“But why? Why should you?”

“Am I called on to find reasons?” he asked.

There was a silence, whilst she examined the rings that had been screwed up in the paper.

“I think they are beautiful,” she said, “especially this. This is wonderful—”

It was a round opal, red and fiery, set in a circle of tiny rubies.

“You like that best?” he said.

“I think I do.”

“I like the sapphire,” he said.

“This?”

It was a rose-shaped, beautiful sapphire, with small brilliants.