“You ought to wear emeralds,” he said. “They are the stones for you, with your complexion and eyes. You ought to wear emeralds. Ropes of emeralds.”
“I intend to!” answered Claudia calmly.
Their eyes met, and they stared at one another; a cold and challenging stare.
During the next fortnight Society watched with interest the progress of the affair between “Beauty and the Beast,” and speculation was rife as to its outcome. Would he propose; and, if so, would she—could she accept? It seemed impossible to her friends that even Claudia, the mercenary, could sell herself to this ogre-like man. But Claudia herself had no hesitation.
On the fifteenth day after their introduction, the couple sat together under a tree at one of the outdoor functions of the year, and John Biggs asked a sudden question:
“What did you think of me,” he asked, “when you first saw me that evening at the Rollos’?”
Claudia smiled at him with the sweetness of an angel.
“I thought,” she said, “you were the ugliest man I had ever seen!”
“And yet,” he said sneering, “you made eyes at me across the room. You willed me to come and be introduced!”
“Yes, I did. But that,” said Claudia serenely, “was because you were rich.”