things
such as are in common use throughout the Far East, where they often
strike an incongruous note, as here. To me at that hour, however, they
looked friendly, for they reminded me of my childhood home.
When
I had seated myself I became aware of another presence, the old lady's
cockatoo which perched above us all on a bamboo rod and silently
surveyed the scene. In face of the bird's disconcerting stare I brought
out from my attaché-case the four morocco-leather wallets which held
the diamond papers containing my stock-in-trade. Beside these I ranged
methodically, as was my wont, carat scales, corn-tongs and
magnifying-glass. The old lady watched my deliberate movements with a
humorous twinkle in her intelligent eyes, but her fidgetings showed
that she was anxious for me to cut the cackle and come to the horses.
As
Mirzah had told me that the lady wished to buy a five-carat stone and I
had gathered the price she was likely to pay, I brought out at once
what I thought might suit her taste and pocket. In order to display the
stone to the greatest advantage, I inserted it in the chromed
spring-grip I carried, which gives the effect of a ring setting, and
held it out to her.
The
first thing she did when she took it in her tiny clawlike hand was to
shake it loose upon the table. No new-fangled methods for her. Then,
like the critical buyer I saw her to be, she picked the brilliant up
between the long horny-pink-enamelled nails of her thumb and first
finger. After examining it closely with her naked eye for some
while—she had scornfully refused my lens—she put it
