she
was to go alone with him, playfully mentioning his desire to be the only
witness to her confusion when confronted by the "obsequious salesman and
his baubles from the sea." If quite agreeable to her he would make an
appointment with the jeweller for 3.30 and would call for her in person.
After that, he continued, the signing of a contract for life would not
seem such a portentous undertaking, and they could go to the meeting with
hearts as light as air. It was a cheerful, even gay little missive, but
she was not for an instant blind to the irony that lay between the lines.

Anne selected the pearls that he had chosen in advance of their visit to
Tiffany's. He did not tell her that he had instructed the jeweller to make
up a string of pearls for her inspection, with the understanding that she
was to choose for herself from an assortment of half-a-dozen beautiful
offerings, no price to be mentioned. He was quite sure that she would not
even consider the cost. He credited her with an honest scorn for
sentimentality; she would make no effort to glorify him for an act that
was so obviously a part of their unsentimental compact. There would be no
gushing over this sardonic tribute to her avarice. She would have herself
too well in hand for that.

They were about her neck when she entered the house near Washington Square
almost an hour before the time appointed for the conference. In her secret
but subdued pleasure over acquiring the costly present, she had lost all
count of time. That was a part of Mr. Thorpe's expensive programme.

All the way down in the automobile she had been estimating the value of
her new possession. On one point she was satisfied: there were few
handsomer strings in New York than hers. She would have to keep them in a
safe place,--a vault, no doubt. Nearly every matron of her acquaintance
made a great deal of the fact that she had to buy a safe in which to store
her treasures. There was something agreeable--subtly agreeable--in owning
jewels that would have to be kept in one of those staunch, opulent looking
safes. She experienced a thrill of satisfaction by describing herself in
advance, as one of the women with pearls. And there was additional
gratification in the knowledge that she could hardly be called a matron in
the strict sense of the word. She was glad that she was too young for
that. She tried to recall the names of all the women who possessed pearls
like these, and the apparent though