"No, I only walked outside the gates a little way. I saw no one except a very lovely young girl coming from here. Do you know anything about her, Roma?"
"If she was dressed like a kitchen maid in a print gown, she was a girl from the dressmaker's who brought home some work," Roma answered carelessly.
"I did not notice her dress in the moonlight. I could not keep my eyes from her face, she was so very beautiful," Mr. Clarke replied, somewhat dreamily.
Roma shrugged her shoulders scornfully:
"A poor girl has no business to be pretty," she exclaimed.
Mr. Clarke frowned at the sentiment.
"Roma, I do not like to hear you express yourself so heartlessly. You would like to be pretty even if you were poor."
"I cannot even imagine myself poor like the common herd!" she retorted, tossing her beautiful head with queenly pride.
If she had been looking at the man before her, she must have seen that a strange look came upon his face as his secret thoughts ran sarcastically:
"Ignorance indeed is bliss, in this case."