The clerk set out a number of trays, and from these took various necklaces. His way of handling them, of caressing them with careful fingers, of spreading them out on the cloth, all showed his love of jewels. There were diamond, turquoise, sapphire, topaz necklaces.
The student hesitated. A dizzying pleasure, bitter-sweet, enveloped this nearness to crime. He kept asking:
"What's this one worth? And this?"
"This is very cheap. Two thousand pesetas."
"How about this ruby one?"
"Forty-five hundred."
Darlés took them up, studied them carefully, put them down again. Suddenly he felt his cheeks were growing very pale. To give himself countenance he commented:
"This black pearl one is very beautiful."
"Yes, and it's more expensive, too. Ten thousand pesetas."
Suddenly the old gentleman, who till then had uttered no word, exclaimed brusquely: