"I do feel for her so much! I think she has
been so hardly used!"
He was obliged to say something. "My name has of course been much mixed up
with hers."
"Yes, Lord Fawn, I know it has. And it is because I am so sure of your
high-minded generosity and--and thorough devotion, that I have ventured to
speak to you. I am sure there is nothing you would wish so much as to get
at the truth."
"Certainly, Lady Glencora."
"All manner of stories have been told about her, and, as I believe,
without the slightest foundation. They tell me now that she had an
undoubted right to keep the diamonds; that even if Sir Florian did not
give them to her, they were hers under his will. Those lawyers have given
up all idea of proceeding against her."
"Because the necklace has been stolen."
"Altogether independently of that. Do you see Mr. Eustace, and ask him if
what I say is not true. If it had not been her own she would have been
responsible for the value, even though it were stolen; and with such a
fortune as hers they would never have allowed her to escape. They were as
bitter against her as they could be; weren't they?"
"Mr.
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