The very wealthy English Baron Fitzgerald had only one child, a son, who understandably was the apple of his eye. His wife died when the child was in his early teens. So Fitzgerald devoted himself to fathering the kid. Unfortunately the son died in his late teens.

　　Meanwhile, Fitzgerald’s wealth greatly increased. He spent a lot on art works of the masters. Later Fitzgerald himself became seriously ill. Before his death, he had carefully prepared his will as to how his wealth would be settled-to sell his entire collection at an auction (拍卖）.

　　Because of the large quantity and high quality of his collection, a huge crowd of possible buyers gathered for the auction. Many of them were museum directors and private collectors eager to bid （出价）. Before the auction, the art works were shown, among which was a painting of Fitzgerald’s son by an unknown artist. Because of its poor quality, it received little attention.

　　When it was time for the auction, the auctioneer gaveled （敲槌） the crowd to attention. First the lawyer read from Fitzgerald’s will that the first art work to be auctioned was the painting of his son.

　　The poor-quality painting didn’t receive any bidders. . . except one—the old servant who had served the son and loved him, and who for emotional reasons offered the only bid.

As soon as the servant bought the painting for less than one English pound, the auctioneer stopped the bidding and asked the lawyer to read again from the will. The crowd became quiet, and the lawyer read from the will: “Whoever buys the painting of my son gets all my collection. ” Then the auction was over.