midnight
She called it a crown ! It was a tiara of diamonds , peaked up to a point in front . There was , also , the wide collar of pearls with the diamond slides which had been worn by the painted lady on the stairs . In the smaller boxes were more pearls , long strings of them ; sapphires like a midnight sky , opals , fire in a mist ; rubies , emeralds -- . They should have been locked in a vault at the General 's bank , but he had wanted nothing taken away , nothing disturbed . Yet with that touch of fever upon him he had given the key to Hilda . She took off her cap and turned in the neck of her white linen gown .