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Show '"' PtOp('C' !!I dUng ®lb '!Rose nnb $1l11er "I should never have thought it," Isabel murmured. Rose turned the ring slowly upon her finger and the ruby yielded the deep crimson glow of its heart to the candlelight that softly filled the room. "I've never had a ruby, she said, "and yet I feel, someway, as though I'd always had this. It seems as if it belonged to me." "That's because it suits you," nodded Madame Bernard. "I hope that sometime our civilisation may reach such a point of advancement that every woman will wear the clothes and jewels that suit her personality, and make her home a proper setting for herself. See how women break their hearts for diamonds-and not one woman in a hundred can wear them." "Could I wear diamonds?" asked Isabel. She was interested now and her eyes sparkled. Madame Bernard studied her for a moment before replying. "Yes," she admitted, "you could wear them beautifully, but they do not belong to Rose, or to me." "What else could I wear?" "Turquoises, if they were set in silver." "I have one," Isabel announced with satisfaction. "A lovely big turquoise matrix set in dull silver. But I have no diamonds." "They 'II come," Rose assured her, "if :a jfallfng Star you want them. I think people usually get things if they want them badly enough." Isabel turned to Madame Bernard. "What stones do you wear?" she inquired, politely. "Only amethysts," she laughed. "I have a pearl necklace, but it doesn't quite 'belong,' so I don't wear it. I won't wear anything that doesn't 'belong.' " "How can you tell?" "By instinct." "I can walk into a shop, look around for a moment, and say: 'please bring me my hat.' The one I ask for is always the right one. It is invariably becoming and suitable, and it's the same with everything else." "It's a wonderful experience to go shopping with Aunt Francesca," put in Rose. "She knows what she wants and goes straight to it, without loss of time. Utterly regardless of fashion, for its own sake, she always contrives to be in the mode, though I believe that if hoop skirts were suited to her, she'd have the courage of her crinoline, and wear one." "Let us be thankful they're not," remarked Madame. " It 's almost impossible to believe it, but they must have looked well upon some women. Every personality makes its own demand for harmony and it is fascinating to me to observe strange people and plan for them their houses and clothes and belongings. You can pick out, from a crowd, the woman who IJ ltblng• I bat "JJdong" |