“'Percy took care o' my jewels. It was all he had to do.'
“'A tender husband and a watch dog of the jewels!' I remarked.
“'And there were hours when it kept him mighty busy—you hear me. I can't help laughin' whenever I think of it.
“'Once we missed one of my rings. We thought it had been stolen. The hotel manager had every maid and bell boy brought into our room and searched. Suddenly Percy found it in a waistcoat pocket.
“'One evening we were gettin' off a steamer. Suddenly I slapped my hand on my breast and yelled:
“'"My sunburst! Lord o' mercy! it's gone!”'
“'I was suah that I had put it on. We ran back up the gangway. We had only five minutes. Peggy fainted away—she was that weak-minded. You didn't dare sneeze for fear she would faint away. Percy grabbed her. I ran for the stateroom an' found the sunburst where I had left it under my pillow. We were all in, believe me—it nearly killed us. When we moved Percy always called the roll like: “The ruby ring,” an' I answered, “Here.”'
“The jade necklace.”
“Here.” Like that, until we knew that we had them all. That evening we didn't have time.
“'But we certainly did see the world until we lost something better than all the jewels. Lordy! Lordy! what a world it is!'