he 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
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.

"Oh!" he said indifferently, too indifferently. "In the safe upstairs,
are they? Then he meant giving them to you? Well, they're all right
there. Don't you take them: I mean, put him off. Look here, I've thought
of another way out of the mess I'm in, Miriam. After all, it would have
been playing it rather low down to pop the things, to play tricks