She stretched out her hand with a sudden apprehension.

"No, don't!" she exclaimed, with a catch of her breath. "I mean, that I

think he has gone to bed. He was very tired."

The Marquess nodded, as if he understood.

"Very well, my dear. Now go. But don't forget," he said, as he held her

hand and kissed her on the forehead, "the diamonds are yours, whenever

you would like to have them."

When she reached her room, Miriam sank into a chair and covered her eyes

with her hands. She was weak and foolish, but she was not so weak and

foolish as not to be touched by the kindness of the Marquess. She was

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glad that Percy had changed his mind about getting the diamonds, though

she could not guess why he had done so. When the Marquess next offered

them to her, she would refuse again to accept them until Percy had found

some other way out of his difficulty. She knew that the diamonds were

almost sacred in the eyes of the Marquess, not only because they were

family heirlooms, but because his wife had worn them; and she shuddered

at the idea of their falling into Percy's hands, the deceit and

treachery which he contemplated.

She dismissed her maid when she heard Percy enter his dressing-room; she

listened to his movements with a sense of uneasiness; he had already

become indifferent to her, and a feeling of actual dislike of him was

growing up within her. Presently the door between the two rooms opened

and he looked in.

"Hallo! not in bed?" His voice was thick, as it always was at that hour

of the night; but he spoke with affected lightness and smiled. "You and

the old man been having a palaver, haven't you? Did he say anything

about--the diamonds?" he added, casually.

"Yes," she said, without turning her head from the glass. "He offered

them to me; but I refused them, as you told me to do."

He had been fumbling at his collar, but as she spoke, his hand fell to

his side and he looked straight before him, with a curious expression on

his face.

"That's right," he said, after awhile. "It wouldn't have done to have

seemed too anxious for them, greedy. He'll think all the better of you.

Let 'em lie at the bank a little longer, till we come back from the

Continent."

"They're not at the bank; they're in the safe in Lord Sutcombe's

dressing-room," she said, unthinkingly. Her eyes were still averted from

him, and she did not see the sudden change in his face; it had grown

absolutely white.




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