eem to hear these last
words, for the master of the shop had noticed how he cast his eyes upon
the goods that were in the window, and was ready in a moment to invite
him in. "Come in, come in," he said, "before the crowd sweep you away;
come in and buy my pearls, and my diamonds, and my precious stones; come
in, come in." And while he halted for a moment to parley with the man,
the crowd came upon them, and he was parted from his friend, who had held
up his fainting steps; and so he sprung trembling into the shop, scarcely
thinking himself safe even there.

Now the man into whose house he had turned, though he was a fair-spoken
man, and one who knew well how to seem honest and true, was altogether a
deceiver. All his seeming jewels, and diamonds, and pearls, were but
shining and painted glass, which was worth nothing at all to him who was
so foolish as to buy it: but this the servant knew not. If it had been
in the bright clear light of the morning, he would easily have seen that
the diamonds and the pearls were only sparkling and painted glass, and
the gold nothing but tinsel; but the bright light of the morning had
passed away, and in the red slanting light of the evening sun he could
not see clearly; and so the false man persuaded him, and he parted with
all the rich treasures which his king had given him, and got nothing for
them in exchange which was worth the having, for he filled his bag with
bits of painted glass, which his lord would never accept.

However, he knew not how he had been cheated; or if, perhaps, a thought
crossed his mind that all was not right, it was followed by another,
which said that it was now too late to alter, and that if he had chosen
wrongly, still he must abide by it; and so he waited for the trumpet. But
he was not altogether happy; and often and often he wished that he had
faced the strife of the multitude, and pressed on with his trusting
companion to the market.

A hard struggle had been his before he had reached it. It seemed indeed
at times as if the words of his fearful companion were coming true, and
he would be torn altogether in pieces, so fiercely did the crowd press
upon him and throng him. But as I watched him in the thickest part of
it, I saw that always, just at his last need, something seemed to favour
him, and the crowd broke off and left room for him to struggle by. I
could hear him chanting, as it were, to himself, when the crowd looked
upon him the most fie