"'Your father?'
"'Yes. He has it in the next room now. Can you not see how it disappeared, Harold? Why, the cat swallowed it!'
"'Do you mean to say that the white tabby swallowed the Crimson Diamond?'
"'By mistake. She tried to get it out of the velvet bag, and, as the bag was also full of catnip, she could not resist a mouthful, and unfortunately just then you broke in the door and so startled the cat that she swallowed the Crimson Diamond.'
"There was a painful pause. At last I said:
"'Wilhelmina, as you are able to vanish, I suppose you also are able to converse with cats.'
"'I am,' she replied, trying to keep back the tears of mortification.
"'And that cat told you this?'
"'She did.'
"'And my Crimson Diamond is inside that cat?'