Richard nodded. “Let’s have a look at it.”
The woman lifted the garment from the box and flung it wide on the counter before them; and all the color in it glowed softly and the colors that lay on the counter about it glared and seemed hard.
“Pretty thing!” said Richard More. He pulled his mustache a little nervously.
The woman lifted the coat and shook it out.
“Let madam try it on,” she suggested.
She came from behind the counter and placed it on Eleanor’s shoulders, smoothing the folds.
“It’s not a usual garment—Not every one could wear a garment like that.” She moved back a little, gazing with half-closed eyes.
“It suits madam perfectly!”
The husband surveyed it. “Turn around,” he commanded.
Eleanor turned and moved from him down the cleared space to the mirror. And he was conscious of something remote in her movements. She seemed to withdraw, to hold herself removed, wrapped in the blue and gold folds of the coat.