The concealment of the diamond bracelet was a matter of necessity,
and, with a beating heart, she buried it deep under the poor harvest
of paltry Delhi trinkets which she had already gathered, with a
mere magpie acquisitiveness.

Alan Hawke had builded better than he knew, when he selected this
same bauble. He had been guided by a chance remark of Ram Lal's.
"Give her that," said the crafty old jeweler. "She has priced it a
dozen times since her first coming here." It was the Ultima Thule
of personal decoration to her. The Swiss governess reserved the
secret delight of donning the glittering ornament until she was
positive that no tell-tale spy had observed her innocent assignation
with her sister's chivalric friend. "He must be rich and powerful,"
she murmured as she fled from her room to play the safety game
of being found with the heiress when her Prince Charming should
arrive. Miss Nadine Johnstone failed not to observe the unusual
color mantling her sedate friend's cheeks.

"You look as if you had received some good news. Is the mail in?"
queried Miss Johnstone.

"Not yet. I hastened back, for I forgot to take my watch and was
belated. I fear I am late, even now, for tiffin," demurely replied
the Swiss maiden, dropping for the first time in her life into
the baleful arts of the other daughters of Eve. She had broken the
ice of propriety in which her past life had been congealed and an
insidious pleasure now thrilled her quickened veins, as she felt
herself possessed of a secret, one linking her to an attractive
member of the dangerous sex, and a hero of romance, a very Don Juan
in seductive softness. Her knees trembled at a sudden summons to