"I cannot thank you—I cannot even begin to thank you. It is like a most heavenly dream coming true."
"Pray don't speak of thanks. It is I who am indebted to you for being pleased. I have bought another little toy for you as well."
He opened a case, containing a necklace of pearls, a single row. Not of great size, but well matched and graduated.
"I am afraid," he said, "that this has no romantic history. The best I can imagine is that the diver who brought the pearls was snapped in two by a shark."
"The best?" she cried. "That is the worst! That is horrible! Oh! but what a lovely necklace!"
"Then," said the man, "he was not snapped in two by a shark. He amassed great wealth in the pearl fishery business, retired from it, married a wife, had seventeen children, and was very, very happy."
"Seventeen seems a lot," said the girl.
"To-night you have only to command. The poor man had but two. May I put the necklace on for you?"
She hesitated. After all, why be a fool? "Of course, if you like," she said.
He fastened the snap quickly and deftly. "That is the way pearls look best," he said.