“ ‘That is,’ replied the jeweller, ‘I offered 40,000 francs.’

“ ‘Forty thousand,’ cried La Carconte; ‘we will not part with it for that sum. The abbé told us it was worth 50,000 without the setting.’

“ ‘What was the abbé’s name?’ asked the indefatigable questioner.

“ ‘The Abbé Busoni,’ said La Carconte.

“ ‘He was a foreigner?’

“ ‘An Italian from the neighborhood of Mantua, I believe.’

“ ‘Let me see this diamond again,’ replied the jeweller; ‘the first time you are often mistaken as to the value of a stone.’