The Reverend Mr. Simon Rolles had distinguished himself in the Moral
Sciences, and was more than usually proficient in the study of
Divinity.  His essay "On the Christian Doctrine of the Social
Obligations" obtained for him, at the moment of its production, a
certain celebrity in the University of Oxford; and it was understood
in clerical and learned circles that young Mr. Rolles had in
contemplation a considerable work--a folio, it was said--on the
authority of the Fathers of the Church.  These attainments, these
ambitious designs, however, were far from helping him to any
preferment; and he was still in quest of his first curacy when a
chance ramble in that part of London, the peaceful and rich aspect of
the garden, a desire for solitude and study, and the cheapness of the
lodging, led him to take up his abode with Mr. Raeburn, the
nurseryman of Stockdove Lane.

It was his habit every afternoon, after he had worked seven or eight
hours on St. Ambrose or St. Chrysostom, to walk for a while in
meditation among the roses.  And this was usually one of the most
productive moments of his day.  But even a sincere appetite for
thought, and the excitement of grave problems awaiting solution, are
not always sufficient to preserve the mind of the philosopher against
the petty shocks and contacts of the world.  And when Mr. Rolles
found General Vandeleur's secretary, ragged and bleeding, in the
company of his landlord; when he saw both change color and seek to
avoid his questions; and, above all, when the former denied his own
identity with the most unmoved assurance, he speedily forgot the
Saints and Fathers in the vulgar interest of curiosity.

"I can not be mistaken," thought he.  "That is Mr. Hartley beyond a
doubt.  How comes he in such a pickle? why does he deny his name? and
what can be his business with that black-looking ruffian, my
landlord?"

As he was thus reflecting, another peculiar circumstance attracted
his attention.  The face of Mr. Raeburn appeared at a low window next
the door; and, as chance directed, his eyes met those of Mr. Rolles.
The nurseryman seemed disconcerted, and even alarmed; and immediately
after the blind of the apartment was pulled sharply down.

"This may all be very well," reflected Mr. Rolles; "it may be all
excellently well; but I confess freely that I do not think so.
Suspicious, underhand, untruthful, fearful of observation--I believe
upon my soul," he thought, "the pair are plotting some disgraceful
action."

The detective that there is in all of us awoke and became clamant in
the bosom of Mr. Rolles; and with a brisk, eager step, that bore no
resemblance to his usual gait, he proceeded to make the circuit of
the garden.  When he came to the scene of Harry's escalade, his eye
was at once arrested by a broken rose-bush and marks of trampling on
the mold.  He looked up, and saw scratches on the brick, and a rag of
trouser floating from a broken bottle.  This, then, was the mode of
entrance chosen by Mr. Raeburn's particular friend!  It was thus that
General Vandeleur's secretary came to admire a flower-garden!  The
young clergyman whistled softly to himself as he stooped to examine
the ground.  He could make out where Harry had landed from his
perilous leap; he recognized the flat foot of Mr. Raeburn where it
had sunk deeply in the soil as he pulled up the secretary by the
collar; nay, on a closer inspection, he seemed to distinguish the
marks of groping fingers, as though something had been spilled abroad
and eagerly collected.

"Upon my word," he thought, "the thing grows vastly interesting."

And just then he caught sight of something almost entirely buried in
the earth.  In an instant he had disinterred a dainty morocco case,
ornamented and clasped in gilt.  It had been trodden heavily
underfoot, and thus escaped the hurried search of Mr. Raeburn.  Mr.
Rolles opened the case, and drew a long breath of almost horrified
astonishment; for there lay before him, in a cradle of green velvet,
a diamond of prodigious magnitude and of the finest water.  It was of
the bigness of a duck's egg; beautifully shaped, and without a flaw;
and as the sun shone upon it, it gave forth a lustre like that of
electricity, and seemed to burn in his hand with a thousand internal
fires.

He knew little of precious stones; but the Rajah's Diamond was a
wonder that explained itself; a village child, if he found it, would
run screaming for the nearest cottage; and a savage would prostrate
himself in adoration before so imposing a fetish.  The beauty of the
stone flattered the young clergyman's eyes; the thought of its
incalculable value overpowered his intellect.  He knew that what he
held in his hand was worth more than many years' purchase of an
archiepiscopal see; that it would build cathedrals more stately than
Ely or Cologne; that he who possessed it was set free forever from
the primal curse, and might follow his own inclinations without
concern or hurry, without let or hindrance.  And as he suddenly
turned it, the rays leaped forth again with renewed brilliancy, and
seemed to pierce his very heart.

Decisive actions are often taken in a moment and without any
conscious deliverance from the rational parts of man.  So it was now
with Mr. Rolles.  He glanced hurriedly round; beheld, like Mr.
Raeburn before him, nothing but the sunlit flower-garden, the tall
treetops, and the house with blinded windows; and in a trice he had
shut the case, thrust it into his pocket, and was hastening to his
study with the speed of guilt.

The Reverend Simon Rolles had stolen the Rajah's Diamond.

Early in the afternoon the police arrived with Harry Hartley.  The
nurseryman, who was beside himself with terror, readily discovered
his hoard; and the jewels were identified and inventoried in the
presence of the secretary.  As for Mr. Rolles, he showed himself in a
most obliging temper, communicated what he knew with freedom, and
professed regret that he could do no more to help the officers in
their duty.

