When he was gone she hastily re-entered the house. Her brother had not reappeared from upstairs; but she was informed that Tabitha Lark was waiting to see her, if her ladyship would pardon the said Tabitha for coming so late. Lady Constantine made no objection, and saw the young girl at once.
When Lady Constantine entered the waiting-room behold, in Tabitha’s outstretched hand lay the coral ornament which had been causing Viviette so much anxiety.
‘I guessed, on second thoughts, that it was yours, my lady,’ said Tabitha, with rather a frightened face; ‘and so I have brought it back.’
‘But how did you come by it, Tabitha?’
‘Mr. Glanville gave it to me; he must have thought it was mine. I took it, fancying at the moment that he handed it to me because I happened to come by first after he had found it.’
Lady Constantine saw how the situation might be improved so as to effect her deliverance from this troublesome little web of evidence.
‘Oh, you can keep it,’ she said brightly. ‘It was very good of you to bring it back. But keep it for your very own. Take Mr. Glanville at his word, and don’t explain. And, Tabitha, divide the strands into two bracelets; there are enough of them to make a pair.’
The next morning, in pursuance of his resolution, Louis wandered round the grounds till he saw the girl for whom he was waiting enter the church. He accosted her over the wall. But, puzzling to view, a coral bracelet blushed on each of her young arms, for she had promptly carried out the suggestion of Lady Constantine.
‘You are wearing it, I see, Tabitha, with the other,’ he murmured. ‘Then you mean to keep it?’
‘Yes, I mean to keep it.’