"Put them away!" I said.
He continued to laugh. He caressed the diamonds with his long, white
fingers. "Wouldn't you like to see Miss Hamerton wear them?" he asked
softly.
"No, by God!" I cried. "She's a good woman."
He laughed more than ever. It was a kind of Oriental laugh, soft,
unwholesome. "I'm afraid you suffer from the Puritan confusion of the
ideas of beauty and evil," he said.
"Maybe I do," I said shortly.
"Some other time I will show you my emeralds and sapphires," he said.
I hated the things, yet I was eager to see them. That shows the effect
they had on you. I was struck by his omission of rubies.
"How about rubies?" I asked.