a week had elapsed since mrs. wallis and celia had driven into t— to make their purchases, and the latter had everything in readiness for her visit. to-morrow she was to say good-bye to the moat house for "at least a fortnight," lulu had said; and already she had commenced to pack her dress trunk, although she was not to leave till the latter part of the following day.
"you look in a flutter of excitement, celia," her brother remarked, as he passed her in the hall; "you will not mind my leaving you on this, your last evening in our midst?" he asked, glancing back at her laughingly, over his shoulder.
"certainly not," celia answered with a smile; "where are you going, though?"
"to crumleigh, to play cricket. the vicar's away—gone to some meeting or other at t—, so i promised putty to be at the cricket field early to keep him in countenance. he's so shy!"
eric went off, whistling. lawrence puttenham had arrived at the vicarage on the previous monday; and great had been his astonishment when, the vicar having offered to show him the cricket field, he had found eric there in the midst of a group of village lads. the meeting between the friends had been of the warmest nature; and during the very short while which had elapsed since, they had seen a great deal of each other. lawrence puttenham had been introduced to the household at the moat house, and sir jasper had assured him he would always be pleased to see him.
a quiet, rather reserved boy was putty; shy, eric called him, but he was not actually that, though his manner was somewhat diffident. no two boys could be more unlike than eric and putty, and yet they were the closest friends.
celia stood hesitating in the hall after her brother had left her. she was feeling restless and unsettled; and, as she could do no more packing till the morning, she thought she might as well join her mother and sister, who were in the garden. she found them on one of the seats on the terrace; joy was reading, whilst mrs. wallis was busy with some fancy work. the latter looked up as celia approached, and said:
"come and sit down with us, dear." then, as celia complied, she continued: "we shall be missing you by this time to-morrow evening; and joy will feel lonely when bed-time comes, and she has that great room to herself. as soon as you are gone, celia, we shall be looking forward to your return."
celia smiled, and glanced at joy, who had not looked up from her book. it struck mrs. wallis as strange that the sisters should show no regret at the coming parting, seeing they had never been separated in their lives before.
"is that a very entrancing book, joy?" she asked, with a note of reproach in her tone.
"very, mother," was the concise reply.
"where is uncle jasper?" celia inquired, abruptly.
"in the library, i believe. he told me he had some letters he must write to-night. i daresay he has finished them by this time. suppose you go and see."
celia rose with alacrity, and went into the house. she was hurt that joy had not put down her book and entered into conversation, as she would have no opportunity of speaking to her sister to-morrow night. surely joy had altered lately! with a pang of remorse she remembered why that probably was.
celia found the library door ajar, and knocked softly. receiving no answer she entered the room: and glanced around only to find it empty. to all appearances sir jasper had been called away whilst in the midst of his writing, for several addressed envelopes and an unfinished letter lay on the writing-table. the girl was turning to leave the room when her eyes chanced to rest on the big, fire-proof safe in the recess on the right side of the fire-place, and she noticed that the key was in the lock. on one occasion sir jasper had shown her the contents of the safe; and, amongst many papers and valuables had been his late wife's jewel case. the old man had been amused at celia's very evident delight at the sight of the glittering jewels he had allowed her to examine; and when she had admired a brooch studded with diamonds, shaped like a butterfly, he had made her a promise which she had allowed her mind to dwell upon many times since.
"if you are a good girl," he had said, "i will give you that butterfly some day."
she had thanked him warmly, and the diamonds in her hand had not flashed more brightly than had her eyes at that moment.
"when do you mean by 'some day,' uncle jasper?" she had ventured to inquire.
"when you are a woman, my dear," he had answered promptly; and then he had taken the jewel from her and had locked it away with the rest.
celia recalled all this as she stood with her eyes fixed on the safe.
how lovely that diamond butterfly would look in her new, white frock! it was indeed hard, if uncle jasper really meant to give it to her later on, that she might not have it now. how greatly lulu would admire it! her friend had nothing worthy of comparison with it for value or beauty.
"i wonder if i asked uncle jasper to lend it to me if he would?" she mused; then she recollected the decided way in which he had taken it from her, upon her questioning him when some day meant, and felt certain he would not. she crossed the room to the safe and tried the fastening. it opened very easily, being unlocked. celia's breath came short and fast with excitement as she held the door half open and looked inside. there was the jewel case exactly where she had seen sir jasper place it. she fingered it cautiously, and found that it, too, was unlocked.
"how very careless of uncle jasper!" she thought as she lifted the cover of the case and glanced at its contents. a sigh of mingled admiration and regret escaped her lips as her eyes fell on the butterfly brooch. how beautiful it was! how the diamonds sparkled! the hot blood flooded celia's face from brow to chin as a sudden temptation assailed her. why should she not borrow the brooch? she would easily find an opportunity of replacing it after her return from t— and sir jasper would not discover that it was missing, for he had told her that he hardly ever looked at the jewels.
her fingers strayed towards the coveted ornament. she touched it gently, then took it up, and shut down the lid of the case. she was going to leave the room when her ears caught the sound of sir jasper's footsteps, and she hastily retreated to the window, where she stood with her back to the light, facing the room, the butterfly brooch now safely concealed in her pocket.
"ah, golden locks!" the old man exclaimed, "is that you? so you've come to look me up? i have not quite finished my writing yet, for i was called away to see one of my tenants." he hobbled up to the safe, into which he placed a paper, then fastened and securely locked it, removing the key. "don't wait for me," he proceeded, "for i shall not be at leisure for nearly an hour."
"very well, uncle jasper," celia replied, and was leaving the room when he called her back.
