“Will you allow me to examine them, please?” Mr. Cutler asked, still sure that the stones were genuine.

Mrs. Bently unhesitatingly removed one of the crescent ornaments from her ear and laid it in his hand.

He examined it critically and was still confident that it was really composed of precious gems.  He believed that if she had had them made to order to replace the stolen ones, either the jeweler had been guilty of a wretched blunder, or else some friend had interposed to replace the jewels which she so regretted.

“I am sure there is some mistake.  I am confident that these are real diamonds and very valuable,” he asserted, positively.

“Oh, no, they are not,” she repeated, with grave assurance.

Then she naively added, and with a little ripple of laughter: 

“I am glad to know that they are so good an imitation as to deceive you.  There is some comfort in that, although it is not pleasant to have to acknowledge the sham.”

Still her companion was not convinced.  Surely no paste jewels ever emitted such a brilliant white light as those which lay upon his palm, catching and reflecting the various colors about 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.”