"
"You are spoiling me, daddy," Ella sighed.
Lord Ashleigh smiled. His hand had disappeared into the pocket of his
dinner-coat.
"If you think so now," he remarked, "I do not know what you will say to me
presently. What I am doing now, Ella, I am doing with your mother's
sanction, and you must associate her with the gift which I am going to
place in your keeping."
The hand was slowly withdrawn from his pocket. He laid upon the table a
very familiar morocco case, stamped with a coronet. Even before he touched
the spring and the top flew open, Ella knew what was coming.
"Our diamonds!" she exclaimed. "The Ashleigh diamonds!"
The necklace lay exposed to view, the wonderful stones flashing in the
subdued light. Ella gazed at it, speechless.
"In New York," Lord Ashleigh continued, "it is the custom to wear
jewellery in public more, even, than in this country. The family pearls,
which I myself should have thought more suitable, went, as you know, to
your elder sister upon her marriage. I am not rich enough to invest large
sums of money in the purchase of precious stones, yet, on the other hand,
your mother and I feel that if you are to wear jewels at all, we should
like you to wear something of historic value, jewels which are associated
with the history of your own house. Allow me!"
He leaned forward. With long, capable fingers he fastened the necklace
around his daughter's neck. It fell upon her bosom, sparkling, a little
circular stream of fire against the background of her smooth, white skin.
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