"one minute, my dear, you'll want a little extra money in your pocket, now you're going visiting, eh? here, take this!" —and he slipped a coin into her hand.
celia glanced at it quickly, and saw it was a sovereign. she was quite overpowered by his kindness, and for a moment her self-control forsook her.
"oh, uncle jasper, i don't deserve it! indeed i don't deserve it!" she cried, and there was the sound of tears in her voice.
"there, there, get along with you," he replied, pushing her gently out of the room, "i am the best judge of whether you deserve it or not."
she found herself standing in the hall, the library door closed against her, the butterfly brooch in her pocket, and the sovereign in her hand. slowly she walked upstairs, and went to her own bedroom, where she took the brooch from her pocket and examined it closely, her heart filled with most conflicting emotions.
"i suppose i ought not to have taken it," she thought, "but, oh, it is very, very beautiful! uncle jasper will never find out it is not in the jewel case, and when i come home, no doubt i shall soon get an opportunity of putting it back. after all, it can be no great harm to take it, for it will be my own some day. let me see, where can i keep it in safety?"
she wrapped the glittering jewel in a soft pocket-handkerchief, and thrust it right down in a corner at the bottom of the box which contained her clothes; then she put the sovereign in her purse, and went once more to join her mother and sister.
"uncle jasper is still writing," she informed them. "look, mother! look, joy!" and she opened her purse and showed them his present.
"half a sovereign!" joy cried. "no, a sovereign! did uncle jasper give it to you? oh, how very kind of him!"
mrs. wallis noticed that celia's hands were trembling, and supposed the magnitude of the gift had startled her, for she knew neither of her little daughters had ever owned a whole sovereign before. "it is indeed most kind and most generous of uncle jasper," she said, greatly pleased herself. "you are rich, celia—quite a young person of property!"
"yes," celia, agreed with a smile. "it is a lot of money, isn't it? i shall buy—" she paused whilst she reflected on the many things that a sovereign would purchase. a vision of laces, ribbons and such-like trifles of feminine adornment passed before her mind's eye. perhaps her mother guessed this, for after a moment's hesitation she advised:
"don't fritter the money away, celia. uncle jasper has given it to you to spend as you please, but do use your judgment in laying it out to advantage, and don't be tempted to get rid of it too quickly, for it will be nice for you to have money in your pocket whilst you are at the tillotsons; you do not know what calls you may have on your purse."
"oh, i'll be very careful," celia returned, thinking this counsel unnecessary.
"that's right, my dear."
"fancy having a whole sovereign of your own!" joy exclaimed. "if any one had told you six months ago how rich you would be to-day, you would not have believed it. why, celia, do you remember what a long time we had to save our money before we could buy eric a birthday present last year?"
"i don't want to remember it," celia replied. "it was horrid being so poor, and having to scrape and save for everything we wanted. oh, here comes uncle jasper!" he had finished his letters much before he thought he would.
as the conversation was taking a turn contrary to her liking, she went to meet the old man, who, after walking up and down the terrace a few times, sat down between mrs. wallace and joy on the garden seat.
"i've given celia a sovereign," he said, "and here's one for you, joy. well, aren't you going to have it?"
joy was so surprised that she had made no movement to accept his gift; now, however, she held out her hand, and took the coin from him, stammering her thanks.
"i—i—thank you—oh, thank you!" she murmured, confusedly.
"i will let eric have a sovereign, too, by-and-by," sir jasper said, turning his attention from joy to her mother; "we must 'whip all dogs alike,' you know," he added with a chuckle.
mrs. wallis, deeply touched by his generosity to her children, began to thank him, but he held up his hand to stop her.
"oh, joy, i'm so glad!" celia whispered to her sister. she was indeed quite delighted. it was upon her conscience that she had allowed sir jasper to think ill of joy, and she now thought the past was forgotten, or at any rate that sir jasper had determined not to revert to it again. "aren't you pleased?" she asked, as her sister still remained silent.
joy nodded. there were tears in her eyes, and a lump in her throat which prevented her speaking. she felt her few, stammering words of thanks to sir jasper had but ill-expressed the deep sense of gratitude which filled her heart; but she had been utterly incapable of saying more when she had accepted his gift. what must he think of her? she feared he would imagine she did not appreciate his kindness. oh, she hoped he would not think her ungrateful.
the following day celia took her departure, sir jasper's carriage conveying her and her luggage to the lawyer's house, where she was received by her friend with open arms and many demonstrations of affection.
"i'm so glad you're come," lulu said, as she led the way upstairs to the room next to her own, which had been prepared for her visitor. "it's so dreadfully dull for me during the holidays, for father's in his office all day, and i've no one to speak to! i'll unpack your box for you, shall i?"
"oh, thank you," celia answered, and then it was that she wondered how she was going to account to lulu for having a handsome diamond brooch in her possession. "i think i won't trouble you," she added, hastily, and though the other protested it would be no trouble at all, but quite the contrary, celia insisted on unpacking her box herself, whilst her companion looked on, and she was successful in hiding the trinket from lulu's curious eyes.
"i must think what i can tell lulu about it before she sees it," celia reflected; "it would never do to let her know i had taken it without uncle jasper's permission. perhaps i had better say he gave it to me, for he did give it to me in a way—it would not be an actual story."
thus did celia take one step further in the slough of deception in which she had set her feet. she was now deep in the mire, but had no intention whatever of turning back; she knew she was doing wrong, though she tried to still her conscience; but her vanity, and a great desire to appear of importance, stood between her and the straight, narrow path which from her earliest years her mother had urged her to tread.
