“It is too much.”
Mr Globestein sighed, shrugged again, and said nothing.
“It is too much, I say.”
“I will not deny, Mr Balm,” said the expert, “that your patronage and good opinion are of the first importance to me. I will make a concession to them, unprofitable enough to me, but I will trust to you to make it up in other directions. You shall have the statuette for three thousand guineas less the shillings, the exact price I gave for it.”
“You will let me have the statuette for the exact price you gave for it?”
“That is so, Mr Balm.”
“Dexter,” said Gilead; “you mark that?”
The adviser answered in the affirmative, wondering what was to come.
Gilead went to a desk, produced a cheque-book, wrote out a cheque, and handed it to the dealer. Mr Globestein accepted the draft obsequiously, glanced at the amount smilingly, started imperceptibly, and paled obviously.
“This is a pleasantry, Mr Balm,” he said, in a jocular voice that quaked somewhat. “Your cheque is for ten pounds only.”