But her aunt fired a last shot at her. "Unless you do as you're bid,
Lizzie, you'll find yourself in prison as sure as eggs." Then, when her
niece was beyond hearing, she turned to Miss Macnulty. "I suppose you've
heard about these diamonds, Macnulty?"

"I know she's got them, Lady Linlithgow."

"She has no more right to them than you have. I suppose you're afraid to
tell her so, lest she should turn you out; but it's well she should know
it. I've done my duty. Never mind about the servant. I'll find my way out
of the house." Nevertheless the bell was rung, and the countess was shown
to her carriage with proper consideration.

The two ladies went to the opera, and it was not till after their return,
and just as they were going to bed, that anything further was said about
either the necklace or the visit. Miss Macnulty would not begin the
subject, and Lizzie purposely postponed it. But not for a moment had it
been off Lady Eustace's mind. She did not care much for music, though she
professed to do so, and thought that she did. But on this night, had she
at other times been a slave to Saint Cecilia, she would have been free
from that thraldom. The old woman's threats had gone into her very heart's
blood. Theft, and prison, and juries, and judges had been thrown at her
head so violently that she was almost stunned. Could it really be the case
that they would prosecute her for stealing? She was Lady Eustace, and who
but Lady Eustace should have those diamonds or be allowed to wear them?
Nobody could say that Sir Florian had not given them to her. It could not,
surely, be brought against her as an actual crime that she had not
answered Mr. Camperdown's letters? And yet she was not sure. Her ideas
about law and judicial proceedings were very vague. Of what was wrong and