he
had collected her dress. And from a distance he spoke again, "If you
choose that it shall be lost, so be it."

"You had better take it," said she, following him slowly. But he
would not turn back;--nor would she. They met again in the hall for a
moment. "I should be sorry it should be lost," said he, "because it
belonged to my great-uncle. And I had hoped that I might live to see
it very often."

"You can fetch it," she said, as she went to her room. He however
would not fetch it. She had accepted it, and he would not take it
back again, let the fate of the gem be what it might.

But to the feminine and more cautious mind the very value of the
trinket made its position out there on the bench, within the grasp of
any dishonest gardener, a burden to her. She could not reconcile it
to her conscience that it should be so left. The diamond was a large
one, and she had heard it spoken of as a stone of great value,--so
much so, that Silverbridge had been blamed for wearing it ordinarily.
She had asked for it in joke, regarding it as a thing which could not
be given away. She could not go down herself and take it up again;
but neither could she allow it to remain. As she went to her room
she met Mrs. Jones already coming from hers. "You will keep us all
waiting," said the hostess.

"Oh no;--nobody ever dressed so quickly. But, Mrs. Jones, will you do
me a favour?"

"Certainly."

"And will you let me explain something?"

"Anything you like,--from a hopeless engagement down to a broken
garter."

"I am suffering neither from one or the other. But there is a most
valuable ring lying out in the garden. Will you send for it?" Then of
course the story had to be told. "You will, I hope, understand how
I came to ask for it foolishly. It was because it was the one thing
which I was sure he would not give away."

"Why not take it?"

"Can't you understand? I wouldn't for the world. But you will be good
enough,--won't you, to see that there is nothing else in it?"

"Nothing of love?"

"Nothing in the least. He and I are excellent friends. We are
cousins, and intimate, and all that. I thought I might have had my
joke, and now I am punished for it. As for love, don't you see he is
over head and ears in love with Miss Boncassen?"

This was very imprudent on the part of Lady Mabel, who, had she been
capable of clinging fast to her policy, would not now in a moment
of strong feeling have done so much to raise obstacles in h