Evening star., 1932-12-16

lyl" he said. And then without anoth-
er word, strolled from the room. Ra-
mon nodded at the retreating figure and
felt the contents of the handkerchief
with fingers which were slightly damp
from nervousness. Then after a quick
glance at the clock, he returned to his
department.
No goods were ever on display at
Piron's, but were kept in little drawers
sunk into the paneling of the walls, so
that there was nothing surprising in
the fact that Ramon should turn his
back to the shop while examining his
stock. Nor was vacancy in the neat
ly laid rows of imitation pearl neck
laces in one of these cabinets visible to
anybody else when he opened it. This
vacancy was quickly supplied, however
for from the depths or his handker-
chief he drew, unobtrusIvely, gleam-
ing string Of pearls, tagged it with a
price mark at 1000 francs, and laid it
gingerly in place. Then he closed the
cabinet and settled into waiting at
titude. The clock above the doorway
read quarter to IL. and moment
later Ramon noticed that a young
woman was approaching his depart
ment. With a little shock he realized
that the green-tipped cigarette was still
between his lips, a practice strictly for
hidden in the shop itself, and he
stamped it out hastily in the ashtray
on his counter just as Alacia Sayers
dropped into the seat in front of him
Il want" said Alacia. Ito see a string
Of good imitation pearls. something not
tco expensive, but nice"
About $4,000 francs?" Ramon sug-
gested
aNo,co-eof-, ror1;oa aIao;o ,,roxo,tI,,
a friend of mine told me she'd bought
a beauty here for. thousand" The
young Argentinian smiled in a supe-
rior manner.
"Of course, if mademoiselle wishes =
he murmured. Il have the cheap
strings! But I hardly think you will
find them good enough"
In this day and age" replied A1acia
pleasantly, 1T is quite unnecessary to
spend lot Of money on pearls A
thank you"
Very reluctantly Ramon lifted down
the tray containing the necklaces at the
price required. and laid it before her
All the strings were ABOUT of a size
and length, and Of a beauty which did
credit to the taste and honesty of the
recently made this concession to a
eye fastened instantly on the particu-
lar string which Ramon had laid in
place only a moment before. She pick
ed it up carelessiy, noted the price on
the tag and smiled up at the young
South American in her pleasant, frank
manner.
This one is loyely!" she declared.
Now why on earth should anybody
wear real pearls when they can buy
necklace like this for S40?"
"As matter Of fact, that one is not
very good!' said the boy, his hands
clammy, his voice controlled by the ut
most effort "These strings vary a lot
Look for example, this would be my
choice, mademoisellel To his inf
mite relief Alacia dropped her first
choice and examined the necklace he
offered
Hum. well," she said doubtfully. "it's
very pretty, too, But the other is
heavier" Again she picked up the first
string NO" she said. Il like the
slight irregularities on this one"
But, mademoiselle!" the dapper
4 assure you. that is the least desir-
able of the lot. Won't you look at
something really good? I have case
at three thousand which only an eX-
pert could tell from real"
II have real pearls" remarked Al
acia. 80 don't need anything bet
teri" Then she looked at him curious
ly, a rising antagonism taking posses
sion Of her. This was not the first time
that a clerk In French shop had at
tempted to overawe her by an air Of
superiority. as though a mere Ameri-
caine was, Of course. incapable Of choos-
ing for herself Dressmakers had
tried it and milliners had snubbed
her for daring to criticize. but Alacia
vas now too old a hand to be meekly
put II her place like a raw tourist, SO
she continued to smile blandly. grow
inr s.ubSorn CIT Of sheer annoyance.
z, fortunately fc- hin the man serving
= was by now too thoroughly