Explore "A Ring of Rubies" by L.T. Meade on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Never did a girl prepare for a gay visit with a sadder heart. I had not an idea what I was going to. Mr Gray was rich, and I felt certain that his villa was what my father would term "pretentious. " By this would be meant that he had large rooms instead of small, good furniture instead of shabby, good meals instead of bad, and in the place of loneliness and gloom, brightness and company.
This I was sure of, for Mr Gray's eyes sparkled as if he lived well and cheerily, and the pleasant sunshine of hospitality shone all over his expressive features.