"A brooch? Yes; I have missed one. Have you found it?" The words were spoken with a calmness which failed to hide the eagerness behind them.
"I think so," he answered, taking out his letter-case. "A pearl, set in diamonds mounted on a safety-pin?"
He opened the case and showed it pinned into the soft lining.
"Yes; that is mine," she said; and for a moment or two by a strange attraction each looked into the other's eyes.
Gifford bent his head over the case as he unfastened the brooch and took it out.
"Where—where did you find it?" Something in the girl's voice made him glad that he was not looking at her.
"In the garden," he said.
"In the garden?" she repeated. He was looking up now and saw the intense relief in her face. "To-day?"
"No; last time I was up here. I ought to have taken it to the house at once but—but it was a temptation to me to keep it till I could give it back to you like this. Do forgive me."
It was plain she divined what he meant, but her cold manner came to the aid of her embarrassment.