Then he slipped the ring from her finger and held it up to the light.
"Well, it is a beauty!" he murmured, toying with it as a delighted boy might with a new plaything.
"I thought you did not admire diamonds?"
"Well, can't a person change their opinions?
"Certainly, but—"
"Ah, that pain again!" exclaimed the engineer, clasping his stomach suddenly and groaning.
"Oh, August, you are hurt, in pain, and trying to keep it from me!" she cried in alarm.
"It's a mere nothing, but—but have you any, brandy in the house? I feel that I need something of the kind."
He seemed trying to smother his distress, and this caused poor Rose to grow pale with alarm.
She sprang up at once.