The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-06-19
PAWNINe A JEWEL.

| ondF0 Aouhg WOman's Ingenious
scheme for Beating Money-Lender
| Il feel awfully ashamed of it now. -
said demure little brown-eyed woman.
because the pawn man was real good tc
me. 1t was this way: My friend Ada
showed me a pendant, a circle of beauti.
full small, white diamonds about a ruby
that glowed like fiaming-red heart; il
had fire enough to melt rock. Ada
said 1t was shame that the ruby was
not genuine, because it made the pend.
ant of no value to her.
81 don't care, said I; sit looks so much
like real stone that do not believe
any one could tell it was bogus. WHY.
see, there is even little flaw In it. lust
as you often find in rubies. But Ada
said as long SIS it was not genuine the
pendant was Of no value to her, unless
she had the diamonds set over.
"'Why not pawn it,? said l.
couldn't said She I'D be fright,
ened to death. Besides, howdo you do it?,
80, just 60 in and ask him how much
he'll give on it, said /, though l had
never been near pawn-shop. l was in
too deep to expose my ignorance now.
"'Would you dare do it?' said she.
''Certainlyr 1 replied, bravely.
"'Will you do it for me, dear?'
snow, that took my breath awav. To
put my friend up to mischief was one
thing, but to be uF 70 it myself was an.
other However, 1 could not admit I
was afraid now
'Ye-es, ] said, half-heartedly.
''She made me start at once. We
went down town, and while she waited
in store l climbed the stairs to the
Office of swell broker with nv heart
beating until l was nearly suffocated.
l sat down in the private office, and.
with face as long as the statue of
misery, handed out that pendant
How much? said the man.
"T don't know, replied. He disar-
peared and came back and said $3.50
''Then l knew he thought the ruby
real, as 1 had expected him to do, and
the pendant therefore worth about 5000.
but the sum offered was about double
the real value of the pendant; so I
looked sorrowfully at the gem for a mo-
ment and then said:
. Can yon do no better for meP'
Nope said he One more long
look at that memento of better days.
and then said in voice suffused with
tears:
+" 'I'll take it.
The broker had been watching me
closely, and think he was moved by
my apparent distress, which my fright |
helped me to assume, for when he
brought mo the ticket and money he
said in the gentlest way:
my dear lady, if you wish to redeem
this at any time send US word and we
will send it to you and spare you the
pains of coming here. He was so kind I
that I'm sorry cheated him, even if he
lid want 5000 pendant for $780,
The reporter related this story to a /
equitable Maiden lane jewelry manu-
acturer. He said that the secret of the
girl1 success lay partly in the fact that
he bogus jewel had flaw in it and that
t was set with superior, if small, dia-
nonds, but chiefly in the bearing of the
rirl. She showed to his eye that she
vas not accustomed to the air of a
'awR-shop, and so he was more easily
deceived. 1t is regular though small
ranch of the jewelry business to make
ewels like this pendant, which are
worked off on pawn brokers through
ust such means as were employed in
his ease.-N Z. Evening san.
I