David was conscious that he was trembling slightly as he entered Balanska's in Bond Street, and asked to see the manager. There was not much difficulty in obtaining an interview. He waited a few mintness in hands that lay before him on rect, as in this case, large rubies are very rare, You never find rubies go as large as sapphires sometimes do—I mean of course a flawless ruby like this, The value of rubies always advances with their size. There is no known exception to that rule. I am commissioned by an heiress to buy 24-carat ruby for £30,000, or indeed any price. And I am afraid the young lady will never get it. Does such a stone exist?"
And the old man seemed to go off on a train of thought leading to the great ruby mines of the world in Ceylon and Burma. "I wonder." And he turned slowly to David's stone. "Of course this stone is set, and I shall have to have it taken out for measurement. We will take it down to the shop. 1 will tell you then what we can offer. If it is sixteen carats as I suspect we should be prepared to give you something in the neighbourhood of £10,000, We will see." And he rang the bell.
They went downstairs into the shop to strip and weigh the ruby. "Just slightly over sixteen carats" said the old man. "Marvellous. Quite outstanding. Well, shall we say £10,500."
David felt quite giddy. Through his mind flashed the anxious speculations of himself and his mother. They had wondered if the gem could possibly be worth £50: and here was a cool 10,000 chucked in. Had Mr. Nugent realized its value? David remembered too his mother's parting exhortation—"Now be sure David not to accept the first offer.. Be very careful dear, and show it to at least two or three firms."
"Thank you," said David with a slight tremble in his voice. "I will let you know about it as soon as pos sible."
"Ah," laughed the old man. "Going to show it to someone else first, eh?"
And then noting David's expression he added: "Well boy. but that is only prudent. But no one will offer you better than that. It is a fair price. and I am an authority. Of course we shall make a tidy profit too if we buy the stone. That is understood. That is what we are here for. But look here, will you promise me first refusal of that ruby at £10,500?
"Certainly sir, you shall have first refusal" replied David, and he was shown out, and in half an hour was climbing to the fourth floor of the rather dilapidated building occupied by Rankens and a number of other wholesale firms.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.