Meanwhile, instinctively, Eleanor was trying on the hat before the long
mirror set in the door of the closet. She admitted to herself that she
looked astonishingly well in it. She was a sane and sensible young
woman, who knew that she was exceedingly good looking and was glad of it
in the same wholesome way that she was glad she had a good singing
voice. Very probably the hat was more of a piece with the somewhat
flamboyant if unimpeachable loveliness of Alison Landis; but it would
seem hard to find a hat better suited to set off the handsome, tall and
slightly pale girl that confronted Eleanor in the mirror.
It seemed surprisingly heavy, even for a hat of its tremendous size. She
was of the opinion that it would make her head ache to wear it for many
hours at a time. She was puzzled by its weight and speculated vaguely
about it until, lifting it carefully off, her fingers encountered
something hard, heavy and unyielding between the lining and the crown.
After that it didn't take her long to discover that the lining had been
ripped open and resewn with every indication of careless haste. Human
curiosity did the rest. Within a very few minutes the Cadogan collar lay
in her hands and she was marvelling over it--and hazily surmising the
truth: Staff had been used as a blind agent to get the pearls into the
country duty-free.
Quick thoughts ran riot in Eleanor's mind. Alison Landis would
certainly not delay longer than a few hours before demanding her hat of
Mr. Staff. The substitution would then be discovered and she, Eleanor
Searle, would fall under suspicion--at least, unless she took immediate
steps to restore the jewels.
She acted hastily, on impulse. One minute she was at the telephone,
ordering a taxicab, the next she was hurriedly dressing herself in a
tailor-made suit. The hour was late, but not too late--although (this
gave her pause) it might be too late before she could reach Staff's
rooms. She had much better telephone him she was coming. Of course he
would have a telephone--everybody has, in New York.
Consultation of the directory confirmed this assumption, giving her both
his address and his telephone number. But before she could call up, her
cab was announced. Nevertheless she delayed long enough to warn him
hastily of her coming. Then she snatched up the necklace, dropped it
into her handbag, replaced the hat in its bandbox and ran for the
elevator.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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