"I hope，"said he，taking advantage of a pause caused bythe girls observing this action，and growing visibly confused by their involuntary stares of curiosity；"I—I hope that you，my new friends，will pardon a liberty I have taken.I wanted to—to present those who were instrumental in saving my life with—with a—a slight token of my gratitude—a sort of—of—memento of a brave and generous act that gave me back the life I had carelessly jeopardized.No，"as he saw surprise and protest written on their faces，"don't refuse me this pleasure，I implore you！The little—eh—eh—mementos are from my own Island of Sangoa，with the necessary mountings by a Los Angeles jeweler，and—please accept them ！"As he spoke he handed to each of the girls a box，afterward giving one to Uncle John and another to Arthur.There remained upon the table three others.He penciled a name upon the bottom of each and then handed them to Patsy，saying：
"Will you kindly present these，with my compliments，tothe Misses Stanton，and to their aunt，when they return this evening？Thank you！"And then，before they could recover from their astonishment，he turned abruptly and ？ed to his room.
The girls stared at one another a moment and then beganlaughing.Arthur seemed crestfallen，while Uncle John handled his small box as gingerlya as if he suspected it contained an explosive.
"How ridiculous！"cried Patsy，her blue eyes dancing.
"And did you notice how scared poor Ajo was，and how he skipped as fearfully as though he had committed some crime ？But I'm sure the poor boy meant well.Let's open our boxes，girls，and see what foolishness Ajo has been up to."Slipping off the cover of her box，Beth uttered a low cry of amazement and admiration.Then she held up a dainty lavalliere，with a pendant containing a superb pearl.Louise had the mate to this，but the one Patsy found had a pearl of immense size，its color being an exquisite shade of pink，such as is rarely seen.Arthur displayed a ring set with a splendid white pearl，while Uncle John's box contained a stick pin set with a huge black pearl of remarkable luster.Indeed，they saw at a glance that the size and beauty of all these pearls were very uncommon，and while the others expressed their enthusiastic delight，the faces of Mr.Merrick and Patsy Doyle were solemn and perplexed.They stared at the pearls with feelings of dismay，rather than joy，and chancing to meet one another's eyes they quickly dropped their gaze to avoid exchanging theugly suspicion that had forced itself upon their minds.
With a sudden thought Patsy raised her head to cast a searching glance around the lobby，for although their partywas seated in an alcovea they were visible to all in the big room of which it formed a part.Yes，Mr.Isidore Le Drieux was standing near them，as she had feared，and the slight sneer upon his lips proved that he had observed the transfer of the pearls.
So the girl promptly clasped her lavalliereb around her neck and openly displayed it，as a proud defiance，if not a direct challenge，to that detestablec sneer.
Arthur，admiring his ring in spite of his chagrin at receiving such a gift from a comparative stranger，placed the token on his ？nger.
"It is a beauty，indeed，"said he，"but I don't think weought to accept such valuable gifts from this boy.""I do not see why，"returned his wife Louise."I think these pretty tributesd for saving Mr.Jones'life are very appropriate.Of course neither Beth nor I had anything to do with that affair，but we are included in the distribution because it would be more embarrassing to leave us out of it.""And the pearls came from Sangoa，"added Beth，"soall these precious gifts have cost Ajo nothing，except for their settings.""If Sangoa can furnish many such pearls as these，"remarkedArthur，re？ectively，"the island ought to be famous，insteadof unknown.Their size and beauty render the gems priceless.""Well，"said Patsy soberly，"we know now whereA.Jones got his money，which is so plentiful that he can build any number of ？lm factories and picture theatres.Sangoa must have wonderful pearl ？sheries—don't you remember，girls，that he told us his people were ？shermen ？—for each of these specimens is worth a small fortune.Mine，especially，is the largest and ？nest pearl I have ever seen.""I beg your pardon ！"sternly exclaimed Uncle John，ashe whirled swiftly around."Can I do anything for you，sir ？"For Mr.Le Drieux had stealthily advanced to the alcove and was glaring at the display of pearls and making notes in a small book.
He bowed，without apparent resentment，as he answeredMr.Merrick："Thank you，sir；you have already served me admirably.Pardon my intrusion."Then he closed the book，slipped it into his pocket andwith another low bow walked away.
"What rank impertinencea ！"cried Arthur，staring after him."Some newspaper reporter，I suppose.Do you know him，Uncle John？""He forced an introduction，a few evenings ago.It is a pearl merchant from New York，named Le Drieux，so I suppose his curiosity is but natural.""Shall we keep our pearls，Uncle ？"asked Beth.
"I shall keep mine，"replied the little man，who never wore any ornament of jewelry."It was generous and thoughtful in young Jones to present these things and we ought not offend him by refusing his 'mementos，'as he calls them."Perhaps all the nieces were relieved to hear this verdict，for already they loved their beautiful gifts.That evening the Stanton girls and their Aunt Jane received their parcels，being fully as much surprised as the others had been，and their boxes also contained pearls.Flo and Maud had lavallieres，the latter receiving one as large and beautiful as that of Patsy Doyle，while Mrs.Montrose found a brooch set with numerous smaller pearls.
Patsy urged them all to wear the ornaments to dinner that evening，which they did，and although Jones was not there to observe the effect of the splendid pearls，Mr.Le Drieux was at his place in the dining room and made more notes in his little book.