“I know. And where did the casket come from?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I never asked my mother.”
“You found the stones in the box just as they are now?”
“No. They were set in large silver rings,” she said.
“And those rings?”
“I had them last night in my make-up box at the theater; and a gentleman who came behind to compliment me on my acting caught sight of them and took a fancy to them.”
“Was he alone?”
“No. He had two friends with him. It seems he is a collector; and I let him have the rings then and there and promised to take the stones to him to-day at three o’clock that he might restore them to their original settings. He is going to give me a good price for them.”
“Have these rings inscriptions on the inside?” he asked.
“Yes: words in old-fashioned writing. But I never bothered about them.”