The two Bancrofts waited to watch Peggy take the air in her now staunch aeroplane. It was not until she had vanished with a whirr and a whiz that Jimsy thought of starting his own car.
“Gracious,” cried Jess, as they sped along, “how I wish that the mystery of those jewels could be cleared up.”
As she spoke they were passing by the cottage occupied by Gid Gibbons.
“Oh, look, there’s that horrid Fanning Harding and Gid Gibbons’s daughter at the gate,” cried Jess.
At the same instant as she uttered the exclamation, Hester Gibbons looked up in time to see Jess’s gaze concentrated upon her. She whisked about, her skirts swinging as she did so. But she did not turn quickly enough for Jess’s sharp eyes not to see that she snatched at something she had been wearing at her throat.
The millionaire’s daughter was almost certain that the object Hester snatched at in such a hurry was a ruby brooch, or at least an imitation of one. She had distinctly caught a ruddy flash as Hester’s hand moved to her throat.
Jimsy, too, had noticed it, it seemed, for he suddenly observed:
“Seems queer for Hester to be wearing jewelry. Her father must be making money fast nowadays.”
“Yes,” said Jess, but her voice was distant and preoccupied. She was certain that her eyes had not deceived her. It had been a ruby that Hester Gibbons had pulled off and hastened to conceal. Obeying an impulse, she turned and gazed back over the top of the tonneau.
Through the dust cloud behind the car she could see that Hester and Fanning Harding were once more in deep conversation at the gate. She wondered what they could find so engrossing to talk about, and also speculated on several other things. She, however, avoided mentioning her suddenly aroused suspicions to Jimsy. He was so hasty. Inwardly she made a resolve to seek out Peggy the first thing the next day and compare notes with her. She could not help feeling that matters were assuming a very complicated aspect.