Part 3 (1/2)

”And those others, mevrouw,” stooping attentively: then, in her most charming tones, ”those others ... they too are paste.”

Mrs. van Does looked at her with delight. Then she said to Doddie and Theo, archly:

”That mamma of yours ... oh, so shrewd! She sees at once!”

And she laughed aloud. They all laughed. Mrs. van Does returned the stones to the bottle:

”A joke, yes, mevrouw? I only wanted to see if you understood. I give you my word, of course: I should never have sold them to you.... But there ... look!...”

And now solemnly, almost religiously, she opened the other little phial, which contained only a few stones, and placed them lovingly on the black velvet.

”That one would be splendid ... for a pendant,” said Mrs. van Oudijck, gazing at a very large brilliant.

”There, what did I tell you?” said the Indian lady.

And they all gazed at the diamonds, at the real ones, which came out of the ”real” bottle, and held them up carefully to the light.

Mrs. van Oudijck saw that they were all real:

”I really have no money, dear mevrouw!” she said.

”This big one ... for a pendant ... six hundred guilders. [2] ... A bargain, I a.s.sure you, mevrouw!”

”Oh, mevrouw, never!”

”How much then? You are doing a charity if you buy. Poor thing, her husband once a great swell, Indian Council.”

”Two hundred.”

”Oh dear! What next? Two hundred guilders!”

”Two hundred and fifty, but no more. I really have no money.”

”The residen!” whispered Mrs. van Does, catching sight of Van Oudijck, who, now that the cases were finished, was coming to the back verandah. ”The residen ... he buy for you!”

Mrs. van Oudijck smiled and looked at the sparkling drop of light on the black velvet. She liked jewels, she was not altogether indifferent to diamonds. And she looked at her husband:

”Mrs. van Does is showing us a lot of beautiful things,” she said, caressingly.

Van Oudijck felt an inward shock. He was never pleased to see Mrs. van Does in his house. She always had something to sell: at one time, richly embroidered counterpanes; at another time, a pair of woven slippers; at another, magnificent but very expensive table-slips, with golden flowers in batik on yellow glazed linen. Mrs. van Does always brought something with her, was always in touch with the wives of erstwhile ”great swells,” whom she helped by selling their things for a very high commission. A morning call from Mrs. van Does cost him each time at least a few rix-dollars and very often fifty guilders, for his wife had a calm habit of always buying things which she did not need but which she was too indifferent to refuse to buy of Mrs. van Does. He did not see the two bottles at once, but he saw the drop of light on the black velvet and he understood that the visit would cost him more than fifty guilders this time, unless he was very firm:

”Mevrouwtje!” he exclaimed, in dismay. ”It's the end of the month: there's no question of buying diamonds to-day! And bottles full too!” he added, with a stare, when he now saw them glittering on the table, among the gla.s.ses of tamarind-syrup.

”Oh, that residen!” laughed Mrs. van Does, as though a resident were bound to be always well off.

Van Oudijck hated that little laugh. His household cost him every month a few odd hundred guilders above his salary; and he was living beyond his income, was in debt. His wife never troubled herself with money matters; for these more especially she reserved her most smiling indifference.