"Christina raised her finger to her lips, as if to caution me to speak lower. 'There is at least one other who knows--the man Slurk!' she said. "'Well, perhaps he may,' I replied, somewhat struck by her observation; 'and as I see thou hast taken a dislike to the fellow, I will confide to thee that I consider him an atrocious brute. But brute though he is, there's no harm in him of _that_ kind. He is an old servant of Herr Birchmore, I believe, and would of course be dismissed at once if there were anything serious against him.' "'Naturally!' was all Christina's answer; she made no pretence of arguing the point with me. 'Adieu, honoured sir!' she said at the door. But with her hand upon the latch she paused, turned round, and added rather confusedly: "'Will Herr Gainsborough go on any expedition with his friends to-day?' "'Why, I hardly think so, Christina.' "'But to-morrow, perhaps?' she persisted, lifting her blue eyes to mine again. "'Perhaps,' I admitted, with a smile. "'Then--if he can trust me--would the Herr mind leaving the diamonds with me, until he comes back again?' "'Nay, Christinchen, I cannot give them up, even to thee--and although I trust thee as much as thy brother, or myself. But thou mightst lose them--and if they are to be lost at all, I would rather the responsibility should be mine. Besides,' I continued, showing my revolver, 'I go always with this. But I thank thee all the same, Christinchen, and I would like to do something--to----' "I stepped towards her: the fact is, I suppose I meant to kiss her. But her expression changed in a manner not encouraging to such an advance; she looked both grave and hurt, and I paused. "'I was going to say--if thou wouldst like to see the diamonds, it would give me great pleasure to show them to thee.' "'Many thanks, honoured sir! I would rather not.' And with a formal curtsy the fair-haired little maid opened the door and disappeared, leaving me feeling rather foolish. "'The pretty peasant has a pride of her own!' I said to myself, as I opened my trunk and got out my writing materials. 'She's actually offended because I wouldn't constitute her guardian of thirty thousand pounds' worth of diamonds. Good gracious! why, that father of hers, if I know anything of faces, would cut all our throats for as many groschen. But what an unmistakable scamp my friend Slurk must be to have aroused the suspicions of such an innocent unsophisticated little creature as Christinchen! By Jove, though, anybody might be suspicious of a leer and a slouch like his! What if there should be anything in it? Just suppose such a thing for a moment, eh? It's impossible, to be sure; but the impossible does sometimes happen. How on earth did Birchmore ever happen to have such a fellow about him? I tell you I've always had a notion that he may be at the bottom of all this mystery that Birchmore and Kate are so much exercised by. Now, what if he--but pshaw!