The Washington times., 1911-10-16


Tcdd dns no s des q
the old fellows hint. She continued her
inspection of the shop. the Neapolitan
a grumbling remonstrance. Unlike the
shoppers have read Of in the comic
papers, she was not content with hand
ling and pricing. she. also bought.
old laces, bits Of grimy carving, dented
metal clasps with queer tracery and
fretwork, tattered tapestry, and all
manner Of similar things that no nor
And never once bargaining, or dis
putting the incredible prices the old
shopkeeper chose to charge.
Idle in tie dSsty SnS Go corner sse Whittier tS had
ed his money by rebbing his. fellow
men, there ought to be q sort of poetic
q soodly portion Of that money Just at
Once Or twice Z feebly tried to inter
and t9 YS, sTSss;t to the RECKLESS
drive better bargain than she with
the aged junkman. But she was too
excited to hear me.
mouthed, drinking in my hrst. object
lesson OF what a woman may do when
the frenzy OF shopping H. upon her: :.
At last she seemed to have regained
with a regretful little Sigh:
II think I've bought enough for to-
day. Shall we 60 now?"
Then, as she noticed my attitude Of
miserable. helpless inertia in my corner
OF refuge, she added contritely:
"oh! how thoughtless and selfish Of
me! I've been taking up all the clerks 8
time, and you haven't been able to buy
thns Inn Inn .95ry sS,. ,bnS bSSs resy IN
would have forgotten her manners"
I wondered. even as I mumbled some
civil retoinder: II this .junk-shop had
30 her stark Sa ns T f.. :as rSH S
one Of the old-iron dumps under Brook
lyn bridge. thought OF It: but. thanks
to some rare instinct Of self-restraint.
' %And no now; ;; she resumed. seating her.
self in cavern throne-chair, a half
| inch thick with dust, "and now I'm
going. to sit back and enjoy your shop
ping"
Clearly. 1t was up to me. I was about
the place I cared for, when I chanced
TO remember. my former lying asser-
ton about taking an interest in curios.
One good lie involves another.
I glared tmpotently about me, unde-
| cided whether to price a hideous nifty
pound gareoyle that leered at me from
| ton box bedstead with silly fat cherubs
| crawling all over the panels.
I moved cautiously out OF my corner
| and into aDother. In the latter, my eye
| tray behind the counter.
1t caught my eye. for the trinkets
were the only things in the whole place
that were not either tarnished or dust
saw had to make a move Of some
| sort. II could make even one purchase
l might be able to get out Of the shop
with some show Of seif-respect.
over the siitterins BITS % Of ,eweiry ry
| wherewith It was heaped high.
Here was q mosaic brooch, here q gold
si,ppsr pc BUCKLE and, and here a gemmed gar;
serve me.
1 was about to turn away when
sleam Of red. midway down the heap.
gewgaws about it and unearthed q long
gold scarfpin, In which was set q scarab
| about the size OF a mans fingernail
The odd thing about the scarab. apart
from its EXQUISITE carving; was the fact
Now l know little Of such things, but
! II occurred to me at the moment that
while had often seen scarabs OF green,
dull blue; ,I gray or even zen. Srown, ,hai had
was colored scarlet.
It was no dull brick color. either. but
q vivid. striking scarlet that pulsated
like a carbuncle, SO sharp and intense of
Il
The thing was gaudy. perhaps even
in rather bad taste, but, as I said. 1t
caught my fancy. 1t looked 80 bright.
SO CHEEKY in that shopful OF dirty FIJI
teenth Century junk.
How much is this?" asked the old
man. who had followed me suspiciously
behind the counter.
1 spoke In a rather low voice, forget
ting he was deaf. Then, recalling the
fact, prepared to repeat the question.
But. to my surprise. he nodded COM
| prehension and scuttled away to q
moldy ledger farther down the room.
After turning over one or two leaves
he called across to me:
Three lire (about sixty cents.)
Il looked again at the scarf-pin: this
IDENTIFY of gold. as it's appearance and
the hallmarka proved. The setting was
massive and the scarab was finely
carved.
Sixty cents?
Aren't YOU mistaken" asfed.
mo. I'm not" he snapped. slamming
shut the book. "Three lire Is the price.
You can nav 1t or YOU can nut the
pin back.
There was a mistake somewhere. Any
fool could see that. But-vRt sixty cents.
was not likely to be loser.
handed him five-lire note and