Property of a Noblewoman Read Online Free Page B

Cleef and Arpels, with matching earrings in a separate box, and an incredibly beautiful diamond bracelet that looked like lace. As she opened box after box, Jane found herself staring at one piece of jewelry more beautiful than another, and some of it, particularly the rings, set with very large stones. And there was a large round yellow diamond set in a ring by Cartier in the last box. It looked like a headlight, as Jane sat staring at the dazzling array in the now-open boxes. Hal Baker had said that Marguerite had some nice jewelry that might be of considerable value, but Jane had expected nothing like this. She hadn’t seen anything of its kind since she’d gone to London with her parents at sixteen, and went to the Tower of London to see an exhibit of the queen’s jewels. And some of these were prettier and more impressive than the queen’s. Countess Marguerite di San Pignelli had owned some truly spectacular jewelry, and Jane could easily guess that what she had before her, in the elegant leather boxes from some of the finest jewelers in Europe, was worth a fortune. She wasn’t quite sure what to do next.
    “Maybe we should photograph it,” Jane suggested, as Hal nodded agreement. “That way I can show my boss what’s here.”
    She took out her cell phone and took photographs of each item. It would show the value and importance of the collection far better than her meticulous inventory. Among the pieces, there was also a pearl and diamond choker by Cartier, and a long string of very large perfect pearls in a creamy color. And she had also come across one box that contained a simple gold ring with a crest on it that looked like Marguerite might have worn it as a young girl, a gold chain with a heart-shaped locket on it with a tiny baby picture in it, and a plain gold wedding band. The items in the box were of very little value and looked completely unrelated to the expensive pieces in the other boxes, but the nature of them suggested that they must have had sentimental meaning to their owner.
    Jane could only imagine that the countess must have led a very grand life at one time, and the locations of where the photographs were taken and the clothes she was wearing in them suggested that as well. She was wearing beautiful gowns and dresses, extravagant furs, and elegant hats in every photo. It made Jane curious now about who Marguerite di San Pignelli had been. All that she could tell from the contents of the box was that she had been a young American woman who had gone to live in Italy at eighteen, married the older man in the pictures within a few months, and he had died twenty-three years later. And years after that, she had moved back to the States and never left again after her return, until her death at ninety-one. Among all the passports in the safe deposit box, none were current. Her last one had expired two years after she moved back to New York, and she had never gone back to Italy again. All the information Jane could glean from photographs, newspapers, and documents were pieces of a puzzle, but so much about her was missing. When Marguerite died six months earlier, she had taken all the answers to their questions with her.
    After Jane had finished taking the photographs of each item, from several angles, she closed the jewelry boxes, and Hal put them back in the safe deposit box.
    “I think we’d better leave them here for now,” Jane said nervously. She had no intention of taking them on the subway with her, when she went back to work. The photographs were good enough to show Harriet what they were dealing with. They would have to call an auction house to dispose of them, and Jane was wondering which one Harriet would use. Sotheby’s and Christie’s were the obvious choices, and Jane had no idea if there were other venues for selling jewelry like this. She had no experience with items of this value and magnitude, and the kindly banker didn’t either. Hal strode out of the little cubicle, and the