sed!"

He was obliged to say something. "My name has, of course, been much
mixed up with hers."

"Yes, Lord Fawn, I know it has. And it is because I am so sure of
your high-minded generosity and--and thorough devotion, that I have
ventured to speak to you. I am sure there is nothing you would wish
so much as to get at the truth."

"Certainly, Lady Glencora."

"All manner of stories have been told about her, and, as I believe,
without the slightest foundation. They tell me now that she had an
undoubted right to keep the diamonds;--that even if Sir Florian did
not give them to her, they were hers under his will. Those lawyers
have given up all idea of proceeding against her."

"Because the necklace has been stolen."

"Altogether independently of that. Do you see Mr. Eustace, and ask
him if what I say is not true. If it had not been her own she would
have been responsible for the value, even though it were stolen; and
with such a fortune as hers they would never have allowed her to
escape. They were as bitter against her as they could be;--weren't
they?"

"Mr. Camperdown thought that the property should be given up."

"Oh yes;--that's the man's name; a horrid man. I am told that he was
really most cruel to her. And then, because a lot of thieves had
got about her,--after the diamonds, you know, like flies round a
honey-pot,--and took first her necklace and then her money, they were
impudent enough to say that she had stolen her own things!"

"I don't think they quite said that, Lady Glencora."

"Something very much like it, Lord Fawn. I have no doubt in my own
mind who did steal all the things."

"Who was it?"

"Oh,--one mustn't mention names in such an affair without evidence.
At any rate, she has been very badly treated, and I shall take her
up. If I were you I would go and call upon her;--I would indeed.
I think you owe it to her. Well, duke, what do you think of
Plantagenet's penny now? Will it ever be worth two halfpence?" This
question was asked of the Duke of St. Bungay, a great nobleman whom
all Liberals loved, and a member of the Cabinet. He had come in since
dinner, and had been asking a question or two as to what had been
decided.

"Well, yes; if properly invested I think it will. I'm glad that it is
not to contain five semitenths. A semitenth would never have been a
popular form of money in England. We hate new names so much that we
have not yet got beyond talking of fourpenny bits."

"There