Stella had understood that there was some kind of misunderstanding and she had realised what Sharp had thought as he spoke.
He thought she had taken his broken locket and had repaired it as a sorry present.
But as she was trying to explain, Den spouted the words about her tainting the locket.
Tainting?
As this word sunk in, Stella slowly lost all the will to fight. What was she even apologizing for? If Sharp thought that she would taint his possessions by touching them.
Stella's body turned limp as she stopped struggling and let her hands fall to her sides.
She did not even want to explain anymore.
Den saw her give up and threw her back on the floor.
Stella hit the floor with a thump as she landed on her buttocks. She did not move and stayed there, not even looking up at Den's face, as he glared at her for a few minutes before storming out of the living room and upstairs.
Stella heard him walk up the stairs and slam his bedroom door.
She was suddenly filled with the desire that she didn't want to be here right now. She didn't want to be there when Sharp found out it was not his locket. She did not want to be here when he came back down.
Thinking this Stella got up and walked out of the cottage. As she walked, her walk turned into quick steps before she broke out into a full run.
Den went inside his room and saw Stella run out of the cottage from the window.
He pursued his lips, could that girl really think that she could gain his forgiveness by getting her hand on something Helen gave him before she actually went and died!
Den stared at the locket and stroked it. He kissed it once before opening it. Upon opening the locket, Den stood petrified.
His first reaction was that Stella had removed his and Helen's pictures from it. But the next instant his mind started working and he realised that it was actually a different locket, just very similar looking. It had Spanish inscribed on one side instead of two frames.
Now that he looked more closely, Den reproached himself. This locket was obviously different. It was clearly not of solid gold unlike his and didn't have any marks of wear and tear. This one was clearly new.
Den pulled out a key from around his neck and opened a drawer. Now that he clearly thought, Den wanted to punch himself. There was no way Stella could have gotten in this locker. He kept it locked at all times.
Den took out a very similar looking locket to the one Stella had given him and sat down on a chair, one locket in each hand.
He looked at both of them and a weird feeling spread in his heart. Den began to question his actions the past few months.
Why had he been acting so cold towards McCartney? Was it only because she had the same face as Helen? But she had the same face even before he started treating her that way.
Then why? Because she had sneaked into his room? He didn't care about people seeing the paintings if they didn't damage them. And Stella clearly hadn't.