Mrs. Fane was seated in the White Room waiting for visitors. As usual she was knitting, and every now and then glanced at her little girl, who, washed and dressed and curled and bedecked with ribbons, played with her doll. The child was very like her father, having the same pink and white face and weak mouth. She was a pretty, pale creature, with fair hair, almost white--what the Scots call linty--locks. Never was there such a contrast as that between mother and child. The mother firm, majestic¹, strong, composed; the child weak, restless, delicate, and undersized. As Mrs. Fane looked at Minnie, she uttered a sigh, being alone. Had any one been present, she would not have condescended² to such weakness.  
"Just like her father," thought Mrs. Fane, her firm, shapely hands busy with the needles; "delicate, weak, irresponsible. I almost wish I had married a strong man. I would have at least had healthy children. No"--here she shook her head--"it's better as it is. I am my own mistress and Walter's master. Better as it is."
 
This complimentary³ train of thought was interrupted by its object. Walter Fane, looking sleepy and dishevelled, entered the room. His wife, who was richly and carefully dressed, looked at him with a serene⁵ air, not without a touch of contempt.
 
"I am expecting visitors," said she, in her calm way. "Don't you think you had better brush yourself up?"
 
"I don't intend to stop," replied Walter, listlessly staring out of the window.
 
"All the better. I don't care for tame cats," said Mrs. Fane. "A man should be out in the open air, or at business."
 
"You won't let me attend to the business," said Walter, shrugging.
 
"If you were a man you would attend to it without my sanction. But some one in this house must see to things, and if you won't the burden must devolve on my shoulders."
 
"As you please," said Fane, and sat down on the floor beside Minnie. "It's pleasant enough playing with this darling."
 
"I believe your brain is softening," said his wife, with a shadow of anxiety. "Why don't you go for a yachting tour?"
 
"I shall never yacht again, Julia. You will no longer have to complain of my long absences. When is the house to be sold?"
 
"In a month. I am arranging the business now. We will then go to Switzerland."
 
"I hate Switzerland."
 
"Since you have decided⁷ to yacht no more, it doesn't matter if you live there," said Mrs. Fane. "But you can choose your own place of residence. It's all one to me, so long as I can see after the business."
 
"I don't see that we need go abroad at all," said Fane sullenly⁸.
 
"I see the necessity, and a very great one," retorted Mrs. Fane, with a flash of her eyes. "Be guided by me, Walter. I know what is good for you. And do get up from the floor. Laura will be in soon."
 
"Fane rose reluctantly. I was sleeping this afternoon," he said, and yet feel tired. "I think I'll dine at the club and go to the theatre."
 
"As you please," said Mrs. Fane quietly, "so long as you don't trouble me. And don't make love to any other woman," she added.
 
"Julia," said Fane, pausing at the door, "do you really care for me as much as that?"
 
"My dear, every one has a weakness; pride is mine. I like you. I have an affection for you, else I should not have married you. So long as you look handsome and are well dressed, and show me the deference⁹ of a chivalrous¹⁰ man to his lawful¹¹ wife, I have no complaint to make. But if you go after other women, and make me a laughing-stock amongst my friends," added Mrs. Fane, drawing a deep breath, "I should not spare you."
 
Fane laughed, though rather uneasily. "One would think you would do me an injury," he said, with another shrug⁶.
 
Mrs. Fane raised her eyes and looked at him steadily¹². "I might even do that," she replied. "Don't hurt my pride, whatever you do. And if you desert me in favour of----"
 
"There's no chance of my doing that," said Walter irritably¹³. "I declare to heaven that I'm fond of you, Julia."
 
"That is as it should be," retorted Mrs. Fane.
 
Before her husband could reply there came a knock at the door, and immediately afterwards a stolid¹⁴ young man in livery entered. Walter slipped past him and got out of the room, while the man waited for his mistress to address him. "Yes?" said Mrs. Fane interrogatively.
 
"If you please, ma'am, the cook have gone mad," said the stolid man.
 
"Really?" rejoined Mrs. Fane, letting her knitting fall on her lap, but otherwise undisturbed. "And what form does her madness take?"
 
"She says she's going to retire on a fortune, and insists, ma'am, on coming upstairs to tell you. I think, ma'am----" The man hesitated.
 
"Yes," said Mrs. Fane calmly; "I quite understand. This is the third time she has indulged, and after assuring me that she had taken the pledge. Send her up."
 
"You will excuse me, ma'am, but cook really have found jewels."
 
"What do you mean?" This time Mrs. Fane really was amazed.
 
