“Oh, both are fine. Philip of Macedon has a certain youthful freshness,
in the curling hair and uncovered head. But, of course, Alexander the
Great is more important, and then there is the classic casque. I should
take the Alexander.” The girl still hesitated, weighing the choice in
her mind from the classic point of view.
“Doubtless you are right. But”--and she held up the lovely head--“this
is not quite so common, and--and--I think I'll take the Macedon one.
Yes, you may set that for me,” turning to the salesman.
“Diamonds or pearls?” asked the jeweler.
“Oh, dear, no!” exclaimed the girl; “just the head.”
Evelyn's education was advancing. For the first time in her life she had
something to conceal. The privilege of this sort of secret is, however,
an inheritance of Eve. The first morning she wore it at breakfast Mrs.
Mavick asked her what it was.
“It's a coin, antique Greek,” Evelyn replied, passing it across the
table.
“How pretty it is; it is very pretty. Ought to have pearls around it.
Seems to be an inscription on it.”
“Yes, it is real old. McDonald says it is a stater, about the same as a
Persian daric-something like the value of a sovereign.”
“Oh, indeed; very interesting.”
To give Evelyn her due, it must be confessed that she blushed at this
equivocation about the inscription, and she got quite hot with shame
thinking what would become of her if Philip should ever know that she
was regarding him as a stater and wearing his name on her breast.
One can fancy what philosophical deductions as to the education of women
Celia Howard would have drawn out of this coin incident; one of them
doubtless being that a classical education is no protection against
love.
But for Philip's connection with the thriving firm of Hunt, Sharp &
Tweedle, it is safe to say that he would have known little of the world
of affairs in Wall Street, and might never have gained entrance into
that other world, for which Wall Street exists, that society where its
wealth and ambitious vulgarity are displayed. Thomas Mavick was a client
of the firm. At first they had been only associated with his lawyer, and
consulted occasionally. But as time went on Mr. Mavick opened to
them his affairs more and more, as he found the advantage of being
represented to the public by a firm that combined the highest social
and professional standing with all the acumen and adroitness that his
complicated affairs required.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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