It is late noon when Mrs. Cleveland returns to her lodgings, and finds
Ivy lounging on a sofa in the shabby parlor, in a state of blissful
beatitude.
"You have been out, Ivy?" she exclaims, in surprise, glancing at the
elegant carriage dress of brocaded black silk and sparkling jet.
"Yes," Ivy answers complacently.
"Where?" her mother inquires, surprised, for hitherto Ivy has spent all
her time in the seclusion of her chamber, bewailing her untoward fate.
"I have been--to the jeweler's," Mrs. Noble answers, with shining eyes,
and enjoying her mother's amazement with all the zest of one who has
taken new hold on life.
Mrs. Cleveland lifts her kidded hands in real dismay.
"You have never been selling your jewels--oh, Ivy!" she cries.
"Don't be a fool, mother!" cries the dutiful daughter. "Of course I
haven't sold them. You know I would die before I would part with my
diamonds!"
"Then why have you been to the jeweler's?" Mrs. Cleveland asks,
sharply, and Ivy answers, with a little, cunning, triumphant laugh:
"I have left my pearls and diamonds to be reset. You know I have wanted
them reset ever since we came to London. At last I have my wish, and
they are to be done in truly royal style."
Mrs. Cleveland stares at the speaker, the color fading from her cheeks
and lips, her eyes startled.
"And who is to pay for this last mad extravagance of yours?" she
demands, in a low, angry voice.
"Leslie Noble, of course," Ivy answers, laughing in her mother's face.
"She is mad, I fear--stark, raving mad," Mrs. Cleveland exclaims,
gazing apprehensively at her daughter.
"Oh, no, I am not, mamma. Leslie was with me at the jeweler's. He has
been here and begged my pardon for everything. He does not believe now
that Lady Fairvale is his wife. I am going to live with him again."
"Where? At Darnley House?" Mrs. Cleveland asks, almost stupefied at
this unexpected news.
"No, for Darnley House is sold, and he cannot get it back. But he
means to take another just as fine for me, and I am to choose all
the furniture. Oh, mamma, he is so sorry for the bad way in which he
treated me. He loves me still. There is nothing strange about that, is
there, that you look so incredulous? I was his first love, you know.
And he thinks me beautiful still. He is ready to do anything to prove
his repentance."
"Did you put him to the test?" Mrs. Cleveland inquires, ironically.
"Yes, indeed! You know how often he has refused to have my jewels reset
for me. So I said, 'if you really mean that, Leslie, let me have my
pearls and diamonds put into a more elegant setting.'"
"Oh!" groans Mrs. Cleveland, wringing her hands.
"He was delighted at the idea," pursues Ivy, triumphantly, "and
proposed that we should see about it at once. We drove down to the
jeweler's, taking the pearls and diamonds with us. I selected the
design for the settings at a terrible outlay, but Leslie did not
murmur. He was glad to be forgiven on any terms."
"Oh!" Mrs. Cleveland groans again.
"Mother, I never saw you act so much like a simpleton!" Ivy exclaims.
"Leslie is coming again to-morrow. He wants you to forgive him, too."
"Oh, Ivy, you blind, credulous, silly little fool!" exclaims Mrs.
Cleveland, in a towering passion.
"What do mean?" the daughter cries, indignantly, springing to her feet.
"I mean that you will never see Leslie Noble or your jewels again. It
was all a plot to rob you of them. He has taken them for Vera, whom he
has abducted and hidden away in obscurity."
"He denies the charge, mamma. He believes with Mr. Gilbert that Vera
has run away herself. But my jewels--oh, mamma, do you really believe
he would rob me of them? Let us go down to the jeweler's and bring
them back at once," exclaims Ivy, in feverish terror.
"I will go with you, but I doubt if we shall find them there. He would
no doubt take them away on some clever pretext as soon as he left
you. Oh, how foolish you were to trust that villain's exaggerated
repentance."
"Let us go," Ivy answers, with feverish energy, tying on her bonnet,
and hurrying her mother from the room.
The sequel proved Mrs. Cleveland right.
Leslie Noble had already taken away the jewels on the shallow pretext
of his wife's change of mind. Poor Ivy was driven back to her lodgings,
this time in real genuine hysterics.