“Six!” at length he managed to exclaim.
“Seven! Eight!—”
“Ten!” cried Grenits.
“Ten offered,” droned the auctioneer with the utmost indifference. This was not the first strange scene he had witnessed in his profession.
“Ten!” cried he, “won’t any gentleman go higher than ten.”
“Come, come, that is pretty fair,” said a voice.
“Ten once, ten twice, ten for the third and last time!”
Bang! down came the hammer.
“An expensive set,” grumbled some one in the crowd, “a hundred and twenty guilders—the bitters must be good at that price.”
“Especially pahit prawan!”