“I had charge of all the wardrobes!” she said proudly, “and I had five other women under me in the women’s tent. Such robes! Such costumes and such perfectly magnificent trappings! Why, we had one little woman, her name was Yvette Duval and she rode our whitest Arab steed. Her trappings were really studded with stones, gems given to her by great foreign potentates that we had performed for.”
“Did Jack have any of those things with her at school? I mean at Altmount?” asked Gloria frankly. She was too surprised to be tactful.
“Jack have circus things with her! Why, my dear child, I couldn’t use the word in her hearing. She detests it all, although she loved her father dearly, and he perfectly idolized her, yet, you could scarcely get her to come near the grounds. She’s so proud and high strung.” During all this Mrs. Corday fingered the little necklace, pausing often to scrutinize some newly discovered vein in a stone or color in a bead.
“Then Jack would not have had any spangled nets or beaded things with her?” persisted Gloria, thinking of the trunk as yet unidentified.
“She has one little dark beaded dress I bought for her, myself. A friend brought two over from Paris. Also she has a few neck beads, but that’s all,” declared the woman earnestly. “No, Jack wouldn’t so much as hang upon the wall one of her own dear mother’s trophies. You see riders have so many such gifts and sometimes they are so valuable, but Jack could never be brought to admit that her mother rode in a circus, although she was an artist, if there ever was one and Jack inherited her agility. Poor dear little woman! Her health failed and she went very young.” An appropriate pause gave Gloria time to give some little attention to Jane. But Jane was, as ever, too good natured to feel neglected. She nibbled the doughnuts, and seemed to be content just to be near Gloria.
“I couldn’t take time to tell you the whole story,” Mrs. Corday said next, “but what puzzles me, now that I’ve got over my surprise far enough to think straight, is, how any one at this out of the way school ever got hold of these beads, if they really are the lost clue. The reason Jack came here was because the Miss Altons knew dear Blanco, she was Jack’s own mother, and she always wanted Jack to come here. But you see, travelling all over the country, it was just natural she kept her only child within reach. Jack has had a governess or tutor since she could say her A. B. C.’s—but I’m afraid she is not overfond of regular school work. There I go, rambling again,” laughed the continuous talker. “But I do feel so at home with you both,” she beamed. “And if only this is what we have all been searching for!” she held the beads up so that the light of the table candle developed every little vein or marking in the curious collection.
“Who would know if this really is the clue?” asked Gloria. She had almost lost all doubts and was quite won over to the story. She did remember, however, that deluded persons were often quite wonderful in their powers for deluding others.
“Mr. Gilbert, he’s one human lawyer. A young fellow too, very handsome, a friend of Miss Alton’s. He made all arrangements for Jack here,” explained Mrs. Corday, “and he has seen the necklace with the clue stone in it, for Philip, that’s Mr. Corday, told me he, Mr. Gilbert, had all the particulars. But how could it get to Altmount?”
“Jack never saw this, so far as I know,” Gloria said reflectively. “In fact, I have never had it on before this morning. Isn’t that strange?”
“That’s the way things happen with you, Glory dear,” said Jane proudly. “I’ve known your father to look for his pen knife for days, and I’d help him too, but you would come along without looking at all and lay your hands right upon it. Don’t you believe some folks are naturally lucky?” she asked Mrs. Corday.