"She murmured that the flowers were charming. You would have thought she had not seen the jewels, though she must have seen them, Madame, if I saw from my distance. Monsieur asked if she would like to view the rest of the suite. She answered, 'Oh yes, please!' Then, out into the entrance hall they came. Monsieur threw open the door of a room next the salon, and as he did so put on the lights. But--with that, he stepped back. My young lady called me, 'Céline!' I ran to her, and he stopped there in the hall. Ah, another surprise! Not the beauty of this great bedroom. That one would expect in such a suite--a _white_ room, Madame, and white flowers, roses not too heavily perfumed! But the surprise was on the toilet-table. Brushes, bottles, everything, oh, so delicious a set!--in gold. A queen could have no better. On the bed, Madame, lay a _robe de chambre_ more beautiful than any that Mademoiselle has ever possessed--which Madame knows, is to say much!--and on the floor--like blossoms fallen on the white fur rug--lay a little pair of _mules_, made of gold embroidery on cloth of silver, and having buckles of old paste fit for the slippers of Cinderella! When she had looked round for a few moments, quite silent, Madame, the bride turned to me. 'Now you have seen what is here, Céline,' she said, 'you can go to my room and bring me just the things you think I shall need.'" "Did she give you the key of the suite?" Mary asked sharply. "But no, Madame, she did not give me a key. I shall have to knock." "Very well, run and put a few things together," Mary directed. "It doesn't much matter what, as Mademois--my daughter--will not, I think, stay long in the suite. When you are ready, come back here to me. I will go down with you. When the door is opened, I shall walk in before it can be shut. But mind, you will speak or hint to _no_ one of what I do, or what I say to you--or what you may see or overhear." "Madame may depend upon me," Céline assured her. "Ah, that poor Milord Severance! _Mais, c'est le Destin!_" CHAPTER XXI KEEPING UP APPEARANCES! "You said at the theatre, if I trusted you enough to come here with you," Marise began as Céline left, "you would tell me a plan you thought I'd approve. Well, I did trust you! I _had_ to, just as I had to this afternoon when you said the same thing in the taxi. Here I am. But so far, I don't see anything that reassures me much. All the flowers and jewel-cases and gold things are beautiful bribes. The only trouble about them is, that _I_ don't take bribes--even if you can afford to offer them!" "I understand that emphasis," said Garth. "_You_ don't take bribes. I do. And you think, in making this collection I've 'gambled in futures.'" Marise was silent. "That's what you do think, isn't it?" he insisted. "Something of the sort may have flitted through my head."