The Great Pearl SecretWilliamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
General
The Great Pearl Secret
Williamson, C. N. (Charles Norris)
Detective and mystery stories; Jewelry theft -- Fiction
Of course she hadn't had breakfast, she said. She didn't want
breakfast. The very idea of it made her sick. She had been awake all
night, and had been dressed--without a maid to help her--since seven.
She was just one bunch of raw, aching nerves! But somehow Jack was
able to soothe her a little, as Pat, at his best, could never have
done, because she loved him too wildly. Jack got her to the sofa, her
back to the door, so that the waiter bustling in with breakfast should
not see the tear-stained face. Soon there were cushions behind her
shoulders; the blinds were pulled half down; there was a cool, dewy
rose in her hand. Then, when the waiter had gone, she was sipping hot
coffee with cream in it and (on one knee beside the sofa) Jack was
feeding her with bits of toasted and buttered roll. In spite of
herself, Juliet felt better. She didn't want to feel better, but she
did! And she had drunk nearly a cupful of coffee before Jack let her
begin to talk.
Having begun, however, she told him everything. It all came out with a
rush, and Jack listened in silence. Not once did he interrupt, and,
fast as she spoke (she could not control her speech to slowness), she
thought that he was judging, classifying each incident, considering how
one bore upon another.
He did not give away his own secret of yesterday: that he had seen Lyda
Pavoya go into the house, and that he had known she must be hidden
somewhere in the room while he and Defasquelle were in Claremanagh's
study. There was nothing to be gained by telling the poor girl that.
She might even be aggravated, by the additional proof against Pavoya,
into accusing the woman as a thief! And the more he thought, the more
inclined he was to advise against an open scandal.
"So you see why I wanted to put on mourning for my dead happiness,"
Juliet finished. "You said this was a 'passing trouble.' But you
can't say that now, can you?"
"Yes. I can and do," Jack maintained stoutly, for her sake wholly, not
for Claremanagh's. He began to believe, in his heart, that this
generous, loving girl had been badly "let down," between the Duke and
the Polish dancer. Nevertheless, it was still only fair to give "Pat"
(as Juliet called him) the benefit of the doubt, just as he had urged
yesterday. "You say yourself that, judging from his manner when the
box was opened, and when you spoke about the clasp, Claremanagh was as
surprised as you were at the false pearls being there."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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