"Oh, but I must say something!" she went on. "You are so generous and good in yourself that of course you cannot bear to be thanked--I know that--but if you will persist in giving so much pleasure to a girl who, but for you, would have no pleasure at all in her life, you must expect that girl to express her feelings somehow. Now, mustn't you?" She leaned forward, smiling at him with an arch expression of sweetness and confidence. He looked at her attentively, but said nothing. "When I got your lovely present the first thing this morning," she continued, "I could hardly believe my eyes. Such an exquisite necklace!--such perfect pearls! Dear Mr. Helmsley, you quite spoil me! I'm not worth all the kind thought and trouble you take on my behalf." Tears started to her eyes, and her lips quivered. Helmsley saw her emotion with only a very slight touch of concern. Her tears were merely sensitive, he thought, welling up from a young and grateful heart, and as the prime cause of that young heart's gratitude he delicately forbore to notice them. This chivalrous consideration on his part caused some little disappointment to the shedder of the tears, but he could not be expected to know that. "I'm glad you are pleased with my little gift," he said simply, "though I'm afraid it is quite a conventional and ordinary one. Pearls and girls always go together, in fact as in rhyme. After all, they are the most suitable jewels for the young--for they are emblems of everything that youth should be--white and pure and innocent." Her breath came and went quickly. "Do you think youth is always like that?" she asked. "Not always,--but surely most often," he answered. "At any rate, I wish to believe in the simplicity and goodness of all young things." She was silent. Helmsley studied her thoughtfully,--even critically. And presently he came to the conclusion that as a child she had been much prettier than she now was as a woman. Yet her present phase of loveliness was of the loveliest type. No fault could be found with the perfect oval of her face, her delicate white-rose skin, her small seductive mouth, curved in the approved line of the "Cupid's bow," her deep, soft, bright eyes, fringed with long-lashes a shade darker than the curling waves of her abundant brown hair. But her features in childhood had expressed something more than the beauty which had developed with the passing of years. A sweet affection, a tender earnestness, and an almost heavenly candour had made the attractiveness of her earlier age quite irresistible, but now--or so Helmsley fancied--that fine and subtle charm had gone. He was half ashamed of himself for allowing this thought to enter his mind, and quickly dismissing it, he said-- "How did your presentation go off last night? Was it a full Court?" "I believe so," she replied listlessly, unfurling a painted fan and waving it idly to and fro--"I cannot say that I found it very interesting. The whole thing bored me dreadfully."