FAIR INTEREST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9995, 16 March 1910, Page 4

FAIR INTEREST.

Somewhere in the world there is a clever man who hs succeeded in getting £I,OOO interest on an investment of £2,000 for only a few months. Some time ago, the story goes, a well-groomed gentleman of irreproachable manner called on a famous West End firm of jewellers, and asked to be shown some article of exceptional, value appropriate for a betrothal gift to the lady he was about to marry. The head of the firm produced a magnificent black pearl of great rarity. The price i asked was £2,000. Tha customer ex* | amined the pearl carefully, made an I unavailing attempt to get the price j reduced, and finally agrted to pur- ! chase the article. Of course, as he ! was unknown to the firm, he could j not, he said, ask them to part with | the jewel for a cheque, but he would i give them a cheque, and after it had been cashed, would call for the i pearl. It was useless giving his address, as he was in London for a day ! only, and was shortly returning to America, where he was engaged in business. The cheque was accepted, and unhesitatingly cashed, by the bank in question, and forty-eight hours later the pearl was in possession of ; the purchaser. A few months later the same man again called on the same firm, and stated that he had] since been married, and was very anxious to get a match for the pearl, so that the two might be set in a pair of earrings for his wife. The jeweller was dubious of a match being found for so splendid a pearl, but after some discussion agreed to place an advertisement in a trade journal stating that up to £3,500 would be paid for a pearl of the size and quality required. A few weeks later a man called on another West End firm of jeweller? and said he had a black pearl of exception! size and lustre to sell. The firm had seen the rival firm's advertisement, and they found that the pearl offered h ■ the stranger bore an astonishing resemblance to the one mentioned therein. Certain that they had got the match wanted by the first firm, tbey secured the stranger's pearl for £3,ooo—the other £SOB would be divided between the two firms by arrangement. But there was only one pearl in the whole business, and the two firms are now anxious to hear something about their common customer.