Her sentence was cut short by a sharp exclamation from Sir Arthur, who, as she came near the fire at Cicely's invitation, cast a keenly enquiring glance at her, taking in each detail of her person, from the crown of her hair to the tip of the shoe just showing beneath her white gown. And when that inquisitorial glance fell upon the jewel resting on her neck, that sharp exclamation broke from him. "How did you come by that pendant?" he questioned, the words jerked out with an abruptness totally lacking in courtesy. "Did it not strike you as rather rash to flaunt it here, in my very face?" [Illustration: "'How did you come by that pendant?' he questioned.] "To--flaunt--it here?" Christina said shakily, her hand going instinctively to her treasure. "I--don't understand." "Come, come, my dear young lady," Sir Arthur answered curtly, waving Cicely aside, when she made an attempt to intervene. "You cannot--you really cannot, pretend to misunderstand my very simple question. I asked you--where did you get that pendant?" Christina's eyes, wide with fright, and bewildered with the shock of being questioned so brusquely and severely, looked from Sir Arthur to Lady Cicely, as though appealing for help, and Cicely said quietly-- "Cousin Arthur--what does all this mean?" "It means," he said grimly, "that your child's nurse--her _lady_ nurse--is wearing the pendant for which the police and I have been searching in vain. It means----" "No, oh, no!" Cicely broke in. "I can't believe what you are implying. It couldn't be true. Christina tell Sir Arthur he is making a mistake. Tell him where your pendant comes from." "From my mother," the girl faltered, still too taken aback by the unexpected onslaught, to be able to think clearly. "This pendant belonged to her; she gave it to me, and I----" "Tut, tut!" Sir Arthur interrupted irritably; "it is futile to try and throw dust in our eyes in this way. That pendant is unmistakable--quite unmistakable--no one who had once seen it, could be under any delusion about it. It is unique--an heirloom in our family. The very letters above the emerald, are initials of an ancestress of mine." Christina stood there silently whilst the above words were hurled at her, but her face grew paler and paler, fear deepened in her eyes. "My mother--gave it to me," she said again, when as Sir Arthur ended, there was an expectant pause, as though some explanation was demanded from her; "she gave it to me when she died--it was hers." "Then you can, of course, tell us for what names the letters stand?" Sir Arthur said slowly, a tinge of contempt in his voice; and because of that note of contempt, Cicely moved nearer to the shrinking girl, whose frightened, bewildered expression moved the little lady's heart to pity for her, and indignation against the angry old man.