"Can't I persuade you to take THIS?" demanded Bobbinet, as they
were turning away. There is not its equal in America. Indeed, one of the
house, our Colonel Silky, who has just returned from Paris, says it was
worked expressly for the dauphine, who was prevented from getting it
by the late revolution."

"It IS a pity so much lace and such exquisite work should be put on a
pocket-handkerchief," said Anne, almost involuntarily. "I fear if they
were on something more suitable, I might buy them."

A smile, a slight blush, and curtsy, concluded the interview; and the
young ladies hastily left the shop. Mr. Bobbinet was disappointed, as,
indeed, was Col. Silky, who was present, en amateur; but the matter
could not be helped, as these were customers who acted and thought
for themselves, and all the oily persuasion of shop-eloquence could not
influence them.

{en amateur = in the guise of a connoisseur}

"It is quite surprising, colonel," observed Mr. Bobbinet, when his
customers were properly out of hearing, "that THESE young ladies
should let such an article slip through their fingers. Their father is one of
the richest men we have; and yet they never even asked the price."

"I fancy it was not so much the PRICE that held 'em back," observed
the colonel, in his elegant way, as something else. There are a sort of
customers that don't buy promiscuously; they do every thing by rule.
They don't believe that a nightcap is intended for a bed-quilt."