t
broken at the toes and down at heel. He earned his bread then, such
as it was;--nobody knows how he gets it now. Why does he call himself
de Bruce, I wonder?"

"Because his godfathers and godmothers gave him that name when he was
made a child of Christ, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven,"
said Lizzie, ever so pertly.

"I don't believe a bit of it."

"I wasn't there to see, Aunt Susanna; and therefore I can't swear to
it. That's his name in all the peerages, and I suppose they ought to
know."

"And what does Lord George de Bruce say about the diamonds?"

Now it had come to pass that Lady Eustace herself did not feel
altogether sure that Lord George had not had a hand in this robbery.
It would have been a trick worthy of a genuine Corsair to arrange and
carry out such a scheme for the appropriation of so rich a spoil. A
watch or a brooch would, of course, be beneath the notice of a good
genuine Corsair,--of a Corsair who was written down in the peerage as
a marquis's brother;--but diamonds worth ten thousand pounds are not
to be had every day. A Corsair must live, and if not by plunder rich
as that,--how then? If Lord George had concocted this little scheme,
he would naturally be ignorant of the true event of the robbery till
he should meet the humble executors of his design, and would, as
Lizzie thought, have remained unaware of the truth till his arrival
in London. That he had been ignorant of the truth during the journey
was evident to her. But they had now been three days in London,
during which she had seen him once. At that interview he had been
sullen and almost cross,--and had said next to nothing about the
robbery. He made but one remark about it. "I have told the chief man
here," he said, "that I shall be ready to give any evidence in my
power when called upon. Till then I shall take no further steps in
the matter. I have been asked questions that should not have been
asked." In saying this he had used a tone which prevented further
conversation on the subject, but Lizzie, as she thought of it all,
remembered his jocular remark, made in the railway carriage, as to
the suspicion which had already been expressed on the matter in
regard to himself. If he had been the perpetrator, and had then found
that he had only stolen the box, how wonderful would be the mystery!
"He hasn't got anything to say," replied Lizzie to the question of
the countess.

"And who is your Mrs. Carbuncle?" asked the old wo