"It was dug up in Central America a hundred years ago and it is almost as old as the world. It is very lucky."
"But I can't take that from you," Lucy protested.
"Oh, I have a little bracelet of them. It was the bracelet that was dug up. But I have taken out one of the beads for you. There are five left and that is plenty. And I have a piece of news for you. I am not going back to Brazil."
"No?"
"I am going to stay in England and marry Rick."
Lucy said that she was delighted to hear it.
"We shall be married in London in October, and you will be there and you will come to the wedding, no?"
Yes, Lucy would come to the wedding with pleasure.
"I am so glad about it," she said. She needed some contact with happiness after the last few days.
"Yes, it is all very satisfactory. We are cousins but not too near, and it is sensible to keep it in the family. I always thought I should like to marry an Englishman; and of course Rick is a parti. He is senior partner although he is so young. My parents are very pleased. And my grandmother, of course."