"I HAVE COME FOR MY DIAMONDS," KATHLEEN SAID TO THE JEWELER.
We love but once. A score of times, perchance,
We may be moved in fancy's fleeting fashion--
May treasure up a word, a tone, or glance--
But only once we feel the soul's great passion.
E. W. WILCOX.
Mrs. Stone was charmed when she heard that Kathleen was to marry Teddy.
"You will be as happy as the day is long!" she exclaimed, fondly
kissing the beautiful girl.
"Do you think so?" asked Kathleen, anxiously.
Proud as she was, she began to feel frightened at what she had done.
She found her wayward heart going out in a passion of regret after her
lost lover, instead of leaning fondly on her accepted one.
She was alarmed lest it should always be so, and so she timidly asked
the question of Mrs. Stone:
"Do you think so?"
Mrs. Stone did not know anything of that lost lover--did not guess at
the pain in the young girl's heart.
She honestly believed that, given a fair opportunity, her cousin might
win this girl's pure young heart.
So she encouraged Kathleen to look forward with pleasure to her
marriage.
"And I should let it be soon," she said. "Teddy wishes it very, very
much, and has begged me to plead his cause."
"Oh, not soon!" cried the young girl, in alarm.
"Why not, my dear? As well one time as another, if you mean to marry
him at all."
"I--I want to wait until Helen Fox comes home. She always promised to
be my bride-maid."
"You can write to Helen. It will take a few weeks to get your
_trousseau_ ready, and by then she can come home."
The big, dark eyes were dilated with terror.
"I should not like to _hurry_ Helen home. I want--want--her--to enjoy
her trip as long as she likes," faltered Kathleen, piteously.
"You dear, timid child! you are determined to make Teddy wait for his
happiness," laughed her friend. "Well, never mind: let it be as long as
you choose. Only you will not mind if I begin to get your _trousseau_
ready? You know there are always so many delays."
A burning blush stole over Kathleen's pure cheek.
"Dear Mrs. Stone, Teddy will have to take me as I am. I have no money
for a _trousseau_," she sighed.
"Let that be my care. Surely I may make a wedding gift to my cousin's
bride!"
"Let it be as simple as possible, then, dear Mrs. Stone," answered
proud Kathleen.
But that night she thought of the necklace she had left with Golden &
Glitter. It was worth five thousand dollars, and they had advanced her
one thousand on it. Perhaps they would let her have more--enough to buy
her simple wedding garments, and save her the humiliation of accepting
them from Mrs. Stone.
She was not afraid of startling them. The story of her return had
leaked out; the Boston papers had given it publicity. So she went in
Mrs. Stone's carriage the next morning to the great jewelers, and was
received by them with the greatest affability. They overwhelmed her
with congratulations on her resurrection. But when she asked about
her diamond necklace they told her an amazing story. Ivan Belmont had
come to them soon after her supposed death, and redeemed the necklace
by the payment of a thousand dollars, acting, he claimed, under the
instructions of his mother.
Kathleen gazed at him in astonishment.
"But I never told any human being about selling the diamonds! How could
they know?" she exclaimed.
The jewelers were as much puzzled as she was. They had told no one,
either, but were intending to acquaint Mrs. Carew with the truth, when
Ivan Belmont had forestalled them by presenting himself and redeeming
the necklace.
They advised the young girl to go to Mrs. Carew and demand the return
of the jewels. They did not doubt that she would be glad to return them
to the hapless girl they had stripped of everything.
Kathleen's eyes were flashing with anger. She passionately gave the
order to drive to Commonwealth Avenue, determined to demand her rights.
When Jones opened the door to the imperious young beauty his face
lighted with instant recognition and he rejoiced to see that she had
survived the horrors of that dreadful night when Mrs. Carew had cast
her forth to die.
But he remembered the orders of his mistress, and firmly barred her
entrance.
"Mrs. Carew's orders was not to admit you, miss, if you came again," he
said, resolutely.
"How dare she!" exclaimed Kathleen, her eyes flashing.
"But, really, miss, you know 'tain't right for you to follow Mr.
Belmont right into his mother's house," remonstrated Jones, uneasily;
and as she stared at him, he added, coaxingly: "You better go wait down
there at the corner while I go tell Mr. Belmont that you want him."
"Why, what do you mean?" inquired Kathleen, sharply.
"Why, ain't you Ivan Belmont's--sweetheart, miss?"
"How dare you?" cried the girl.
The lightnings of her eyes seemed almost to scorch him, and he faltered:
"You--you asked for him that night when you came before; and Mrs.
Carew--begging your pardon, miss--said you were _bad_, and told me to
take you and throw you in the street."
"So it was you that did it?" the girl cried, sharply.
"No, miss. I could not have treated a dog like that," whispered Jones,
glancing over his shoulder, lest he be overheard. Then he told her how
much he had pitied her, and how he had placed her in the carriage,
hoping some one would care for her.
"God bless you for your pity!" cried the girl, melted almost to tears;
and, in her turn, she told Jones who she really was, and that when she
had asked him for his master that night, she had meant her father, not
knowing that he was dead.
"Mrs. Carew told you a willful falsehood," she said, angrily;
then paused, remembering that it was not dignified to discuss her
step-mother with a servant, no matter how great the provocation.
"And you must really let me come in, because I have important business
with your mistress. If she discharges you for permitting me to enter,
I will get my friends to procure you another situation," she added,
kindly.
The man stood aside in respectful assent.
"Thank you kindly, Miss Carew. You will find my mistress with her son
and daughter in the library," he said.
"So _he_ is here. So much the better," thought Kathleen.
She swept, with an aching heart, down the superb hall of her old home,
Jones gazing after her in respectful admiration.
"My! what a high-stepping beauty! A regular goddess!" he ejaculated;
and breathed a silent prayer that the disinherited daughter might yet
oust these heartless people out of her old home and come into her own.
Kathleen, pale with passion, flung back the library curtains with a
shaking hand, and stood revealed to the inmates.
Ivan Belmont had read with horror in a distant city the marvelous story
of his step-sister's resurrection and return. Trembling with fear, he
recalled the night when he had encountered her upon the steps and fled
away from her, believing she was a ghost.
He had come home to find out the truth, and was even now listening to
the story, as told by his mother and sister, when the curtains parted,
flung back by an angry hand, and Kathleen, beautiful and imperious in
her righteous wrath, stood revealed to their astonished eyes.
A gasp of astonishment, and Mrs. Carew rose, tall, stately, insolent.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" she demanded. "I told Jones
that he was not to admit the likes of you to this house!"
Kathleen's lightning glance almost transfixed her, and she flushed with
sudden uneasiness.
"I came here for my diamonds. Give them to me, and I will go," the
young girl answered, defiantly, and she saw Ivan Belmont whiten to a
deadly pallor.
"Diamonds?" echoed Alpine, in surprise.
"I have just come from Golden & Glitter's," said Kathleen. "I went
there for my diamond necklace that I left there as security for a
thousand dollars when I went away. They told me that Ivan Belmont had
redeemed the necklace for his mother."