The man was studying her countenance with a desperate look. Why was she, the bride of the monstrously rich American, why was she trying to sell the bag? Did it mean the end of her resources? Or, were there still huge orders to be got from her? His shrewdness, trained by thirty years of dealing with all kinds of luxurious human beings, went exploring in vain. He was alarmed by her frown. He began hesitatingly: "The jewels and the gold are only a small part of the value. The chief value is the unique design, so elegant yet so simple. For the jewels and the gold, perhaps two thousand francs--" "The purse was twelve thousand francs," interrupted she. "Perfectly, madame. But--" "I am in great haste. How much will you give me?" "The most would be four thousand, I fear. I shall count up more carefully, if madame will--" "No, four thousand will do." "I will send the money to madame at her hotel. The Continental, is it not?" "No, I must have it at once." The jeweler hesitated. Mildred, flushing scarlet with shame--but he luckily thought it anger--took up the bag and moved toward the door. "Pardon, madame, but certainly. Do you wish some gold or all notes?" "Notes," answered she. "Fifty and hundred-franc notes." A moment later she was in the street with the notes in a small bundle in the bosom of her wrap. She went hurriedly up the street. As she was about to turn the corner into the boulevard she on impulse glanced back. An automobile had just drawn up at the jeweler's door and General Siddall--top-hat, sable-lined overcoat, waxed mustache and imperial, high-heeled boots, gold-mounted cane--was descending. And she knew that he had awakened to his one oversight, and was on his way to repair it. But she did not know that the jeweler--old and wise in human ways--would hastily vanish with the bag and that an assistant would come forward with assurances that madame had not been in the shop and that, if she should come in, no business would be negotiated without the general's express consent. She all but fainted at the narrowness of her escape and fled round into the boulevard. She entered a taxi and told the man to drive to Foyot's restaurant on the left bank--where the general would never think of looking for her. When she had breakfasted she strolled in the Luxembourg Gardens, in even better humor with herself and with the world. There was still that horrid-faced future, but it was not leering into her very face. It was nearly four thousand francs away--"and if I hadn't been so stupid, I'd have got eight thousand, I'm sure," she said. But she was rather proud of a stupidity about money matters. And four thousand francs, eight hundred dollars--that was quite a good sum.