But now, as Jannet displayed her room to her guest, placing the little overnight bag, and quietly mentioning her pleasure in having her mother's room and her mother's picture, she was anxious to assure herself of her new possession in the desk and felt impatient with herself for not having locked the door against everybody long enough to see that the pearls were safe. Of course they were, though.
What was Nell saying? Oh, yes, she was commenting on the size of the house, admiring it, but telling Jannet the gossip. Some said that her uncle intended to turn it into a summer hotel, and others said that he had expected his daughter's family to occupy it with him, as well as his son's. "Andrew was going to be married, if he hadn't gotten all banged up in the war."
"Oh,--too bad!" exclaimed sympathetic Jannet. "Wouldn't his sweetheart marry him?"
"Dear me, I'll never catch up with the why and wherefore of our family. Can you keep a secret, Nell?"
Nell had admired the desk before, but Jannet led her to it again.
"I want to show you a secret drawer, Nell, and what I found in it, something wonderful,--my mother's pearls, the ones she has on in the picture!"
Nell leaned over with the greatest interest, while Jannet seated herself in front of her desk, now open, and pressed the spring as she had done before. Out came the drawer, more easily than before,--but empty!
Quickly Nell looked into her friend's face, which was blank with surprise. "Gone!" Jannet exclaimed. "Why, Nell, it's just as it happened before! Mother lost them, too, or they were stolen from her desk. Oh, _who_ could have done it! Why _did_ I leave them there!"
Jannet dropped her hands in her lap and sat there looking at Nell, who drew up a chair and took one of Jannet's hands to pat it and try to comfort her.
"I ought not to care so much, perhaps," said Jannet, almost ready to cry, "but I loved to think that Mother has worn them. I'd think it a dream, but Nell, I put them on my neck and loved to have them there,--don't tell me that I'm quite crazy!" Jannet, smiling, was herself now.
"Of course you are not crazy. I believe that the pearls were there, and where could they have gone? They did not walk off by themselves certainly, and there isn't another thing in the drawer. Could there be a crack in the bottom?" Nell tapped the delicate wood with her finger.