The Florence daily tribune., 1899-04-11
THE BLACK PEARL.

rure luster. Ii is difficult to express its
value in figures And this is the stcry
II is just about 30 years ago when
one morning young woman entered
large jewelry store in Budapest. Every
inch of her dress bespoke the back
woods; her bonnet was composition Of
glaringly disharmonious colors; in one
hand she held parasol of old, large
flowered, faded silk. Every one of her
motions betrayed the country girl Any
salesman of experience who had watch
ed her entrance into the store would
have thought at once ''Ah she wants
cheap plated bracelet with the word
Souvenir engraved ON it, as memento
of this her first visit to the city. And
under ordinary circumstances he would
have been about right in his conjecture, !,
but this time he WASH l. She appeared
so simple and artless, in spite of her
handsome, vivacious black eyes and the
dimples in her red cheeks. that the
salesman attending to her omitted
Offering her a seat.
The yonng girl. however. did not
seem to notice this slight, and unlimited
dropped down on small red plush
fauteuil, Principally used by the noble
customers of the store. She opened the
reticule hanging on her arm and drew
out small package carefully wrapped
in tissue paper. After she had peeled
off layer after layer of the envelope she
took ont the nucleus. beckoned to the
owner of the establishment and exhibit
ed to him something she held between
her thumb and index finger.
"What is the value of this s. she
asked in melodious voice
The jeweler started visibly and took
the object from her hand.
1t was the above mentioned pearl, o,
such beauty and size that he hardly
trusted his eyes. At one place it had
barely noticeable flaw. which might
have been done by former setting
1.-The pearl has one defect, the jew
eler said
"lndeedl' the stranger answered,
bending forward to inspect the small
spot.
The jeweler ''sized mp the girl. Her
astonishment was genuine. artless. 1t
was not tinged with the shadow of by
pocrisy.
Where did you get that pearlf" he
asked
That is perhaps an irrelevant ques-
ton, she answered smilingly. "But
to give you some sort of satisfactory
answer | will say ] carry on a little
pawnbro6er business, ont in the coun-
try, inherited from my father noble
man desires TO pawn his pearl with me.
httt nd toll
me what it is worth. and / will pay for
the trouble,
Il cannot appraise it. said the Jew
eler, regarding it with an admiring eve.
why not Why can you not fix its
valuey" the girl rejoined in vexed
tone.
"Well. well, " the man said appeas-
ingly. II only desired to express there,
by that the pearl is beyond sppraise-
ment because of its great rarity. lts
value belongs among the fancy
prices
The young girl pondered moment
then, regarding the jeweler attentively,
she asked
Can advance >, 90 forins on its'
Most certainly.
"And 5,UU0r
"Also i. 900.
"And 10. 00Of'
The jeweler smilingly repeated
"And 10, 0o1.
The country beauty evidently became
feverish. Perspiration showed in her
face. and her youthful black eyes gilt
tered with n fire superior to that of the
costliest diamonds in the store She
asked for a glass of water The former
ly inattentive salesman rushed to get it
And will you pay me 10. 900 forins
for the pearl if l feel disposed to sell it I
| am also authorized to sell it, she
said. with certain show of suspicion.
fearful lest tbe jeweler was simply
hoaxing her.
No
'Ah," she exclaimed. 81 OWNED
you were hoaxing mel
"Oh, MOI God forbid. the jeweler
responded evasively. "It is simply be-
cause have no use for the pearl There
is only one firm in Austria that would
buy 1.-THE ieweler for the court .
Would you please furnish me with
his addrcss?'
"Willingly.
He wrote the address on piece Of
paper. which he banded to her; she in
closed it in her reticule. drank the glass
of water courteously offered by the
salesman. and. in spite of protests,
placed a form piece on the counter
to pay for the appraisement and went
out.
Twenty-four hours later the came
young woman. dressed, if possible. in a
more glaring suit. entered the store of
the jeweler Of the court The snit of
stores are situated Au den Graleen. the
most fashionable street of the capital
Vienna. l. tthe rcciter of this occur
rencc) received her. l was the princi
pal business manager. She showed me
the pearl The attire Of the woman was