"Here then, dear Sonia, are the two pearls entrusted to me as samples ... please, dearest, examine them carefully, very carefully ... and if you like them, tell me so frankly...."
The Princess took the two pearls from the betrothed, and, crossing the great drawing-room, she approached one of the bay windows, lifting the thin hangings that she might the better examine the pearls.
"They are marvellous!" she cried.
"Dear Sonia, you think these gems rarely beautiful?"
"Indeed I do! Their lustre is superb; their quality, their shape, perfect!... Why, my dear, these are the most splendid pearls I have ever seen—with one exception—the only pearls to equal them are those that were stolen from me!... The loss of them has been a bitter grief ... they came to me, you know, from my dear mother!... I never thought to find pearls of such quality again...."
"You consider these to be of as pure a quality then, dear?"
Sonia Danidoff continued to examine the two pearls.
"It is really extraordinary," she cried suddenly. "Do you know, my dear, there are certain peculiarities about their lustre,... yes ... I could swear that these very pearls you are offering me are two of those stolen from me!..."
Thomery appeared to have been impatiently awaiting these very words.
"You really, truly believe, Sonia, that they resemble the pearls stolen from you that unlucky evening?"