"She have found jewels in the dust-hole," stammered¹⁵ the man, and would have gone on to explain, but that he was roughly brushed aside by a large female clothed in purple silk of a cheap sort, with a black velvet¹⁶ cloak trimmed with beads¹⁷, and a bonnet¹⁸ profusely¹⁹ trimmed with flowers. Her face was red, and her air was that of an excited person. This was due partly to drink and partly to excitement, and partly to a sense of fear at thus braving her mistress, of whom she had a great dread²⁰. The moment she entered the room the footman departed hastily, thinking there would be a row. He went down to the kitchen, and found the rest of the servants much excited. It seemed that the cook really had some cause for her behaviour. At the present moment she was explaining herself to Mrs. Fane.
 
"If you please, mum, I wish to leave this day--this hour--this minute," panted the cook all in a breath; "my boxes being packed and my best clothes being on."
 
"Indeed!" Mrs. Fane eyed the splendour with a look which made the cook wince²¹. "I am afraid you can't leave. You get no wages if you do. Go downstairs."
 
"But I don't care for my wages. Far be it from me to rob you, mum. I am as rich as you, having found a forting in the dust-hole."
 
"Really! May I ask what it is?"
 
"You'll take it from me, mum," said the cook mistrustfully.
 
If you don't show it to me at once, Gander--this was the cook's unusual name--"I shall send for the police."
 
"O mum, think of the scandal. I won't----" then Gander caught the steady eyes fixed²² on her. The drink and the excitement were dying out under the chilling influence of Mrs. Fane's calmness, and the cook collapsed²³.
 
"It's this, mum," and from under the cloak she brought forth²⁴ a dagger²⁵ with a slim steel blade and a hilt of gold richly encrusted with jewels. These flashed red and blue and green and yellow in the stream of sunlight that shone through the window. Minnie caught a sight of the glitter and clapped her hands. "Yes, my pretty," said the cook proudly, "it's lovely, ain't it. And all my own, having been found by me in the dust-hole."
 
"May I look at it, Gander?" asked Mrs. Fane.
 
The cook, still under the influence of those cold eyes, handed it over at once, talking while she did so. But she kept her treasure-trove in sight, and despite her awe²⁶ would have fought Mrs. Fane, had that lady shown any signs of annexing²⁷ the property. "It's jewels rich and rare with gold, mum," said Gander poetically²⁸; "emerald and sappers and dimings and them things you read of in the book of Revelations. I shall sell it to a jeweller as I knows, and with the money I shall become a lady. I don't know as I'll marry," pursued the cook meditatively²⁹; "but I'll have a little house of my own, and sit all day in the parlour in white muslin reading novels and----"
 
"You really must not take so much to drink, Gander," said Mrs. Fane.
 
The cook bristled³⁰ up. "Ho, indeed!" she snorted. "I'm accused of drink, am I, when my emotions is natural, having come in for a forting. I read it in the candle last night, and in the tea-leaves two weeks previous, and then I----"
 
"Cook, don't be a fool! This is by no means so costly³¹ as you think."
 
"It's worth a thousand, if I'm a judge of stones."
 
"Ah! but you see you are not," said Mrs. Fane cruelly. "This dagger belongs to me. It is only imitation gold and bits of glass."
 
Gander dropped into a chair. "Lor!" Then with an enraged³² screech³³, "Don't tell me deceptions³⁴, whatever you do, mum. My nerves won't stand deceptions nohow." Here Gander put a large fat hand on her ample bosom³⁵, and observed pathetically, "I feel all of a wabble, as you might say."
 
"I wore this," said Mrs. Fane, fingering the dagger, "at a fancy ball, and threw it away along with some other rubbish. I suppose that is how it got into the dust-hole."
 
Had the cook been quite herself, and observant, she might have doubted this explanation, which was certainly weak. Mrs. Fane's maid would never have carried such a dazzling object to the dust-hole, had she seen it amidst any rubbish her mistress might have cast aside. But Gander, deceived by fortune, broke down sobbing³⁶ at the disappointment of her hopes. "To think my 'eart should be cast up to be likewise cast down," she gurgled. "When I went with the ashbucket I sawr that objict aglittering like anything, being stuck in the side of the dust-hole, as it were." Mrs. Fane listened attentively³⁷. "The 'andle showed beautiful under some cabbige stalks, and I thought as I was made for life. O mum"--she clasped her hands, which were encased in green gloves--"let me take it to my jeweller, and see if he don't think them stones of price."
 
Mrs. Fane, shaking her head, quietly slipped the dagger into her pocket. "It's only rubbish," she insisted, "so I'll keep it here, as it seems to upset you. Go downstairs, Gander, and see after the dinner. I shall overlook your conduct this time, but don't let this sort of thing occur again. And you might look at your pledge while you're about it."
 
The cook rose quite crushed, but made one last effort to regain³⁸ possession of the dagger. "Findings is keepings," she observed.
 
"Not in this house. And even had the jewels been real you would not have been able to keep them, seeing they were found on Mr. Fane's premises³⁹. You can tell the other servants............