True Loves Reward | Page 3

bargain. I
said I would consult my husband.
"I have a weakness for diamonds--I confess that I am extravagantly
fond of them," Mrs. Vanderheck here interposed, a slight smile curling
her lips, "and my husband has generously gratified my whims in this
respect. He approved of the purchase of the crescents, provided some
reliable jeweler would warrant that they were all right. I reported this
decision to Mrs. Bent, and we went together to an expert to submit the
stones to his verdict.
"He pronounced them exceedingly fine, and valued them far above the
price which my friend had put upon them, and I told her I would take
them. We returned to our hotel and went directly to my rooms, where
my husband drew up a check for a hundred dollars more than the
stipulated price, Mrs. Bent giving a receipt for the amount, while she
was profuse in her expressions of gratitude for our kindness in relieving
her from pecuniary embarrassment. 'I shall go immediately to pay my
bill,' she said, looking greatly pleased that she was able to do so, as she
handed me the case containing the diamonds, and then she immediately
left the room. Half an hour later she came to me again, her eyes red and
swollen from weeping, an open telegram in her hand. Her mother was
dying, and had sent for her, and she was going immediately to her. She
took an affectionate leave of me and soon after left the hotel. This, your
honor, is how I came to have the crescents and"--taking a folded paper
from her elegant purse--"here is the receipt for the money paid for
them."
The lady took her seat after giving this testimony, while the receipt was
examined by the police justice and Mr. Cutler's counsel.
"I hope the lady has not been a victim to the same cunning scheme that
served to defraud the gentleman from Chicago," he gravely observed.
"You do not mean to imply that my stones are not genuine!" exclaimed

Mrs. Vanderheck, with sudden dismay.
"I am not able to say, madame," his honor courteously replied, "but I
should like to have them examined by an expert and proved."
Mr. Palmer here stated that he could settle the question if he were
allowed to examine them.
Both cases were passed to him, and after closely inspecting the
crescents for a moment or two, he returned them, with the remark:
"The stones are all paste, but a remarkably good imitation. I should
judge that they had been submitted to a certain solution or varnish,
which has recently been discovered, and is used to simulate the
brilliancy of diamonds, but which, if the stones are dropped in alcohol,
will dissolve and vanish."
"Impossible!" Mrs. Vanderheck protested, with some warmth. "It
cannot be that I have worn paste ornaments for more than three years,
and never discovered the fact."
"It is not strange that you were deceived," the gentleman replied,
glancing at the glittering gems, "for I think that only an expert could
detect the fact, they are such a clever imitation of genuine gems."
"I cannot believe it," the lady persisted, "for Mrs. Bent was not out of
my sight a moment, from the time the expert in Boston pronounced his
verdict, until they were delivered to roe in my room at the hotel."
"Nevertheless," Mr. Palmer positively affirmed, "the woman must have
adroitly managed to change the crescents on the way back, substituting
the bogus for the real ones, for these are certainly paste."
Mr. Cutler's counsel here stated that his client had an important
statement to make, whereupon that gentleman related that Mr. Arnold,
the Chicago expert to whom the real crescents had been submitted, had
made a private mark upon the setting, with a steel-pointed instrument,
and if such a mark could be discovered upon Mrs. Vanderheck's

ornaments they were doubtless real.
He produced the card which Mr. Arnold had given him, and the
crescents were carefully examined, but no mark of any kind could be
found upon them, and the general conclusion was that they were but a
skillful imitation of genuine diamonds, and that Mrs. Vanderheck had
only been another victim of the clever adventuress, whose identity was
still as much of a mystery as ever.
Mr. Palmer and Ray now began to feel quite uncomfortable regarding
the cross which Mr. Rider had also taken in charge. They consulted a
few moments with Mrs. Vanderheck's counsel, and then the cross was
quietly submitted to Mr. Palmer's examination.
He at once said it did not belong to him, although it was very like the
one that had been stolen, for he also was in the habit of putting a
private mark upon his most expensive jewelry; and he further remarked
that he