"I must be just," said Lady Lushington. "I should never even have heard of the necklace but for this dear, clever little girl, Miss Brooke. It was she who discovered it." Mrs Ogilvie glanced for a minute at Annie. Annie's eyes were raised and fixed on the good lady's face. "How lovely it is here!" said Mrs Ogilvie after a pause. "I think the peace of nature the most soothing thing in all the world. Don't you, Miss Brooke?" Annie said "Yes," uttering the word with a little gasp. She was wondering in her heart of hearts what to do next. Whatever happened, she must rush upstairs with Mabel. How could she have overlooked Mrs Ogilvie's name in the visitors' list? But Mrs Ogilvie's next words explained the circumstance. "We too are fresh arrivals," she said. "We must have come by the very next train after you, Henrietta." "Oh dear!" thought Annie. "If you only would have stayed away! How one does get pursued by all sorts of contrary influences when one is just hoping that one is out of the wood! The peace of nature indeed! Much peace it gives to me." "It is getting a little chilly here," said Lady Lushington. "I think, if you don't mind, Susan, we will go indoors.--Girls, you can follow us in a few minutes." Annie gave a deep sigh of relief. Not a word about the necklace. Perhaps there might be a few hours' reprieve. Perhaps it would not be mentioned again until the morning. The two elderly ladies moved slowly together into the house, and the girls were left alone. "Didn't I tell you," said Mabel, "that she would be sure to be here? Isn't it just like our bad luck?" "We must go through with it," said Annie. "Perhaps it is best in the end. Of course there will be a commotion and a great fuss, but nothing ever can be discovered." "I know what they will do," said Mabel, in an agony of terror. "They will search all the jewellers' shops at Interlaken, and of course it will be found. Oh Annie, I am fit to die!" "You must compose yourself," said Annie; "things are not quite as bad as that. We should indeed be in a desperate hole if I had sold the necklace to a jeweller at Interlaken; but I did nothing of the sort." "Then you didn't sell it at all? You have it all the time?" "Now, Mabel, what nonsense you talk! Didn't I show you three ten-pound notes, and didn't I send them to Mrs Priestley?" "Oh, I am bewildered!" said poor Mabel. "Why did I ever pose as a genius? I am sure I have no head at all for the complications of wickedness." "You are very complimentary to me, I must say," said Annie. "But listen; I will calm your poor, palpitating little heart. I did a splendid thing; I sold the necklace to Mr Manchuri." "Who on earth is Mr Manchuri?" said Mabel. "Mabel, you really are silly. He is the dear old Jewish gentleman who took Priscilla Weir home." "And why did you give it to him?"