"But why didn't he come up with you?"
"I asked him to give me half an hour here with you."
"That was better," she said firmly.
All the undisciplined impulses that had been stirring, gradually seemed to subside as she watched him, warily drawing about her an invisible defense.
"Here is the ring," she said suddenly, extending her arm with a gesture that was no longer languid and feminine, but forceful and controlled.
"I'd like to see it," he said.
She drew it from her finger and held it out to him. He laid it in his palm and studied it profoundly.
"What is it worth?" he asked.
"Over thirty thousand dollars."
"Ah," he said quickly. "Beecher told me you said fifteen thousand."