He slipped the diamond ring from his finger and placed it on hers, and in a few moments they parted, and Flower sped swiftly homeward.
The sun was setting, and Jewel was on the front porch alone, making a lovely picture among the clematis vines in her white dress and scarlet sash. Her face looked so calm and indifferent that lovely little Flower took heart to ask, timidly:
"Do you love him yet, Jewel, or can you forget him now since everything has proved different from what you believed?"
"I despise him!" Jewel answered, vindictively; and Flower faltered, hopefully:
"Then you will not care if I become engaged to him, dear sister?"
"No. Why should I care? He is nothing to me! If you choose to take a heartless flirt for your husband, and run the risk of having him desert you for some other fair face, as he deserted me for you, why, you have my consent!" Jewel answered, proudly, and with such well-acted carelessness that Flower told herself that her lover was right. Jewel would soon forget her disappointment.
She hung around her sister several moments, but Jewel took no notice, and at length Flower asked, timidly:
"Where is mamma?"
"She has gone over to Mammy Maria's house," Jewel replied, composedly.
"Why did she go?"