THE ADVENTURES OF A LADY PEARL-BROKER

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CHAPTER I.


"WHAT I want is this," said Mr. Leighton, the prince of pearl merchants, throwing himself back in his chair, and looking severely at me over the top of his glasses:

"I want a lady, a young lady, who is good-looking, smart, and free of encumbrances, who has a nice manner, and a sweet voice, is accustomed to society and yet knows how to hold her own, and who, besides all these, has plenty of pluck."

I meditated for a moment.



"I have no encumbrances, Mr. Leighton," I said. "I am a widow, as you know, and have few relations, and I am quite sure that I have any amount of courage—but as to the rest of the qualities you are in search of, I—"

"The rest are all right," he interrupted. "I don't require you to tell me that, Mrs. Delamere; I can see it for myself. But"—he leant toward me and tapped my chair with his glasses—"I think it only right to tell you that there is a good deal of risk, which I share with you, and a chance of danger which you must venture by yourself. Are you prepared to do it?"

I reflected again.

"The risk would be both yours and mine?" I questioned. "In what way?"

"In the way of monetary loss," he answered; "it would be possible for you to lose more than you could ever repay, and I should have to bear the brunt of it, because it would be my property. You couldn't guarantee it, and all I can do is to be assured—as I am—of your trustworthiness. The risk remains."



"And the danger," I concluded, "is entirely mine. Very well, Mr. Leighton, I consent."

"Not so fast," he said; "you must wait till you know what it is. In the first place you would get, as I have already told you, a good income from it, partly in salary, partly in commission, and the work would not be arduous. It would mean two or three hours a day three or four times a week; sometimes less, sometimes more. It would entail your living in town, in a house or rooms of your own, and keeping your own carriage. Now for the work itself. Have you heard of lady pearl-brokers?"

I replied that I had not.

"Well," he said, "it has been tried in Paris, and with great success. There is a certain number of ladies of good position who undertake to be mediums between pearl merchants and their clients. I do not mean to say that you have to solicit orders from your personal friends—not at all. You may occasionally treat with private people, who wish to lay out a large sum in gems; but, as a rule, your business would be with the heads of large jewellers firms, and as they are generally of the upper class, it is easier to approach them if you can do so on equal terms. The qualifications I have mentioned are all desirable in order to facilitate good business. And in addition, we find that ladies have an instinct for appraising the value of jewels. We in the trade of course learn how to distinguish between good and bad, but ladies seem to become experts without any training at all. They can almost detect a flaw with their eyes shut. But the risk is that you would have to carry about with you sometimes fifteen or twenty thousand pounds' worth of jewels."

He looked to see if I showed any sign of alarm, but I was gazing at him quite quietly, and he went on:

"Your only plan is to observe absolute secrecy as to your occupation; to choose your servants and house carefully; to drive in your own carriage with a coachman you can depend on, and, under all circumstances, to keep your head."


"And the jewels," I added. "I am ready to begin work as soon as you like, Mr. Leighton. I can arrange about my carriage in a day or two; and with regard to a house, I should greatly prefer, in any case at first, to stay on at the Howarth Hotel, where I am at present. I have been going in a little for journalism, as you know. I shall give out that I have some literary employment which necessitates my staying in town. I am really safer in many ways at an hotel, especially as I shall always carry the pearls about with me, in a safe place which I shall contrive in my dress. Let me try it at all events."

"Very well," he said; "I will let you manage things in your own way. Only remember that you must always be looking out for an attack. If it once gets known—and London thieves learn these things in the most marvellous way—that a woman is in possession of jewellery to any extent, she is marked at once, and sooner or later they have a try for it."

"It is worth some risk to have an assured income," I said, smiling. "Money is so easy to lose, Mr. Leighton; so hard to gain. And poor widows are looked upon in society so often as adventuresses....