"This is the first house he has been to since his return from South
America. You've heard all about those wonderful discoveries, of
course...."

The Professor made himself universally agreeable in a mild way, and his
presence created even more than the sensation which Mrs. Rheinholdt had
hoped for. In her desire to show him ample honour, she seldom left his
side.

"I am going to take you into my husband's study," she suggested, later on
in the evening. "He has some specimens of beetles--"

"Beetles," the Professor declared, with some excitement, "occupied
precisely two months of my time while abroad. By all means, Mrs.
Rheinholdt!"

"We shall have to go quite to the back of the house," she explained, as
she led him along the darkened passage.

The Professor smiled acquiescently. His eyes rested for a moment upon her
necklace.

"You must really permit me, Mrs. Rheinholdt," he exclaimed, "to admire
your wonderful stones! I am a judge of diamonds, and those three or four
in the centre are, I should imagine, unique."

She held them out to him. The Professor laid the end of the necklace
gently in the palm of his hand and examined them through a horn-rimmed
eyeglass.