"Is it not very unusual to see a diamond set in a pencil-case?"
"Rather so," he replied. "I have made them to order before now. We have a better one than that, but it's not for sale. Not yet, at least. It is one of our pledges in the other shop; was left with us some months back."
"Do you mean it was—pawned?" she asked, bringing out the word gingerly, as ladies in general do.
"Yes, ma'am."
"But—is this a pawnbroker's?" she hastily asked.
"The other shop is, ma'am."
A thousand thoughts came crowding over her; a suspicion arose, almost amounting to an instinct, that it was the pencil they had lost. "When was it left with you, do you say?" she inquired.
"Some time last autumn; either in September or October."
"I wish you would let me see it," she exclaimed.
"It is quite against all rule, ma'am, to show our pledged goods," was the reply of the jeweller.