The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-09-14

Il am given to understand he con-
tinued, that you have a varied and
very valuable selection of ladies' dia-
mond ornaments
Il signifed that such was really the
case.
"'Wer, he proceeded, i am some
what anxious, sir, to see and examine
some of your possessions. The fact is,
nv daughter-my only daughter, sir,
pure, sweet-tempered child-is on the
eve of marriage, and L Oaturally, you
will say, am DESTROYS of giving her a
substantial wedding present. Very
good Mind! l want nothing gaudy;
nor-pardon me, Mr.. Filby-nor do l
desire any artfully contrived specimen
of the jewelers. art of deception. l
want something solid and substantial
articles that look what they literally
are-and do not mind how high / 90
as to price
"All this was fair and square and
above board. Undoubtedly my pros
pective customer, though a clergyman,
was moreover an excellent man of
business, and one that wouldn't brook
tritiing. | made up my mind to ac-
| quiesce to his every wish-and charge
him as long a price as L reasonably
| could.
Il placed before him several trays
of gems of exquisite workmanship,
upon which looked with pride. l eX-
pected, l must own, that my customer
would appear surprised, to say the
least, at the dazzling array. Not so,
however. And that's to put it mildly;
for when | uncovered my goods and
looked up at him with a self-satisfied
look on my face, there was look on
his which bore a semblance of indiffer-
ence, not to say disdain. This nettled
me somewhat, but on second thoughts
| told myself that it was possible he,
personally, did not care for the pomps
and vanities of this world, though anx-
ious to procure such commodities for
his daughter.
AFTER careful examination, he Sc
lected parrot diamond earrings (fS0),
diamond bracelet (E2OO), a butterfly
brooch-one mass of glitter and dazzle
and half-hoop diamond ring (the
two 9152 1857. A tolerably good
mornings work, you will say. We
shall see.
"Well! after had fitted the trinkets
to superior cases, and when | had
packed them in as small compass as
| well could, the reverend gentleman
felt in his pockets for the money where
with to pay me. He drew forth from
his breast pocket a goodly-sized Russia
leather case, and tenderly singing out
some bank notes and a check, proceed
ed to settle for his purchase.
"'The check is good; you will per-
ceive-' he began.
My dear sir l interrupted (the
check was perfectly genuine, was con-
WINGED, seeing that it bore the sigma
ture of the firm that had mentioned my
name).
81 know what you would say SIR
he said, holding up his hand, while
| look of extreme shrewdness covered
his face; you would say that you have
implicit faith in me. That is wrong
utterly wrong! As a business man, YOU
should be ever careful. 1t behooves us
| all to be so at times. Clearly, YOU
know me not; and deception abounds,
for instance, I may not be Il clergyman
at all. / may, in fine, be none other
than knave-a wolf in sleeps cloth
ing saying which, he laughed a laugh,
which somehow or other seemed to
CRATE upon my ear.
However, he proceeded to pay me
the amount due, as | have said.
Let me see,' he continued mus
| ingly; it will be in all, four-three-
two-ten. Good! If you will kindly
look over these, Mr.. Filby, you will
find there is threepence short of the
required sum, which l will pay you in
copper coin immediately He re-
moved his spectacles, and pushed over
to me three one hundred pound Bank
of England notes, ten five-pound notes
and the check spoken of, which was
for eighty-three pounds nine and nine
pence. Satisfied that the notes were
genuine, l looked up at my wealthy
customer, and found him fumbling in
pocket after pocket for the copper
money.
"'My dear sir!' l exclaimed, pray
don't bother about the trifing pence.
If you are satisfied, | am thoroughly
So
Nay he rejoined; that will not
do. Business is business. You are en-
titled to your demand-aye, and to the
utmost farthing. buy goods of you
for certain amount; therefore must
pay you every iota of that certain
amount, Or shall not be easy in my
mird.'
"a really upright man this; lucky
the congregation that had so just and
evenly balanced man for their pastor.
So ran my thoughts as he counted out
the remaining threepence and placed
them in my hand with kind of dig, as
though he were glad to get rid of them,
and set his mind at ease.
Then there ensued an awkward
pause, awkward because, for the life of
me, | could not think of anything to
say; and as for my reverend customer,
he seemed in all but brown study. At
any rate, he seemed by no means in
hurry to take his purchase and be gone
appeared, indeed, to wish to linger
awhile, seemingly for no cart hly pur-
pose, seeing that our transaction was at
an end, and that he seemed not to care
to talk. Presently he again took out his
pocketbook, counted over six or seven
f5 notes, and became absorbed in cast
IL