"It is a reward _magnifique_!" she said. "I wish I could find it," said Mrs Dawson. "If we were both to find it, _chere amie_," said the Frenchwoman, "we might divide the so great profits." "But we never can," said Mrs Dawson. Then she added, after a minute's pause, "All the same, I'd like to say something." "And what is that?" asked Mademoiselle. "You mustn't breathe it, please. You're quite a stranger to me, but coming from Hazlitt Chase, and knowing Miss Beverley, I suppose you're to be trusted." Mademoiselle laid her hand dramatically on her very fat chest. "I suppose so," she replied. "And I must confide in some one, for the thing seems to burn a sort of hole in me." "My good, dear, delightful friend," said the Frenchwoman, "don't let the secret prey on you in that fashion, for it will undermine your so precious health. Confide it to one who is ardent to help you, who has for you already the affection the most profound." "It is nothing, of course," said Mrs Dawson, "and you will promise not to tell." "I have promised." Again the hand was laid over the region of the heart. "Well, then,--it is just this. I know a good jewel when I see it, for my poor husband, the late Dawson, was in the jewellery line, and he taught me to know at a glance the difference between poor gold and good gold, and imitation stones and real ones; and if you will believe me, Mademoiselle d'Etienne, that little minx of a Fanchon Amberley came into the house the other evening with a bangle on her arm which for all the world might have been this,"--here she pointed to the _Standard_. "That bangle might have meant three guineas in my pocket, for it was eighteen carat gold as I am alive, and the turquoise in it was the most beautiful I ever saw." Mademoiselle's dark face flushed and then paled; but she did not stir or show any other sign of special interest. After a minute, she said gently: "There are so many bangles now-a-days, and they are all more or less alike." "Of course Miss Fanchon--" "Ridiculous to call an English girl by one of our names--" "Had it of her own--she said a friend gave it to her, but she was very mysterious about it." "I'd like to see it," said Mademoiselle. "And so would I," said Mrs Dawson. "I'd like to see it for a reason," said Mademoiselle. "Mademoiselle d'Etienne, you don't mean--" "I don't know that I mean anything, but if I saw it, I'd know once for all." "What would you know?" "I tell you what, Mrs Dawson. I have examined the bracelet that little Pauline Hungerford--one of my adorable pupils--has worn, which she got on the day of the break-up. I took it in my hand, and she allowed me to examine it, and I know the other was exactly the same except for the difference in the stones. I should like to see the bracelet that the young lady who ought not to possess bangles, wears."