a measure on whether we have a customer who at the moment requires just such a stone."
"And you have such a customer? I see. Well, I bought it for my wife. I want you to cut it and mount it as a pin for the hair."
Mr. Ruby hesitated. He turned the jewel over and over in his hand.
"We are old friends, Mr. Hart. May I ask how much you gave for this?"
"Two thousand pounds."
It was true that Mr. Tyrrel had asked two thousand. Mr. Hart had probably forgotten that he had beaten him down to fifteen hundred.
"Two thousand pounds? You are a man of business, Mr. Hart. I daresay you have no objection to making a little profit even out of a diamond. I will be frank with you. We happen to have a valuable customer who is particularly in want of just such a stone as this. It is on that account that I venture, even in Mr. Golden's absence, to offer you for your two-thousand-pound purchase three thousand pounds; a clear profit of a thousand pounds."
"A thousand pounds!" Mr. Hart stroked his chin. "My dear sir, I'm not reduced to selling my wife's diamonds."
"Has Mrs. Hart yet seen the stone?"
"Not yet she hasn't. I bought it not half an hour ago."
"Then the thing is simplified. I will carry my offer farther. I will give you three thousand pounds for the stone, and will allow you to select, in addition, any articles from our stock to the cash value of a thousand pounds."
