"Much obliged," he said. "Now, Lydia, if we stand by each other——"
Mrs. Harmon had forgotten her earlier thoughts. "Of course!" she cried. "Oh, it will be so interesting!"
Ellis added the finishing touch, abruptly changing the subject. "You have been to Price's recently?"
Now Price was the fashionable jeweller, and few women were indifferent to his name. Mrs. Harmon, recollecting the cause of her recent visit there, saw fit to be coy.
"Oh, yes," she said, turning her head away. "He keeps asking me to come."
"He's always picking up pretty things," said Ellis approvingly. "Did he have anything special this time?"
"Something of Orsini's," replied Mrs. Harmon, struggling to appear indifferent. For they had been lovely, those baroque pearls so gracefully set in dusky gold. Price had made her try the necklace on, and she had sighed before the glass. "I wish he wouldn't pester me so," she said irritably. "He knows I can't afford them."
"He knows you have taste," Ellis said warmly. "He calls it a great pleasure to show things to you."
"I know," she replied, mollified. "I think he means to flatter me. But, Stephen, it's getting late, and I must dress for the Fennos' ball this evening."