"What pretty rings!" she said, taking up a jeweled keeper. "They almost tempt one to get married."
The man smiled sympathetically.
"I suppose the bridegroom always chooses the rings," she said, with seeming carelessness. "Now, I wonder which of these most men would choose?"
The man fingered the rings lightly.
"Some one, some another, madam," he replied. "The gentleman who has just gone out chose one like this."
Finetta's face was pale already, but it seemed to blanch, and the ring rolled along the counter.
"Lord Auchester was buying a wedding ring and keeper!" she said involuntarily.
As the words left her lips, a lady had entered the shop, and she heard them as plainly as if they had been addressed to her; and they took an instantaneous and extraordinary effect. She let the door slip, and put her hand to her heart, and so stood gazing with a strange expression in her eyes from Finetta to the man.
It was a dramatic moment. The two women stood silent and motionless, regarding each other with a world of meaning in their eyes. Finetta, still eyeing Lady Eleanor, went on: