everyone was greatly excited over the great jewel robbery, especially as it had taken place at the house of so celebrated a person as caprice, and numerous were the conjectures as to the discovery of the thieves. when, however, it became known that the lady in question declined to allow an investigation to be made, and was apparently contented to lose five thousand pounds' worth of diamonds, the excitement grew intense. what was her motive for acting in such a strange way? all melbourne asked itself this question, but without obtaining a satisfactory answer. reference was made to kitty's antecedents in connection with the midas poisoning case, and the public were quite prepared to hear any evil of her, particularly as her career since then had been anything but pure.
the name of villiers was mentioned, and then it transpired that villiers had been seen outside her house on the night of the robbery it was curious that another crime should have happened where these two, formerly implicated in a murder case, should have come together, and disagreeable rumours began to circulate. then, by some unexplained means, the opinion of naball became known regarding his assertion that caprice had stolen the diamonds herself. here was another mystery. why on earth should she steal her own jewels? one theory was that she required money, and had sold them for this purpose, pretending that they were stolen, in order to satisfy the lovers who gave them to her. this was clearly absurd, as caprice cared nothing for the opinion of her lovers, and, moreover, the donors of the diamonds were long since dead or ruined, so the idea of the detective was unanimously laughed at. but then the fact remained, she would not allow an investigation to be made; and how was this to be accounted for? one idea was mooted, that villiers had stolen the diamonds, and she would not prosecute him because he was the husband of the woman who had been kind to her. in this case, however, she would have easily got back her jewels by a threat of prosecution, whereas they were still missing. other solutions of the problem were offered, but they were unsatisfactory, and melbourne settled itself down to the opinion that the whole affair was a mystery which would never be solved.
keith and ezra had both been puzzled over the affair, and offered kitty their services to unravel the mystery, but she curtly dismissed them with the remark that she wished the affair left alone, so they had to obey her, and remain in ignorance like the rest of the public. affairs thus went on as usual, and the weeks slipped by with no further information being forthcoming.
meanwhile, "prince carnival" was still running to crowded houses, and kitty appeared nightly, being now a still greater attraction on account of the robbery of which she was the heroine. she had fulfilled her promise to keith, in seeing mortimer about the chances of production for "faust upset." the manager was doubtful about the success of the experiment of trying colonial work, and told kitty plainly he could not afford to lose money on such a speculation.
"it's all stuff," he said to her when she urged him to give the young men a chance; "i can get operas from london whose success is already assured, and i don't see why i should waste money on the crude production of two unknown colonials."
"that's all very true," retorted caprice, "and, from a business point of view, correct; but considering you make your money out of colonial audiences, i don't see why you shouldn't give at least one chance to see what colonial brains can do. as to crudity, wait and see. i don't want you to take the opera if it is bad, but if you approve of it, give it a chance."
in the end mortimer promised, that if he approved of the libretto and music, he would try the piece at the end of the run of "prince carnival," but put "eblis" in rehearsal, in case his forebodings of failure should be justified. when, however, the first act was finished and shown to him, he was graciously pleased to say there was good stuff in it, and began to be a little more hopeful as to its success. so keith worked hard all day at his employment, and at night on his libretto, to which ezra put bright, tuneful music. with the usual sanguine expectations of youth, they never dreamt of failure, and keith wrote the most enthusiastic letters to his betrothed, announcing the gratifying fact that he had got his foot on the lowest rung of the ladder of fame.
as to his uncongenial employment at the pawnshop, he strove to conquer his repugnance to it, and succeeded in winning the approval of old lazarus by his assiduous attention to business. he attended to the books, and, as time went on, the pawnbroker actually let him pay money into the bank, so great had his confidence in the young man become. he increased keith's salary, and even then chuckled to himself over his cleverness in retaining such a clever servant at so low a price.
