ee you looking
all round. I can't tell you I keep it in my own room because I love it
so, for the simple reason----' And she paused a moment.

'Because you can't tell wicked lies,' said Lyon.

'No, I can't. So before you ask for it----'

'Oh, I know you parted with it--the blow has already fallen,' Lyon
interrupted.

'Ah then, you have heard? I was sure you would! But do you know what we
got for it? Two hundred pounds.'

'You might have got much more,' said Lyon, smiling.

'That seemed a great deal at the time. We were in want of the money--it
was a good while ago, when we first married. Our means were very small
then, but fortunately that has changed rather for the better. We had the
chance; it really seemed a big sum, and I am afraid we jumped at it. My
husband had expectations which have partly come into effect, so that now
we do well enough. But meanwhile the picture went.'

'Fortunately the original remained. But do you mean that two hundred was
the value of the vase?' Lyon asked.

'Of the vase?'

'The beautiful old Indian vase--the Grand Duke's offering.'

'The Grand Duke?'

'What's his name?--Silberstadt-Schreckenstein. Your husband mentioned
the transaction.'

'Oh, my husband,' said Mrs. Capadose; and Lyon saw that she coloured a
little.

Not to add to her embarrassment, but to clear up the ambiguity, which
he perceived the next moment he had better have left alone, he went on:
'He tells me it's now in his collection.'

'In the Grand Duke's? Ah, you know its reputation? I believe it contains
treasures.' She was bewildered, but she recovered herself, and Lyon made
the mental reflection that for some reason which would seem good when he
knew it the husband and the wife had prepared different versions of the
same incident. It was true that he did not exactly see Everina Brant
preparing a version; that was not her line of old, and indeed it was not
in her eyes to-day. At any rate they both had the matter too much on
their conscience. He changed the subject, said Mrs. Capadose must really
bring the little girl. He sat with her some time longer and
thought--perhaps it was only a fancy--that she was rather absent, as if
she were annoyed at their having been even for a moment at
cross-purposes. This did not prevent him from saying to her at the last,
just as the ladies began to gather themselves together to go to bed:
'You seem much impressed, from what you say, with my renown and my
prosperity, and y