Nevertheless, she
was very demure and very much the lady in appearance.
She was idly turning over lavallieres on a tray--holding them up for
inspection, and letting the pretty chains run through her fingers to drop
into the tray again, like sparkling water.
"I don't think I care for any of these, don't you know?" she drawled, but
very pleasantly. "I'm sorry--really."
She turned away from the counter. Nan was close by and had been secretly
watching the pretty woman more than she had the lavallieres. The
clerk--rather an attractive girl with curly, black hair and very pink
cheeks; quite an excitable young thing--suddenly leaned over the counter
and whispered:
"Oh, madam! Pray! The special lavalliere I showed you is not here."
"What do you say, child?" demanded the woman, haughtily. "Do you miss
anything?"
"The special lavalliere I showed you, madam," gasped the girl. "Forgive
me--_do_! But I am responsible for all I take out of the case!"
"It is a mistake," said the woman, coldly. "I haven't the thing--surely."
"It is not here!" wailed the clerk, still in a low key, but fingering
madly among the chains upon the tray. "Oh, ma'am! it will cost me
twenty dollars!"
The woman turned slowly and her eyes--placid blue before--now shone with
an angry light.
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