though his business was ostensibly that of a pawnbroker, he was in the habit of conducting very much more delicate transactions. in his dingy little den at the back of the shop he sat like a great spider waiting for flies, and the flies generally came in at a little door which led from the room into a dirty yard, and there was a kind of narrow right-of-way which gave admittance to this yard from the street. by this humble way many well-known people came, particularly at night--the fast young man who had backed the wrong horse, the speculative sharebroker, and the spendthrift society lady, all came here in quest of money, which they always got, provided their security was good, and, of course, they paid an exorbitant percentage. lazarus had dealings with all sorts and conditions of men and women, but he was as silent as the grave over their affairs, and no one knew what secrets that dirty old hebrew carried in his breast. of these nocturnal visitors keith saw nothing, as he left at six o'clock, after which isaiah shut up the shop, and the front of the house was left in profound darkness, while business went on in the little back room.
it was now a fortnight since the robbery, and the nine days' wonder having ceased to amuse, people were beginning to forget all about it. keith still lived in east melbourne with ezra, and on going home one night was surprised to find a letter from the manager of the hibernian bank, which informed him that the sum of five hundred pounds had been placed to his credit. stewart went next day to find out the name of his unknown benefactor, but the manager refused to tell him, as he had been pledged to secrecy so keith returned to ezra in a state of great perplexity to talk over the affair. they sat in ezra's sitting-room, and discussed the matter late at night with great assiduity, but were unable to come to any conclusion.
"you don't know any one who would do you a good turn?" asked lazarus, when he heard this news.
"no--no one," replied keith. "i haven't a single relative in the colonies, and no friend rich enough to give me so much money--unless it were your father," with a sudden inspiration.
"he!" laughed ezra scornfully; "he'd as soon part with his blood. why, i asked him to give me some money so that i could marry, and he refused. what he wouldn't do for his son he certainly would not do for a stranger."
"it's very queer," observed keith meditatively. "it can't be caprice?"
"not likely; she needs all her money herself," said ezra. "besides, i hear she's been rather hard up of late. i suppose fenton will soon go broke, and then, le roi est mort, vive le roi."
"what a pity she goes on like that," said keith, regretfully. "i like her so much."
"yes, and she likes you," retorted ezra pointedly. "don't you get entangled in the nets, or you'll forget all about the girl at sandhurst. does she know you're engaged?"
"no."
"i wouldn't tell her if i were you," said the jew significantly, "or she'll withdraw the light of her countenance, and then it will be all up with our burlesque."
"pooh, nonsense," replied stewart, with an uneasy laugh. "i wonder who'll be fenton's successor?"
"yourself."
"not i. i'm not far enough gone for that. besides, i've no money."
"true, except your anonymous five hundred, which would be nothing to caprice. so, as she wants money, i expect it will be old meddlechip."
"but he's married."
"true, o sir galahad," retorted ezra sarcastically; "but he's an unholy old man for all that--she'll ensnare him, and we'll see how long it will take her to break the richest man in the colonies."
"oh, the deuce take kitty marchurst and her affairs," said keith impatiently. "i want to know who sent me this money?"
"better not ask," murmured ezra. "curiosity is a vice. remember adam and eve, bluebeard's wife, etcetera. take the goods the gods bestow, and don't try to find out where they come from; but now you are rich, you'll be giving up the shop."
"no, i'll stay on for a time till i find that the five hundred is really and truly mine. who knows, some day it may take to itself wings and fly."
"it certainly would with some young men," said ezra; "but i don't think you are that sort."
"you are right. i want to save up all my money for eugénie."
"ah! you are going to marry her?"
"when i get rich. yes."
"you won't marry her if caprice can help it."
"why?" disbelievingly.
"because she's fallen in love with you, and her love, like the gifts of the danaes, is fatal.
"rubbish. i'm not a child. caprice will never take my heart from eugénie."
"hercules," remarked ezra musingly, "was a strong man; yet he became the slave of a woman. solomon was a wise man--same result. my friend, you are neither hercules nor solomon, therefore--"
keith departed hurriedly.
