s legally her own. Her cousin
had, of course, been deceived by the lies which she had repeated
to him; but lies which had been efficacious with him might be
efficacious with others. Who could prove that Sir Florian had not
taken the diamonds to Scotland, and given them to her there, in that
very house which was now her own?

She told Mrs. Carbuncle of the missiles which had been hurled at her
from the London courts of law, and Mrs. Carbuncle evidently thought
that the diamonds were as good as gone. "Then I suppose you can't
sell them?" said she.

"Yes, I could;--I could sell them to-morrow. What is to hinder me?
Suppose I took them to jewellers in Paris?"

"The jewellers would think you had stolen them."

"I didn't steal them," said Lizzie; "they're my very own. Frank says
that nobody can take them away from me. Why shouldn't a man give his
wife a diamond necklace as well as a diamond ring? That's what I
can't understand. What may he give her so that men sha'n't come and
worry her life out of her in this way? As for an heirloom, anybody
who knows anything, knows that it can't be an heirloom. A pot or
a pan may be an heirloom;--but a diamond necklace cannot be an
heirloom. Everybody knows that, that knows anything."

"I daresay it will all come right," said Mrs. Carbuncle, who did not
in the least believe Lizzie's law about the pot and pan.

In the first week in January Lord George and Sir Griffin returned to
the castle with the view of travelling up to London with the three
ladies. This arrangement was partly thrown over by circumstances, as
Sir Griffin was pleased to leave Portray two days before the others
and to travel by himself. There was a bitter quarrel between Lucinda
and her lover, and it was understood afterwards by Lady Eustace that
Sir Griffin had had a few words with Lord George;--but what those few
words were, she never quite knew. There was no open rupture between
the two gentlemen, but Sir Griffin showed his displeasure to the
ladies, who were more likely to bear patiently his ill-humour in the
present circumstances than was Lord George. When a man has shown
himself to be so far amenable to feminine authority as to have put
himself in the way of matrimony, ladies will bear a great deal from
him. There was nothing which Mrs. Carbuncle would not endure from Sir
Griffin,--just at present; and, on behalf of Mrs. Carbuncle, even
Lizzie was long-suffering. It cannot, however, be said that this
Petruchi