The Golden Slipper | Page 4

Miss Driscoll's
father. He could imagine her conclusion.
In vain he denied all knowledge of the matter. She told him other
stories which had come to her ears of thefts as mysterious, followed by
restorations as peculiar as this one, finishing with, "It is your daughter,
and people are beginning to say so."
And Miss Strange, brooding over these instances, would have said the
same, but for Miss Driscoll's absolute serenity of demeanour and
complete abandonment to love. These seemed incompatible with guilt;
these, whatever the appearances, proclaimed innocence--an innocence
she was here to prove if fortune favoured and the really guilty person's

madness should again break forth.
For madness it would be and nothing less, for any hand, even the most
experienced, to draw attention to itself by a repetition of old tricks on
an occasion so marked. Yet because it would take madness, and
madness knows no law, she prepared herself for the contingency under
a mask of girlish smiles which made her at once the delight and
astonishment of her watchful and uneasy host.
With the exception of the diamonds worn by the Ambassadress, there
was but one jewel of consequence to be seen at the dinner that night;
but how great was that consequence and with what splendour it
invested the snowy neck it adorned!
Miss Strange, in compliment to the noble foreigners, had put on one of
her family heirlooms--a filigree pendant of extraordinary sapphires
which had once belonged to Marie Antoinette. As its beauty flashed
upon the women, and its value struck the host, the latter could not
restrain himself from casting an anxious eye about the board in search
of some token of the cupidity with which one person there must
welcome this unexpected sight.
Naturally his first glance fell upon Alicia, seated opposite to him at the
other end of the table. But her eyes were elsewhere, and her smile for
Captain Holliday, and the father's gaze travelled on, taking up each
young girl's face in turn. All were contemplating Miss Strange and her
jewels, and the cheeks of one were flushed and those of the others pale,
but whether with dread or longing who could tell. Struck with
foreboding, but alive to his duty as host, he forced his glances away,
and did not even allow himself to question the motive or the wisdom of
the temptation thus offered.
Two hours later and the girls were all in one room. It was a custom of
the Inseparables to meet for a chat before retiring, but always alone and
in the room of one of their number. But this was a night of innovations;
Violet was not only included, but the meeting was held in her room.
Her way with girls was even more fruitful of result than her way with
men. They might laugh at her, criticize her or even call her names

significant of disdain, but they never left her long to herself or missed
an opportunity to make the most of her irrepressible chatter.
Her satisfaction at entering this charmed circle did not take from her
piquancy, and story after story fell from her lips, as she fluttered about,
now here now there, in her endless preparations for retirement. She had
taken off her historic pendant after it had been duly admired and
handled by all present, and, with the careless confidence of an assured
ownership, thrown it down upon the end of her dresser, which, by the
way, projected very close to the open window.
"Are you going to leave your jewel there?" whispered a voice in her ear
as a burst of laughter rang out in response to one of her sallies.
Turning, with a simulation of round-eyed wonder, she met Miss
Hughson's earnest gaze with the careless rejoinder, "What's the harm?"
and went on with her story with all the reckless ease of a perfectly
thoughtless nature.
Miss Hughson abandoned her protest. How could she explain her
reasons for it to one apparently uninitiated in the scandal associated
with their especial clique.
Yes, she left the jewel there; but she locked her door and quickly, so
that they must all have heard her before reaching their rooms. Then she
crossed to the window, which, like all on this side, opened on a balcony
running the length of the house. She was aware of this balcony, also of
the fact that only young ladies slept in the corridor communicating with
it. But she was not quite sure that this one corridor accommodated them
all. If one of them should room elsewhere! (Miss Driscoll, for instance).
But no! the anxiety displayed for the safety of her jewel precluded that
supposition. Their hostess, if none of the others, was within access of
this room and its open window. But how about