“‘Little can occur in this cantonment that is not known to your highness, or that cannot be determined if you so desire.
“‘I ask your august assistance, and I have, as you will see, observed the proprieties in making my request.
“‘It is a time-honored custom for the suppliant to signalize his appreciation of the importance of the favor he solicits, is it not so?’
“‘I did not know,’ replied the prince, ‘that commerce could develop such an oracle; it is a subtle sense of fitness you express. I am interested. Proceed.’
“‘I will, your highness,’ responded Ram Lal, as he inserted his hand in one of the folds of the sash which encircled his waist. ‘You recall the stone of Sardis?’
“‘Ah!’ exclaimed the prince, his cynical listlessness transformed at once into the abandon of eagerness. ‘What of it, O merchant?’
“‘This,’ replied the latter as he withdrew his hand from his sash, ‘if your highness will deign to examine it,’ and the speaker extended toward the incredulous prince a small box of shagreen, which the latter clutched with the grasp of avarice.
“‘Will his highness deign?’ repeated Ram Lal to himself with bitter irony as the prince pressed back the lid and exposed to view a magnificent sapphire, the gleam and the glitter of which affected him like an intoxication.
“As the prince, oblivious to all else, fixed his avid glance upon the scintillant stone, an astonishing change transformed the merchant from the suppliant to a being of marked dignity of bearing and carriage.
“His eyes, no longer obliquely observant, were directed with baleful purpose upon the half-closed lids of the fascinated potentate.