TUESDAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 3, 1871
- Silver Versus Gold -
“I’ll go home with Charlie,” Justin said to Claire and Poppy as they headed down the sidewalk. He went back inside and to the workroom, where Charlie was examining a pearl.
“Mrs. Palmer is interested in pearls for her trip to Europe,” Charlie said thoughtfully. “She wants a whole set—pendant, rings … I’d love to design the pendant. I wonder if Father would let me try.” He looked up. “I heard Claire’s voice. Is she here?”
“No, she and Poppy went home.”
“She’s with Poppy? Why does that child hang around here so much?”
Justin shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. She likes Ticktock, I guess.” He wouldn’t tell Charlie that he and his sister suspected that Poppy had spent the night in the goat barn.
“Hmm. I think she likes you, not the goat,” Charlie said with a wise-guy grin.
“Cut it out, Charlie. Are you going home soon?”
“As soon as you finish putting those chains into the display cases. I hope the prices on the tags are correct.” They walked back to the sales room.
“Of course they are. And I’m already done.”
The doorbell jingled as a young man entered. “May I help you?” Charlie asked.
“Yes, I’m looking for a chain for my pocket watch.”
Charlie nodded and stroked his mustache. “Gold or silver?”
“Well, the watch is white gold.” The man pulled the watch from a small pocket on his trousers. “Here.” He laid the timepiece on the counter.
Charlie looked it over. “Hmm. Nice piece, but I don’t believe this is gold. I think it’s oxidized silver. I hope you didn’t pay a lot for this.”
The young man looked embarrassed. “It was a gift. I thought it was gold.”
“I have silver chains here that are more reasonable than gold.” He pointed to a few silver chains in the display cases. “Justin, pick out some silver chains and place them on the counter for this gentleman to see.”
Justin sighed and unlocked the backs of the cases, looking at the silver chains he had just put away. It was easy to separate the white-gold chains from the yellow-gold chains, but the silver and white gold looked alike to him. Oh … of course, he thought, the tags! The tags have the prices I marked, and white gold is more expensive than silver.
Since most of the chains were alike, Justin picked out two that were different.
“These are silver,” he said, checking the tags. “They’re both eight dollars.”
The young man examined each carefully, then picked up the chain that interested him the most. “This is the one I like,” he said. “The smaller links look more expensive, and there are engravings of flowers on the clips at each end.” He looked at the price tag. “Eight dollars is a fair price.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out some bills. “I’ll take this one and clip it to my watch right now.”
Charlie took the money and put it in the cash drawer, but then he asked hesitantly, “May I see that chain first?”
The customer handed the chain to Charlie, who turned it over and over in his hand. He stared at the tag that Justin had made and looked puzzled. “One minute, please,” Charlie said, and went into the back workroom, where Justin had tagged the items.
A gnawing worry cramped Justin’s stomach. Had he put the wrong price on that chain? He didn’t wonder for long, as Charlie returned to the sales room with the list of prices in his hand, his brow furrowed.
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said with an icy glare at Justin. “The price on this chain was marked incorrectly. This is fourteen-karat white gold, not silver, and the correct price is eighty dollars, not eight dollars.” He showed the list and item number to the customer, who looked it over gravely.
Justin felt as if he might throw up. He had marked the tag incorrectly! He’d never hear the end of it now, and … what would Father say when he found out?
The customer drew himself up tall. “You quoted me the price of eight dollars,” he stated. “And the tag distinctly says eight dollars. I paid you eight dollars.” He picked up the chain from the showcase counter and headed for the door. “So I will take my chain and leave.” The bells on the door jingled as he left.
“Wait, wait!” Charlie called, running out after him. “You can’t have that chain. Surely you know this is … highway robbery!”
Justin ran out right behind Charlie, but the man had already turned down another road and was out of sight.
“Well, you’ll have to answer to Father about this,” Charlie said. “Father checks profit and loss every week, and this will show a big red mark against Father’s proceeds.”
“Did you get the man’s name?” Justin asked hopefully. “Is he a regular customer? Maybe Father knows who he is and can talk with him … maybe make a deal.”
Charlie put his hands on his hips. “Well, aren’t you full of good ideas!” he said mockingly.
“This was partly your fault, Charlie,” Justin replied angrily. “You knew the watch was not gold. How come you didn’t know the difference with the chains?”
“I counted on you to tag the chains correctly,” Charlie answered back.
They went back into the store, and Charlie retrieved all the watch chains Justin has displayed in the showcases. He dumped all the chains back into the original box. “Now I have to go over everything you’ve done to see if there are any more mistakes.” He locked up the store, snuffed out the lanterns, and opened the front door. “Let’s go home.”
Neither boy spoke as they began to trudge the two-mile trek toward their house.
How I dread telling Father about the stupid mistake I made! Here I was, jealous of Charlie and trying to prove I can do everything just as well as he. Justin stopped in his tracks. “Charlie. Do we have to tell Father right away?”
Charlie seemed to think about this for a minute. “He’ll find out. I told you, he checks profits and inventory every week, Justin.”
“I’m sorry I flubbed everything up. I’m sorry I acted like such a know-it-all. I’ll make it up to you and Father. I promise. Just don’t tell him yet, Charlie. Give me a chance to make up for it. Please? After all, it’s easy to mistake eight dollars for eighty dollars.”
“It’ll take years to make up for this mistake, Justin,” Charlie muttered.
“I don’t care if it takes forever. I’m feeling bad, Charlie, so don’t be mean. ”
Charlie kept on walking. Then he paused and turned around. “Here’s what we’ll do. You come with me tomorrow and we’ll double-check the list. Maybe we can figure out a way to pay for that chain. But I can’t keep this a secret from Father forever. He’ll find out, Justin. And you better not blame me for any of this.”
“None of it is your fault. It’s all my fault,” Justin admitted. “Maybe I can find the man who bought the chain and get him to pay us for it.”
“Fat chance for that. We’ll never see him again.” Charlie started walking again. “Just how do you plan to pay Father back?”
“I don’t know. I need some time to figure it out.”
“Okay, but just for a few days. I won’t put this sale on the books for now. But Father knows every single piece of inventory in this shop. When he finds out the chain is gone, he’ll want to know the truth—that you made one huge mistake when you put the wrong price on that chain.”