"Now then, I think you've talked enough!"
He turned to the clerk.
"Look out for these trays," he ordered.
Darlés raised his head, and proudly looked the old man in the eyes, with the hauteur of one still innocent.
"What are you interfering for?" he demanded. "What's the idea?"
"We can't waste any more time on you," answered the jeweler. "If I'm not mistaken, you're not overburdened with money."
He turned to his clerk again. The clerk stared in amaze. Imperatively the old man ordered:
"I tell you to put these trays away!"
The student had not yet, perhaps, fully decided to steal. Perhaps something good and sound still lay in his conscience, that might have barred him from fatal temptation at the crucial moment. But the merchant's provoking words spurred him on and made him sin. A spirit of revenge drove him to it. This is no novelty. How many times is crime nothing more than the logical reaction against injustice!
Beside himself, Enrique stretched out his hand toward the place where lay the emerald necklace. His fingers clutched convulsively. He turned, and with one leap reached the door.