"I mean the ones in the panelled room with the stars in the
ceiling," Jimmy insisted, following him.
"There aren't any," said Lord Yalding shortly; "and if this is some
more ring-nonsense I advise you to be careful, young man. I've had
about as much as I care for."
"It's not ring-nonsense, said Jimmy: "there are shelves and shelves
of beautiful family jewels. You can sell them and ,"
"Oh, no!" cried Mademoiselle, appearing like an oleograph of a
duchess in the door of the picture-gallery; "don't sell the family
jewels "
"There aren't any, my lady," said Lord Yalding, going towards her.
"I thought you were never coming."
"Oh, aren't there!" said Mabel, who had followed Mademoiselle.
"You just come and see,"
"Let us see what they will to show us," cried Mademoiselle, for
Lord Yalding did not move; "it should at least be amusing."
"It is," said Jimmy.
So they went, Mabel and Jimmy leading, while Mademoiselle and
Lord Yalding followed, hand in hand.
"It's much safer to walk hand in hand," said Lord Yalding; "with
these children at large one never knows what may happen next."
It would be interesting, no doubt, to describe the feelings of Lord
Yalding as he followed Mabel and Jimmy through his ancestral
halls, but I have no means of knowing at all what he felt. Yet one
must suppose that he felt something: bewilderment, perhaps,
mixed with a faint wonder, and a desire to pinch himself to see if
he were dreaming.
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