Yes, it was. I put it on the counter while I opened this
net thing. Don't you remember? You were taking some money out of your
purse." Louis had a very distinct vision of his Rachel's agreeably
gloved fingers primly unfastening the purse and choosing a shilling
from it.
"How annoying!" murmured Rachel feelingly.
"I wouldn't lose that stick for a five-pound note." (He had a
marvellous way of saying "five-pound note.") "Would you mind very much
if I just slip over and get it, before he shuts? It's only across the
road, you know."
There was something in the politeness of the phrase "mind _very
much_" that was irresistible to Rachel. It caused her to
imagine splendid drawing-rooms far beyond her modest level, and the
superlative deportment therein of the well-born.
"Not at all!" she replied, with her best affability. "But will they
let you come in again without paying?"
"Oh, I'll risk that," he whispered, smiling superiorly.
Then he went, leaving the reticule, and she was alone.
She rearranged the reticule on the seat by her side. The reticule
being already perfectly secure, there was no need for her to touch
it, but some nervous movement was necessary to her. Yet she was less
self-conscious than she had been with Louis at her elbow.
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