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Lady Cecilia Augustus Heartmore turned around suddenly at the sound of the light going out. She peered into the darkness before shrugging and saying, "Probably nothing."

She took off her prized emerald necklace and placed it on it's stand. She then disrobed before entering the bath in the middle of the room. As she was enjoying the warmth of the freshly drawn bath, she heard a sound like something being knocked over. Her head whipped around, once again staring into the shadows. After a few moments she sank back into the bubbles and speaking only to herself said, "Must have been a rat."

After a blissful half an hour she arose from the bathtub, wrapped herself in a towel, then headed over to where she had left her clothes. She walked past where she had left her necklace and noticed it was just where she'd left it.

The thief was surprised to see her scowl into the shadows before looking right at her, and with anger in her voice, yell, "Why won't you just take the damn necklace?!"

The thief took a step back, initially shocked at being detected, but then shocked at the question. She stood there in stunned silence, eyes wide in terror, as Lady Cecilia approached her. She looked up at the Lady, confused at what was happening.

"You've been here every night for a week and you still haven't taken it!" said Lady Cecilia, standing over the thief.

The thief tried to form words, she stood mouth moving but nothing coming out. Lady Cecilia continued to scowl at her until she managed to blurt out, "I didn't believe it to be the real thing! It looked as if you wanted me to take it!"

"Of course I wanted you to take it! Why do you think I asked you to steal it?" she asked.

The thief's look turned to that of confusion before asking, "What? That was you? Why?"

Lady Cecilia's expression softened as her cheeks turned crimson. She looked away and said in a soft voice, "I attached a note to it..."

"A note?" asked the thief, still just as confused as before.

"Asking if you wanted to accompany me to the royal ball next week." said Lady Cecilia, looking back to the thief.