Around Twelfth Night Randolph von Stettner with several friends came to
Christian’s Rest. The young men had called up Christian by telephone,
and he had been alone so long that he was glad to receive them and
be their host. He was always glad to see Randolph. The latter brought
with him two comrades, a Baron Forbach and a Captain von Griesingen,
and also another friend, a young university teacher, who was fulfilling
his required military service at Bonn and was therefore also in
uniform. Christian had met him before at a celebration of the Borussia
fraternity.
A delicious meal was served, followed by excellent cigars and liqueurs.
“It is consoling to see that you still don’t despise the comforts of
the flesh,” Randolph von Stettner said to Christian.
Captain von Griesingen sighed: “How should one despise them? They
torment us and they flit temptingly about us! Think of all that is
desirable in the world--women, horses, wine, power, fame, money, love!
There is a dealer of jewels in Frankfort, named David Markuse, who has
a diamond that is said to be worth half a million. I have no desire for
that special object. But the world is full of things that are possessed
and give delight.”
“It is the diamond known as Ignifer,” Dr. Leonrod remarked, “a sort of
adventurer among precious stones.”
“Ignifer is an appropriate name for a diamond,” said Randolph. “But why
do you speak of it so gravely? What, except its price, makes it differ
from other stones? Has it had so strange a fate?”
“Undoubtedly,” said Dr. Leonrod, “most strange. I happen to know the
details because, as a professional mineralogist, I take a certain
interest in precious stones, too.”
“Do tell us about it!” the young officers cried.
“Whoever buys Ignifer,” Dr. Leonrod began, “will show no little
courage. The jewel is a tragic thing. It has been proved that its
first owner was Madame de Montespan. No sooner did it come into her
possession than the king dismissed her. Marie Antoinette owned it next.
It weighed ninety-five carats at that time. But during the Revolution
it was stolen and divided, and did not reappear until fifty years
later. The recovered stone weighed sixty carats. An Englishman, named
Thomas Horst, bought it, and was soon murdered. The heirs sold it to
an American. The lady who wore it, a Mrs. Malmcote, was throttled by
a madman at a ball. Then Prince Alexander Tshernitsheff brought it to
Russia, and gave it to an actress who was his mistress. Another lover
shot and killed her on the stage. The prince was blown to pieces by a
nihilist. Then the stone was brought to Paris, and purchased by the
Sultan Abdul Hamid for his favourite wife. The woman was poisoned, and
you all know what happened to the Sultan. After the Turkish Revolution
Ignifer drifted West again, and then back to the Orient. For its new
owner, Tavernier, took a voyage to India, and was shipwrecked and
drowned. For a time it was thought that the diamond was lost. But that
was an error; it had been deposited in a safety vault in a Calcutta
bank. Now it is back in Europe, and for sale.”
“The stone must harbour an evil spirit,” said Randolph. “I confess that
I have no desire for it. I am very little inclined to superstition; but
when the facts are as compelling as in this case, the most enlightened
scepticism seems rebuked.”
“What does all that matter if the stone is beautiful, if it really is
incomparably lovely?” Christian cried, with a defiant look, that yet
seemed turned inward upon his soul. After this he said little, even
when the conversation drifted to other subjects.
Next day at noon he ordered his car and drove in to Frankfort to the
shop of the jeweller David Markuse.