touch them, did exactly what she had herself done in the
presence of Mrs. Guy at Bleet--gathered them together,
marched off with them to a drawer, put them in and
clicked the key. "You say I'm afraid," he went on as he
again met her; "but I shan't be afraid to take them to
Bond Street."
"And if the people say they're real--?"
He had a pause and then his strangest manner. "They
won't say it! They shan't!"
There was something in the way he brought it out that
deprived poor Charlotte, as she was perfectly aware,
of any manner at all. "Oh!" she simply sounded, as she
had sounded for her last word to Mrs. Guy; and within
a minute, without more conversation, she had taken her
departure.
A fortnight later she received a communication from
him, and toward the end of the season one of the
entertainments in Eaton Square was graced by the
presence of Mrs. Guy. Charlotte was not at dinner, but
she came down afterwards, and this guest, on seeing
her, abandoned a very beautiful young man on purpose
to cross and speak to her. The guest displayed a lovely
necklace and had apparently not lost her habit of
overflowing with the pride of such ornaments.
"Do you see?" She was in high joy.
31
HYLAND
