merchant. He does not buy and sell. That which he has he keeps, and
that which he desires he takes."

The boy was all despair. He did not speak. He was very handsome as he
stood in that still place where everything excepting him was red and
gold.

"You do not value my poor chrysoberyl? You value your friend more? It
is a page out of Theocritos--'when there were golden men of old, when
friends gave love for love.' And yet I could have sworn--Come now, a
wager," purred Demetrios. "Show your contempt of this bauble to be as
great as mine by throwing this shiny pebble, say, into the gallery, for
the next passer-by to pick up, and I will credit your sincerity. Do
that and I will even name my price for Perion."

The boy obeyed him without hesitation. Turning, he saw the horrid
change in the intent eyes of Demetrios, and quailed before it. But
instantly that flare of passion flickered out.

Demetrios gently said:

"A bargain is a bargain. My wives are beautiful, but their caresses
annoy me as much as formerly they pleased me. I have long thought it
would perhaps amuse me if I possessed a Christian wife who had eyes
like violets and hair like gold, and a plump white body. A man tires
very soon of ebony and amber.... Procure me such a wife and I will
willingly release this Perion and all his fellows who are yet alive."

"But, seignior,"--and the boy was shaken now,--"you demand of me an
impossibility!"