"I have brought you a little present, Pauline, from Paris," said Lady Darrell. "I hope it will give you pleasure."
"You were kind to remember me," observed Pauline.
Sir Oswald thought the acknowledgment far too cool and calm.
"They are the finest rubies I have seen, Pauline; they are superb stones."
He held them so that the light gleamed in them until they shone like fire. The proud, dark eyes glanced indifferently at them.
"What have you to say to Lady Darrell, Pauline?" asked Sir Oswald, growing angry at her silence.
The girl's beautiful lip curled.
"Lady Darrell was good to think of me," she said, coldly; "and the jewels are very fine; but they are not suitable for me."
Her words, simple as they were, fell like a thunder-cloud upon the little group.
"And pray why not?" asked Sir Oswald, angrily.