Mona | Page 4

them in such dazzling
gleams.
"Would you be willing to go with me to some reliable jeweler and have
them tested?" he asked.
The lovely woman flushed crimson.
"No, I couldn't do that; I should not like to--to have it known that I had
been wearing such things," she said. "To be sure," she added, with a
quick upward glance that made her companion thrill with secret joy, "I
have confessed it to you, but you were so kind and sympathetic I--I
trusted you involuntarily."
"Thank you," Justin Cutler returned, a brilliant smile lighting his face,
and he longed to open his heart to her, but deemed it better to wait a

while. "Then, if you would not like to go with me, will you trust the
stones with me, and allow me to have them tested for you?"
"Of course I will, if you want to take that trouble; though," she added,
with a little skeptical laugh, as she removed the crescent from her other
ear and gave it to him, "I assure you the trust isn't such a responsible
one as you imagine."
"We shall see," he smilingly responded, as he put the ornaments
carefully in his purse and arose, "I shall submit them to some reliable
dealer in diamonds, get him to set a value upon them, and will inform
you of the verdict this evening."
"Thank you, Mr. Cutler--you are very kind to be so interested for me,"
the beautiful woman gratefully murmured.
"I would I might," the young man began, eagerly, then suddenly
checked himself and added, "might assist you in some way regarding
your other troubles."
Again he had been on the point of declaring himself, but told himself
that the moment was not a propitious one.
"I am afraid it is too late for that," she responded, with a sigh; "the case
is settled, and Mr. Bently's relatives have won. But, good-by--do not let
me detain you longer."
"I will see you again this evening," he returned, adding, as he passed
out of the room: "I will be very careful of your property, and hope to
bring you a good report."
Mrs. Bently shrugged her graceful shoulders indifferently, as if she had
no faith in his belief, and felt that it would be but a small loss if the
jewels were never returned. Then, with a smile and a bow, she went up
stairs to her own rooms.
CHAPTER II.

THE VICTIM OF A WOMAN'S WILES.
Justin Cutler, after leaving the hotel, went directly to one of the first
jewelers of the city, a well-known diamond expert, and submitted Mrs.
Bently's ornaments to his judgment.
"They are remarkably fine stones." Mr. Arnold remarked, after having
carefully examined them through a microscope; "very pure and clear,
most of them without a flaw. So far as I can see, there is not one of
them that is in the least off-color."
"I thought so," was Mr. Cutler's inward and exultant comment; but he
simply asked, as if he accepted the man's verdict as a matter of course:
"What is your estimate of their value?"
"Well," said the jeweler, smiling, "if you wish to know their real value
just for your own satisfaction, I can give it; but that might considerably
exceed the amount I should be willing to name in case you might wish
to dispose of them to me."
"I understand," Mr. Cutler returned; "but what would they be worth to
you--what would you be willing to give for the stones?"
Mr. Arnold considered the matter a few moments, and then named a
sum which Mr. Cutler deemed a fair price under the circumstances, and
one which he felt sure Mrs. Bently would be only too glad to secure in
her emergency.
"You make that offer for them, then--you will purchase them if the lady
agrees to take the sum you have named?" he asked.
"Yes, and the offer shall be open for her acceptance or refusal for three
days."
"Thank you; I will see you again before the time expires," Mr. Cutler
replied; and, taking up the diamonds, which Mr. Arnold had placed in a
small box, he put them carefully away in an inside pocket and left the
store.

When he returned to his hotel he sent his card up to Mrs. Bently, with a
request that she would see him for a few moments in the
reception-room. But he was greatly disappointed when the waiter
returned and said that the lady was out.
He had an engagement for the evening, and thus he would not be able
to see her until the next morning. He was somewhat troubled, for he did
not like to retain her diamonds over night; but since he could not return
them to her, he judged they would be safer