"With the aid of that glass I imagine that you will be able to subject it
to a more acute examination, Pugh."
He began to examine it through the lens. Directly he did so, he gave an
exclamation. In a few moments he looked up at me. His eyes were glistening
behind his spectacles. I could see he trembled.
"Tress, it's--it's a diamond, a Brazil diamond. It's worth a fortune!"
"I'm glad you think so."
"Glad I think so! Don't you think that it's a diamond?"
"It appears to be a diamond. Under ordinary conditions I should say,
without hesitation, that it was a diamond. But when I consider the
circumstances of its discovery, I am driven to doubts. How much did you
give for that puzzle, Pugh?"
"Ninepence; the fellow wanted a shilling, but I gave him ninepence. He
seemed content."
"Ninepence! Does it seem reasonable that we should find a diamond, which,
if it is a diamond, is the finest stone I ever saw and handled, in a
ninepenny puzzle? It is not as though it had got into the thing by
accident, it had evidently been placed there to be found, and, apparently,
by anyone who chanced to solve the puzzle; witness the writing on the
scrap of paper."
Pugh reexamined the crystal.
"It is a diamond! I'll stake my life that it's a diamond!"
"Still, though it be a diamond, I smell a rat!"
"What do you mean?"
"I strongly suspect that the person who placed that diamond inside that
puzzle intended to have a joke at the expense of the person who discovered
it. What was to be the nature of the joke is more than I can say at
present, but I should like to have a bet with you that the man who
compounded that puzzle was an ingenious practical joker. I may be wrong,
Pugh; we shall see. But, until I have proved the contrary, I don't believe
that the maddest man that ever lived would throw away a diamond worth,
apparently, shall we say a thousand pounds?"
"A thousand pounds! This diamond is worth a good deal more than a thousand
pounds."
"Well, that only makes my case the stronger; I don't believe that the
maddest man that ever lived would throw away a diamond worth more than a
thousand pounds with such utter wantonness as seems to have characterized
the action of the original owner of the stone which I found in your
ninepenny puzzle, Pugh."
"There have been some eccentric characters in the world, some very
eccentric characters. However, as you say, we shall see. I fancy that I
know somebody who would be quite willing to have such a diamond as this,
and who, moreover, would be willing to pay a fair price for its
possession; I will take it to him and see what he says."
"Pugh, hand me back that diamond."
"My dear Tress, I was only going--"
Bob came in with the breakfast tray.
"Pugh, you will either hand me that at once, or Bob shall summon the
representatives of law and order."
He handed me the diamond. I sat down to breakfast with a hearty appetite.
Pugh stood and scowled at me.
"Joseph Tress, it is my solemn conviction, and I have no hesitation in
saying so in plain English, that you're a thief."
"My dear Pugh, it seems to me that we show every promise of becoming a
couple of thieves."
"Don't bracket me with you!"
"Not at all, you are worse than I. It is you who decline to return the
contents of the box to its proper owner. Put it to yourself, you have
_some_ common sense, my dear old friend!--do you suppose that a diamond
worth more than a thousand pounds is to be _honestly_ bought for
ninepence?"
He resumed his old trick of dancing about the room.
"I was a fool ever to let you have the box! I ought to have known better
than to have trusted you; goodness knows you have given me sufficient
cause to mistrust you! Over and over again! Your character is only too
notorious! You have plundered friend and foe alike--friend and foe alike!
As for the rubbish which you call your collection, nine tenths of it, I
know as a positive fact, you have stolen out and out."
"Who stole my Sir Walter Raleigh pipe? Wasn't it a man named Pugh?"
"Look here, Joseph Tress!"
"I'm looking."
"Oh, it's no good talking to you, not the least! You're--you're dead to
all the promptings of conscience! May I inquire, Mr. Tress, what it is you
propose to do?"
"I _propose_ to do nothing, except summon the representatives of law and
order. Failing that, my dear Pugh, I had some faint, vague, very vague
idea of taking the contents of your ninepenny puzzle to a certain firm in
Hatton Garden, who are dealers in precious stones, and to learn from them
if they are disposed to give anything for it, and if so, what."
"I shall come with you."
"With pleasure, on condition that you pay the cab."
"I pay the cab! I will pay half."
"Not at all. You will either pay the whole fare, or else I will have one
cab and you shall have another. It is a three-shilling cab fare from here
to Hatton Garden. If you propose to share my cab, you will be so good as
to hand over that three shillings before we start."
He gasped, but he handed over the three shillings. There are few things I
enjoy so much as getting money out of Pugh!
On the road to Hatton Garden we wrangled nearly all the way. I own that I
feel a certain satisfaction in irritating Pugh, he is such an irritable
man. He wanted to know what I thought we should get for the diamond.
"You can't expect to get much for the contents of a ninepenny puzzle, not
even the price of a cab fare, Pugh."
He eyed me, but for some minutes he was silent. Then he began again.
"Tress, I don't think we ought to let it go for less than--than five
thousand pounds."
"Seriously, Pugh, I doubt whether, when the whole affair is ended, we
shall get five thousand pence for it, or, for the matter of that, five
thousand farthings."
"But why not? Why not? It's a magnificent stone--magnificent! I'll stake
my life on it."