She looked a little troubled.
“Dear Professor, I cannot promise anything!” she said. “You see I am taken altogether by surprise—and—and gratitude—give me time to think!”
“I will!” he said, kindly. “And meanwhile, we will keep our own confidence—and the subject shall be closed till you yourself reopen it. There! You can rely upon me. But think it all over well, reasonably, and clearly—a husband who would care much for you, ten thousand a year, a house in Paris and every comfort and luxury you could wish for is not an absolutely melancholy prospect! Bless you, my dear! And now I’ll lock up the ‘Eye of Rajuna’—it has looked upon us and has seen nothing of falsehood or treachery to warrant the shedding of blood!”
He moved away from her to place the jewel in his safe, and as he did so, said:
“I have an aqua-marine here which is the colour of a Sicilian sea in full summer—and I should like to give it to you now,—I intend it for you—but the hawk eye of Dimitrius would notice it if you wore it, and you would suffer the cross-examination of a Torquemada! However, you shall have it very soon—as soon as I can invent a little fable to give cover to its presentation. And,—let me see!——” here he turned round, smiling.—“Well, upon my word, you have made up the fire capitally! Quite bright and cheery!—and full of hope!”
CHAPTER XV
That evening Diana for the first time saw Dimitrius in a somewhat irritable mood. He was sharp and peremptory of speech and impatient in manner.
“Where have you been all the afternoon?” he demanded, at dinner, fixing his eyes upon her with a piercing intensity.
“With Professor Chauvet,” she answered. “I wanted to see a famous Assyrian jewel he has—it is called ‘The Eye of Rajuna.’”
Dimitrius shrugged his shoulders.