The jeweller was out, but expected back again shortly; so the distinguished visitor was ushered into the parlour, as the apartment was termed in which Matthew Helston worked.

He rose and bowed; Lady Pargiter nodded with patronising carelessness, as though a crossing-sweeper had thanked her for a penny, and became enraptured with a cuckoo clock. Then it suddenly struck her that this 'person'-as she always termed the parent of Madge, and possible transformer of the present methods of locomotion throughout the civilised world-might be useful to her in her projected inquiry, as a check upon his employer. The latter would, no doubt, attempt to cheapen the parure, while Matthew, having no personal advantage to gain by misrepresentation, might possibly tell the truth about it.

'Oh, by-the-by, Mr.-I forget your name

'Helston, madam,' observed Matthew gravely.

To be sure; it is you who have the charge of my diamonds, is it not? Now, I wish to ask you, as one doubtless acquainted with such matters, what you think they are worth?'

'I always understood, madam, that the guarantee given by Mr. Signet

'Yes, yes, I know that, of course,' she interrupted impatiently; 'that's a mere nominal sum, fixed so high, perhaps, in order that more may be charged for taking care of them.-You don't think so?' For Matthew had shrugged his shoulders, and smiled, it must be confessed, a little scornfully. You think they are worth the money, then perhaps more, even; well now, how much more?'

‘Indeed, madam, I did not mean to imply that. The value of a thing is often very wrongly defined as what it will fetch; but in the case of precious stones, it is a tolerably correct statement. To one who is an admirer of such things, your diamonds would no doubt be an object of immense attraction—'

"What rubbish! who does not admire them?' broke in their proprietress viciously.

"Nay, I only meant that some persons have a greater passion for precious stones than others-have less taste than others, if you will have it so; but however universal may be the admiration of them, very few persons have the money to buy them, and especially such specimens as those of which you speak. Their worth in a practical sense must therefore depend upon the existence of an exceptional purchaser.'

Lady Pargiter drummed with her fingers upon the cuckoo clock with a vehemence that would have alarmed that imprisoned bird had he not been made of sapphires. It seems very difficult,' she said, 'to get a plain answer to a plain question. Well, suppos

ing the existence of such a purchaser, would twenty-five thousand pounds, at the present price of diamonds, be too much to ask him?'

'Not perhaps too much to ask him, madam,' returned Matthew drily. In the case, however, of such a costly article, we generally find some sort of compromise to be necessary. However, here is Mr. Signet, who will be able to give you much better information than I can on such a topic.'

'Sorry I have kept you waiting, Lady Pargiter,' said the jeweller, entering with an apologetic smile. 'Have you shown her ladyship the cuckoo, Helston?' (for her hand was still upon the clock, and he thought she might have taken a fancy to it). That bird is a marvel.'

'I am not come about any such trifle,' returned Lady Pargiter haughtily. My call is upon a matter of great importance-in connection with my diamonds.'

'They are all right, I conclude, Mr. Helston?' inquired the jeweller sharply, but by no means so sharply as of yore: ever since his visit to Cavendish Grove, his behaviour to his assistant had been much more gracious; for a reason which Matthew suspected, and which, I am sorry to say, made him dislike that gentleman even more cordially than before.

'I have no doubt they are all right, as you call it,' observed Lady Pargiter severely; 'my object in coming here, Mr. Signet, is to know at what price you value them.'

"What price? Dear me! do I understand that you wish to part with them?

6

'I don't say that at all, sir; I only want to know, for a particular reason of my own, how much I could get for them if I did wish it.' Well, my lady, that is a serious question to answer, so to speak, right off the reel. If there was any very wealthy personage at present looking out for such a parure, there is no knowing what he might give; but we might wait for years and years for such a customer.'

You know of no such person, then, at present?'

"No, my lady.'

'Well, if you were to buy them yourself, to what price would you be prepared to go? I apply to you because you are acquainted with their history and all about them: you were consulted about them, if I remember right, by my late father.'

6

Yes, my lady, yes. Some years before his death, we endeavoured to come to some sort of arrangement with him: but he asked too much-a great deal too much. The diamonds are very fine ones, no doubt: I examined them on that occasion very minutely: but

trade is no better now than at that time; rather worse. We could make no advance, I fear, upon our then offer.'

6 And what was that?'

'It was fifteen thousand pounds.'

Fifteen thousand fiddle-sticks!' exclaimed Lady Pargiter. 'Why, this person here-your assistant-has just confessed to me that they are worth twenty-five thousand pounds.'

Excuse me, madam,' observed Matthew: 'you asked me whether that sum would be too much to ask for them of an intending purchaser, who was moreover exceptionally wealthy: if you remember, I declined to say what they were worth, and for the best of reasons, because I did not know.'

Well, your story, at all events, and Mr. Signet's, are very different,' returned her ladyship angrily. 'Fifteen thousand pounds, indeed! Why, then, do you suppose my poor father made me pay probate duty upon nearly twice as much for them?'

It was quite true that the late Mr. Ingot had specified the diamonds in his will as being worth twenty-five thousand poundsa circumstance which had always astonished Mr. Signet. For although that might have been their value in the testator's eyes, he was not the man to have swelled the revenue of his country at the expense of his own flesh and blood, unless compelled to do so. If, on the other hand, he felt the jewels could never be disposed of at anything like their just value-and since, moreover, he knew there could be no necessity for his daughter's parting with them—it was rather a good plan than otherwise to have estimated them so highly, though she had to pay for it; since that very fact to a great extent established their value, and added another attraction to her in the matrimonial market.

