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Marchetto touched his mouth and his fez with his right hand, but did not at first rise from his seat upon the floor. Balsamides watched the man. He looked about the shop, and then approached the old glass case in the corner. He had hardly glanced at it when he turned and tried to catch Marchetto's eye. The latter made an almost imperceptible motion of the head.
The latter had now been an hour in the shop, and showed no signs of going away. Marchetto returned to the original question. "If it is worth so much, why do you not take it to one of the embassies?" asked Balsamides at last.
He examined the piece carefully. "Where did you get it?" he asked, in Turkish. "From the Validé Khan," answered the Jew, in the same language. "It is a genuine piece, a hundred years old at least." "You probably ask a pound for every year, and a backsheesh for the odd months," said the other. "Twenty pounds," answered Marchetto, imperturbably.
I believe that in the end Marchetto will be the deus ex machina who will pull us out of all our difficulties. I believe, too, that the best thing to do is to confide the matter to him. I will go and see him to-morrow." "He will never break his oath to the Lala," I answered. "Perhaps not. But he has only sworn that he will not tell his name. He has not sworn that he will not let me see him.
The lovely thing, those faint, mysterious shades intertwined with the dull gold and silver, it breaks my heart!" Marchetto was obdurate, on that day at least, and with an unusually grave face he began to fold the embroidery, wrapping it at last in the inevitable piece of shabby gray linen. The party left the shop, and threaded the labyrinth of vaulted passages towards the gate.
"No; but we can see the fellow easily enough, I fancy," returned Balsamides. "You do not know how these things are done. It is most probable that Marchetto has not paid him for the watch. Things of that sort are generally not paid for until they have been sold out of the shop.
"Who eats little earns much," replied Marchetto. "Is it not the most beautiful piece of Rhodes you ever saw, Effendim? There is not a Pasha in Stamboul, nor in Pera, nor in Scutari, who possesses the like of it. Only a hundred and fifty pounds; it is very cheap." "I will give you ten pounds for it, if you will give me a good backsheesh," said Gregorios at last.
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