The Blue Diamond Read Online Free PDF

London I promise you.”
    “I believe the Prince was wearing something similar before I left,” he mentioned.
    “I am the only lady wearing it! It is said I am the patron saint of hairdressers, for having set a new style. Of course I brought Angelo with me. I could not do without him.”
    “And you can save money by lending him to Harvey when you do not require his services,” he pointed out. He was subjected to a calculating appraisal, to determine whether he was being satirical. His bland smile told her nothing. “Tell me, Lady Palgrave,” he went on, “where did you chance to hear of this great ruby? It is odd there were no rumors of such a gem for sale.”
    “It was the greatest luck in the world! The very day we arrived—the day before yesterday—we were at a small rout party at Lord Clancarty’s place. The first day you know, we had to resort to our English connections, though we mean to move totally in the international set once we are established. But Clancarty asked us to a small rout to meet some people, and that was where we saw it.”
    “Clancarty had it?”
    “That old stick? Certainly not! How should he have the Star of Burma? It was a Miss Kruger who had it—an Austrian girl, who came to the party especially to meet us. Her Papa used to be in England, Harvey says, but I don’t remember him.”
    “That would be Peter Kruger’s daughter,” he said at once.
    “I believe that was the name someone mentioned. We shall be sure to call on them, for they are very good socially, Clancarty says. The girl’s aunt is a Countess von something or other. You must know Maria—surely she is one of the belles of the city.”
    “Oh yes, I know her slightly.”
    “A thin, doe-eyed girl, with a regal neck. Not in my own style. Harvey, of course, fell in love with her on the spot. Actually it was Harvey who saw the ruby there.”
    “Was she wearing it?”
    “No, had it chucked in her reticule, and thought it was paste—imagine! Some friend had lent it to her to wear, but she didn’t like it—only took it to avoid hurting the woman’s feelings actually.”
    “Just pulled it out of her reticule and showed it to Harvey, did she?” he asked, with his brows raised.
    “Not quite like that. She sneezed, you see, and reached quickly into her bag for a handkerchief, and it fell out. Harvey says that even before he lifted it off the floor, he saw the glorious star glowing deep inside it, for the light struck it at just the right angle. And when he picked it up, his fingers were trembling so. He could hardly credit what he held. And then for her to laugh, as though it were a joke for a gem of such a size to be rolling about the carpet. Only of course it did not actually roll. It is mounted in a rather hideous cluster of diamonds—a brooch. I shall have it redone somehow. Too large for a ring. A pendant on a diamond necklace Harvey thinks.” She lapsed into a considering silence, while Moncrief hastily considered that this tale, if true, had all the earmarks of a setup. Kruger was not a name one would expect to hear in connection with such an affair. It was a good, old family.
    “Who was it that loaned the brooch to Miss Kruger?” he asked.
    “Feydeau is her name. She is perfectly horrid, Harvey says. That is what he usually says when he does not want me to meet his new flirts. She is French—Mademoiselle Feydeau, come to the city for the Congress. Nothing is known of her. She does not move in the best circles. In fact, she does not seem to move at all, from what I can discover. No one knows her.”
    Palgrave returned, dangling from his fingers the ruby, which hung on a link from the diamond-clustered brooch. “Here she is,” he said, handing it to his cousin. “A beauty, ain’t she? Hard to credit finding a dark ruby of such a size without a flaw. I’ve had it to a jewel merchant, and he agrees with me I have got a real bargain.”
    Moncrief accepted the jewel and walked to the window to examine it.