``Wasn't I doing for you something worth while?
And what had you to give in return?'' He laughed
with gentle mockery. ``Really, you should have been
grateful that I was willing to do so much for so little,
for what I wanted ought--if you are a sensible woman
--to seem to you a trifle in comparison with what I
was doing for you. It was my part, not yours, to think
the complimentary things about you. How shallow and
vain you women are! Can't you see that the value of
your charms is not in them, but in the imagination of
some man?''
``I can't answer you,'' said she. ``You've put it all
wrong. You oughtn't to ask payment for a favor beyond price.''
``No, I oughtn't to HAVE to ask,'' corrected he, in the
same pleasantly ironic way. ``You ought to have been
more than glad to give freely. But, curiously, while
we've been talking, I've changed my mind about those
precious jewels of yours. We'll say they're pearls, and
that my taste has suddenly changed to diamonds.'' He
bowed mockingly.
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