The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-07-25

woman, too 1'''En' Ail "'' w.
feeding s,f..,L a.,
n ord Johns fac, cvprasscd u WAS
.;,,bt. they are old Drcgien' The woman
With an eIephnnt's hcadl The group which
renresents Africa The woman ana chli-
dren feeding swami Leda and attendant
Cunids, And these are two Of the compan-
ion groups. Worth fifteen guineas each
any day NO Christic's.)
GTben i'm that case, he went on, II shall
be clad TO give you g for the pair"
"Well. my lord. should not like 10 take
,.o,,,. lor,l.hip's money without asking the
neddler-and he is in the village again-if
tbese are real genuine. He got, heard,
,,.ontv guinoas for what he took from
orandmother She was housekeepcr, sir
To moi as You have heard tell at the
Dnte Of Belfort's." Il had heard this cir
cumstance mentioned once or twice before
and was acquainted with The reputation Of
| the Belfort collection OF china.)
Lord John turned quite pale.
ooh. my good woman, be cried, IN
give YOU go and take my chance, - and he
Immediately handed Mrs. Rawlins tie
money. which he had ready for such an
emergency, aud which she promptly peck
eted
shall / dust them first, my lord" she
asked. producing as She did so a heavy,
damp towel.
For heavens sake, woman, no. (Now
the bargain was struck there was no need
of further dyility) I'll take them with
me lust as they are George, you won't
mind carrying one, viii youF'
did mind carrying one very much.
disliked the whole transaction. John had
certainly paida consilerablesumo of money
but even with my imperfect acquaintance
with such matters I knew that If these
| groups were genuine they were worth fully
thirty guineas the pair. | had my suspi
cions, however. about Them and on our
way home | asked my companion how he
could feel so absolutely certain about their
cenuineuess. There is no Dresden mark, -
| I said.
"Oh. isn't there" was the reply. Don't
you see there is d smear OF cement on the
bottom of them That WAS probably put
there at the time there was a heavy tax on
Dresden china and proves their antiquity
will show you the crossed swords under
meath tonight
Iheld my tongue
Our house party as l have said had
broken mp. but several OF the ncighb0r-
were coming To- dine, and Lord John de
ferred the removal of the cement till after
dinner, when wc should Doe all together In
the drawing room and he would have ar
audience sufficiently large and appreci
ative.
The proper moment arrived; penknifC
was produced, and the plaster carefully
and tremendously scraped OH But in
stead Of the crossed swords appeared the
following inscription:
......-..-.-.-..'... -.....- ..........''.'
! APBEsLsr FROM NEWPORT 1883. ::
............,-......... -......-.--......
The year previous to the bargain,
When new these groups night have beer
worth eighteen pence each I'm their pres
emit condition they would have been dear
at shilling pair
Icouiess that I felt little sympathy witt
the purchaser, but was distressed TO think
thar Mrs. Rawlns, whose character fol
honesty had been irreproachablc, shoul,
have seemed to vouch for the antiquity o
the china, and also 10 have hidden the tel
tale inscription.
g. Her answer was simple. The ornament,
had been given her as a birthday present
by her grandmother, who had died only
few weeks before the bargain 40 the rip,
age Of IS, aud the cement had been added
with the object Of making them stand
steadily ON the mantel piece.
But there was twinkle iu Mrs. Raw
lin5' eye when she offered me this explana
ton, and even now hardly know how fai
innocent was hc,share i'm Lord Johns bar
gain lgIayia