Part 30 (1/2)

Instantly the valet jumped up and a.s.sumed once more his deferential demeanor. The gambler hurriedly shut the bureau drawers and put on the blue spectacles.

The door opened and Helen entered.

Alert as the Frenchman was, he was not quick enough to quite conceal from the wife that his present obsequious manner had been suddenly a.s.sumed for her benefit directly she had entered the room. She had overheard voices, as she reached the landing, and the abrupt manner in which these sounds had ceased was not entirely natural. It had also seemed to her that the valet's tone had had a ring of familiarity about it which she had never known it to have before. Could it be possible that they were discussing matters which were to be kept from her? If so, her husband already had secrets in which not she but his valet shared. She recalled Keralio's cynical smile, as he had whispered: ”Husbands only tell their wives half.” Perhaps he had spoken the truth. Perhaps at this very moment she was degraded, insulted in her womanhood by a man who was secretly unloyal to her. The very thought went through her like a knife-thrust. All her life, every hour she had devoted to her husband. Even now she did not like to even harbor a shade of distrust, but his strange behavior since his return, this earnest conversation behind closed doors with a menial she despised and distrusted--all this could not but add to her anxiety. Calmly, she asked:

”Have you finished with Francois, dear? We need him downstairs.”

The valet himself answered the question:

”_Oui_, madame. I was just coming.”

Bowing politely, he turned on his heel, and, with a significant glance at Handsome, which his mistress did not notice, he left the room.

Helen glanced at the bed, which was undisturbed. Surprised, she exclaimed:

”Why, I thought you were going to lie down!”

He shook his head. s.h.i.+fting uneasily on his feet, and, without looking up, he answered:

”No--I can't sleep. I'm too nervous. I'll sleep to-night.”

Advancing farther into the room she went up him and put her arm affectionately round him. Sympathetically she said:

”You'll feel better in a few days, dear. Just rest and take things easy. I won't hear of your going to the office for a week at least.

All the business you and Mr. Parker have you can transact here. By the way, dear, you haven't even mentioned the most important thing of all--have you brought back the diamonds?”

Instead of replying at once to her question, he turned quickly and pulled down the blind.

”You don't mind, do you?” he said. ”The light hurts my eyes.”

”Of course not,” she replied. Sitting down near him she went on: ”Tell me--have you got the diamonds? How beautiful they must be! How I should love to see them!”

When finally he turned and confronted her she could see his face only indistinctly, as the drawing of the blind had left the room almost in darkness. His voice was strained and tense as he replied huskily:

”I have not got the diamonds!”

Helen almost started from her seat.

”You have not got them!” she exclaimed. ”Where are they, Ken?”

”They are lost!”

”Lost?” she echoed, stupefied.

”Yes--lost.”

”Oh, how terrible!” she faltered.

This, then, was the secret of his strange manner, his depression and nervousness. He had lost the diamonds. He had returned home to announce to the eagerly awaiting stockholders that over a million dollars' worth of property had suddenly been swept away. His feeling of personal responsibility must have been awful. No wonder he was not himself. It was enough to unnerve any man. Of course he was not to blame, but the world is so merciless. He would have to bear the censure, even when he was perfectly innocent. How she regretted that he had ever undertaken so heavy a responsibility. Timidly, not wis.h.i.+ng to embarra.s.s or annoy him, she said:

”How did it happen, dear?”

For a moment he made no answer, but just sat and stared at her. What little light entered between the shade and the window frame fell full on her face, lighting up the fine profile, the delicately chiseled mouth, throwing off golden glints from her artistically arranged hair.