"I've heard all that, Boon," the colonel interrupted, angrily. "If you are going to talk like a bally ass I'll waste no more time here. Bring in the pearls. I can't take over a half-hour to this."
Mr. Boon's hard sense and knowledge of advertising values triumphed over his injured dignity. He excused himself, and presently returned with a tray full of pearl necklaces.
"I say, Boon, on second thought, you must not reduce your prices. It's a bad principle."
"Therefore, my good fellow, name me one price--the lowest possible after considering how much the duke's patronage is worth to your house. The very lowest! Put it in plain figures on new price-tags. The duke is accustomed to the prices across the pond, you know; so don't frighten him. Now that one?"
He picked up at once the most beautiful necklace--and also the most valuable, though by no means the most showy. Mr. Boon's respect jumped. He looked at the colonel, whose neck and head were twitching and twisting violently.
"This one--" he began. The colonel interrupted him:
"Now, Boon, think carefully--the very lowest price," he said, sternly. "If you name a really reasonable figure I'll pledge you my word to recommend its purchase and not visit the other shops. Take your time!"
Thus placed on the rack, Mr. Boon figured and cut and restored and reduced again until he was angry at the torturer and at the opportunity for a glorious advertisement. Finally he said, vindictively:
"This I'll sell for sixty-five thousand dollars!" Immediately he regretted it. Perhaps he was overestimating the advertising value of the Princess Patricia's beautiful neck to exhibit his pearls on. The price was exactly thirty-five thousand dollars less than he had expected to get for it during the next steel boom.
"Oh, come now, I say," remonstrated Colonel Lowther, impatiently. "That's thirteen thousand pounds. It's too much, you know."
"Colonel Lowther," said Boon, pale but determined, "I am losing considerable money on this, which I am charging to advertising account and may never get back. If the price is not satisfactory, I'm sorry; and I can only suggest that you'd better go to the other firms you've mentioned. They are all," he finished quietly, "very good firms."
