu! I don't know what this means. Where did you find it? Are you sure that it belonged to your father and was not left behind here by the people who occupied the house before us?"
"Oh! yes," said I, "here is an almost imperceptible mark near the fastening; it's my father's private mark. With a magnifying-glass you can see his cipher."
"Very good," he replied; "then the pin must have been left in one of our trunks, and I suppose I dropped it this morning when shaking some of my clothes. Luckily it's the only piece of jewelry we brought away by accident; all the rest was placed in charge of a reliable man and addressed to Delpech, who must have turned it over to your family. I don't believe that it is worth while to return this; it would excite your mother's grief anew for very little money."
"It is worth at least ten thousand francs," I said.
"Very well, keep it until you have an opportunity to send it back. By the way, are you ready? are the trunks locked? There is a gondola at the door and your house is waiting impatiently for you; supper is already served."