"'When I was your age, my darling, I had flowers, like those, every day!'
"And she drew back, nodding and bobbing, smiling her toothless smile."
Doré stopped, pressed her hand to her throat and said in a muffled voice:
"It just took me. Something came right up in my throat—I could have cried! I tore them off and threw them in her arms. If you could have seen the look she gave me! She kissed them. Ah! it made me very happy, I can tell you!"
Did he believe her? He didn't care! Perhaps he preferred that it should have been invented.
"It will mean a great deal to her," he said, his eyes on hers—his eyes, that began to light up as lanterns showing through the fall of night.
"It will mean a great deal!" she said, with an expression of such beatitude that his abiding doubt began to waver. "I just couldn't have kept them!"
"I want you to lunch with me—to-morrow," he said slowly.
"Where?"
"In my apartments. They overlook the park. It's quite delightful."