He found that worthy a little distrait and far from any
desire to do big business. In fact, his first words told of his coming
retirement from an occupation which had enriched him during a good
forty years of profit and rarely of loss.
"The fact is, Mr. Cleaver, that I foresee the day coming when women
will wear no jewellery. Already the spirit of competition has passed,
and it is by competition and the pride of competition that this trade
has flourished. A woman buys a rope of pearls because another woman
wears one. Lady A cannot allow Lady B to have more valuable diamonds
than she possesses. Very few really admire the gems for their own sake,
and when you think of the crimes that have been committed because of
them, the envious passions they arouse, and the swindles to which they
give birth, then, indeed, we may wish that every precious stone lay
deep at the bottom of the sea."
"But, my dear sir, are you not thus banishing much beauty from the
world--did not the Almighty create precious stones for pretty women to
wear?"
The jeweller shrugged his shoulders, sweeping aside carelessly some
priceless pearls that lay on the table before him.
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