ld write about it
daily, and send him the latest news by the wires if the post should
be too slow. "Ah;--yes," said the duke; "I like telegrams best. I
think, you know, that that Lord George Carruthers has had something
to do with it. Don't you, Madame Goesler?" It had long been evident
that the duke was anxious that one of his own order should be proved
to have been the thief, as the plunder taken was so lordly.

In regard to Lizzie herself, Lady Glencora, on her return to London,
took it into her head to make a diversion in our heroine's favour. It
had hitherto been a matter of faith with all the Liberal party that
Lady Eustace had had something to do with stealing her own diamonds.
That esprit de corps which is the glorious characteristic of English
statesmen had caused the whole Government to support Lord Fawn, and
Lord Fawn could only be supported on the supposition that Lizzie
Eustace had been a wicked culprit. But Lady Glencora, though very
true as a politician, was apt to have opinions of her own, and to
take certain flights in which she chose that others of the party
should follow her. She now expressed an opinion that Lady Eustace
was a victim, and all the Mrs. Bonteens, with some even of the Mr.
Bonteens, found themselves compelled to agree with her. She stood too
high among her set to be subject to that obedience which restrained
others,--too high, also, for others to resist her leading. As a
member of a party she was erratic and dangerous, but from her
position and peculiar temperament she was powerful. When she declared
that poor Lady Eustace was a victim, others were obliged to say so
too. This was particularly hard upon Lord Fawn, and the more so as
Lady Glencora took upon her to assert that Lord Fawn had no right
to jilt the young woman. And Lady Glencora had this to support
her views,--that, for the last week past, indeed ever since the
depositions which had been taken after the robbery in Hertford
Street, the police had expressed no fresh suspicions in regard to
Lizzie Eustace. She heard daily from Barrington Erle that Major
Mackintosh and Bunfit and Gager were as active as ever in their
inquiries, that all Scotland Yard was determined to unravel the
mystery, and that there were emissaries at work tracking the diamonds
at Hamburg, Paris, Vienna, and New York. It had been whispered to Mr.
Erle that the whereabouts of Patience Crabstick had been discovered,
and that many of the leading thieves in Londo