A PEARL STORY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1930, Page 15

A PEARL STORY

. "I have a story to toll you about pearls," writes "Viola" in tho "Adeline Leader." "It was told, me as absolutelyvtrue, and I have no reason to doubt the veracity of my inforinant. A, lady went to a sh*p in Collins street to buy a string of imitation pearls. She saw the particular string she wanted in the window, and she [asked the little shopgirl if' ska might have that string asl she thought it looked nearer real pearls than any other. Tho girl fetched the string for her, and it looked so attractive she [cheerfully paid tho price asked, 9s lid. it put the pearls on there and then. Walking down the street she -met a [friend of hers who ha< just returned from abroad. The-account of the friend's travels filled her with envy, land she said that if only she had the Imcnoy sho would be off to-morrow. "Sell your pearls, my dear!"' her friend said. She laughted. "They won't take me far; they cost precisely 9s lld."i Her friend shook her head. "I-know something about pearls," shsaid, "and those are real." The friend persuaded her to go to a nearby jeweller and havo them valued. She thought it all nonsense, but agreed. The jeweller was away some time. When ho returned he handed the string back carefully.- "Theso are beautiful pearls, madamo," he said, "and at a, conservative estimate wo would value them at £$00." Sho went straight back to the little shopgirl. "I bough*, these pearls," she began, and then the child recognised her. She almost fell on her neck with' joy. "Oh, madam!" was all she could say. She rushed away to a telephone, and the director of the shop was down in a few, minutes. He was profuse in his thanks; somehow or other tho string of peaids had got con"fusod with the others. He asked her, as a slight token of his gratitude, if she would choose for herself anything in the shop to the value of £5."