"Eh! eh!"

The two syllables which the old man pronounced resembled the sound of
a rattle. Then he went on thus:

"Without compelling you to entreat me, without making you blush for
it, and without giving you so much as a French centime, a para from
the Levant, a German heller, a Russian kopeck, a Scottish farthing, a
single obolus or sestertius from the ancient world, or one piastre
from the new, without offering you anything whatever in gold, silver,
or copper, notes or drafts, I will make you richer, more powerful, and
of more consequence than a constitutional king."

The young man thought that the older was in his dotage, and waited in
bewilderment without venturing to reply.

"Turn round," said the merchant, suddenly catching up the lamp in
order to light up the opposite wall; "look at that leathern skin," he
went on.

The young man rose abruptly, and showed some surprise at the sight of
a piece of shagreen which hung on the wall behind his chair. It was
only about the size of a fox's skin, but it seemed to fill the deep
shadows of the place with such brilliant rays that it looked like a
small comet, an appearance at first sight inexplicable. The young
sceptic went up to this so-called talisman, which was to rescue him
from all points of view, and he soon found out the cause of its
singular brilliancy. The dark grain of the leather had been so
carefully burnished and polished, the striped markings of the graining
were so sharp and clear, that every particle of the surface of the bit