with sleepy
eyes with a strange expression in them which, for some reason or other,
held his visitor's usually shifty gaze fixed, and said in a slow, gentle
voice:

"It is very kind of you, Mr Josephus, to bring me all these nice little
commissions. They are of much benefit to a poor student of antiquities
like myself, although I do not like trading in things that I love.
Still, one must live if one would study. Now, I had a gem sent to me the
other day which I would dearly love to possess, but, alas! as well might
I long for the Koh-i-Noor itself. Moreover, it is already promised--nay,
as good as sold. But what have the poor to do with such splendours save
to help the rich to buy them!"

The Jew's prominent eyes shone with an inward light at the mention of
the gem, and he said in a coaxing voice:

"My dear Phadrig, we have always been friends for ever so long, and you
say I've been a good customer to you. Might I have a look at that gem?
You know how fond I am of the pretty things. Have you got it here?"

"Yes, and you shall see it with pleasure, my good Josephus," replied
Phadrig, well knowing the thought that was in his mind when he asked if
he had the gem there in that shabby, unprotected room.

He went to the old oak secretaire, unlocked a cupboard at the side, and
then a drawer within it, followed in every motion by the gleaming eyes
of the Jew, and took from it a leather parcel. He undid this and
produced a box, about four inches long and three wide, of plain black
polished wood. It looked solid, but Phadrig made a swift motion with his
fingers, and one half of it slid off the other. He held it towards his
visitor, and said:

"What do you think of that as a specimen of ancient art, Mr Josephus?"

The Jew looked. The inside of the box seemed filled with green light
tinted with yellow. Out of the midst of it began to shine a deeper green
light which crystallised into the most glorious emerald that he had ever
even dreamt of. It was fully an inch square, flawless, and of perfect
colour. The yellow sheen came from a framework of heavy,
exquisitely-wrought gold. Phadrig took it out and held it before him,
and the green light seemed to radiate through the dull atmosphere of the
room. The Jew stared at it with bulging eyes and trembling under-lip,
and his hands went out towards it with a gesture which seemed like
worship.

"God of Israel," he gasped, "was anything so splendid ever seen before!
Mr Phadrig, is