‘Wait, I’ll show you something.’
He pulled himself carefully to his feet. Then, with his stick, he limped slowly across the room. He opened the big safe. Turning, he beckoned her to him.
‘There, look at these. Feel them, let them run through your fingers.’
He looked into her wondering face and laughed.
‘Do you know what they are? Diamonds, child, diamonds.’
Pilar’s eyes opened. She said as she bent over:
‘But they are little pebbles, that is all.’
Simeon laughed.
‘They are uncut diamonds. That is how they are found—like this.’
Pilar asked incredulously:
‘And if they were cut they would be real diamonds?’
‘Certainly.’
‘They would flash and sparkle?’
‘Flash and sparkle.’
Pilar said childishly:
‘O-o-o, I cannot believe it!’
He was amused.
‘It’s quite true.’
‘They are valuable?’
‘Fairly valuable. Difficult to say before they are cut. Anyway, this little lot is worth several thousands of pounds.’
Pilar said with a space between each word:
‘Several—thousands—of—pounds?’
‘Say nine or ten thousands—they’re biggish stones, you see.’
Pilar asked, her eyes opening:
‘But why do you not sell them, then?’
‘Because I like to have them here.’
‘But all that money?’
‘I don’t need the money.’
‘Oh—I see,’ Pilar looked impressed.
She said: