A cry of surprise broke from the clerk's lips. In all the years of his life he had never seen anything so grand as the diamond necklace. But, like all shrewd men in his calling, he carefully suppressed the cry of astonishment.
"How much do you want to realize on this?" he asked, indifferently.
"One thousand dollars," said Ida, faintly.
"Ha! ha! ha!" he laughed. "That's pretty good, when you know full well that you couldn't realize one-half that sum on them."
"But I shall have to!" cried Ida.
The man closed his hand down over the lid.
"How did you come by these?" he asked.
He saw the slender figure shiver.
"You have no right to ask me anything like that," she replied.
"Probably not," returned the man; "still, when we don't ask, we generally do a great deal of guessing. But to end the matter, I will advance you a couple of hundred on them."