It was rather difficult, however, for Mr. Signet to explain these views to Lady Pargiter herself; so he confined himself to saying that he supposed it was the late Mr. Ingot's stern sense of duty which had caused him to value the diamonds for probate duty at what he considered their just worth.

And yet you who know that,' answered Lady Pargiter, and who for your own purposes-that is, to obtain more money for their custody-have always valued them at the same price, when I come to say, "What will you give for them?" reply, "Fifteen thousand pounds." You expect to make ten thousand by the transaction. Talk of usury! I consider your conduct most discreditable.' And with that her ladyship drew her train through her arm with a jerk (for she was not going to sweep such a man's floor for him), and walked out of Mr. Signet's establishment.

'Well, I never!' exclaimed the indignant jeweller; she, the

daughter of old Ingot, to dare to talk to me of usury! Of all the vile, cantankerous, grasping women that I have met with in my whole experience, that Lady Pargiter is certainly the worst.'

'Well, after to-day, I suppose, we shall see no more of her,' observed Matthew with a sigh of relief.

'More of her? Of course we shall see more of her. For some reason or other, she wants to sell her diamonds; and as she won't like to go to any other house in the trade about them, she'll be here again to-morrow: she will find money a little tighter by that time. Usury, indeed!—I'll pay her out-so help me Pluto.'

This was a professional way Mr. Signet had of swearing: his impression in so doing was that he was appealing to the God of Riches, who might very well be supposed to be the guardian divinity of a gentleman of his calling; his mistake, however, was only in the letter, not in the spirit, for what he thus swore he always stuck to. Some cynics say that, though the worm will turn if trodden on, he will not turn if you tread on him again and pretty smartly; but socially this is an error. Not even the Lady Pargiters of the earth can afford to be offensive to their fellowcreatures. Moreover, that great firm of jewellers which had its embodiment in the person of Mr. Signet was not a worm, except generically-just as a boa-constrictor may be called a worm.

CHAPTER XIII.

CEDAR VILLA.

In these gross, material days, it is the fashion to say, and perhaps to believe, that self-interest is at the bottom of everything; but if so, it is, in many cases, so far down that there is no seeing where it lies; and it is certain that there are other factors, at least equally powerful, which affect our social relations with one another. With respect to Matthew Helston and his employer, for example, it was a curious fact that their common dislike to Lady Pargiter drew them nearer together than their common interests had ever been able to do. Her ladyship had not returned to Mr. Signet's establishment as he had predicted, and that failure in prophecy as well as of justice (since he had consequently been unable to pay her out' for her insolence in the manner proposed) had greatly embittered that gentleman against her; while his own occasional though infrequent errands to Moor Street kept Matthew's wrath quite sufficiently warm. They were more hateful to him than ever, since his wife's condition was becoming a greater source of anxiety to him, and he was the more loath to leave her at such untimely hours. What, on the other hand, tended to set Matthew against the jeweller was the

latter's obvious desire to establish himself on a footing of some intimacy in Cavendish Grove. Uncle Stephen's arguments had succeeded to some extent in setting at rest his nephew's suspicions of Mr. Signet's motives in presenting the agate ring; but he could not understand why the man should be always calling at No. 7.'

This was a little unreasonable, since the man' had only called twice: once in order to leave his card after dining there, and once to leave a bouquet for Mrs. Helston. The supposition, it was true, in the latter case was that the bouquet had been meant for Amy, ard that, since that young lady was from home-being engaged as usual in her professional duties--he had been compelled to present

it to her sister.

Then on the top of that had come an invitation to the whole family to spend a long day' at his villa on the Thames.

The season for such enjoyments was almost over, but a few days of that Indian summer' which occasionally visits our shores happened to be with us, and Mr. Signet had expressed a very cordial hope that his friends in Cavendish Grove would take advantage of it. The proposal was submitted to some discussion among the little party, and was strongly opposed by Matthew; but on the whole they were in favour of accepting the invitation. Amy, indeed, had suggested that she should stop at home, a plan much approved of by her brother-in-law; but, on the other hand, in the present state of Sabey's health, she was unwilling that her sister should be deprived of her society, while Uncle Stephen, in his humorous way, had pronounced such a design as out of the question. I have heard of Hamlet being performed without the Prince,' he said, "but without Ophelia never. A pretty sort of reception we should get at Mr. Signet's, if we came without you!'

Mr. Barlow, too, who had received the news of that present of the ring with much good-humour, and a complete indifference to the motives of the giver, arising from his own sense of security, strongly advocated the acceptance by the whole party of Mr. Signet's offer. It will be a very pleasant experience, and the little outing will do your sister good, Amy,' was what he had said to his beloved object, and his words, of course, had had weight with her. She had never herself thought Mr. Signet had 'meant anything,' and somewhat resented the view her people had taken of his attentions; and perhaps she expected that their host's behaviour on this occasion would show their suspicions to be baseless. There was not a grain of coquetry in her disposition; she did not use any arguments, even to herself, as some of her sex would have