Only  Waif  stood  aloof,  gazing  into  the  darkness,  where  the
grey  horse  and  his  rider  had  long  ago  disappeared.
Presently  a  scream  from  my  lady  announced  that  some
tawny  hand  was  laid  on  her  jewel-case.  "My  diamonds!"
she  exclaimed  ;  and  tears  of  real  distress  rose  in  her  eyes,  as
she  raised  them  to  Fin  Cooper's  face.  "  Oh !  sir  !  I  beseech
you,  let  me  keep  my  diamonds.  For  pity's  sake,  do  not  send
me  back  into  the  great  world  naked  and  ashamed,  without  so
much  as  a  clasp  of  brilliants  to  fasten  round  my  neck  ! "

"  I  do  believe  as  her  ladyship  would  rather  lose  her  maid
than  her  jewels,"  wliispered  Rachel,  with  a  glance  at  her
swarthy  guardian,  that  intimated  no  great  disinclination  to
be  retained  as  a  pledge  instead.
