Property of a Noblewoman by Danielle Steel Page B

deposit box was sitting on the desk. Hal came to say good-bye to them as they left. He almost seemed like a friend now, in this unusual adventure they had embarked on, to auction off Mrs. Pignelli’s jewels.
    Phillip offered Jane a ride again, and she declined. He promised to call her when they had reproduced the photographs, and return them to her at the court. They drove away a moment later as Jane headed toward the subway, with the thick envelope in her arms. She was feeling pensive, as she thought about the documents in her possession, and the jewelry Phillip had just taken. The last remnants of Marguerite di San Pignelli’s life were about to be sold. It was a somber thought as she hurried down the subway steps to go back to the court.

Chapter 7
     
    ON THURSDAY, PHILLIP’S mother called and asked if he wanted to go to a black tie event with her at the Metropolitan Museum that evening. It was an elegant dinner that the Costume Institute gave every year, and she was on the board. Her sister was supposed to go with her, but she canceled at the last minute, with a bad cold. Winnie was a hypochondriac, and always had some minor ailment or other, and she didn’t like to go out when she was sick.
    “I’m sorry to ask you so late,” his mother apologized. “But I have the tickets, and I hate to go alone.” He thought about it for a minute and then agreed. It was nice to be able to do something for her. Valerie was very independent, led a busy life, and rarely asked anything of her son. And she told him she thought he’d enjoy it. He had been to the same dinner with her once a few years before, right after his father died. It was an impressive event, and he knew that the tickets cost a fortune. It was one of the nice things she could do with the money she got from her husband’s insurance. Now she went every year, and treated her sister to the ticket. His aunt Winnie would never have spent the money, although she could afford to, far more so than his mother.
    He picked Valerie up at her apartment that night, and she was wearing a simple black evening gown, which showed off her still trim figure, and a silver fox jacket that she had had for years and it still looked glamorous on her. Seeing her, he was suddenly reminded of the photographs of the countess that he had picked up from the photographer that afternoon. His mother looked nothing like her, but they had the same aristocratic elegance of another time. And he was proud to be with her, as she took his arm and followed him to the town car he had hired for the evening.
    “Darling, you spoiled me!” she said, smiling at him like a delighted child. “I thought we’d take a cab.”
    “Certainly not,” he said, as he slipped onto the backseat beside her. He was wearing a well-cut tuxedo he’d had made on Savile Row in London, the last time he’d been there for an auction.
    “You look very handsome,” she commented, as they headed uptown to the Met, and when they arrived, he saw that the cream of New York was there in full regalia, including the governor and the mayor, and it was in fact the glittering event she had promised.
    They were seated at a table that included one of the curators of the Costume Institute, a well-known fashion designer, and a famous artist, and the conversation was lively. Phillip was next to a young woman who had produced a successful play on Broadway, and they talked about theater and art all evening. He would have been interested in her, and she was very attractive, but he was disappointed to discover that she was there with her husband, who was a writer, and had just published his first book. It reminded him of how active his mother was, and the crowd she moved in. She was a very unassuming woman, but she had a natural grace that was timeless and ageless, and he had noticed more than one man admiring her that evening. They were among the last to leave, and talked animatedly about the party on the way home.
    “I had a terrific