Lord Fawn knew nothing about jewels, but even he knew that if the circle of stones which he saw, with a Maltese cross appended to it, was constituted of real diamonds, the thing must be of great value. And it occurred to him at once that such a necklace is not given by a husband even to a bride in the manner described by Lizzie. A ring, or brooch, or perhaps a bracelet, a lover or a loving lord may bring in his pocket. But such an ornament as this on which Lord Fawn was now looking, is given in another sort of way. He felt sure that it was so, even though he was entirely ignorant of the value of the stones. “Do you know what it is worth?” he asked.
Lizzie hesitated a moment, and then remembered that “Frederic,” in his present position in regard to herself, might be glad to assist her in maintaining the possession of a substantial property. “I think they say its value is about—ten thousand pounds,” she replied.
“Ten—thousand—pounds!” Lord Fawn riveted his eyes upon them.
“That’s what I am told—by a jeweller.”
“By what jeweller?”
“A man had to come and see them—about some repairs—or something of that kind. Poor Sir Florian wished it. And he said so.”
“What was the man’s name?”
“I forget his name,” said Lizzie, who was not quite sure whether her acquaintance with Mr. Benjamin would be considered respectable.
“Ten thousand pounds! You don’t keep them in the house;—do you?”
“I have an iron case upstairs for them;—ever so heavy.”
“And did Sir Florian give you the iron case?”
Lizzie hesitated for a moment. “Yes,” said she. “That is—no. But he ordered it to be made; and then it came—after he was—dead.”
“He knew their value, then?”
“Oh, dear, yes. Though he never named any sum. He told me, however, that they were very—very valuable.”
Lord Fawn did not immediately recognise the falseness of every word that the woman said to him, because he was slow and could not think and hear at the same time. But he was at once involved in a painful maze of doubt and almost of dismay. An action for the recovery of jewels brought against the lady whom he was engaged to marry, on behalf of the family of her late husband, would not suit him at all. To have his hands quite clean, to be above all evil report, to be respectable, as it were, all round, was Lord Fawn’s special ambition. He was a poor man, and a greedy man, but he would have abandoned his official salary at a moment’s notice, rather than there should have fallen on him a breath of public opinion hinting that it ought to be abandoned. He was especially timid, and lived in a perpetual fear lest the newspapers should say something hard of him. In that matter of the Sawab he had been very wretched, because Frank Greystock had accused him of being an administrator of tyranny. He would have liked his wife to have ten thousand pounds’ worth of diamonds very well; but he would rather go without a wife forever—and without a wife’s fortune—than marry a woman subject to an action for claiming diamonds not her own. “I think,” said he, at last, “that if you were to put them into Mr. Camperdown’s hands—”
“Into Mr. Camperdown’s hands!”
“And then let the matter be settled by arbitration—”
“Arbitration? That means going to law?”
“No, dearest—that means not going to law. The diamonds would be entrusted to Mr. Camperdown. And then someone would be appointed to decide whose property they were.”
“They’re my property,” said Lizzie.
“But he says they belong to the family.”
“He’ll say anything,” said Lizzie.
“My dearest girl, there can’t be a more respectable man than Mr. Camperdown. You must do something of the kind, you know.”
“I shan’t do anything of the kind,” said Lizzie. “Sir Florian Eustace gave them to me, and I shall keep them.” She did not look at her lover as she spoke; but he looked at her, and did not like the change which he saw on her countenance. And he did not like the circumstances in which he found himself placed. “Why should Mr. Camperdown interfere?” continued Lizzie. “If they don’t belong to me, they belong to my son;—and who has so good a right to keep them for him as I have? But they belong to me.”
“They should not be kept in a private house like this at all, if they are worth all that money.”
“If I were to let them go, Mr. Camperdown would get them. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to get them. Oh, Frederic, I hope you’ll stand to me, and not see me injured. Of course I only want them for my darling child.”
Frederic’s face had become very long, and he was much disturbed in his mind. He could only suggest that he himself would go and see Mr. Camperdown, and ascertain what ought to be done. To the last, he adhered to his assurance that Mr. Camperdown could do no evil;—till Lizzie, in her wrath, asked him whether he believed Mr. Camperdown’s word before hers. “I think he would understand a matter of business better than you,” said the prudent lover.
“He wants to rob me,” said Lizzie, “and I shall look to you to prevent it.”
When Lord Fawn took his leave—which he did not do till he had counselled her again and again to leave the matter in Mr. Camperdown’s hands—the two were not in good accord together. It was his fixed purpose, as he declared to her, to see Mr. Camperdown; and it was her
