Her fingers pressed the spring, and, as the lid
flew open, the brilliant flash of a diamond dazzled her eyes. She sat
staring at it, unable for the moment to find speech. Then the
assemblage burst into an unrestrained murmur of admiration, and the
sound served to arouse her.
"Oh, how beautiful it all is!" she exclaimed, rapturously. "I hardly
know what to say, or whom to thank. I never heard of anything so
perfectly splendid before. It makes me cry just to remember that it is
all done for me. Oh, Mr. Moffat, I want to thank, through you, the
gentlemen of the Bachelors' Club for this magnificent reception. I
know I do not deserve it, but it makes me so proud to realize the
interest you all take in my work. And, Mr. McNeil, I beg you to return
my gratitude to the gentlemen of the--the (oh, thank you)--the
Cattlemen's Shakespearian Reading Circle (how very nice of you to have
such an organization for the study of higher literature!) for this
superb gift. I shall never forget this night, or what it has brought
me, and I simply cannot express my real feelings at all; I--I don't
know what to say, or--or what to do.
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