“They are the most exquisite jewels I have ever seen in my life, and the settings are peculiar. But what is there underneath? Have you looked, Isabel?” Mrs. Coolidge asked, finding the velvet bed was movable.
“No; I was so startled at finding such an array that I did not stop to make any further investigations, but brought them directly to you.”
Mrs. Coolidge lifted the velvet bed.
“What have we here?” she exclaimed, as she saw the enameled locket studded with diamonds.
With breathless curiosity she touched the spring, and it flew open, revealing the face of Lord Dunforth.
“Who can it be, mamma?” asked Isabel, with wonder-wide eyes.
“I do not know; no one who belongs to Miss Douglas, I fancy, from his looks. How strangely he is dressed—like some court gentleman.”
“And what is this?” said Isabel, taking up the card that lay beneath. Then she cried out. “Why, mamma, it is a dancing list, and look! here are the names of counts and lords! Do you believe now that Miss Douglas ever came by these things honestly?” she demanded, in tones of triumph.
“No, Isabel, I do not,” returned her mother, with firmset lips; “and I shall inquire into it immediately on her return.”
“What could a young girl eighteen years old—a poor girl without a penny, too, and who had never been out of her own country before, know of lords and counts?”