Roma flushed with annoyance, and added:
"You seem so very poor that even a small sum of money ought to be acceptable to you!"
"I am miserably poor, but I love you—I would rather have the kiss."
If Roma had known the old woman's miserly character she would have been even more surprised at her fancy. As it was, she hardly knew what to say. She gazed in disgust at the ugly, yellow-skinned and wrinkled old hag, and wondered if she could bring herself to touch that face with her own fresh, rosy lips.
"I—I would rather give you a hundred dollars than to kiss you!" she blurted out, in passionate disgust.
Instantly she saw she had made a grave mistake. Granny drew back angrily from the haughty girl, muttering:
"Hoity-toity, what pride! But pride always goes before a fall!"
"What do you mean?" flashed Roma.
A moment's silence, and granny answered cringingly: