"Yes, it was tiresome, their going to that other place. Oliver has been having such fun in Paris choosing an engagement ring for her; he has got a beauty, he says, a very old one. An emerald with diamonds around it."
The two girls were intimate enough for Grisel to be able without rudeness to exclaim at the obvious expensiveness of this choice.
"Yes, of course, it is," Jenny agreed, "but naturally he would want to give her something worth while."
Grisel glanced at her big ruby and went on shelling peas.
[CHAPTER XXIV]
The various preparations for the dinner that night turned out, however, to be more or less in vain, for the travellers were delayed and did not reach the house until nearly ten o'clock. Dinner had been arranged for eight, and when half past eight had struck Grisel rang and sent word to cook that they would not wait any longer.
"The cook," she explained to Sir John, "is a sensitive soul and very particular about having her things ruined by waiting."
Sir John laughed. "Well, I am glad, for my part I'm hungry. The sea air has given me a furious appetite."