noiseless manner the most
violent passions and the most desperate resolves. He was angry with his
wife, who was deliberately jeopardizing his good name, and he had come
there to kill her if he found her flaunting the diamond in Mr. Grey's
eyes; and though no one could have detected any change in his look and
manner as he passed through the room where these two were standing, the
doom of that fair woman was struck when he saw the eager scrutiny
and indescribable air of recognition with which this long-defrauded
gentleman eyed his own diamond.

He had meant to attack her openly, seize the diamond, fling it at Mr.
Grey's feet, and then kill himself. That had been his plan. But when he
found, after a round or two among the guests, that nobody looked at him,
and nobody recognized the well-known millionaire in the automaton-like
figure with the formally-arranged whiskers and sleekly-combed hair,
colder purposes intervened, and he asked himself if it would not be
possible to come upon her alone, strike his blow, possess himself of
the diamond, and make for parts unknown before his identity could be
discovered. He loved life even without the charm cast over it by this
woman. Its struggles and its hard-bought luxuries fascinated him. If
Mr. Grey suspected him, why, Mr. Grey was English, and he a resourceful
American. If it came to an issue, the subtle American would win if Mr.
Grey were not able to point to the flaw which marked this diamond as his
own. And this, Fairbrother had provided against, and would succeed in if
he could hold his passions in check and be ready with all his wit when
matters reached a climax.

Such were the thoughts and such the plans of the quiet, attentive
man who, with his tray laden with coffee and ices, came and went an
unnoticed unit among twenty other units similarly quiet and similarly
attentive. He waited on lady after lady, and when, on the reissuing of
Mr. Durand from the alcove, he passed in there with his tray and his two
cups of coffee, nobody heeded and nobody remembered.

It was all over in a minute, and he came out, still unnoted, and went
to the supper-room for more cups of coffee. But that minute had set its
seal on his heart for ever. She was sitting there alone with her side
to the entrance, so that he had to pass around in order to face her. Her
elegance and a certain air she had of remoteness from the scene of which
she was the glowing center when she smiled, awed him and made his