Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/265

 sapphire, round which rays as of a star were indicated, in tiny brilliants.

There was a chain attached, and inside the case was a mirror, behind which was a thin bit of ivory for memoranda, and a little claw of gold to hold a film of handkerchief. On the other side was a receptacle for a powder-puff, another for lip-salve, and a third for pins, or what-not. The powder-puff was faintly stained with pink, and there were traces of pale rose-coloured paste in the miniature box intended for lip salve.

The story of the finding of the vanity box redounded more to the credit of an honest pawnbroker than to that of the police; for, though all Europe was being ransacked for Lady Hereward's lost jewels—the rings, the brooch and the gold case which had disappeared at the time of her mysterious murder—until now no news had been obtained of any of the missing valuables. All pawnbrokers had an exact description of the jewels and the vanity box, but it was only to-day that one of the number had sent a communication to Scotland Yard; and unfortunately the statement Ebbitt of Westbourne Grove had made was so mutilated as to be far from satisfactory.

Ebbitt, it seemed, had been away on a honeymoon, of three days' duration. His principal assistant had been suffering from toothache, and the vanity box was pledged to a youth new to the business. This