"Take as many as you like," he had said; "they have been here, for all I know, ever since the house was repaired and refurnished in my grandfather's time, and they might be sold for old iron, if there were only enough of them." Mrs.Wagner had picked up the first six keys that presented themselves, and had made Jack Straw the happiest of men.

He found no fault with them for being rusty.

On the contrary, he looked forward with delight to the enjoyment of cleaning away the rust.

"They shall be as bright as diamonds," he had said to his mistress, "before I have done with them." And what did Madame Fontaine lose, by failing to inform herself of such trifles as these?
She never discovered what she had lost.

But she had not done with Jack Straw yet..