ave. I suppose you're afraid
to tell her so, lest she should turn you out;--but it's well she
should know it. I've done my duty. Never mind about the servant. I'll
find my way out of the house." Nevertheless the bell was rung, and
the countess was shown to her carriage with proper consideration.

The two ladies went to the opera, and it was not till after their
return, and just as they were going to bed, that anything further was
said about either the necklace or the visit. Miss Macnulty would not
begin the subject, and Lizzie purposely postponed it. But not for a
moment had it been off Lady Eustace's mind. She did not care much for
music, though she professed to do so,--and thought that she did. But
on this night, had she at other times been a slave to St. Cecilia,
she would have been free from that thraldom. The old woman's threats
had gone into her very heart's blood. Theft, and prison, and juries,
and judges had been thrown at her head so violently that she was
almost stunned. Could it really be the case that they would prosecute
her for stealing? She was Lady Eustace, and who but Lady Eustace
should have these diamonds or be allowed to wear them? Nobody could
say that Sir Florian had not given them to her. It could not, surely,
be brought against her as an actual crime that she had not answered
Mr. Camperdown's letters? And yet she was not sure. Her ideas about
law and judicial proceedings were very vague. Of what was wrong and
what was right she had a distinct notion. She knew well enough that
she was endeavouring to steal the Eustace diamonds; but she did not
in the least know what power there might be in the law to prevent, or
to punish her for the intended theft. She knew well that the thing
was not really her own; but there were, as she thought, so many
points in her favour, that she felt it to be a cruelty that any one
should grudge her the plunder. Was not she the only Lady Eustace
living? As to these threats from Mr. Camperdown and Lady Linlithgow,
she felt certain they would be used against her whether they were
true or false. She would break her heart should she abandon her
prey and afterwards find that Mr. Camperdown would have been wholly
powerless against her had she held on to it. But then who would tell
her the truth? She was sharp enough to understand, or at any rate
suspicious enough to believe, that Mr. Mopus would be actuated by no
other desire in the matter than that of running up a bill against