“I’ll give you that one,” he offered.
She laughed lightly––confidently.
“But I don’t have to come to you or to any one,” she reminded him. “I can just give it to myself.”
“That isn’t quite the same thing, is it?”
No, it was not quite the same thing. She knew it. But she was not telling all she knew.
“It’s a wonder to me you’ve never married,” he said.
She caught her breath. She had come to look for unexpected remarks from him, but this was a trifle more unexpected than usual. She tried to laugh as she usually did, but she could not laugh.
“I suppose you’ve figured out that, with all your free diamonds, you’re better off as you are,” he suggested.
She did not answer.
“Is that the way of it?” he persisted.