“Now, you don’t mean it, Barclay. I am not so young as I was, and my throat is not beautiful now.”
“There, I’m a plain man,” said Barclay; “I’ve no time for fine sayings and polished phrases, and what I say is this: I know your ladyship must be forty.”
“Yes, Barclay, I am,” said Lady Drelincourt, with a sigh.
“I’m fifty-five,” he said, “and what I say is, how a woman with a skin like yours can utter such deprecatory sentiments is a puzzle. Why, half the women here would be proud of such a skin. Look how they paint. Pah!”
“They do, Barclay; they do. Are the diamonds of good water?”
“Look,” he said, holding them before him.
“No, no; some one in the room will see.”
“I’ll take care of that, my lady. Look at them. I daren’t tell you whom they once belonged to, but they came to me through accidents at the gaming-table. They are perfect in match and size. Lady Drelincourt, you would not be doing yourself justice if you did not buy them. I wish I dare clasp them on.”
“No, no; not now. How much did you say?”
“I am giving them away at four hundred guineas, Lady Drelincourt.”