"Yes, much larger."
"But not diamonds--not this same material?"
"I suppose they were. They looked just like it."
"Then why didn't you bring a larger piece? It would be a fabulous
fortune, in itself."
Cyrus seemed uncertain as to his answer. "Well--there were--many
reasons. One was that I did not know they were diamonds. Another was
that I needed both hands for other purposes and could not carry--just
at that moment--anything too large to go in my pocket. In fact I tried
to pick up a beautifully carved fragment nearly the size of a football,
but I had to drop it for this smaller one."
The three jewelers regarded him with eager faces, as children listen to
a fairy tale. Mr. Bressani in a low, somewhat awe stricken tone, said:
"And there is really much of it?"
"Lots of it."
"But, of course, you are not absolutely sure it is the same material?"
"Well--I saw the other part of the one in your hand lying beside it,
and it was four or five times the size of this one."
The three men turned to each other, as if to discover the effect, on
other human beings, of such a statement.
The Senior Partner leaned forward, each hand grasping an arm of his
chair. The Bressani eyebrows shot aloft, and he came a step nearer.
Nephew William adjusted his lips for a whistle, but changed his mind.
No sound came forth.
It was the Senior Partner who was the first to find himself, and
return to business. Leaning back in his chair he cleared his throat.
"Mr. Alton, if you were not an old friend of William's, and if I
knew nothing about you, I should say that Munchausen, by comparison,
was a clumsy beginner. But your own reputation and that stone in Mr.
Bressani's hand, are proofs to the contrary--the best of proofs. Now
let us get to business. Is it your wish to sell this diamond to us?"
"Yes, sir. That's why I came here. And I would prefer dealing with your
house, if you care to bother with it."
The Senior Partner smiled. "It would be an unenterprising jeweler who
declined to bother with what will soon become the most famous diamond
of history--ancient or modern. If agreeable to you, Mr. Alton, you can
leave the stone with us, and we will give you, now, a receipt for an
uncut diamond of seventy-one hundred carats, value unknown. A few days
hence, at your convenience, we will submit for your consideration a
plan by which you shall receive a certain amount at once in cash, the
balance to be governed by the final value of the stones as they are cut
or sold. Would that be satisfactory to you?"
"Perfectly."
"And perhaps you will agree to give us the preference if you decide
later to flood the market with diamonds the size of paving stones."