"No," said the old lady, spiritedly, "I should not like it, Miss Fielding, and if I had to endure it, I should try to keep it hidden like a skeleton in a closet; I should not babble of my disgrace as you have had the bad taste to do!"
Jewel laughed insolently, and answered:
"Yes, I knew all your pride, and that made me all the more determined to expose my deceitful sister."
[CHAPTER LI.]
Every one rose simultaneously, and Mrs. Meredith exclaimed, in a shocked tone:
"Jewel!"
Mrs. Meredith knew nothing of Azalia Brooke's sad history. She believed that Jewel's fierce jealousy had driven her mad, hence her startled cry.
But the vindictive girl took no notice of the lady. She turned to Lord Clive, and said, with a smile of cruel exultation:
"Perhaps I might not have spoken, only for the sake of saving you from a union with one so wicked and sin-stained. I recognized my sister that night when I fainted; but I did not intend to betray her, and would not have done so now only that she might not deceive an honest man into making her his wife."