"'When I had related to him the whole of the circumstances--excepting only the finding of the little brush as I came away, an incident so trifling that I no longer remembered it--he inquired, with some eagerness, I thought, whether I had found anything in the old man's room. I had picked up the brush not in the room, but outside the house, and the very fact that I had done so having for the moment escaped my recollection, I answered at once--"No, I found nothing; and, in truth, it seemed to me that some people had probably forestalled me, and left nothing for me or any one else to find." The man laughed at this, as though it were a very good joke. At that instant, the finding the little brush occurred to my mind, and I determined now in my turn to ascertain, if possible, whether it were that he was in search of. "'I asked him, therefore, whether he had heard of any valuable being missed from the old man's room, as he had questioned me about it. "'"Not exactly that," he said. "A good deal of valuable property might have been taken, he supposed," and again he laughed, "from the old man's room, but he was not concerned about that." "'"No," thought I, "for you probably know where to find it." "'"What I wish to recover," continued the man, "is not an article of value at all, only a little brush that a friend of mine dropped in the confusion, and which he is very anxious to get again, because it belonged to his father and his grandfather before him." "'"I fear," answered I, "that you will not find it in the old man's room, because I looked about the place, and I noticed a good many other keen eyes doing the same, and nothing of any kind was to be seen." "'"No, there is no brush there now," said he; "you may be sure I have ascertained that for myself before applying to you. If you did not see it, I fear it is lost beyond recovery, and I would pay handsomely for it too, if I could find it." "'"Why," said I, "as to that, you need make but little fuss over the loss of a little brush; a single dinar will buy you five score of them." "'"True," said he, "but the little brush I am in search of was of a special make, such as men in these days know not how to fashion." "'"After all," said I, "it is but a matter of shape and fancy, for there can be no great difference in value between two brushes of the same size." "'"However that may be," said the man, "if by talking with your customers you can discover this little brush, and procure it for me, I will give you a good price for it." "'"What do you call a good price?" I inquired. "'"I will give you," he said, "ten dinars for it." "'He looked at me very hard, to observe what effect this offer would produce, for no doubt, in spite of my denial, he suspected that I had picked up the brush. But I reflected that the brush must have some very special value, or he would not so readily have offered ten dinars for it. If I held back, by and by he would offer twenty.