his mother which inspired Harriet's misgivings.
"Tell me, and whatever it is, I will do it."

"It is this," said Harriet; "I know there is
a large trade in diamonds at Amsterdam, and
that the merchants there, chiefly Jews, deal in
the loose stones, and are not, in our sense,
jewellers. You could dispose of the diamonds
there without suspicion or difficulty; it is the
common resort of people who have diamonds to
sell—London is not. If you would go there at
once, you might sell the diamonds, and send
the money to Stewart, or rather to me, to an
address we would decide upon, without more
than the delay of a couple of days. Is there
anything to keep you in town?"

"No," said George, "nothing. I could start
this minute, as far as any business I've got to
do is concerned."

Harriet drew a long breath, and her colour
rose.

"I wish you would, Mr. Dallas," she said,
earnestly. "I hardly like to urge you, it seems
so selfish; and Stewart, if he were here, would
make so much lighter of the difficulty he is in
than I can bring myself to do, but you don't
know how grateful I should be to you if you
would."

The pleading earnestness of her tone, the
eager entreaty in her eyes, impressed George
painfully; he hastened to assure her that he
would accede to any request of hers.

"I am so wretched, when he is away from
me, Mr. Dallas," said Harriet; "I am so lonely
and full of dread. Anything not involving you
or your mother in risk, which would shorten
the time of his absence, would be an unspeakable
boon to me."

"Then of course I will go at once, Mrs.
Routh," said George. "I will go tomorrow.
I am sure you are quite right, and Amsterdam's
the place to do the trick at. I wish I could
have seen Routh first, for a moment, but as I
can't, I can't. Let me see. Amsterdam. There's
a boat to Rotterdam by the river, and—oh, by
Jove! here's a Bradshaw; let's see when the
next goes."

He walked to the little sideboard, and selected
the above-named compendium of useful
knowledge from a mass of periodicals, circulars,
bills, and prospectuses of companies immediately
to be brought out, and offering unheard-
of advantages to the investors.

The moment his eyes were turned away from
her, a fierce impatience betrayed itself in
Harriet's face, and as he sat slowly turning
over the sibylline leaves, and consulting the
incomprehensible and maddening index, she
pressed her clasped hands against her knees, as
though it were almost impossible to resist the
impulse which prompted her to tear the book
from his dilatory fingers.

"Here it is," said George, at length, "and
uncommonly cheap, too. The Argus for Rotterdam,
seven A.M. That's rather early, though,
isn't it? To-morrow morning, too, or rather
this morning, for it's close upon one now. Let's
see when the Argus, or some other boat, goes
next. H'm; not till Thursday at the same
hour. That's rather far off."

Harriet was breathing quickly, and her face
was quite white, but she sat still and controlled
her agony of anxiety. "I have urged him as
strongly as I dare," she thought; " fate must do
the rest."

Fate did the rest.

"After all, I may as well go at seven in the
morning, Mrs. Routh. All my things are packed
up already, and it will give me a good start. I
might get my business done before Wednesday
night, almost, if I'm quick about it; at all
events, early the following day."

"You might, indeed," said Harriet, in a faint
voice.

"There's one little drawback, though, to that
scheme," said Dallas. "I haven't the money.
They owe me a trifle at The Mercury, and I
shall have to wait till tomorrow and get it,
and go by Ostend, the swell route. I can't go
without it, that's clear."

Harriet looked at him with a wan blank face,
in which there was something of weariness, and
under it something of menace, but her tone was
quite amiable and obliging as she said:

"I think it is a pity to incur both delay and
expense by waiting. I have always a little
ready money by me, in case of our having to
make a move suddenly, or of an illness, or one
of the many contingencies which men never
think of, and women never forget. You can
have it with pleasure. You can return it to
me," she said, with a forced smile, "when you
send Routh the hundred and forty."

"Thank you," said Dallas. "I shan't mind
taking it from you for a day or two, as it is to
send help to Routh the sooner. Then I'll go,
that's settled, and I had better leave you, for
you were tired when I came in, and you must
be still more tired now. I shall get back from
Amsterdam as quickly as I can, tell Routh, but I
see my way to making a few pounds out of the
place. They want padding at The Mercury, and
I shan't come back by return of post." He
had risen now, and had extended his hand
towards the bracelet, which lay in its open case
on the table.

A sudden thought struck Harriet.

"Stop," she said; "I don't think it would
do to offer this bracelet in its present shape, anywhere.
The form and the setting are too remarkable.
It would probably be re-sold entire,
and it is impossible to say what harm might
come of its being recognised. It must be taken
to pieces, and you must offer the diamonds
separately for sale. It will make no appreciable
difference in the money you will receive, for
such work as this is like bookbinding—dear to
buy, but never counted in the price when you
want to sell."

"What am I to do, then?" asked George, in
a dismayed tone. "I could not take out the
diamonds, you know; they are firmly set see
here." He turned the gold band inside out,
and showed her the plain flat surface at the
back of the diamonds and turquoises.