“So I shall.”
“But——” and she hesitated.
“Ah! I see you don’t trust me.”
“I trusted you—once—Ralph. Do you recollect how brutally you treated me—eh?” she asked, in deep reproach.
“I recollect that, because of you, I quarrelled with Adolphe. He loved you, and now he’s in prison, and serve him right, the idiot!”
The concealed intruder was watching them between the wall and the curtain, yet hardly daring to breathe for fear of discovery. He had the pearls in his pocket, and as the glass door was closed he was unable to reopen it and escape, lest he should reveal himself.
He heard Ansell’s words, and understood the situation. If the lid of the jewel-case were raised the thief would be discovered, and the alarm given.
Those were moments of breathless peril.
“Adolphe protected me from your violence,” she replied, simply. “He was my friend, but he did not love me, because I loved you—only you!”
“And you care for me no longer?”