"THE VISIT OF A SILVERSMITH, AND 
ITS RESULTS. 
make ornaments, who^ when they were finished, took 
them away. “What could he be doing with them?** 
eagerly asked all the women, and then they all began 
to whisper amongst themselves a‘nd laugh, some of 
them even were heard to say, they thought they 
would give notice to leave at the end of the month and 
go and engage with the master, who bad been having 
bracelets made. After saying this, they took out a 
small piece of looking-glass from the end of their cloth, 
and surveyed their features with great complacency, 
at the same time asking the silversmith if the women 
on the estate, where master ordered bracelets, were 
pretty? “No,’’ says the cunning artificer, “not nearly 
so nice-looking as any, or all of you, indeed I have 
been over most of the estates and on none of them 
are to be seen such handsome women as are 
here,” ^*But I know what that master is going 
to do with his ornaments,” he continued. ‘What?” 
was the general and eager shout. He replied, “ Just 
to send them to his own country, as curiosities of 
our workmanship.” All the women now looked very 
disappointed at this view of the case, shook their 
heads gravely, and said, they did not believe it, 
and they all secretly made up their minds, to pay a 
visit to that estate, the very next Sunday, and find 
out the whole truth. But none of them told the other 
of this resolution. After a little time, the hammer of 
the silversmith went ting, ting, tingle; what cared 
he, what master was going to do with the ornaments, 
so long as he was paid for making them. It suddenly 
struck him, on looking up, as somewhat strange that 
the whole of the women were gone ; but they were 
not long coming back, all with a pleased satisfied ex- 
pression of countenance, as if they had been successful 
in having found out some secret. They said, that it must 
be quite true that that master intended sending the 
bracelets to his own country, as curiosities. For they 
had gone to the dhobi’s (washerman’s) house, who 
of course knew all the secrets of the bungalows, and 
the dhobi had told them, that the last time he took that 
master’s clean clothing to his house, after he had laid 
them all down on the bed, master counted them, and 
then opened wide out his wardrobe, in order to lay 
them there, and while he was doing so the washerman 
saw quite plainly, on one of the shelves, not only the 
bracelets, but a quantity of other curious ornaments. 
No doubt he was making a collection of curiosities, 
in native jewellery, to send to his own country, and 
it was quite useless going there to attempt getting 
presents out of him, upon which, they all echoed, in 
a decided manner, ‘i Quite useless,” and the silversmith, 
