He sprang to his feet, his face all aglow, and went forward to take the hand she extended to him.
"I have such good news for you, Mrs. Bently," he said, as he drew the little box from his pocket. "Your gems are real after all," and he slipped them into her hand as he spoke.
She lifted a startled, incredulous look to his face.
"You cannot mean it—you are only jesting!" she cried.
"Indeed no; I would not jest and I do mean just what I have said," he persisted.
"Impossible! Why, Mr. Cutler, I gave less than ten dollars for the crescents."
The young man looked blank.
"Then some one has made an expensive blunder, and set real diamonds for you instead of paste. Where did you purchase them—or order them made?"
"Of Hardowin & Leroux, under the Palais Royal, Paris, less than a year ago," Mrs. Bently promptly responded.
"It does not seem possible that any one could have made such a costly mistake," Justin Cutler said, looking perplexed. "It is almost incredible."