Some of 'em 'ud keep
open I know for the women who are bought and prefer the bargain to
be settled in kind rather than in cash. And jewellery pretty nearly
always realizes its own value. But this was a gift--a substitute for
other things that I would rather have given you."
He paused and looked steadily at her, her head drooping, her fingers
idly, nervously bending the woven gold.
"Have you any idea what those other things were?" he asked suddenly.
"No," she said--but she did not offer her eyes to convince him of
her reply.
"They were the alteration of all your circumstances. The smashing
of the chains that gave you to that damned treadmill of a
typewriter--the unlocking of the door that keeps you mewed-up in that
little lodging-house in Kew--rubbing shoulders with bank-clerks,
being compelled to listen to their proposals of suburban marriage,
with the prospect of feeding your husband as the stable-boy feeds
the horse when it comes back to the manger. Those were the things
I wanted to free you from, and in their place, give you everything
you could ask, so far as my limited income permits. I only wanted
to give you the things you ought to have--the things you should have
by right--the things you were born to.
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