He saw the woman just as she had
looked when he had last seen her. She had not been
pretty, but she was exceedingly dainty, and pos-
sessed of a certain elegance of carriage which at-
tracted. He saw quite distinctly her small, irregu-
lar face and the satin-smooth coils of dark hair
around her head; he saw her slender, dusky hands
with the well-cared-for nails and the too prominent
veins; he saw the gleam of the diamond which he
had given her. She had sent it to him just after his
arrest, and he had returned it. He wondered idly
whether she still owned it and wore it, and what her
husband thought of it. He speculated childishly --
somehow imprisonment had encouraged the return
of childish speculations -- as to whether the woman's
husband had given her a larger and costlier diamond
than his, and he felt a pang of jealousy. He re-
fused to see another diamond than his own upon
that slender, dark hand. He saw her in a black silk
gown which had been her best. There had been
some red about it, and a glitter of jet. He had
thought it a magnificent gown, and the woman in it
like a princess. He could see her leaning back, in
her long slim grace, in a corner of a sofa, and the
soft dark folds starry with jet sweeping over her
knees and just allowing a glimpse of one little foot.
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