Sophy was talking with Mrs. Horton and paid no attention to this murmured dialogue, but Loring's eyes were fixed angrily upon them, as he sat smoking on one of the cushioned window-sills.
All at once Belinda put out her hand and touched the sapphire that Amaldi wore—then held up her finger.
"Lend it to me...." she said. "I've fallen in love with it."
Amaldi flushed. The ring had been his mother's. She had put it on his finger herself the day that he was twenty.
"Well?" laughed Belinda. "What are you afraid of? I'm not proposing to you.... I shan't steal it...."
There was no other course left him. Amaldi drew off the ring in silence and held it towards her. He did not offer to put it on her finger.
"'Fraid-cat!" she mocked. She snatched it from him and slipped it on herself. The ring that had fitted Amaldi's little finger fitted her third finger perfectly.
She gazed delighted at the carved sapphire against her white, velvety skin. Then she jumped up and danced away, holding up her hand before her, and chanting:
"'What I take—I keep!' 'What I take—I keep!'— You'll whistle long and loud before you get this beauty back, Amaldi!"
Amaldi was rather pale, but smiling. He said nothing. Mrs. Horton called sharply: