STORY OF PEARL NECKLACE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19997, 14 January 1927, Page 15

STORY OF PEARL NECKLACE.

TOTJNG WOMAN’S BARGAIN. £SOO WORTH FOR 12s 6d. REMARK LEADS TO DISCOVERY. (Feom Ocb Own Cobbebpondent.) SYDNEY, January 7. A casual remark in a Melbourne draw-ing-room recently led to the discovery by a young woman that a necklace she was wearing and for which she had paid 12s 6d was worth £SOO. Conversation in the drawing-room turned upon touring abroad, and the young woman, heaving a sigh of hopelessness, exclaimed : “It has been the dream of my life to go to England and visit the scene of my parents’ childhood, but I cannot see any prospect of realisation.” “Why is that so? It should not be impossible,” said the man whose narration of the pleasures of travel had led to the exclamation. The young woman answered that hers was the common reason—lack of the necessary funds. “Sell your pearls, if you are so desirous of travel, oi pawn them,” he urged, pointing to a necklace she was wearing. When the young woman said that she questioned whether anyone would advance her the price of a tram fare on them, the man told her she ought to be able to raise £3OO on them from any pawnbroker, and he, himself, offered her £350 for them, although declaring that it was a mean advantage to take, as he would make a profit on them within 24 hours. All eyes were on the string of pearls. The wearer laughingly invited the company to guess what she had paid for them. The man who had made the offer to her declared ! that she could not have paid leas than I £SOO for them. Thereupon the young ; woman remarked: “I paid 12s 6d for them. You may be joking, but lam speaking ‘he truth.” ..... She then explained that she had visited a warehouse, and coming to a table on which was a basket of loose .necklets, marked “All at 12s 6d each,” she had selected one. Believing now that a mistake might have been made, the young woman went next day to the warehouse and consulted the manager, to whom she related the nicident in the drawing-room. The manager took the necklet, and said that he saw through it all The pearls were actually worth the price the man had mentioned, if not more. They had been imported for the wife r* a member of the firm and had arrived at the warehouse at the same time as a consignment of imitation pearls. The assistant who had unpacked the stuff had blundered. Putting aside a cheap set for the wife of the member of the firm, he had thrown the genuine pearls in with the rest. The pearls put aside in error as the genuine set were in due course handed over to 'the warehouseman’s wife, who had been wearing them with conscious pride before her fashionable friends, who had joined with her and her husband in expressionsof admiration. The innocent bargainhunter had with becoming modesty worn the pearls she had picked up on the bargain table, not knowing their value. The young woman was thanked for her honestly, but is still_ no nearer fulfilment of her ambition to visit England.