She reached forth her hand to take the casket, but Mrs. Coolidge clutched it with the grip of a miser. “Oh, no, Miss Douglas, you cannot have this again; you have not yet proved to me that it is yours, and I cannot allow such a valuable possession to go out of my hands until I am assured who the rightful owner is.” She sneered, white with anger, that the girl should dare brave her so. “You can put on as many grand airs as you choose, miss, but you’ll find that we know how to take them for just what they are worth,” said Isabel, scoffingly. “Mrs. Coolidge, that box and all its contents are mine, and I demand that you yield it up to me,” Brownie said, sternly, fully aroused. “Hear the minx, mamma; do dismiss her instantly,” cried Isabel, angrily. “You cannot have them, Miss Douglas, until you prove that they are yours,” returned Mrs. Coolidge, firmly, and she closed the box with a snap. “Then I shall be obliged to take legal measures to obtain them,” returned the young girl, with decision. “Ha, ha! hear her, mamma. She speaks like a princess, and she says she shall consider her engagement with you at an end, as if that were a matter she only can decide,” cried Isabel, actually quivering with rage. Brownie noticed her by neither word nor look. Addressing Mrs. Coolidge again very gently, she said: “Once more, madam, will you give up my property?” She spoke so imperatively that for a moment the woman was staggered, and began to think she had better yield the point, for, if the girl should call in official aid, it might make things very awkward and unpleasant. Isabel saw her mother’s indecision, and, stooping, she whispered in her ear: “Don’t you do it, mamma; wait until papa comes, at least.” “You prize them very highly?” Mrs. Coolidge asked, after a moment’s thought. “I do.” “They are not suitable for you to wear in your position; you are poor—could you be persuaded to part with them for a consideration?” A sudden idea had come to her that if she could persuade the governess to sell them, they would hush the matter up among themselves. She was greedy for the jewels, and was determined that they should not go out of her hands if she could help it. “What do you mean by ‘a consideration,’ madam?” asked Miss Douglas, in a peculiar tone. “Why, if I should pay you something handsome for them, and pledge myself to say nothing more about the matter, would you give them up?” “Really, Mrs. Coolidge, you are very discriminating in your ideas of honesty. You assert that I have stolen property?” The woman’s face grew crimson with rage at this shaft. “You can leave the room, Miss Douglas, your insolence is insufferable,” she cried, rising and pointing with her shaking finger to the door. “You understand me, madam; I shall take the law, unless you give me my property,” returned the young girl, calmly confronting her, and taking no notice of her command.