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I Sell Diamonds
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205
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"Tell
the lady," I commanded, "that I beg her gracious pardon. My mistake
arose from the fact that I am not familiar with the customs of this
country. In my own land merchants show their meanest goods first and by
degrees work up to their finest."
He translated. She came back with: "Why is that?"
"It is good showmanship," said I, "and frequently it saves the client's face."
"How may that be?"
I
replied that if we merchants were to begin by displaying our best,
some customers on learning the price might not care to admit that it
was too good for their purse and then might not ask to see the inferior
goods. But by using the other method the customer remained master of
the situation, for he could say as long as he pleased: "Show me
better—better—better."
I
saw that she was pleased with this explanation, and Mirzah said that
she agreed there might be some little wisdom in my argument. But I also
noticed that like the very old she was soon tired of talk and
distraction, for she picked unceasingly at the folds of the tablecloth.
It was clear to me that I must display at once the best that I had in
stock, and make no more ado, and this I did. But she looked at each gem
in perfunctory fashion, and at last burst forth: "It is true that I
have been used to buying only the best. But this was for my own use and
now I have given up bedecking myself in such finery. Let the merchant
bear in mind that one may buy to give away. But black-spotted stones
are an omen of ill luck. One cannot give them, for the wearer might
sicken or meet with
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