Page:Delight - de la Roche - 1926.djvu/57

 I wouldn't buy it. What do you think, Annie? Would it become me?"

"Beat her down to one-fifty," whispered Annie. "They always expect you to haggle."

"I'll give you one-fifty," repeated Pearl stolidly, "not a cent more." She half turned away.

The gypsy's questioning eyes sought Delight's.

"You, lovely lady, you?" she asked in a cooing tone.

Delight shook her head. "Not my colour."

"Take, then, Miss," said the gypsy, thrusting the scarf upon Pearl. "Nicey, nicey, for you."

One by one they succumbed to the pedlar's wiles. Annie bought a scarf like Pearl's, but blue to match her eyes. Mrs. Bye took a string of beads for Queenie. May, a bangle bracelet for her own thick little wrist. Even Mrs. Jessop, though she called the bright wares trash, could not resist a necklet of imitation jet. It was not fair to herself, she had reflected, never to buy a new ornament. It was not fair to Bastien who admired her. . . . One by one they left the kitchen to get the money for their purchases.

Delight and the pedlar were left alone. They looked into each other's eyes. "What have you got for me?" asked the girl in a low voice.

The two understood each other perfectly. The gypsy took a small velvet box from a corner of her pack and put it in Delight's hand. "Dese for you," she said.

Queenie came marching out from the kitchen in time to hear the whispered words.

"Dee po woo!" she repeated, marching around them. "Po woo—po woo—po woo." She was transported by the gaiety of the occasion.

Delight opened the box and peeped inside. "Oh," she gasped. "How terrible lovely!"