"That suit you have on never cost one penny less than $150. The fur
alone is easily worth half of that. It's silver fox, an inch of which
is worth several dollars, and that muff--" She laughed disgustedly.
"What do you take me for, anyhow, to try to spring that fifteen-dollar
gag on me?"
"It was marked down, I tell you, at a bargain sale."
"Oh, come off, Nora! Don't try that on me. I know where you got those
clothes. That man Hamilton gave them to you. You didn't follow my
advice, I see." She shrugged her shoulders. "Of course it's your own
affair, and I'm the last to blame you or any other girl for a thing
like that, but, for heaven's sake, don't think it necessary to make up
fairy-tales to me!"
"Lolly, I swear to you that I paid for these myself."
"Tell it to the marines!" said Lolly.
"Then see for yourself. Here are the price-tags, and here's the bill,"
I cried excitedly, and I thrust them upon her. Everything came to
exactly forty dollars. Lolly looked the bill over carefully; then she
put her cigarette in her mouth, and looked at me. All of a sudden she
began to laugh. She threw her head back upon the sofa pillows and just
laughed and laughed, while I became angrier and angrier with her. I
waited till she was through, and then I said, very much injured:
"Now you can apologize to me, Lolly Hope."
"You blessed infant," she cried, "I'm in the dust at your feet. One
thing's sure, and I guess friend Hamilton is wise to that: there's no
one like _you_ in this dull old world of ours!"