第二天清早，大家正在吃早餐，科尔比律师自信满满地走了过来。他说他花了一夜的时间研究珍珠，并且想出了一个很好的办法。莫德希望能见一见琼斯。于是，科尔比律师建议莫德当天上午跟随他进城。莫德真的去见琼斯了吗？
Colby came around next morning just as Mr.Merrick was entering the breakfast room，and the little man took the lawyer in to have a cup of coffee.The young attorney still maintained his jaunty air，although red—eyed from his night's vigila，and when he saw the Stanton girls and their Aunt Jane having breakfast by an open window he eagerly begged permission to join them，somewhat to Uncle John's amusement.
"Well ？"demanded Maud，reading Colby's face with herclear eyes.
"I made a night of it，as I promised，"said he."This morning I know so much about pearls that I'm tempted to go into the business.""As Jack Andrews did ？"inquired Flo.
"Not exactly，"he answered with a smile."But it's an interesting subject—so interesting that I only abandoned my reading when I found I was burning my electric lamp by daylight.Listen：A pearl is nothing more or less than nacre，a ？uid secretion of a certain variety of oysterb—not the eatable kind.A grain of sand gets between the folds of the oyster and its shell and irritates the beast.In self—defense the oyster covers the sand with a ？uid which hardens and forms a pearl.""I've always known that，"said Flo，with a toss of herhead.
"Yes；but I want you all to bear it in mind，for it will explain a discovery I have made.Before I get to that，however，I want to say that at one time the island of Ceylon supplied the world with its most famous pearls.The early Egyptians discovered them there，as well as on the Persian and Indian coasts.The pearl which Cleopatra is said to have dissolved ina wine and swallowed was worth about four hundred thousand dollars in our money；but of course pearls were scarce in her day.A single pearl was cut in two and used for earrings for the statue of Venus in the Pantheon at Rome，and the sum paid for it was equal to about a quarter of a million dollars.Sir Thomas Gresham，in the days of Queen Elizabeth，had a pearl valued at about seventy—？ve thousand dollars which he treated in the same manner Cleopatra did，dissolving it in wine and boasting he had given the most expensive dinner ever known.""All of which—"began Maud，impatiently.
"All of which，Miss Stanton，goes to show that pearls have been of great price since the beginning of history.Nowadays we get just as valuable pearls from the South Seas，and even from Panama，St.Margarita and the Caromandel Coast，as ever came from Ceylon.But only those of rare size，shape or color are now valued at high prices.For instance，a string of matched pearls such as that owned by Princess Lemoine is estimated as worth only eighty thousand dollars，because it could be quite easily duplicated.The collection of Countess Ahmberg was noted for its variety of shapes and colors more than for its large or costly pearls；andthat leads to my great discovery.""Thank heaven，"said Flo，with a sigh.
"I have discovered that our famous expert.Le Drieux，is an arranta humbugb.""We had suspected that，"remarked Maud.
