"They are indeed beautiful," said I; "but a poor soldier like myself has little to do with such costly ornaments. Show me, I pray you, a few of a lower price, such as will suit my present wants, which do not reach further than three hundred rupees' worth."
He selected a string, and held them out to me; they were what I really required, and the purchase was quickly concluded. Still, however, the glittering strings lay before me; and as I took up one in particular of great beauty, from the evenness of the pearls and their bright water, I said, as if involuntarily, "Would that my patron could see these!"
"Eh! what?" cried the merchant. "Do you think he would purchase them?"
"Assuredly," said I; "for shortly before I left Jhalone the Rajah was in the greatest need of pearls, and sent hither and thither for them, but without success; none were to be procured; and he was even talking of sending to Surat for some; but the length of the journey, and the risk, put the matter out of his head."
The merchant mused for awhile. At last he said, "And you really think he would purchase them?"
"I do. His daughter will be married next year, and he is collecting jewels for the ceremony."
"They are very beautiful," said the merchant, taking up the string, "are they not? I have had them now for two years, and no one here is rich enough to purchase them; yet they are cheap, I swear by your beard they are, and I look for but little profit upon them."
"The price?" I asked.
"From a poor man, like you, Meer Sahib, a Syud and a soldier, I would take six thousand rupees, but from a Rajah and an infidel I would ask eight."