The Chinese Parrot (Charlie Chan Detective Series) — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ae Eden shrugged. "Not precisely. Bob's been out of college three years now. One of those years was spent in the South Seas, another in Europe, and the third—from what I can gather—in the card-room of his club. However, his career does seem to be worrying him a bit. The last I heard he was thinking of the newspaper game. He has friends on the papers." The jeweler waved his hand about the office. "This sort of thing, Sally—this thing I've given my life to—it's a great bore to Bob." "Poor Alec," said Sally Jordan softly. "The new generation is so hard to understand. But—it's my own troubles I came to talk about. Broke, as I told you. Those pearls are all I have in the world.” "Well—they're a good deal," Eden told her. "Enough to help Victor out of the hole he's in. Enough for the few years left me, perhaps. Father paid ninety thousand for them. It was a fortune at that time—but today—" "Today," Eden repeated. "You don't seem to realize, Sally. Like everything else, pearls have greatly appreciated since the ‘eighties. Today that string is worth three hundred thousand if it's worth a cent." She gasped. "Why, it can't be. Are you sure? You've never seen the necklace—" "Ah—I was wondering if you'd remember," he chided. "I see you don't. Just before you came in I was thinking back—back to a night forty years ago, when I was 11 comiicboeoe S CO