Why Did Vermeer offer the earrings to Griet at the end of the novel?

The price of Griet’s new life has been giving up fantasies of the life she might lead. Griet knows the pearls are inappropriate and useless for the person who she is now, and she is no longer interested in playing at fantasies of being someone she is not. She makes the practical choice to sell them, and to use the money for her family's benefit. However, she also acknowledges that a small part of her is still invested in the past. By secretly hoarding the five remaining coins, she manages to be both an independent, pragmatic woman and an individual with treasured, sentimental memories.

Why did he offer her the earrings and not money or something else?