She took the packet with quick, trembling fingers, turned to the table, and by the light of the lantern unfolded the paper. With a little clink the star fell upon the table.
"This? This?" she said, starting back and pointing at it.
Barrington made a step forward at her sudden question, and then stood still, staring at the token.
It was no star of gold which lay in the circle of the lantern light, but a common thing of iron, roughly made, rusted and worthless.
CHAPTER V
THE WOOD END
Richard Barrington knew that he had fallen into some trap, the exact nature of it and the danger he could not know. After a pause, a long pause it seemed to Jeanne St. Clair, long enough for a villain to fashion a lying tale, he turned to her.
"It seems, mademoiselle, that I have been robbed as well as deceived."