‘It’s a lovely design!’ he said enthusiastic-ally; ‘It will cost Lord Carlyon a little over five hundred pounds. But gentlemen of his sort never mind what they pay, so long as they can please the lady they are after. And the lady in this case isn’t his lordship’s wife, as you may well suppose!’ He sniggered, and one of his eyelids trembled as though it were on the point of a profane wink. Delicia regarded him with a straight, clear look. ‘Why should I suppose anything of the sort?’ she queried calmly. ‘I should, on the contrary, imagine that it was just the tasteful gift a man would wish to choose for his wife.’ The jeweller made a curious little bow over his counter, implying deference towards Delicia’s unsuspicious nature. ‘Would you really?’ he said. ‘Well, now, as a matter of fact, in our trade, when we get special orders from gentlemen for valuable jewels, they are never by any chance intended for the gentlemen’s wives. Of course it is not our business to interfere with, or even comment upon the actions of our customers; but as far as our own artistic work goes, it often pains us—yes, I may say it pains us—to see some of our finest pieces being thrown away on dancers and music-hall singers, who don’t really know how to appreciate them, because they haven’t the taste or culture for it. They know the money’s worth of jewels—oh, you may trust them for that. And whenever they want to raise cash, why, of course their jewels come handy. But it’s not satisfactory to us as a firm, for we take a good deal of pride in our work. This dove, for instance,’ and again he dangled the pendant in the sunbeams, ‘It’s a magnificent specimen of diamond-setting, and of course we, as the producers of such a piece, would far rather know it was going to Lady Carlyon than to La Marina.’ Delicia began to feel as if she were in a kind of dull dream; there were flickering lines of light flashing before her eyes, and her limbs trembled. She heard the jeweller’s voice, going on again in its politely gossiping monotone, as though it were a long way off. ‘Of course La Marina is a wonderful creature, a marvellous dancer, and good-looking in her way, but common. Ah! common’s no word for it! She was the daughter of a costermonger in Eastcheap. Now, Lady Carlyon is a very different person; she is best known by her maiden name, Delicia Vaughan. She’s the author of that name; I daresay you may have read some of her books?’ ‘I believe—yes, I think I have,’ murmured Delicia, faintly.