enjoying
the traditional hospitality. I seized my chance, extracted from the
wallet the slightly flawed stone, and slipped it into my trousers
pocket. When she came back to the table, dish in hand, the four wallets
had gone back into my attaché-case.
Turning
to Mirzah I said: "Tell the lady that I am sorry that so large a
selection as I have shown should have contained nothing to please her;
nevertheless I have yet one more diamond in my pocket which I should
like to show with her kind permission before I go."
"It could do no harm," she said graciously.
So I brought the black-spotted stone out of my pocket, and she examined it most critically.
"Why,
this is just what I want!" she exclaimed. "See how these European
merchants will insist on showing their poor goods first, and will only
bring out what is good when the customer refuses to be fooled." For I
had this time put a fairly stiff price on the diamond.
She
clapped her hands. A Chinese amah appeared. She handed her a bunch of
keys and when the woman returned with the money she counted out to me
the price I had asked. We had taken our refreshment and now paid our
final respects. As I made my final bows to the old lady, she raised her
forefinger admonishingly.
It
was only then that I realised that the tell-tale mirror she had faced,
when I took the opportunity of slipping the stone into my pocket, had
betrayed me. As I turned and skated warily in my clumsy shoes over the
crystal floor I heard behind me the beating of wings and an accusing
falsetto screech: "Tanda hit am! Tonda hitam!" The cockatoo had had the last word.
