"And immediately afterwards I changed my mind." She said this with her sweetest smile.
"Changed your mind! What do you mean? Do you know I spent twenty pounds on an engagement-ring?" Mr. Ely produced a little leather case from his waistcoat pocket, and from the case a ring. "Do you see that? Do you know I paid twenty pounds for that? And it might have cost me forty-five."
Taking the ring, Miss Truscott slipped it on her long, slender finger.
"What a pretty ring! How well it fits me, too. I'll buy it from you if you'll let me have it cheap."
Mr. Ely was for a moment speechless.
"Cheap! Do you think I buy engagement-rings to sell them at a profit, then?"
"I don't know. You say you are a business man."
"Say I'm a business man! I should have to be a very funny business man if I did that kind of thing."
Taking off the ring, Miss Truscott put it back into the case.
"Never mind, Mr. Ely; as a business man you know that a good investment is never thrown away. If you don't meet with a good offer for it at once it is sure to come in by and by. If you go on asking girls to marry you, possibly in time you will light on one who will not change her mind."