--'Yes,' continued the jeweller; 'but some one else will
not be so easy as I am, or content himself with the same story. It is
not natural that a man like you should possess such a diamond. He will
inform against you. You will have to find the Abbe Busoni; and abbes who
give diamonds worth two thousand louis are rare. The law would seize it,
and put you in prison; if at the end of three or four months you are set
at liberty, the ring will be lost, or a false stone, worth three francs,
will be given you, instead of a diamond worth 50,000 or perhaps 55,000
francs; from which you must allow that one runs considerable risk
in purchasing.' Caderousse and his wife looked eagerly at each
other.--'No,' said Caderousse, 'we are not rich enough to lose 5,000
francs.'--'As you please, my dear sir,' said the jeweller; 'I had,
however, as you see, brought you the money in bright coin.' And he drew
from his pocket a handful of gold, and held it sparkling before the
dazzled eyes of the innkeeper, and in the other hand he held a packet of
bank-notes.

"There was evidently a severe struggle in the mind of Caderousse; it was
plain that the small shagreen case, which he turned over and over in
his hand, did not seem to him commensurate in value to the enormous
sum which fascinated his gaze. He turned towards his wife. 'What do you
think of this?' he asked in a low voice.--'Let him have it--let him have
it,' she said. 'If he returns to Beaucaire without the diamond, he will
inform against us, and, as he says, who knows if we shall ever again see
the Abbe Busoni?--in all probability we shall never see him.'--'Well,
then, so I will!' said Caderousse; 'so you may have the diamond for
45,000 francs. But my wife wants a gold chain, and I want a pair of
silver buckles.' The jeweller drew from his pocket a long flat box,
which contained several samples of the articles demanded. 'Here,' he
said, 'I am very straightforward in my dealings--take your choice.' The
woman selected a gold chain worth about five louis, and the husband a
pair of buckles, worth perhaps fifteen francs.--'I hope you will not
complain now?' said the jeweller.

"'The abbe told me it was worth 50,000 francs,' muttered Caderousse.
'Come, come--give it to me! What a strange fellow you are,' said
the jeweller, taking the diamond from his hand. 'I give you 45,000
francs--that is, 2,500 livres of income,--a fortune such as I wish I had
myself, and you are not satisfied!'--'And the f