The Cameo Necklace. Evelyn Coleman

who might be thieves, to ask them about the necklace.

      She had no choice if she was to find it before Tante Tay returned.

      Cécile woke up early on Sunday morning. While she dressed, she thought about how she could get back to the wharf. It wouldn’t be easy. Like any young lady, Cécile was not allowed to go out alone. What excuse could she give for asking someone to go back with her? She couldn’t bear to tell Maman or Papa what had really happened. They would be so disappointed in her for wearing the necklace without her aunt’s permission. She didn’t even want to tell Grand-père or her brother, Armand.

      Cécile wished that her dear friend Marie-Grace Gardner were in New Orleans. She and Marie-Grace had solved a lot of difficult problems together. But Marie-Grace was away, visiting relatives. Cécile was on her own. She took a deep breath and started downstairs.

      The house was quiet except for the occasional clanging of pots as the cook, Mathilde, prepared breakfast in the kitchen building at the back of the courtyard. Cécile went into the parlor and lifted the cover from her parrot’s cage. “Bonjour, Cochon,” she said. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”

      Cochon ruffled his feathers and squawked, “Wake up! Wake up!”

      “Cécile, what are you doing up so early?” Maman said, peering into the parlor. “Come, tell me about the circus while I water the flowers.”

      Out in the courtyard, walking alongside Maman, Cécile described the evening at the circus, leaving out what had happened with the necklace. She had just thought of an excuse she might give Maman for going back today when Hannah, the new housemaid, stepped into the garden.

      “Good morning, madame. May I cut some flowers for the breakfast table?” she asked.

      “Yes, of course,” Maman said.

      As Hannah snipped roses behind them, Cécile continued talking. “Maman, you know my knitted blue gloves? I think I dropped them last night on the wharf. Is it all right if Armand walks me back there after church today?”

      “Do you mean the gloves Grand-père bought you for Christmas?”

      “Yes, those.” Cécile bit her lip.

      “Excuse me, madame,” Hannah said.

      Oh no! Cécile suddenly remembered that Hannah had helped her dress last night. Did she know that Cécile hadn’t worn her gloves? Was she going to tell Maman?

      But Hannah only said, “Madame, would you like more water in your pitcher?”

      Relieved, Cécile watched Hannah carry Maman’s pitcher to the cistern. Hannah, she reflected, was so different from their previous maid, Ellen, who had died in the terrible yellow fever epidemic last year. Ellen had been lively and funny, and she had liked to tell Cécile stories about her big Irish family. Hannah was quiet, and even though she was a free person of color like the Reys, she said little about herself. Yet just like Ellen, she seemed to know, without being told, exactly when something needed to be done. Hannah had been with them for several months, and Maman seemed pleased with her.

      Cécile turned back to Maman. “May I go look for my gloves?”

      “I think you should,” Maman said. “They were so pretty. I hope no one has picked them up. Now you must have breakfast and get ready for church.” Then Maman said to Hannah, “You should get ready, too. Your chores can wait. You said you would come this Sunday.”

      “I’m sorry, madame,” Hannah replied, barely above a whisper. “I’m not feeling so well today. Maybe next Sunday.”

      At breakfast, Cécile listened to her mother tell Grand-père, Papa, and Armand that Cécile had lost her gloves.

      Cécile felt terrible not telling the truth to her mother. She wished the story were true, that the gloves were all she’d lost last night! Cécile swallowed a lump in her throat. Losing her gloves wouldn’t be at all like losing the last gift from someone’s husband. Unlike the gloves, the necklace was irreplaceable.

      As Cécile sat with her family in Saint Louis Cathedral later that morning, she prayed that when she went back to the Floating Palace, her necklace would be waiting safely in the Lost and Found, or even lying in the dirt. Please just let me find it, she prayed. For the rest of Mass, Cécile counted the minutes until she was free to go and search.

      4

      Back to the Floating Palace

      When Mass ended, Cécile burst through the heavy cathedral doors, anxious to get back to the wharf. Armand was right beside her. “You seem awfully worried about your gloves,” he said. “Let’s go and find them.”

      Cécile and her brother set off for the wharf almost in silence. Usually they would have talked the whole way, but today he seemed preoccupied, and Cécile was lost in thought, too. The overcast sky seemed to reflect their mood.

      They had almost passed Jackson Square when Armand stopped to read a handbill nailed to a tree. Cécile waited, so deep in thought about the necklace that she barely noticed the people strolling on the square. But then she spotted Monsieur Lejeune on a side street, his head bent down as he talked with a woman under a tree.

      Cécile was about to go greet her tutor when he hurried off. The woman he’d been talking to turned and walked toward the cathedral. Cécile squinted. Why, it was Hannah. Cécile was glad to think she must be feeling better. Cécile knew that her tutor and Hannah were acquainted. Maman had said that Monsieur Lejeune was the one who had told Hannah the Reys needed a housemaid and suggested she apply.

      “Come on, Cécé. I just saw something that will make you happy,” Armand said, grabbing her hand. “We have to hurry.”

      Cécile doubted that anything could make her happy until she found Tante Tay’s necklace, but she allowed her big brother to pull her along. Now he seemed just as anxious to get to the circus as she did.

      They hurried down to the levee. A few people were strolling or riding in carriages, but the crowds and marchands were gone. They easily found the Floating Palace among the dozens of steamboats lined up along the wharves, their smokestacks releasing dark plumes into the air.

      Armand pointed to a small wooden booth near the showboat. “That’s where they sell tickets to the circus,” he said. “The Lost and Found is probably there, too. Go see, and when you’re done, come over here.” Armand gestured to one of the nearby warehouses. “I have a surprise for you.”

      Cécile hurried to the ticket booth. A sign said the circus was closed on Sundays, and she didn’t see anyone at the window. She stood on tiptoe and leaned over the ticket counter. Maybe she could at least see if there was a Lost and Found box inside.

      “May I help you?” a voice roared.

      Cécile was so startled, she almost fell backward. Behind the counter was the shortest man she’d ever seen. He reminded her of stories in Harper’s Monthly magazine about a tiny circus man named General Tom Thumb.

      “I said, may I help you?” he boomed again. Cécile wondered how on earth such a big voice could be inside this little man. He held up his short-fingered hand. “Howdy. What can I do for you?”

      Cécile reached across the counter and shook his hand. “Bonjour, monsieur. I lost a necklace. I thought maybe someone had turned it in. It was—”

      “Stop,” the man said, holding his hand up to his forehead. “Let me guess. Was it a beautiful pearl necklace?”

      Cécile shook her head. “No, it was a cameo necklace on black lace.”

      The little man shrugged. “I’m better at guessing weights.” He tilted his head. “Hmm, seventy-two pounds?”

      Cécile had no idea how much she weighed, but she was beginning to feel that this conversation