Una put her hand in the delicate white gloved one, and the two women looked at each other for a moment in silence.
Was it possible at that moment that some prophetic instinct whispered to the heart of each that the threads of both their lives were doomed to be entangled together?
Then Una suddenly remembered that she had in her hand the jewels belonging to this young lady, and with a grave smile she put them back in their case.
"You are looking at my sapphires, I see," said Lady Bell, in a tone which set the soul of the alarmed jeweler at rest. "Do you admire them? Are they fine, do you think?"
"I do not know. They are very beautiful. I have never seen anything like them before."
"Really," said Lady Bell, with a nod; "I don't care for them. They don't suit me; there is not enough color in them." Then, turning to the jeweler, she said, in that quiet tone of command which for the first time fell upon Una's ears: "Give me the rubies, please."
The man hastened to hand her a case from the safe, and Lady Bell placed the contents in Una's lap.
"Ah!" she said, with a smile, as Una's eyes opened wide with admiration, at once childish and yet dignified, "you are of my opinion, too. But the sapphires would suit you best. I wish I were your husband."
Una looked up with a smile of grave astonishment; and Lady Bell turned with a light laugh to Mrs. Davenant.
"How puzzled she looks! I mean," she went on to Una, "that if I were your husband I would give you the sapphire set; though a lover would be more suitable, would it not?"
Then seeing Una's grave, open-eyed wonder, Lady Bell turned to Mrs. Davenant, and in a low tone, said:
"Who is she, Mrs. Davenant?--has she just come out of a convent? She is simply lovely; her eyes haunt me--who is she?"
Mrs. Davenant stammered, and fidgeted speechlessly.
"Ah!" said Lady Bell, quickly, in the same low tone. "You think I'm rude and ill-bred. They all do when I ask a simple question, or show the slightest interest in anything." She glanced at Una lingeringly: "I mustn't ask, I suppose?"
"I--I--she is new to London," said Mrs. Davenant. "It is her first day----"
"Her first day!" echoed Lady Bell, her eyes twinkling. "Do you mean that she was never in London before? How I envy her; I who am sick and weary of it! Yes, the glamour is on her; I can see it in her eyes--on her face. She is like some beautiful wild bird who has settled on an inhabited island for the first time, and is marveling at the strange sights and faces--look at her!" and she touched Mrs. Davenant's arm.