man.

"A particular friend of mine with whom I am staying at present. You
don't go about a great deal, Aunt Linlithgow, but surely you must
have met Mrs. Carbuncle."

"I'm an ignorant old woman, no doubt. My dear, I'm not at all
surprised at your losing your diamonds. The pity is that they weren't
your own."

"They were my own."

"The loss will fall on you, no doubt, because the Eustace people will
make you pay for them. You'll have to give up half your jointure for
your life. That's what it will come to. To think of your travelling
about with those things in a box!"

"They were my own, and I had a right to do what I liked with them.
Nobody accuses you of taking them."

"That's quite true. Nobody will accuse me. I suppose Lord George
has left England for the benefit of his health. It would not at
all surprise me if I were to hear that Mrs. Carbuncle had followed
him;--not in the least."

"You're just like yourself, Aunt Susanna," said Lizzie, getting up
and taking her leave. "Good-bye, Lucy,--I hope you're happy and
comfortable here. Do you ever see a certain friend of ours now?"

"If you mean Mr. Greystock, I haven't seen him since I left Fawn
Court," said Lucy, with dignity.

When Lizzie was gone, Lady Linlithgow spoke her mind freely about her
niece. "Lizzie Eustace won't come to any good. When I heard that she
was engaged to that prig, Lord Fawn, I had some hopes that she might
be kept out of harm. That's all over, of course. When he heard about
the necklace he wasn't going to put his neck into that scrape. But
now she's getting among such a set that nothing can save her. She has
taken to hunting, and rides about the country like a madwoman."

"A great many ladies hunt," said Lucy.

"And she's got hold of this Lord George, and of that horrid American
woman that nobody knows anything about. They've got the diamonds
between them, I don't doubt. I'll bet you sixpence that the police
find out all about it, and that there is some terrible scandal. The
diamonds were no more hers than they were mine, and she'll be made to
pay for them."

The necklace, the meanwhile, was still locked up in Lizzie's
desk,--with a patent Bramah key,--in Mrs. Carbuncle's house, and was
a terrible trouble to our unhappy friend.

CHAPTER XLVII

Matching Priory

Before the end of January everybody in London had heard of the great
robbery at Carlisle,--and most people had heard also that there
was something very pecul