"I am speaking to a lady," said Dillwyn, smiling. "When I have a man to apply to, I will make my application accordingly."
"Ask him for his tobacco?" said Mrs. Wishart.
"Certainly for his tobacco. There is as much money spent in this city for tobacco as there is for bread."
Madge exclaimed in incredulous astonishment; and Lois asked if the diamonds of the city would amount to very much.
"Yes, Miss Lois. American ladies are very fond of diamonds; and it is a common thing for one of them to have from ten thousand to twenty thousand or thirty thousand dollars' worth of them as part of the adornment of her pretty person at one time."
"Twenty thousand dollars' worth of diamonds on at once!" cried Madge.
"I call that wicked!"
"Why?" asked Mr. Dillwyn, smiling.
"There's no wickedness in it," said Mrs. Wishart. "How should it be wicked? You put on a flower; and another, who can afford it, puts on a diamond. What's the difference?"
"My flower does not cost anybody anything," said Madge.
"What do my diamonds cost anybody?" returned Mrs. Wishart.