Ten thousand pounds! It was beyond my wildest imaginings. Pugh gasped. He lurched against the counter.
"Ten thousand pounds!" he echoed.
The man on the other side glanced at him, I thought, a little curiously.
"If you can give me references, or satisfy me in any way as to your bona fides, I am prepared to give you for this diamond an open check for ten thousand pounds, or if you prefer it, the cash instead."
I stared; I was not accustomed to see business transacted on quite such lines as those.
"We'll take it," murmured Pugh; I believe he was too much overcome by his feelings to do more than murmur. I interposed.
"My dear sir, you will excuse my saying that you arrive very rapidly at your conclusions. In the first place, how can you make sure that it is a diamond?"
The man behind the counter smiled.
"I should be very ill-fitted for the position which I hold if I could not tell a diamond directly I get a sight of it, especially such a stone as this."
"But have you no tests you can apply?"