But she was crying,’ Mistral said in astonishment.

‘She always cries when she loses,’ Sir Robert said, ‘I assure you she is a very wealthy woman, but she cannot resist the lure of the Casino.’

Mistral laughed.

‘She deceived me completely. She looked so miserable that if I had any money I would have given it to her. It is lucky that I am penniless.’

‘Have you lost it already?’ Sir Robert asked.

As he spoke, a carriage drove up at the doorway. He put his hand on Mistral’s arm.

‘Come this way quickly,’ he said insistently.

She let him lead her a little way down a passage into a small reading room which was deserted.

‘Why have you brought me here?’ she asked.

‘I was afraid someone might come and interrupt us,’ he said. ‘I want to talk to you.’

‘But I must not stay,’ Mistral said quickly. ‘I must go back to my aunt. She is playing at one of the tables.’

‘Then she won’t miss you for a moment or two.’

‘If she saw us talking together, she might ask how we met,’ Mistral said anxiously.

‘She won’t see us,’ Robert said reassuringly. ‘I will keep you but a moment. Tell me how you are enjoying yourself.’

‘I saw you at dinner,’ Mistral replied. ‘You had friends with you. Everyone in the dining room seemed to be with friends. It made me feel a little lonely.’

‘I don’t think you need have felt envious of anyone tonight,’ Sir Robert said, ‘for everyone was envying you.’

‘Envying me?’ Mistral asked in astonishment. ‘But why?’ ‘For your youth and beauty,’ Sir Robert answered, ‘and the women were of course all envying you your necklace.’

Mistral’s fingers went up to the peals round her neck. They were grey, Sir Robert noticed, a strange filmy grey like the inside of an oyster shell.

He had never seen pearls like them, they were astounding.

They were my mother’s,’ Mistral said quietly. ‘Aunt Emilie gave them to me tonight and said I might wear them. I have never had anything of my mother’s before, but – I wish they weren’t grey.’

“They are unique, magnificent,’ Sir Robert said. ‘I should not think there is another necklace like it in the whole world. Your mother must have been a very wealthy woman to possess such wonderful jewels.’

‘No, she was – ’ Mistral began impulsively, then stopped, seeming to bite back the very words from her lips. ‘You must not ask me questions. Aunt Emilie would be very angry! And now – I must go.’

‘Don’t go,’ Sir Robert said. ‘I have told you that the women were envying you tonight, but wouldn’t you like to know what the men were thinking?’

‘About me?’ Mistral enquired innocently.

‘But of course! Everyone was talking about you, and they were both thinking and saying that you were the most beautiful person they had ever seen in the whole of their lives.’