“A thousand were paid for it.”
“Indeed! So much! Do you wish it sold at public or private sale?”
“In which ever way it can be sold quickest and best,” replied Eunice.
“It can be sold quickest at public sale, but best at private sale. How much do you expect to receive for it?”
“I think it ought to bring five or six hundred dollars. It is not in the least defaced, or injured in tone.”
“I am sorry to say,” returned the auctioneer, who really felt grieved for the disappointment he knew his words would occasion, “that we shall not be able to get any thing like that sum for the instrument. Three hundred dollars will be a maximum price, and it may bring less if it goes under the hammer. Persons who come to auction for pianos, generally have a low price in their minds, and cannot be tempted to go much beyond it, no matter how superior the article may be.”
“When is your next sale?” asked Eunice, in a voice whose huskiness the auctioneer perceived with regret.
“Not for a week.”
“Indeed!” Eunice spoke in a disappointed tone. “I must have the money for it sooner than that.”
“You do not want it to-day, do you?”