She would be saved from the feeling of public defeat in the
affair of the necklace, which would be very dreadful to her. Lord Fawn
might probably be again at her feet. And in all the fuss and rumour which
such an affair would make in London, there would be nothing of which she
need be ashamed. She liked the idea, and she had grown to be very sick of
the necklace.
But what should she do with it? It was, at this moment, between her
fingers beneath the pillow. If she were minded, and she thought she was so
minded, to get rid of it altogether, the sea would be the place. Could she
make up her mind absolutely to destroy so large a property, it would be
best for her to have recourse to "her own broad waves," as she called them
even to herself. It was within the "friendly depths of her own rock-girt
ocean" that she should find a grave for her great trouble. But now her
back was to the sea, and she could hardly insist on returning to Portray
without exciting a suspicion that might be fatal to her.
And then might it not be possible to get altogether quit of the diamonds
and yet to retain the power of future possession? She knew that she was
running into debt, and that money would, some day, be much needed.
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