is knees. He was a dark,
hookey-nosed, well-made man, with an exuberance of greasy hair, who
would have been considered handsome by many women, had there not been
something, almost amounting to a squint, amiss with one of his eyes.
When he was preaching, it could hardly be seen, but in the closeness
of private conversation it was disagreeable.

"Oh,--indeed!" said Lizzie, with a look of astonishment, perfectly
well assumed. She had already begun to consider whether, after all,
Mr. Emilius--would do.

"Yes;--Lady Eustace; it is so. You and I have known each other now
for many months, and I have received the most unaffected pleasure
from the acquaintance,--may I not say from the intimacy which has
sprung up between us?" Lizzie did not forbid the use of the pleasant
word, but merely bowed. "I think that, as a devoted friend and a
clergyman, I shall not be thought to be intruding on private ground
in saying that circumstances have made me aware of the details of the
robberies by which you have been so cruelly persecuted." So the man
had come about the diamonds, and not to make an offer! Lizzie raised
her eyebrows and bowed her head with the slightest possible motion.
"I do not know how far your friends or the public may condemn you,
but--"

"My friends don't condemn me at all, sir."

"I am so glad to hear it!"

"Nobody has dared to condemn me, except this impudent woman here, who
wants an excuse for not paying me what she owes me."

"I am delighted. I was going to explain that although I am aware you
have infringed the letter of the law, and made yourself liable to
proceedings which may, perhaps, be unpleasant--"

"I ain't liable to anything unpleasant at all, Mr. Emilius."

"Then my mind is greatly relieved. I was about to remark, having
heard in the outer world that there were those who ventured to accuse
you of--of perjury--"

"Nobody has dared to accuse me of anything. What makes you come here
and say such things?"

"Ah,--Lady Eustace. It is because these calumnies are spoken so
openly behind your back."

"Who speaks them? Mrs. Carbuncle, and Lord George Carruthers;--my
enemies."

Mr. Emilius was beginning to feel that he was not making progress. "I
was on the point of observing to you that according to the view of
the matter which I, as a clergyman, have taken, you were altogether
justified in the steps which you took for the protection of property
which was your own, but which had been attacked by des