She met Nicky after work hours and he was full of his find and very wishful for Cora to take it.  But that weren’t her purpose by no means.

“No, Nick,” she said.  “This fix we be in wants a power of careful thought and management, and we’ve got to go slow.  You ain’t a very downy man and can’t see much beyond the point of your beautiful nose; but I can, and I’ll ask you to go on as you are going for a bit and leave the future to me.”

“I’d trust you with my life,” he said, and then she told him what he was to do.

“You give this thing to Mary Jane,” directed the devious woman.  “You needn’t be telling you picked it up and that ’tis no more than a come-by-chance, because then she’d set no store upon it.  But just say ’tis a gift for her, and she’ll be pleased and axe no questions.”

Of course Nicholas couldn’t see the point; but Cora just told him to trust her and do what she said.

“You leave the future to me,” she told him.  “I know a lot more about this than what you do, and if there’s one thing above all else it is for you to trust me.  You’ll do a mighty sight more than you think you’re doing when you give that rubbish to Mary Jane.”

Well, he felt with a woman like Cora Dene, his strong suit was to obey and not argue, for he understood now, by a sure instinct, that such a creature was a tower of strength if she loved a man, and had best be let alone to work out her plans in her own way.  And he presented the amber heart to Mary Jane and endured her joy and her kisses, though his heart sank under ’em and he puzzled all night to know how such a stroke was going to work for good.  And if he’d known the proper tempest that had to rage afore there was peace, doubtless his pluck would have quailed under it.

And the very next morning, so proud as punch, Mary Jane came to breakfast with her amber heart flashing under her chin, and when James sat down to his meal, the first thing he catched sight of was his gift to Cora on his sister’s bosom.

His eyeballs jingled no doubt and he put down his knife and fork and stared as if he’d seen a spectrum instead of the homely shape of Mary Jane behind the teapot.

“What—­what in thunder be that hanging round your neck?” he asked.

“A little momentum from Nick,” she answered lightly.  “He gave it to me yesterday and was wishful for me to let him see me wear it.”

“Caunter gave you that?” he said.  “Let me look at it.”

Well, she was a bit surprised, of course, to see James tighten up and set his jaws as he was wont to do before ugly news; but she put it down to astonishment and no more and handed the heart and the chain to James.  She knew nought about his gift to Cora, and so when he dropped it, after squinting close at it, and said:  “My God in heaven, ’tis the same!” then Mary Jane felt proper amazement.

“The same what?” she asked.

“The same treasure that I gave Cora for a heirloom,” he answered, his jaws like a rat-trap.