“Have you no suspicion that the sight is a very pleasant one for me?”
“If that be so, I am very glad, for I have nothing to be ashamed of, for a girl has no call to hide her throat any more than her face, unless she is in grand company.”
As she was speaking, Leah looked at a golden heart transfixed with an arrow and set with small diamonds which served me as a shirt stud.
“Do you like the little heart?” said I.
“Very much. Is it pure gold?”
“Certainly, and that being so I think I may offer it to you.”
So saying I took it off, but she thanked me politely, and said that a girl who gave nothing must take nothing.
“Take it; I will never ask any favour of you.”
“But I should be indebted to you, and that’s the reason why I never take anything.”
I saw that there was nothing to be done, or rather that it would be necessary to do too much to do anything, and that in any case the best plan would be to give her up.