But on this night, had she
at other times been a slave to Saint Cecilia, she would have been free
from that thraldom. The old woman's threats had gone into her very heart's
blood. Theft, and prison, and juries, and judges had been thrown at her
head so violently that she was almost stunned. Could it really be the case
that they would prosecute her for stealing? She was Lady Eustace, and who
but Lady Eustace should have those diamonds or be allowed to wear them?
Nobody could say that Sir Florian had not given them to her. It could not,
surely, be brought against her as an actual crime that she had not
answered Mr. Camperdown's letters? And yet she was not sure. Her ideas
about law and judicial proceedings were very vague. Of what was wrong and
what was right she had a distinct notion. She knew well enough that she
was endeavouring to steal the Eustace diamonds; but she did not in the
least know what power there might be in the law to prevent or to punish
her for the intended theft. She knew well that the thing was not really
her own; but there were, as she thought, so many points in her favour,
that she felt it to be a cruelty that any one should grudge her the
plunder.
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