illain!" And he struck
the Peer twice over the face with his open hand and flung him bleeding
to the ground. It was all done before Rebecca could interpose. She
stood there trembling before him. She admired her husband, strong,
brave, and victorious.

"Come here," he said. She came up at once.

"Take off those things." She began, trembling, pulling the jewels from
her arms, and the rings from her shaking fingers, and held them all in
a heap, quivering and looking up at him. "Throw them down," he said,
and she dropped them. He tore the diamond ornament out of her breast
and flung it at Lord Steyne. It cut him on his bald forehead. Steyne
wore the scar to his dying day.

"Come upstairs," Rawdon said to his wife. "Don't kill me, Rawdon," she
said. He laughed savagely. "I want to see if that man lies about the
money as he has about me. Has he given you any?"

"No," said Rebecca, "that is--"

"Give me your keys," Rawdon answered, and they went out together.

Rebecca gave him all the keys but one, and she was in hopes that he
would not have remarked the absence of that. It belonged to the little
desk which Amelia had given her in early days, and which she kept in a
secret place. But Rawdon flung open boxes and wardrobes, throwing the
multifarious trumpery of their contents here and there, and at last he
found the desk. The woman was forced to open it. It contained papers,
love-letters many years old--all sorts of small trinkets and woman's
memoranda. And it contained a pocket-book with bank-notes. Some of
these were dated ten years back, too, and one was quite a fresh one--a
note for a thousand pounds which Lord Steyne had given her.

"Did he give you this?" Rawdon said.

"Yes," Rebecca answered.

"I'll send it to him to-day," Rawdon said (for day had dawned again,
and many hours had passed in this search), "and I will pay Briggs, who
was kind to the boy, and some of the debts. You will let me know where
I shall send the rest to you. You might have spared me a hundred
pounds, Becky, out of all this--I have always shared with you."

"I am innocent," said Becky. And he left her without another word.

What were her thoughts when he left her? She remained for hours after
he was gone, the sunshine pouring into the room, and Rebecca sitting
alone on the bed's edge. The drawers were all opened and their
contents scattered about--dresses and feathers, scarfs and trinkets, a
heap of tumbled vanities l