"Nelson—have you thought what Mother will think if I do this? Off with the old love and on with the new? Won't Mother be more horrified than ever at me? Won't she think I'm utterly false at heart?"
"Your mother will simply jump for joy," said Nelson Whitney solemnly. "Take it from me. It would be the happiest moment of her life if she could see my ring on your hand and know you wanted it there."
"So soon—after—"
"The sooner the quicker!" said Nelson, wrinkling his face into his nicest smile. "Come! Let's go!"
She followed him in a tumult of joy and doubt. Could it be right for her to be happy like this, when only a few hours ago she had been—
But Nelson was summoning another taxi, and in a few whirls they were entering the great Fifth Avenue store.
When she came out again a little while later, after going the beautiful rounds among priceless jewels and fragile glass that looked like the breath of a frozen flower, she was wearing his ring on her hand, and a soft depth of joy in her eyes that was good to see.
"And now," said Nelson, as he summoned another taxi, "I think we had better go and find Mother, and tell her all about it, don't you? It seems to me she has suffered about long enough."
[CHAPTER XIV]
IT WAS late that evening before mother and daughter were alone at last.