From the same drawer from which he had previously taken the money, Parascandolo took out a leather case and opened it. The jewels twinkled on the white velvet: there were a pair of solitaire earrings, a row of diamonds, a bracelet, and an ornament for the hair. Ninetto Costa looked at them, beating his lips with the knob of his stick. He went further off, to judge them better. He did this very gracefully; but a twitching of the muscles now and then made his smile unpleasant.
'They are fine, eh?' he asked Parascandolo.
'I think so,' said the other modestly.
'You would give them? You are a man of taste.'
'I would give them—according to the woman. Not to Lillina.'
'I don't know if I will give them to her—I don't know,' Costa burst out again hurriedly. 'You think,' he added timidly—'you think they are worth twenty thousand francs?'
'It is not what I believe; Don Domenico Mazzocchi, who sold them to you, thinks they are. I don't know about them. Besides, you can get them valued. Remember, they will ask two per cent. for the valuation.'
He said all this in such a cold, disdainful way that Ninetto Costa tried to interrupt him more than once, without managing it.
'Are you mad? What valuation? I would not do such a thing, with you and your friend Mazzocchi. To take so much trouble! I would not dream of it. It would be offensive to a friend—two friends.'
'Have you noted the terms of payment?'