The girl did not know how wonderful the pearls were and had not the faintest conception of their value.  But she saw their beauty and felt their charm, for a beautiful woman loves and longs for the jewels that belong to her beauty, as naturally as the rose loves and longs to gather and keep the dewdrops in its heart.

“Oh!  Oh!” was all that she could say, and she could think of nothing to do, except stand on tiptoe and touch Philip Alston’s cheek with a butterfly kiss.  And then when he had put the string of pearls around her neck, so that it swung far down over her rounded young bosom, she danced across the room to the largest mirror.  But the corner in which it hung was always full of shadows and so dark on this gloomy day that she could not see, and with pretty imperiousness she called for candles to be lighted and brought to her.  William Pressley mechanically got up to obey, but Philip Alston moved more quickly.  Going to the hearth he took two candles from the mantelpiece, lit them at the fire, and carried them to her.  He expected to have the pleasure of holding them so that she might see the lovely vision, which he was already looking upon.  But she took them from his hands and raising them high above her head, danced back to the mirror, and stood gazing at her own image, as artlessly as a lily bends over its shadow in a crystal pool.  And as she thus gazed in the mirror, it suddenly reflected something which moved her more than her own likeness.  It showed her the opening of the front door, and gave her a glimpse of her lover standing in the room.  She whirled round, blushing, and with her eyes shining like stars, and cried out:—­“See, Paul!  See—­was there ever anything so lovely?”

She went swiftly toward him, holding the candles still higher, so that the pearls caught a rosy lustre from the light that fell on her radiant face.  She was laughing with pure delight at the sight of him, forgetting the pearls.  She did not know that she had called him by his Christian name but she would have called him so, had she taken time to think.  She had called him so ever since they had known that they loved each other, and she did not stop to realize that this was the first time they had met in the presence of others since becoming plighted lovers.  She realized nothing except his presence—­that alone filled her whole world with joy and content.  He came straight to meet her, holding out his hands; but before he could cross the great room, or even had time to speak, Philip Alston stepped forward and spoke suddenly in clear tones:—­

“Yes, see the wedding gift!  The bridal pearls are here at last; all ready for Christmas Eve.”

Paul Colbert paused.  He was an ardent and bold lover, but the words were like a breath of frost on love’s flowering.  No ardor, no confidence, can keep a sensitive man from feeling a chill when he sees the woman he loves decked in the beautiful things which are beauty’s birthright, and realizes for the first time that he cannot give them to her.  With the painful shock which this feeling brought to the young doctor there was a greater shock in the sudden thought of the possible source of the riches which the pearls represented.  A feeling of horror rushed over him, as if he had seen that soft, white throat encircled by a serpent, and he sprang forward to tear it off.