"Yes, for a trip, for a fortnight in Paris, for tours in different parts of Europe; there's no rest in that kind of thing, it is an excitement, an opening of one's mind--quite different to this," he rejoined. "It's very improving to one's mind to go up the Rhine in a steamer, and go round all the sights of Cologne; to gaze at Ehrenbreitstein, and wonder whether it really is like Gibraltar or not; to feed the carp at Frankfort; to gaze at the falls at Schaffhausen; but it is not restful, it is not really a holiday. It is a nice fillip for a placid, blank or uneventful life, but for a man overdone with the stress of business, give me this. Restful without being dull, interesting without being overwhelming, and bright and gay without being fagging."
"You are always so sensible," said Regina. She felt at that moment that the hussy was farther away than ever. Yet, a little later, when she and Alfred were taking a stroll down the Grande Rue, it being market morning, and therefore unusually interesting, she was reminded of the skeleton in her cupboard as sharply and unexpectedly as the jerk with which the proverbial bird, tied by a string to the leg, is stopped in its peregrinations. As a rule on market morning the world promenades in the middle of the street, in the actual roadway, but it happened on this occasion that Alfred and Regina met a carriage and pair coming slowly between the market people squalling on the edge of the pavement. To avoid the carriage they stepped on to the _trottoir_, and this brought them under the awning of a jeweler's shop.
"I think I ought to buy you a present," said Alfred, "for I won last night."
"I didn't think of it. I was so sleepy I was glad to tumble into bed and forget everything," Alfred replied. "I only had five louis in my pocket when I went into the Casino, and this morning I find that I have twenty-five. Now, twenty louis is sixteen pounds. If I keep it I shall lose it all back to the tables again, whether it is at the fascinating little horses or the more fascinating green cloth in the Grand Cercle. Come, what would you like? Here's a jeweler's shop; there are sixteen good English pounds lying at your feet, make your choice."
"In francs--well, in francs it's four hundred. Now, there's a ring, I call that a very good bargain for four hundred francs--there's something for your money, there's body in it." He pointed to a large and deep-colored sapphire set in a circle of diamonds. Regina saw that the ring was beautiful, but, womanlike, her eyes wandered to the other gewgaws displayed in the window.