"Very," replied her sister dryly.
Picking up a diamond solitaire ring and examining it, Fanny asked:
"This was his first present, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember how scared we both were that somebody might break into the room and steal it and how we used to hide it under the mattress every night and take it out again when we got up?"
Virginia nodded. With averted face she said:
"Yes—I remember."
"And the morning we were in a hurry and forgot it till we were on the car! I can see you now, reaching for the bell and then getting off the wrong way. And how you did run! If you had gone in the ladies' race at the Shipping Clerks' Annual Picnic and had run as fast as that, you'd have won the genuine tortoise-shell side combs sure!"
Virginia smiled in spite of herself. Quietly she replied:
"I suppose I was excited. It was the first piece of real jewelry I had ever owned."