We went upstairs and took out our parures, and looked at them with a little melancholy. They were our only jewels of value, and though we never had any occasion for wearing them, we had always felt that some day the occasion might come. Now that we were going to give them up they seemed beautiful, glowing deeply against the white velvet of their cases. We had each a necklet and pendant, a brooch and ear-rings, and a bracelet. Esther, in addition, had a little tiara of the stones set round with small diamonds. "But how are we to sell them?" I asked. "I have thought of that," said Esther. "If we ask Mr. Benson he will sell them for us to the Dublin goldsmith from whom he bought his new altar-plate. There, shut them up, Hilda dear. We have not needed them all the years, and we are not going to miss them now." She went off to see Mr. Benson that afternoon, with the cases in brown paper under her arm. We felt like a pair of conspirators; but Pierce must have his doctor and all the things he needed, and I think the sacrifice made us both happy, once it was over and done with. Mr. Benson accepted the commission when it had been explained to him that the things were really and truly our own, and that there was such sore need for money at Brandon. A few days later Esther went over to the Rectory for the goldsmith's answer. It was nearly dinner-time when she came back, and I was washing my hands upstairs in my own room when she came in, still wearing her hat, and laid down something on the table. My heart sank, for it looked uncommonly like our jewel-cases, only not quite so thick. "Ah!" said I to myself, "so the old things were worthless after all; and Pierce must go without his doctor, and his port wine, and game, and all the things that may save his life!" But Esther, who had not spoken, had locked the door and returned to the table. She had bright spots of excitement in each cheek, and as I dried my hands on the towel and came towards her she put down a heavy, lumpish parcel on the table, and, reaching for my scissors with a hand that trembled, she cut the cord, opened a little bag that was inside, and spilt the contents on the table. I was so near screaming out at the sight that. I had to clap both hands on my mouth. There, on the table, glittering before me, was a substantial heap of sovereigns--a great heap, it seemed to me at the first glance. "One hundred pounds!" said Esther in an exultant voice. "Actually a hundred pounds for the old sapphires! That dear Mr. Benson went to the bank and cashed the cheque, and got it all in gold, knowing it would delight us so." "And to think they've been lying there so uselessly all those years!" said I. "They could never have served us as they will now," said Esther again; and we both stood gloating over that heap of sovereigns as though we were a pair of misers.