Part 1 (2/2)
”Three!”
”Three and a quarter!”
”Three and a quar-- Ah, four dollars? Four dollars! Who says five?
Going at four--at four--at four Four and a half--four and a quarter--this is your last chance, remember Did you say five, sir?
No? Well, four it is, then Going--going--the last chance, ladies and gentleone, to the lady in the brown dress, Andrew, for four dollars!”
The scene was a small store on Nassau street near Fulton street, in New York City Outside of the open doorway hung a red flag, indicative of an auction sale The singleof the place was croith vases, ieous la these articles was a sign in black letters on white cardboard bearing these words:
ROYAL CONSIGNMENT AUCTION CO, Sales Daily from 10 AM to 3 PM
Inside, toward the rear, there was a small raised platform, and upon this stood the auctioneer, a tall, thin-faced man, with sharp black eyes, and rather a squeaky voice To one side was his assistant, aindividual, rapped up the articles sold and collected for them
It was between twelve and one o'clock in the day, and the auction store was croith business people, who, during their lunch-ti on, and, possibly,clerks, and several young ladies, and all appeared interested in the oods
A people present was a boy of fifteen, whose clothing, although not of a fashi+onable cut, was, nevertheless, neat and clean
He had dark curly hair, and his face was as honest in appearance as it was fearless and handsome
The youth was ashalf the articles auctioned off, although he had not enough in his trousers pocket to even start bidding, for no bid of less than twenty-five cents was recognized by the auctioneer in beginning a sale
The vase disposed of, the auctioneer's assistant brought forth from a side shelf a piece of i a wreath of flowers between them The bit of bric-a-brac looked quite nice, but as it was but imitation marble, it was not worth more than two dollars, if as much
”Now, here we have as fine a piece of Italian an the auctioneer, holding up the piece in question ”And the work upon it cannot to-day be excelled by any sculptors on this side of the Atlantic How beautiful are those three doves, and how natural that wreath! Exaenuine Italian o to pieces in your hands There you are, sir”
The bit of statuary was handed to a gentleave it a hasty glance and then started to hand it back
”Pass it through the crowd, please I want every one to be convinced of its quality before I atteentleman handed it to the man next to him
Thus started, the bit of bric-a-brac traveled from one hand to another until it reached a heavy-set man with red mustache, who stood but a couple of yards from the doorway
”Humph!” muttered the man, as he turned over the article in conteive a dollar a cartload for them Here you are!”
As he finished, he thrust the piece of bric-a-brac toward a young lady who had just entered She drew back in surprise, not knohat his actionlady's arm, and then fell to the floor with a crash, and was broken into a dozen pieces
The young lady uttered a slight shriek of surprise at the accident, and instantly the crowd looked toward her, and then at the auctioneer
”Here, who broke that?” demanded the auctioneer, in an entirely different tone of voice, as he left his stand and hurried to the spot
”That young lady,” replied a felloho had not seen the movements of the man with the redlady, shrinking back ”I did not touch the piece, sir”