CHAPTER VI

IVOR HEARS THE STORY

They were gone.  They had closed the door behind them.  I looked at Maxine, but she did not speak.  With her finger to her lips she got up, trembling still; and walking to the door, she opened it suddenly to look out.  Nobody was there.

“They may have gone into your bedroom to listen at that door,” she whispered.

I took the hint, and going quickly into the room adjoining, turned on the light.  Emptiness there:  but I left the door open, and the electricity switched on.  They might change their minds, or be more subtle than they wished to seem.

Maxine threw herself on the sofa, gathering up the necklace from the cushion where it had fallen, and lifting it in both hands pressed the glittering mass against her lips and cheeks.

“Thank God, thank God—­and thank you, Ivor, best of friends!” she said brokenly, in so low a voice that no ear could have caught her words, even if pressed against the keyhole.  Then, letting the diamonds drop into her lap, she flung back her head and laughed and cried together.

“Oh, Ivor, Ivor!” she panted, between her sobs and hysterical gusts of laughter.  “The agony of it—­the agony—­and the joy now!  You’re wonderful.  Good, precious Ivor—­dear friend—­saint.”

At this I laughed too, partly to calm her, and patted gently the hands with which she had nervously clutched my sleeve.

“Heaven knows I don’t deserve one of those epithets,” I said, “I’ll just stick to friend.”

“Not deserve them?” she repeated.  “Not deserve them, when you’ve saved me—­I don’t yet understand how—­from a horror worse than death—­oh, but a thousand times worse, for I wanted to die.  I meant to die.  If they had found it, I shouldn’t have lived to see to-morrow morning.  Tell me—­how did you work such a miracle?  How did you get this necklace, that meant so much to me (and to one I love), and how did you hide the—­other thing?”

“I don’t know anything about this necklace,” I answered, stupidly, “I didn’t bring it.”

“You—­didn’t bring it?”

“No.  At least, that red leather thing isn’t the case I carried.  When the fellow pulled it out from the sofa, I saw it wasn’t what I’d had, so I thanked our lucky stars, and would have tried to let you know that all hope wasn’t over, if I’d dared to catch your eye or make a signal.”

Maxine was suddenly calm.  The tears had dried on her cheeks, and her eyes were fever-bright.

“Ivor, you can’t know what you are talking about,” she said, in a changed voice.  “That red leather case is what you took out of your breast pocket and handed to me when I first came into the room.  At the sound of the knock, I pushed it down as far as I could between the seat and back of the sofa, and then ran off to a distance before the door opened.  You did bring the necklace, knowingly or not; and as it was the cause of all my trouble in the beginning, I needn’t tell you of the joy I had in seeing it, apart from the heavenly relief of being spared discovery of the thing I feared.  Now, when you’ve given me the other packet, which you hid so marvellously, I can go away happy.”