“Yes—I should,” she replied, with great decision.
“Then how dreadfully you must feel for me, Lady Gwendolyn.”
“I don’t think it signifies about a man’s age, unless he is beginning to get infirm. But you have plenty of good years before you yet, Colonel Dacre.”
“I hope you are a true prophet, Lady Gwendolyn. I can assure you that, so far, I have only seen the dark side of life.”
“And yet to outsiders you always seem such a very fortunate person.”
“Do I? Why?”
“You have plenty of money, a fine old property, health to enjoy your advantages; and, therefore, as the world argues, you are an exceedingly fortunate person.”
“Of course, I forgot,” he said bitterly; “money is everything in this world; and yet how little it can buy—of what one values most, I mean.”
“Why, it buys diamonds!” exclaimed Lady Gwendolyn naïvely.
“And you value them more than anything?”