His right hand shook up and down, as father's did when he was impatient.

And behind him, not in the least interested, sat Hilda, the unknown sister-in-law.

She swung in a cane rocker and flicked over the leaves of the "Tatler." "I think his watch would be the most suitable present," said Josephine.
Constantia looked up; she seemed surprised.
"Oh, would you trust a gold watch to a native ?" "But of course, I'd disguise it," said Josephine.

"No one would know it was a watch." She liked the idea of having to make a parcel such a curious shape that no one could possibly guess what it was.

She even thought for a moment of hiding the watch in a narrow cardboard corset-box that she'd kept by her for a long time, waiting for it to come in for something.