"It is in really appreciative hands now," remarked Guy after a pause. "By the way," he added, picking up his overcoat from the chair, "I could not resist the temptation of bringing away a few of the best examples of Flurscheim's snuff-boxes. I know you have a vacant corner or two in the cabinets upstairs, and if you think they are not worthy of being placed in them, well the brilliants in the settings will make a necklace for Myra."
He thrust his hand into the pockets and took out a number of superb specimens of the art of a bygone age.
"It was very thoughtful of you," said Hora, as he lifted each box lovingly as Guy laid it on the table. There were twelve in all, and eight he placed on one side. "These are really artistic productions," he said, "and I shall keep them. The others are worth no more than the intrinsic value of the stones and of the gold of which they are made."
Guy turned to Myra. "What will you have them made into, Myra, a necklet or a bracelet?—I must give you a keepsake to wear in memory of my first big exploit."
"Anything you like, Guy," she answered softly, while her face flushed with delight.
"Then we will think of something," he observed carelessly. He picked up one of the boxes which Hora had placed aside. "I think I should like to keep this one myself, Commandatore," he remarked, "as a souvenir of the occasion."
Hora took it from his hand and looked at the box curiously. In the lid was set an exquisite miniature on ivory of a young girl, with regular, delicate features and a cloud of golden hair.
"You have good taste, keep it, by all means," urged Hora carelessly. A slight hesitation in Guy's tone as he proffered the request was evidence to his swift brain that the young man had not revealed the whole of his reason for the desire to retain that particular box. He knew that he could when he liked elicit that reason. But the morning was advancing. He began to feel wearied. He would have plenty of time on the morrow to learn all that he desired to know.
"Come, my children," he said, "it is time we went to bed. Guy, you will help me put these new possessions of ours into a place of security. Sleep well, Myra."
The woman accepted the dismissal submissively. She re-echoed the wish, and, with a last glance over her shoulder at Guy as she swept out of the room, she left them.