Dick sat back in his chair and laughed with abandon, and laughed again.
“And what about my rubies’?” screamed Lena, springing to her feet.
“I have not the slightest doubt that they are paste, too. Everything he touched was fraud.”
“I’m glad of it! I’m glad of it!” cried Dick, with a new access of mirth. “The old rascal! Giving my wife jewels! Why, Lena, you couldn’t wear his stuff anyway, after all this fracas. It will do to trim a Christmas tree.”
But Lena, with angry face, tapped the floor nervously with her gaudy small slipper, and made no reply to her husband’s hilarity.
Even to her slow-working mind it was evident that she had paid a high price for some worthless bits of glass. This conferring of a favor was indeed a bond.
She wondered what Mr. Early thought of her; what Dick would say if he ever discovered.