But all that Rose said was, “How nice it must be to meet with such success.”
“By George, I was almost forgetting our bargain,” exclaimed Scarlett. He took from his pocket a little linen bag, which he handed to Rose. “Those are the nuggets you wanted—glad to be able to keep my promise.”
The girl untied the neck of the small bag, and three heavy pieces of gold tumbled on the table.
“I can’t take them,” she exclaimed. “They’re worth too much. I can’t make any adequate return.”
“I hope you won’t try. Pilot, she must take them.”
“Take ’em? Of course. Why, Rosebud, his luck would leave him to-morrer, if you was to stop him keeping his promise. You’re bound to take ’em.”
Rose weighed the bits of virgin gold in the palm of her little hand.
“Of course, I never really meant you to give me any of your gold,” she said. “I only spoke in joke.”
“Then it’s a joke I should make pretty often, if I were you,” said Sartoris. “You don’t seem to know when you’re well off.”
“I take it under compulsion; hoping that you’ll find so much more that you won’t feel the loss of this.”