The stones were collected by Cardinal Armand de Saint-Maclou, Archbishop of Caen, some thirty years ago.

They were set by Lebeau of Paris, on the order of the cardinal, and were left by him to his nephew, our friend the duke.

Since his marriage, the duchess has of course worn them." All this I said in a most matter-of-fact tone.
"Do you mean that they belong to her ?" asked Marie, with a sudden lift of her eyes.
"I don't know.

Strictly, I should think not," said I impassively.
Marie Delhasse stretched out her hand and began to finger the stones.
"She wore them, did she ?" "Certainly." "Ah! I supposed they had just been bought." And she took her fingers off them.
"It would take a large sum to do that--to buy them _en bloc_," I observed.
"How much ?" "Oh, I don't know! The market varies so much: perhaps a million francs, perhaps more.

You can't tell how much people will give for such things." "No, it is difficult," she assented, again fingering the necklace, "to say what people will give for them." I leaned back in my chair.