"Please state your name, business occupation or profession, and place of residence," began Searle, putting the opening interrogatory in the usual form through sheer force of habit.
"I am an actress by profession. My name is Alice Higgins; my place of residence is New York City."
"In your profession as an actress and to the public generally you are known as Marien Dounay?"
"Yes," replied the witness.
"You are the complainant in this action?"
"Yes."
"I will ask you," began Searle, "if you have ever seen this necklace before?"
He drew from a crumpled envelope that familiar tiny string of fire and offered it to the witness. Miss Dounay took it, passed it affectionately through her fingers, during which the brilliance of the gems appeared to be magnified, and then, holding the necklace by the two ends, dropped it for a moment upon her bosom,—a touch of naturalness that was either the height of art or the supreme of femininity.
"They are my diamonds," she replied.
"And what is their value?"