He talked about the blade, about how the sharply curved scabbard was made, the skills being passed on from one generation of craftsmen to the next. He knew his stuff and the crowd around them was quiet now, intent. They knew that when he took this amount of time it was because he'd found something a bit special.

'This knife is exceptional,' he continued. 'Not only is the blade of the very highest quality, but the handle is made from rare, much-prized rhino horn.'

'Eeeuw…' Violet sat back, instinctively distancing herself from it.

'It's more than a hundred years old,' he said reassuringly.

'Does that make a difference?' she asked. 'The rhino still died just to furnish some man with a handle for his knife.'

'The transference of power had a potent appeal. It was a different world…'

'Not that different.'

'No.' Then, turning to a safer subject, he went on, 'The filigree work is fine gold and silver, and the use of rubies-'

'Rubies!' Violet exclaimed, forgetting all about the poor rhino who'd given up his horn just so that some dumb man would feel invincible when he wielded this blade. Forgetting everything in her shock. 'They can't possibly be rubies!'

This time his smile was genuine. It was finds like this, reactions like hers, that made the programme compulsive viewing.

'I mean, they're huge,' she said. Then, 'I thought they were glass. And raised another laugh. This time for her foolishness. Everyone was an expert…

'They might well have been,' he agreed. 'All kinds of decoration can and have been used on this kind of knife, but these stones are the real thing. Cabochon rubies-that is they have been polished rather than cut.'

Violet, aware that something more was expected, could only manage a slightly croaky, 'Oh…'

Rubies…

'What we have here is the kind of weapon that would have been owned and worn by a chief. A sheikh,'