unnecessary it really seems very extravagant i said oh well we don t come to a s every day any of us said philip easily but not the pink pearl i bar the pink pearl not pearls of any kind a self made you ought to have your birthday stone whatever that is my birthday happened to be the month of so philip insisted on buying me a great half which matched in size the diamonds already upon my hand you should have a of my lord said mr and then miss would be wearing your s racing colours that s a pretty notion a very pretty notion i think we can t do better than carry it into effect eh but we won t give it away where we got the idea from remember they re my racing colours you need not say mr suggested it eventually i went out of that shop with the value of nearly three hundred pounds on the third finger of my left hand as we drove towards the park the sun cast its rays right down upon the doors of the cab i put my bare hand with its three glittering rings upon the edge of the door so that the sunlight might fall upon it how good of you to spend such a lot of money on me philip i said in a voice that trembled in spite of myself aren t they lovely he was holding my right hand in his left yes my fingers they do seem to matters don t they chapter xvi the daughter of her mother what a delightful business a wedding is when the bride and groom are young and in love years ago not long after was married to george i heard somebody at one of mother s say to another person that she thought lady was one of the most charming and clever women she had ever known in her ufe yes answered the man to whom she spoke she s a regular old soldier i never told anybody about it i don t know why � from an instinct i think but i have often thought about it since a regular old soldier of course i know now what was a mystery to me then they meant that mother had to get who was not a general favourite married to george it was clever of mother and it was cleverly done she was an artist in management in a country where the women have the and are in all respects the equals of men i am convinced that my mother would be prime minister she was so particularly clever in continually playing up to her life she always kept up the game she always kept on her face mask she always lived as if the of society had the buttons off she was so wise about my engagement to lord she choked down any resentment she i a self made might be feeling � and i knew her well enough to know that in her inmost heart she was furious at his mother s attitude � and proceeded exactly as if everything connected with my coming marriage was as smooth and easy as if i had been twenty times a duke s daughter within a few hours of my having the three beautiful engagement rings the announcement that i was to be married almost immediately to the earl of was inserted in all the journals of importance then after philip had gone back to camp mother gave a little tea party so wise of her she asked very few people � one or two of the most important among our acquaintances and a few of the leading women mrs who had charge of the fashionable intelligence in quite a dozen society papers and was moreover considered the greatest authority on in the profession was among them oh thank you so much said mother in her tone when mrs congratulated her and me yes we are very happy in our new relations lord is such a dear fellow � so simple and so hates society and every kind of formality indeed i think is very fortunate because you know it s entirely a love match oh entirely show mrs your rings dear she added in her most indulgent tones i held out my hand with the three great rings blazing upon it dear me white and blue said mrs a self made oh that was entirely lord s idea said mother his racing colours � red white and blue isn t it a quaint and pretty fancy yes it is said mrs and carried out in a very costly and lavish manner i suppose you consider them all your engagement rings yes i do i suppose the diamond one is really the engagement ring proper but the are for my birth stone and the are for his a double conceit said mrs lord is full of them said my mother and yet so simple so that s nice said mrs i stuck up people myself and when is the wedding coming off oh almost immediately early in september said my mother and will want you to help her dress dear mrs i shall be delighted you have always been so good to me lady you were good to me when i hadn t many friends when i really wasn t in a position to return any kindness and h d little hope of ever being able to do so we will not talk about that my dear we will not talk about that if i was ever able to help you i was delighted to do so but you will help with her won t you because we want it to be very out of the common and what the shop people call exclusive you know think it out i ll go home straight away and think it out said mrs she moved off 