The Copy-Cat [71]
in her leaped to meet this charming comrade. Jane felt sickened by it all. She could not under- stand her friend. Not for one minute did she dream that there could be any serious outcome of the situation; that Viola, would marry this mad youth, who, she knew, was making such covert fun at her expense; but she was bewildered and indignant. She wished that she had not come. That evening when she went to her room she directed Margaret to pack, as she intended to return home the next day. Margaret began folding gowns with alacrity. She was as conservative as her mistress and she severely disapproved of many things. However, the matter of the amethyst comb was uppermost in her mind. She was wild with curiosity. She hardly dared inquire, but finally she did. "About the amethyst comb, ma'am?" she said, with a delicate cough. "What about it, Margaret?" returned Jane, severely. "I thought perhaps Mrs. Longstreet had told you how she happened to have it." Poor Jane Carew had nobody in whom to confide. For once she spoke her mind to her maid. "She has not said one word. And, oh, Margaret, I don't know what to think of it." Margaret pursed her lips. "What do YOU think, Margaret?" "I don't know. Miss Jane." "I don't." "I did not mention it to Louisa," said Margaret. "Oh, I hope not!" cried Jane. "But she did to me," said Margaret. "She asked had I seen Miss Viola's new comb, and then she laughed, and I thought from the way she acted that --" Margaret hesitated. "That what?" "That she meant Mr. Lind had given Miss Viola the comb." Jane started violently. "Absolutely impossible!" she cried. "That, of course, is nonsense. There must be some explanation. Probably Mrs. Long- street will explain before we go." Mrs. Longstreet did not explain. She wondered and expostulated when Jane announced her firm determination to leave, but she seemed utterly at a loss for the reason. She did not mention the comb. When Jane Carew took leave of her old friend she was entirely sure in her own mind that she would never visit her again -- might never even see her again. Jane was unutterably thankful to be back in her own peaceful home, over which no shadow of absurd mystery brooded; only a calm afternoon light of life, which disclosed gently but did not conceal or betray. Jane settled back into her pleasant life, and the days passed, and the weeks, and the months, and the years. She heard nothing whatever from or about Viola Longstreet for three years. Then, one day, Margaret returned from the city, and she had met Viola's old maid Louisa in a department store, and she had news. Jane wished for strength to refuse to listen, but she could not muster it. She listened while Margaret brushed her hair. "Louisa has not been with Miss Viola for a long time," said Margaret. "She is living with some- body else. Miss Viola lost her money, and had to give up her house and her servants, and Louisa said she cried when she said good-by." Jane made an effort. "What became of --" she began. Margaret answered the unfinished sentence. She was excited by gossip as by a stimulant. Her thin cheeks burned, her eyes blazed. "Mr. Lind," said Margaret, "Louisa told me, had turned out to be real bad. He got into some money trouble, and then" -- Margaret lowered her voice -- "he was ar- rested for taking a lot of money which didn't belong to him. Louisa said he had been in some business where he handled a lot of other folks' money, and he cheated the men who were in the business with him, and he was tried, and Miss Viola, Louisa thinks, hid away somewhere so they wouldn't call her to testify, and then he had to go to prison; but --" Margaret hesitated. "What is it?" asked Jane. "Louisa thinks he died about a year and a half ago. She heard the lady where she lives now talking about it. The lady used to know Miss Viola, and she heard the lady say Mr. Lind had died in prison, that he couldn't stand the hard life, and that Miss Viola had lost all her money through him, and then" -- Margaret hesitated again, and her mistress prodded sharply -- "Louisa said that she heard the lady say that