"But I'm not going to stay a moment, for it is very late. See,
I have brought you this back."
Polly looked, and for the first time observed that her own sealskin
jacket hung on Maggie's arm.
"What do you mean?" she said. "My sealskin jacket! Oh, my beauty! But
it isn't mine, it's yours now. Why do you worry me-- showing it to me
again?"
"I don't want to worry you, Miss Singleton. I mean what I say. I have
brought your jacket back."
"But it is yours-- you bought it."
"I gave a nominal price for it, but that doesn't make it mine. Anyhow,
I have no use for it. Please take it back again."
Poor Polly blushed very red all over her face.
"I wish I could," she said. "If there has been anything I regretted in
the auction, besides getting all you girls into a mess, it has been my
sealskin jacket. Dad is almost certain to ask me about it, for he
never made me such a handsome present before. Poor dad! he was so
proud the night he brought it home. He said, 'Look here, Poll, I paid
a whole sheaf of fivers for this, and although it cost me a good round
eighty guineas, I'm told it's cheap at the price. Put it on and let me
see how you look in it,' he said. And when I had it on he twisted me
round, and chucked me under the chin, and said I was a 'bouncer.
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