what was right she had a distinct notion. She knew well enough that she
was endeavouring to steal the Eustace diamonds; but she did not in the
least know what power there might be in the law to prevent or to punish
her for the intended theft. She knew well that the thing was not really
her own; but there were, as she thought, so many points in her favour,
that she felt it to be a cruelty that any one should grudge her the
plunder. Was not she the only Lady Eustace living? As to these threats
from Mr. Camperdown and Lady Linlithgow, she felt certain they would be
used against her whether they were true or false. She would break her
heart should she abandon her prey and afterwards find that Mr. Camperdown
would have been wholly powerless against her had she held on to it. But
then who would tell her the truth? She was sharp enough to understand, or
at any rate suspicious enough to believe, that Mr. Mopus would be actuated
by no other desire in the matter than that of running up a bill against
her. "My dear," she said to Miss Macnulty, as they went upstairs after the
opera, "come into my room a moment. You heard all that my aunt said."

"I could not help hearing. You told me to stay there, and the door was
ajar."

"I wanted you to hear. Of course what she said was the greatest nonsense
in the world."

"I don't know."

"When she talked about my being taken to prison for not answering a
lawyer's letter, that must be nonsense."

"I suppose that was."