"Phew!" she breathed. "The room reeks of brandy." She went to a window
and flung it open. "I should have thought you had had quite enough to
drink at dinner----"
"You may keep your thoughts to yourself, my lady," he said, with a
scowl. "What I drink is my own business. And, by George! you'd drink, if
you had as much on your mind as I have."
"You'd better tell me about it," she said; "you'd better tell me what
that telegram means. And--Percy, I want to know why you called your
father's attention to my pendant. You had some meaning, some object."
"Oh, you noticed it, did you?" he said, with a sneer. "I would scarcely
have given you credit for so much intelligence. Well, I had a meaning. I
wanted to call the old man's attention to the fact that you, his
daughter-in-law, had only a few trumpery trinkets to wear."
"Do you mean that you wanted him to buy me some, to give me a present?"
she inquired, with a puzzled frown.
"No, not buy you some," he replied slowly, his eyes evading hers.
"There's no need to buy any. I'm thinking of the family diamonds;
there's any amount of them already; a tiara, necklaces, bracelets--and,
I remember, a string of pearls as good as any in the country. What's the
use of them, locked up in the strong room at the bank? Why doesn't he
give them to you; they're yours; by right, as you might say."
She seated herself on a chair at a little distance from him and looked
at him intently; her face had become flushed at his rough description of
the Sutcombe jewels.
"What made you think of them to-night?" she asked.
"I've often thought of them," he answered, evasively.
"But you almost asked Lord Sutcombe to give them to me," she persisted.
"He must have known what you meant; I could see it by his face. But you
were foolish, Percy, to think that you'd get them that way."
"What other way of getting them is there?" he asked, sullenly.
"I don't know," she said. "You should have waited."
"Waited!" he repeated, with an oath. "I tell you I want those diamonds;
and I must have them, and at once."
"You want them?" she said, as if mystified; then her face grew crimson
for an instant, but paled again as she leant forward. "You mean--you
can't mean, Percy, that you would sell the diamonds? Oh, I see what
that telegram means; you've been betting again! You promised me you
wouldn't. But a promise isn't much to you. You've been betting again,
and you've lost a great deal of money."