And as she dressed she endeavoured to come to some conclusion.
Would it not be best for her that she should tell everything to her
cousin, and throw herself upon his mercy, trusting to his ingenuity to
extricate her from her difficulties? She had been thinking of her position
almost through the entire night, and had remembered that at Carlisle she
had committed perjury. She had sworn that the diamonds had been left by
her in the box. And should they be found with her, it might be that they
would put her in jail for stealing them. Little mercy could she expect
from Mr. Camperdown should she fall into that gentleman's hands! But
Frank, if she would even yet tell him everything honestly, might probably
save her.
"What is this about the diamonds?" he asked as soon as he saw her. She had
flown almost into his arms as though carried there by the excitement of
the moment. "You don't really mean that they have been stolen?"
"I do, Frank."
"On the journey?"
"Yes, Frank--at the inn at Carlisle."
"Box and all?" Then she told him the whole story--not the true story, but
the story as it was believed by all the world. She found it to be
impossible to tell him the true story.
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