Larcenous Lady by Joan Smith Page A

pocket. He reached for it and discovered to his dismay that it was missing. He had changed jackets before leaving the palazzo and most particularly put the coin there to check against Mrs. Sutton’s money. His pockets were deep enough—it seemed unlikely it had fallen out. His eyes slid to Elvira, who had turned aside to speak to her sister.
    It struck him that this morning was the first occasion Elvira had ever voluntarily said a word to him. Had she taken the coin from his pocket while they spoke? Was that why she “dropped” the pearl, and why she had looked self-conscious? He adopted his drawling voice that told both Deirdre and Pronto he was in a pelter and said, “We have agreed the pearl is genuine. Shall we now put the money to the test?”
    Elvira’s head turned slowly. If ever contempt glowed in a woman’s eyes, it glowed in Elvira Sutton’s now. Signor Cerboni looked quite alarmed. “What do you mean?” he demanded.
    “Have you not heard, signore?” Belami drawled. “England is overrun with counterfeit gold coins—guineas, exactly like this,” he said, and lifted one from the leather box. He bounced it on the table. It appeared to him that it rang true. The weight also seemed right, though without his own counterfeit for a comparison, he couldn’t be positive. That’s why Elvira had stolen it!
    Again Belami glanced at Elvira, who smiled triumphantly at him. “Are you satisfied, milord?” she asked.
    “Not yet,” Belami countered, and tested another from the bottom of the box. It also rang true.
    “Would your lordship like to test the money with acid? You’ll find no copper present, I assure you,” Elvira said.
    “I wouldn’t expect to find anything but gold till I got inside the coin,” Belami replied. He turned aside to Cerboni. “The counterfeits have an iron slug inside. If you’re in any doubt, you might cut one of these apart. Gold cuts easily.”
    Cerboni was sufficiently alarmed that he wished to make this experiment on the spot. “The kitchen here at the hotel should be able to provide some tools,” Belami informed him.
    They went off together and were back in a few moments with a mutilated guinea, solid gold to the core.
    “Are we all satisfied?” Elvira asked. “Quite sure you wouldn’t like to have it assayed, Lord Belami? A pity we can’t take it to the Fraternity of Goldsmiths.”
    Belami glared and took another coin from the box.
    “I assure you it would pass the Trial of the Pyx,’’ Elvira said. He knew from the weight it was genuine, and he knew from Elvira’s angry face that she regretted her last revealing speech.
    It would be difficult to say who was more angry with Belami. The duchess deeply resented the delay in getting to the palazzo, Deirdre was angry that her friends had been insulted, and Pronto was in the boughs. Belami felt like a fool, but strangely the Suttons were unfazed. Elvira, with her taunting smile, looked like the cat who has just swallowed the cream.
    The purchase was completed, but there was still one more item of business. “Mama, you are forgetting Lucy’s pearl,” Elvira reminded Mrs. Sutton.
    “It slipped my mind with the scare Lord Belami put into us,” the mother said. “We want to buy another pearl exactly like this for my other daughter, signore,” she explained.
    “It will be very difficult to find another like it,” Cerboni said. “These teardrop pearls are rare. I have a very nice pearl necklace that would suit the young lady,” he added.
    “We realize Lucrezia Borgia did not possess two identical necklaces, signore. Just find us the pearl, and we shall have it mounted,” Elvira said.
    “I don’t have anything remotely resembling this piece,” Cerboni insisted. “I have not seen such a thing in Venice.”
    “Then might I suggest you try outside of Venice?” Elvira said patiently, as though to a child. “Surely in Rome or one of the large centers you could find something. We would be willing to pay