"Oh!" gasped Mollie, and for a moment she could say no more.
Then the flood gates of speech opened, and her questions poured forth.
"Oh, Will! isn't that wonderful?" she cried. "I didn't dare really to believe till this very moment. Are you sure everything is there—not a thing missing? The creamer and teapot? And oh, Will!" she grasped his arm beseechingly, "did you find the necklace?"
Will looked evasive.
"Why, you see——" he was beginning, when Frank interrupted him.
"The necklace is probably gracing the swarthy neck of some fair gypsy damsel," remarked the latter, rather flippantly. "Here we offer you a whole silver service, and you're not satisfied."
Mollie looked from one to the other of her two tormentors in pathetic bewilderment.
"Please, please!" she begged. "Mother'll be wild when she hears about the silver. But oh, I do want that jet necklace almost more than anything in the world! Don't tease me any more, please."
At this appeal, Will's heart softened, and, with a quick movement, he drew his hand from behind him, disclosing to four pairs of incredulous eyes the precious jet necklace.
"Here it is," he announced triumphantly.