The girl whirled completely round on one foot, and interrupted Monteagle by a shout of laughter that might have roused the inmates of the distant ranch.
He looked at her surprised. Scarcely deigning him a glance, she began again, and laughed till her breath failed her.
‘Man is so fool!’ said she at length. ‘Here,’ she continued, taking a string of costly pearls from some place where they had been concealed about her person, and laying them on his hand. ‘You think that poor Maria give you these? You think I buy?’
Monteagle examined the precious gift by the twilight, and perceived that it was, indeed, too magnificent to have come from the poor nymph, and that it must be a gift from some unknown individual.
He perceived the drift of Maria’s questionings. He believed that this was the gift of some wealthy lady who was kindly disposed towards him; and that Maria had been commissioned to sound him on the subject of his reported attachment to Julia.
Here was an adventure, indeed, and his imagination was at once set on fire.
‘Tell me, Maria, the name of the lady?’
‘What lady?’
‘The lady who sent me these pearls.’
‘A Lady—ha! ha! ha! It was not a lady. It was one big gentleman.’