This was what had worked in him--especially after the price I had paid." Her story had dropped an instant; she still brought it out in small waves of energy, each of which spent its force; so that he had an opportunity to speak before this force was renewed.

But the quaint thing was what he now said.

"And what, pray, WAS the price ?" She paused again a little.

"It was high, certainly--for those fragments.
I think I feel, as I look at them there, rather ashamed to say." The Prince then again looked at them; he might have been growing used to the sight.

"But shall you at least get your money back ?" "Oh, I'm far from wanting it back--I feel so that I'm getting its worth." With which, before he could reply, she had a quick transition.
"The great fact about the day we're talking of seems to me to have been, quite remarkably, that no present was then made me.