“SOME of the shells you have just shown us,” said Jules, “shine inside like the handle of that pretty penknife you bought me the day of the fair—you know?—that four-bladed penknife with the mother-of-pearl handle.”

“That is plain enough. Mother-of-pearl, that pretty substance that shines with all the colors of the rainbow, comes from certain shells. We use for delicate ornamentation what was once the dwelling of a glairy animal, near relation to the oyster. Truly, this dwelling is a veritable palace in richness. It shines with all imaginable tints, as if the rainbow had deposited its colors there.

“This is the shell that furnishes the most beautiful mother-of-pearl. It is called the meleagrina margaritifera. Outside it is wrinkled and blackish-green; inside it is smoother than polished marble, richer in color than the rainbow. All tints are found there, bright, but soft and changeable, according to the point of view.”

“That superb shell is the house of a miserable, slimy animal! In fairy tales the fairies themselves have none to equal it. Oh! how beautiful, how beautiful it is!”

“Every one has his portion in this world. The slimy animal has for his a splendid palace of mother-of-pearl.”

“Where does the meleagrina live?”

“In the seas that wash the shores of Arabia.”

Meleagrina (avicula) margaritifera

“Is Arabia very far away?” inquired Emile.

“Very far, my dear. Why do you ask?”

“Because I should like to pick up a lot of these beautiful shells.”

“Don’t dream of such a thing. It is too far away, and, besides, they are not to be gathered by every one that wants them. To get the meleagrina men have to dive to the bottom of the sea, and some of them never come up again.”

“And there are people who dare to dive to the bottom of the sea just to get shells?” asked Claire.

“Plenty. So profitable, too, is the trade that we should be badly received by the first-comers if we took a notion to go and fish with them.”

“Then those shells are very precious?”

“You shall judge for yourself. First the inner layer of the shell, sawed into sheets and tablets, is the mother-of-pearl that we use for fine ornamentation. Jules’ penknife-handle is covered with a sheet of mother-of-pearl that was part of the inside of a pearl-shell. But that is the least part of what the precious shell produces. There are pearls as well.”

“But pearls are not very dear. With a few sous I bought a whole boxful, to embroider you a purse.”

“Let us make a distinction: there are pearls and pearls. The pearls you mention are little pieces of colored glass pierced with a hole. Their price is very moderate. The pearls of the meleagrina are globules of the richest and fine............