"I stole them."
"Oh, don't joke about it, cousin."
"But goodness, George Errington, if I did not steal them, what do you suppose I did do?"
He said slowly:
"My friends and I are asking ourselves if you didn't find them."
"Where?"
"In the ruins of Périac!"
She clapped her hands.
"Bravo! They've guessed it. You're right, George Errington, of London: I found them at the foot of a tree, under a heap of dead leaves and stones. That's where the Marquis de Beaugreval hid his bank-notes and six per cents."
The other two cousins stepped forward. Marco Dario, who looked very worried, said gravely: "Be serious, cousin Dorothy, we beg you, and don't laugh at us. Are we to consider the diamonds lost or found? It's a matter of great importance to some of us—I admit that it is to me. I had given up hopes of them. But now all at once you let us imagine an unexpected miracle. Is there one?"