“‘Ya, ya! Shure, I got a chain. I show him you?’
“It was a long antique-silver chain, the great flat links being beautifully filigreed. But it was not what my friend wanted, so I bought it for Nancy. Then the shop-keeper looked wistful.
“‘Ain’t I got it what you like? Tell me what for you want him?’
“My friend replied: ‘For my wife. She goes to balls and like pearls, or other stones, in a necklace.’
“‘Ah, ha! I got yust what you like. A pearl necklace vot come in las’ veek wid a lot of odder fine tings.’ Then the old man rooted around under the counter until he found the tray he wanted. It was coated with dust from the floor, but he blew this off and carelessly placed the heaped-up tray before us.
“Such a tangle of all kinds of jewelry I never did see! Finally I got the string of pearls free from the snarls of ordinary glass beads and other trash, and handed it over to my friend. He curled a lip in scorn at the soiled trinket.
“‘Avery, drive a bargain with him for this. I honestly think those pearls are quite good. Let me rub one up on my sleeve, while you draw the fellow’s attention from what I am doing,’ I whispered.
“While Avery tried to bargain, I cleaned up one of the gems and felt sure they were unusually good even for artificial pearls.
“We actually bought the string for twelve dollars, but my friend feared lest he had been taken in. So I smiled and said: ‘Leave them with me and I’ll see that they are polished up like new by to-morrow night. I’ll take them to an old jeweler down the street and have them washed and the gold links cleaned. Your wife won’t know but that they came from Tiffany’s.
“Avery laughed and left them with me. So I hurried down to Union Square and showed them to the old jeweler I knew, there.