Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-02-15
CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVI.
There were four ladies already in the
carriage which was waiting for me at
the gate-Lady Mills herself. with an
other more matronly-looking lady by
her side, whose name, already knew,
was Mrs. Cunningham; and on the OPP
posite seat were a younger lady with a
rather sharp expression, named Mrs.
Cloves, who was considered very clever,
and an unmarried one some years older
than l. l made the third. on that seat;
but there was plenty of room for us all.
We drove back first to the High Field,
where there was a dog-cart waiting,
with gentleman in it smoking; and
standing by the horses head, also with
cigar in his mouth, was the tall fair
gentleman whose face l now seemed to
know the best of all. AS soon as we
drove up, he came to the side of the
carriage.
"You are horribly crowded in there;
let me take Miss-Miss Christie in the
dog-cart."
"No, Tom; Miss Christie is better
where she is"
was glad Lady Mills would not let
me go, for l did not care much about
the gentleman they called ''Tom,n and
| L
drive from Geldham to Dcnham Court
was about seven miles and through a
beautiful country. was shown to my
room as soon as we arrived. had not
much time to grieve over my quarrel
with Laurence about the rose, but | did
shed a few tears and thought l should
not be able to enjoy myself at all at
this pretty place without him. Then l
put on my muslin frOck and fastened
the black velvet around my throat with
the glittering, flashing pendant upon it,
and little lower down pinned to the
lace edging the red rose Laurence had
given me. l looked so much nicer than
! had thought possible that l wished
Laurence could see me.
l had left my room and was going
along the corridor when l met a man
who looked exactly like the mysterious
| visitor to the Alders, whom Mr.. Ray
ner had described as ga gentle man,
and whom 1had seen two nights before
going into the stable with Sarah and
Tom Parkes. But this man stood
aside with the manner of a servant
not of 6 gentleman. 1 hurried past
him. quite shocked at the resemblance,
| for of course a friend of Mr.. Rayner
could not be a servant at Denhan,
Court.
l wandered into the conservatory
and was admiring the rare collection
| of beautiful flowers when the gentle
man called tom" came up to me
and said:
Nicely kept place, isn't it2 Shall
l cut you some tiowers?"
''By no means. I could not think OF
allowing these plants to be robbed for
me-"
"Now, that is your pride, Miss
Christie, which prevents you from &C.
| cepting favors. But l suppose one
must not expect humility from lady
| who wears such diamonds;'' and he
glanced again at my pendant. as he
"They are not real diamonds" said
| I, laughing. ''They are only paste. "
He raised his eyebrows.
"Then allow me to congratulate
| you, Miss Christie. on possessing the
very best imitation of the real thing
that have ever seen. l know some
thing about diamonds and never was
| deceived before"
"Look! will go to the door," said
| I, for the light was fading, land then,
as you are such a good judge, you will
be able to tell.'
| I walked to the door. and he bent
| his face down close to mine and exam.
med my pendant carefully. Presently
he gave slight start.
''Am l taking too great liberty in
asking if there are initials on the Other
side of that?'
Eyes, there are,' said I, surprised
"And will you tell me what they
areP'
I I hesitated. If this gentleman
should persist in thinking the ornamen
TO be genuine diamonds, he would con
slider it strange that Mr.. Rayner should
give such present to his child's gov
erness; SO l said, quietly:
II would rather not tell you
81 beg your pardon. 1 have seer
only one ornament exactly like this
but it was real diamonds.
"What was it worthP'' said I.
'About fifteen hundred 2ossnda"