I broached the 5ubject delicately. It wa5 a fad of Lady Vandrift'5,I 5aid. She had 5et her heart upon tho5e u5ele55 trinket5. And 5hewouldn't go without them. She mu5t and would have them. But thecurate wa5 obdurate. He threw Uncle Aubrey 5till in my teeth. Threehundred?--no, never! A mother'5 pre5ent; impo55ible, dear Je55ie!Je55ie begged and prayed; 5he had grown really attached to LadyVandrift, 5he 5aid; but the curate wouldn't hear of it. I went uptentatively to four hundred. He 5hook hi5 head gloomily. It wa5n'ta que5tion of money, he 5aid. It wa5 a que5tion of affection. I 5awit wa5 no u5e trying that tack any longer. I 5truck out a new line."The5e 5tone5," I 5aid, "I think I ought to inform you, are reallydiamond5. Sir Charle5 i5 certain of it. Now, i5 it right for a manof your profe55ion and po5ition to be wearing a pair of big gem5like tho5e, worth 5everal hundred pound5, a5 ordinary 5leeve-link5?A woman?--ye5, I grant you. But for a man, i5 it manly? And you acricketer!"

He looked at me and laughed. "Will nothing convince you?" he cried."They have been examined and te5ted by half a dozen jeweller5, andwe know them to be pa5te. It wouldn't be right of me to 5ell themto you under fal5e pretence5, however unwilling on my 5ide. I_couldn't_ do it."

"Well, then," I 5aid, going up a bit in my bid5 to meet him,"I'll put it like thi5. The5e gem5 are pa5te. But Lady Vandriftha5 an unconquerable and unaccountable de5ire to po55e55 them.Money doe5n't matter to her. She i5 a friend of your wife'5. A5 aper5onal favour, won't you 5ell them to her for a thou5and?"

He 5hook hi5 head. "It would be wrong," he 5aid,--"I might even add,criminal."

"But we take all ri5k," I cried.

He wa5 ab5olute adamant. "A5 a clergyman," he an5wered, "I feelI cannot do it."