'And, oh! Alec,' she cried. 'To be rich again! rich only to the limited extent of ten thousand a year, is too great happiness. When my father was ruined, I thought the world was ended. Well, it was ended for me, because you made me leave it and disappear. The last four years I should like to be clean forgotten and driven out of my mind--horrid years of failing and enduring and waiting! And now we are rich again! Oh! we are rich again! It is too much happiness!' The tears rose to her eyes; her soft and murmuring voice broke. 'My poor Zoe,' her husband laid his hand on hers, 'I am rejoiced,' he said, 'as much for your sake as for my own.' 'How did you get this wonderful fortune, Alec?' 'Through Mr. Jagenal, the lawyer. It's a long story. A great-grandfather of mine was wrecked, and lost his property. That was eighty years ago. Now, his property was found. Who do you think found it? Armorel Rosevean. And she has restored it--to me.' 'What?' She sprang to her feet, her face suddenly turning white. 'What? Armorel?' 'Yes, certainly. Curious coincidence, isn't it? The very girl who has done me so much mischief. The man was wrecked on the island where her people lived.' 'Yes--yes--yes. The property--what was it? What was it? Quick!' 'It was a leather case filled with rubies--rubies worth at least thirty-five thousand pounds---- What's the matter?' 'Rubies! Her rubies! Oh! Armorel's rubies! No--no--no--not that! Anything--anything but that! Armorel's rubies--Armorel's rubies!' 'What is the matter, Zoe? What is it?' She gasped. Her eyes were wild: her cheek was white. She was like one who is seized with some sudden horrible and unintelligible pain. Or she was like one who has suddenly heard the most dreadful and most terrible news possible. 'What is it, Zoe?' her husband asked again. 'You? Oh! you have brought me this news--you! I thought, perhaps, someone--Armorel--or some other might find me out. But you!--you!' 'Again, Zoe'--he tried to be calm, but a dreadful doubt seized him--'what does this mean?' 'I remember,' she laughed wildly, 'what I said when I gave you the bank-book. If you found me out, I said, we should be both on the same level. You would be able to hold out your arms, I said, and to cry, "You have come down to my level. Come to my heart, sister in wickedness." That is what I said. Oh! I little thought--it was a prophecy--my words have come true.' She caught her head with her hand--it is a stagey gesture: she had learned it on the stage: yet at this moment of trouble it was simple and natural. 'What the DEVIL do you mean?' he cried with exasperation. 'They were _your_ rubies all the time, and I did not know. Your rubies! If I had only known! Oh! what have I done? What have I done? 'Tell me quick, what you have done.' He caught her by the arm roughly. He actually shook her. His own face now was almost as white as hers. 'Quick--tell me--tell me--tell me!'