“How did you know about her?” eyeing him gravely.
“Ho, ho, ho! Not a bad shot, I see! A bow drawn at a venture! Then there is such a young lady?”
“Yes,” assented Mr. Pollitt, “and a very handsome young lady; you may take my word for that!”
“What is she like?” turning to Mark with sparkling eyes. “Fair or dark?”
“You shall see her some day, Fernandez. You must come to our wedding.”
“I shall be most happy; but, my dear fellow, do describe her appearance. I am such a ladies’ man, you know, such an admirer of beauty.”
“Oh, she is tall, a head over you, Cardozo,” said Mr. Pollitt, “and has dark hair, dark-grey eyes, and a very delicate colour, the air of a princess.”
“Ah! then she shall have these pearls, instead of emeralds!” cried Fernandez with enthusiasm, plunging his fat fingers into ropes of the former, and holding them aloft for inspection. Four rows of large pearls fastened off by a quaint old clasp, and a little tassel of rubies.
“They are far too valuable—it is much too handsome a gift,” objected Mark, holding back instinctively.
“Nothing is too handsome for a handsome girl! and, for the matter of value, the emeralds, though they look like so many balls of green glass, beat them! If you refuse them in her name, I assure you I shall be quite affronted; and, surely, it is only right that the major’s daughter should have one small gift from amid all the begum’s jewels.”