"Look here, Cissy," he said in tremulous tones, "we absolutely can't go into the courtyard of the Grand Hotel like this! Now, if you will be a good girl, and will stop this instant, I will drive you up the Rue de la Paix, and there I will buy——!"
"What?" said Cissy, looking up with eyes that still brimmed ready for action.
"A gold bracelet!" said her father tentatively, but still quite uncertain of his effect.
"Boohoo!" said Cissy Carter, dropping her face once more between her hands.
"Goodness gracious," cried the Colonel, invoking his favorite divinity, "what can the girl want? A gold watch, then?"
"Real gold this time, then!" said Cissy, who had been "had" once before, and, even with an aching heart, was properly cautious.
"You shall do the choosing yourself!" said her father, thinking that he had conquered. But Cissy knew her opportunity—and the relative whom fate had given her. The tears welled again. Her bosom was shaken by timely sobs.
"Well, what then, Celia—really, this becomes past bearing! Why, we are nearly at the hotel!"
Cissy glanced up quickly. "A gold bracelet with a gold watch, then!" she sighed gently.
And this is the truth, and the whole truth, as to why Colonel Davenant Carter gave his arm to a radiant and beautiful daughter in the courtyard of the Grand Hotel—a daughter, also, who lifted up a prettily-gloved hand (twelve buttons), and at every fourth step looked at the time!