'
She led the way along a passage corresponding with the one above, and
unlocked a door opening into a lobby near the billiard-room.
'Come, Molly, see if you can beat me at a fifty game,' said Lord
Hartfield, with the air of a man who wants to shake off the impression
of some dominant idea.
'Of course you will annihilate me, but it will be a relief to play,'
answered Mary. 'That strange old man has given me a shock. Everything
about his surroundings is so different from what I expected. And how
could an uncle of Steadman's come by all that money--and those
jewels--if they were jewels, and not bits of glass which the poor old
thing has chopped up, in order to delude himself with an imaginary
treasure?'
'I do not think they are bits of glass, Molly.'
'They sparkled tremendously--almost as much as my--our--the family
diamonds,' said Mary, puzzled how to describe that property which she
held in right of her position as countess regnant; 'but if they are real
jewels, and all those rouleaux real money, how could Steadman's uncle
become possessed of such wealth?'
'How, indeed?' said Lord Hartfield, choosing his cue
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
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