Morris tribune., 1883-02-24
A COSTLY BRACELET.
London Truth.

NAts 4NduTlCc CaETlc0 Ou u sAuk poSi-
ness as silversmith and dealer in an
tique silver In little triangular shaped
shop not much larger than>a cupboard,
situated in a turning out of Bond street.
!. Oddly enough, his chief occupation
Sseemed to be buying rather than selling;
Tor the majority of his customers came
to him to dispose of family plate. or to
raise money on the security of jewellery
and other valuahles. This branch of his
business Mr.. Maurice found so highly
remuneratiye that he was occasionally
tempted to be rather reckless in his
dealings with strangers. The fact was
hatwhen he saw a prospect of making
good bargain he never had the heart
TO ask disagreeable questions, and, con-
sequently, 1t some times happened that
Mr.. Maurice had In the recesses of his
strong room valuable articles which were
:, being .anxiously sought after by their
x3ghtful owners. A dubious transaction
of this nature, however, was by no
means an every day occurrence; for
Maurice had large and aristocratic con.
nection, chiefly among fashionable ladies
with mania for extravaganza, and he
was generally regarded as a most re-
spectacle tradesman. with bald head
strongly marked features of 4 Jewish
type, sleek in person, atfable in manner,
and SO susceptible by disposition that 1t
was notorious that pretty woman could
obtain much better terms from him than
plain one.
This was eertainly the ease regarding
little Mrs. Briscoe, the wifs OF an impe-
cunious younger son Of Lord AsteTisk
Mrs. Brisc0e was an American, and
when she ran away with ha ndsome Bob
Briscoe she was Il considerable heiress.
Unfortunately her property had not been
protected by marriage setteme mt,
and, consequently she and her husband
between them contrived to run through
r in remarkably short space of time.
10 do the lady justice she made no pre-
tence of blaming her husband for his ;m-
prudence and extravaganza, having con-
genial tastes in the same direction. In
fact, she had squandered quite rs much
OF her fortune as he had, without the
excuse of having large accumulation
of debts to clear eff. Being possessed
of handsome jewellery and profusion of
wedding gifts of a costly nature, Mrs.
Briscoe had frequent transaction with
Mr.. Maurice, with whose assistance, and
with the aid OF very tolerabie luck and
skill at ecart, the little lady cousriyed
70 maintain an appearance ofprGsperity.
I Mr. Maurice found it DO easy task to
hold his own with Mrs. Brscoe, who,
beside being piQuante AMI pretty, WAS
past mistress in the dangerous arts of
eoaxing and cajolery She was as clever
and shrewd as she was fascinating, and
Mr.. Maurice's admiration for her was
not diminished by the fact that she was
by no means addicted TO conscientious
scrupies- She could romance with
charming efrontery, and would have
cheated him without the slightest com
junction if he had ever given her a
chance. He felt n sort Of professional
pride in getting the better of Mr. Bris-
coe, which added a singular zest to their
numerous transactions. and rendered
her an honored customer in his eyes.
One of his hardest fought battles with
the lady in question related TO an old
fashioned tiara of diamonds set in silver
which bad been presented to her by her
husbands grandmother, the dOWager
Countess Asterisk. Mrs. Briscoe, being
driven by adverse circumstances to part
with this treasure, naturally brought it
to Mr.. Maurice and demanded price
which took the worthy mans breath
away. He preceived, however, that the
stones were of excellent quality, and Wars
as eager to acquire them at his own price
as his customer was to sell at hers. \
long wTangling discussion ensued. which
resulted in Mr.. Maurice naming price
considerably nearer the sum demanded
than that which he had originally offered.
But he resOlutely declined to increase
his lost hjI ard Mrs NIX An,Jtnrp
that he was proof against her persuasive
eloquence, said rather Grossly:
Every well; | see We are not likely TO
come to terms, SO l viii trouble yoI to
wrap the case up, Mr.. Maurice, and I
will take it back!''
"You won't get better offer any
where" said Mr. Maurice, looking ut
the diamonds with evident longing, II
tell you what Til do" he added, as
though struck by sudden thought. II
don't mind presenting you with piece
of modern jewellery in addition to what
I've offered, and that must be my ulti-
matun."
Thank you for nothing" said Mrs.
Briscoe, pouting. However, I may az
well see what you have to offer"
Mr.. Maurice, secretly elated, shu fled
off with his keys to his strong room, and
a dozen small leather cases in his hand.
Mrs. Briscoe inspected the contents with
the air of connoisseur, and put each
case CONTEMPORARY on one side until
she came to the last, which contained
diamond bracelet Of chaste and peculiar
design.
"That is rather pretty" she said care
lessly.
''Pretty! It's handsome!" reioined
Mr.. Maurice, holding it at arms length;
"It's worth $50 at Iea't. No ma'am, [
didn't mean to offer that. can't do it"
he added, closing the case abruptly.
at will take it." said Mrs Briscoe,
coolly. "I would sooner sell the dia-
monds to you than toavoid scandal, and
rather want new bracelet"
Mr.. Maurice hesitated moment, and
inspected the ornament carefully, with
a puzzled expression. His reflections
were brought to premature conclusion
by an impatient movement on the part
of his customer, which caused him to
cay, hurriedly:
"Well, we'll. ma'am, I suppose must
give ,7ay. But you have got the better
of me this time; you have, indeed"
Mrs. Briscoe gave little scorntul
laugh, and the dealer proceeded to write
OuL q CiSCh IOI Liz, oLlOuub dSIGcu dpOu'
He then prepared formal receipt for
their joint signature, stating that he had
purchased the tiara for such and such q
sum, and diamond bracelet estimated
to be worth so much. This fornality
was always insisted upon by Mrs. Bris-
coe, who had feminine notions of being
strictly business-llke, and Mr.. Maurice
knew from experience that he must
humor her. lie wrote out the receipt,
as usual, in duplicate, handing one copy
to the lady, and keeping the other him
self. This terminated the transaction
and Mrs. Briscoe presently took her
departure in high good humor.
Mr.. Maurice was by no means dissat-
isfed with his bargain when he came
to think it over He had given large
sum for diamonds, but they were clearly
worth the money; in fact, he saw his
way to making handsome profit out of
them. But he felt little uneasy about |
the bracelet for he could not for the life
of him remember how he had come by
it. and whenever he made purchase of