k a brooch,--a favourite
brooch of her own,--in order that she might have an excuse for
calling at the jewellers'. But even this she postponed from day to
day. Circumstances, as they had occurred, had taught her to believe
that the police could not insist on breaking open her desk unless
some evidence could be brought against her. There was no evidence,
and her desk was so far safe. But the same circumstances had made
her understand that she was already suspected of some intrigue with
reference to the diamonds,--though of what she was suspected she did
not clearly perceive. As far as she could divine the thoughts of her
enemies, they did not seem to suppose that the diamonds were in her
possession. It seemed to be believed by those enemies that they had
passed into the hands of Lord George. As long as her enemies were on
a scent so false, might it not be best that she should remain quiet?

But all the ingenuity, the concentrated force, and trained experience
of the police of London would surely be too great and powerful for
her in the long run. She could not hope to keep her secret and the
diamonds till they should acknowledge themselves to be baffled. And
then she was aware of a morbid desire on her own part to tell the
secret,--of a desire that amounted almost to a disease. It would soon
burst her bosom open, unless she could share her knowledge with some
one. And yet, as she thought of it all, she told herself that she had
no friend so fast and true as to justify such confidence. She was ill
with anxiety, and,--worse than that,--Mrs. Carbuncle knew that she
was ill. It was acknowledged between them that this affair of the
necklace was so terrible as to make a woman ill. Mrs. Carbuncle at
present had been gracious enough to admit so much as that. But might
it not be probable that Mrs. Carbuncle would come to suspect that she
did not know the whole secret? Mrs. Carbuncle had already, on more
than one occasion, said a little word or two which had been
unpleasant.

Such was Lizzie's condition when Mr. Bunfit came, with his
authoritative request to be allowed to inspect Lizzie's boxes,--and
when Mrs. Carbuncle, having secured her own privacy, expressed her
opinion that Mr. Bunfit should be allowed to do as he desired.

CHAPTER XLIX

Bunfit and Gager

As soon as the words were out of Mrs. Carbuncle's mouth,--those
ill-natured words in which she expressed her assent to Mr. Bunfit's
proposition that a search s