"Then," responded Ellis, "I will stop at Price's on my way down-town."
"Naughty! naughty!" she answered, but she radiated smiles.
Ellis, after he had left Mrs. Harmon at her door, went, as he had promised, to the establishment of the pushing Mr. Price, and asked for the proprietor.
"Got anything to show me?" Ellis demanded.
From his safe the jeweller brought out a leather case, and looked at Ellis impressively before opening it.
"Pretty small," commented Ellis.
"Ah, but——" replied the other, and opened the case. "Look—Orsini's make!"
"I don't know anything about that," Ellis said as he poked the jewels with his finger. "Look strange to me. The fashion, however?"
"The very latest," Price assured him. "Trust me, Mr. Ellis."
It was one secret of Ellis's success that he knew where to trust. He had ventured twice that day, with women at that, and the thought of it was to trouble him before he slept. But he could trust Price in matters of taste, and as to secrecy, the man was bound to him. Price had been in politics at the time when Ellis was getting "influence" in the city government; for the jeweller those days were past, but this store and certain blocks of stock were the result. Besides, he was adroit. Ellis gave the chains and pendants a final push with his finger.