"Still," he added, "I suppose your business is nearly at an end."

"By no means," replied the man from Scotland Yard; and he narrated
the second robbery of which Harry had been the immediate victim, and
gave the young clergyman a description of the more important jewels
that were still not found, dilating particularly on the Rajah's
Diamond.

"It must be worth a fortune," observed Mr. Rolles.

"Ten fortunes--twenty fortunes," cried the officer.

"The more it is worth," remarked Simon shrewdly, "the more difficult
it must be to sell.  Such a thing has a physiognomy not to be
disguised, and I should fancy a man might as easily negotiate St.
Paul's Cathedral."

"Oh, truly!" said the officer; "but if the thief be a man of any
intelligence, he will cut it into three or four, and there will be
still enough to make him rich."

"Thank you," said the clergyman.  "You can not imagine how much your
conversation interests me."

Whereupon the functionary admitted that they knew many strange things
in his profession, and immediately after took his leave.

Mr. Rolles regained his apartment.  It seemed smaller and barer than
usual; the materials for his great work had never presented so little
interest; and he looked upon his library with the eye of scorn.  He
took down, volume by volume, several Fathers of the Church, and
glanced them through; but they contained nothing to his purpose.

"These old gentlemen," thought he, "are no doubt very valuable
writers, but they seem to me conspicuously ignorant of life.  Here am
I, with learning enough to be a Bishop, and I positively do not know
how to dispose of a stolen diamond.  I glean a hint from a common
policeman, and, with all my folios, I can not so much as put it into
execution.  This inspires me with very low ideas of University
training."

Herewith he kicked over his book-shelf and, putting on his hat,
hastened from the house to the club of which he was a member.  In
such a place of mundane resort he hoped to find some man of good
counsel and a shrewd experience in life.  In the reading-room he saw
many of the country clergy and an Archdeacon; there were three
journalists and a writer upon the Higher Metaphysic, playing pool;
and at dinner only the raff of ordinary club frequenters showed their
commonplace and obliterated countenances.  None of these, thought Mr.
Rolles, would know more on dangerous topics than he knew himself;
none of them were fit to give him guidance in his present strait.  At
length, in the smoking-room, up many weary stairs, he hit upon a
gentleman of somewhat portly build and dressed with conspicuous
plainness.  He was smoking a cigar and reading the "Fortnightly
Review"; his face was singularly free from all sign of preoccupation
or fatigue; and there was something in his air which seemed to invite
confidence and to expect submission.  The more the young clergyman
scrutinized his features, the more he was convinced that he had
fallen on one capable of giving pertinent advice.

"Sir," said he, "you will excuse my abruptness; but I judge you from
your appearance to be preeminently a man of the world."

"I have indeed considerable claims to that distinction," replied the
stranger, laying aside his magazine with a look of mingled amusement
and surprise.

"I, sir," continued the Curate, "am a recluse, a student, a creature
of ink-bottles and patristic folios.  A recent event has brought my
folly vividly before my eyes, and I desire to instruct myself in
life.  By life," he added, "I do not mean Thackeray's novels; but the
crimes and secret possibilities of our society, and the principles of
wise conduct among exceptional events.  I am a patient reader; can
the thing be learned in books?"

"You put me in a difficulty," said the stranger.  "I confess I have
no great notion of the use of books, except to amuse a railway
journey; although, I believe, there are some very exact treatises on
astronomy, the use of the globes, agriculture, and the art of making
paper-flowers.  Upon the less apparent provinces of life I fear you
will find nothing truthful.  Yet stay," he added, "have you read
Gaboriau?"

Mr. Rolles admitted he had never even heard the name.

"You may gather some notions from Gaboriau," resumed the stranger.
"He is at least suggestive; and as he is an author much studied by
Prince Bismarck, you will, at the worst, lose your time in good
society."

"Sir," said the Curate, "I am infinitely obliged by your politeness."

"You have already more than repaid me," returned the other.

"How?" inquired Simon.

"By the novelty of your request," replied the gentleman; and with a
polite gesture, as though to ask permission, he resumed the study of
the "Fortnightly Review."

On his way home Mr. Rolles purchased a work on precious stones and
several of Gaboriau's novels.  These last he eagerly skimmed until an
advanced hour in the morning; but although they introduced him to
many new ideas, he could nowhere discover what to do with a stolen
diamond.  He was annoyed, moreover, to find the information scattered
among romantic story-telling, instead of soberly set forth after the
manner of a manual; and he concluded that, even if the writer had
thought much upon these subjects, he was totally lacking in
educational method.  For the character and attainments of Lecoq,
however, he was unable to contain his admiration.

"He was truly a great creature," ruminated Mr. Rolles.  "He knew the
world as I know Paley's Evidences.  There was nothing that he could
not carry to a termination with his own hand, and against the largest
odds.  Heavens!" he broke out suddenly, "is not this the lesson?
Must I not learn to cut diamonds for myself?"

It seemed to him as if he had sailed at once out of his perplexities;
he remembered that he knew a jeweler, one B. Macculloch, in
Edinburgh, who would be glad to put him in the way of the necessary
training; a few months, perhaps a few years, of sordid toil, and he
would be sufficiently expert to divide and sufficiently cunning to
dispose with advantage of the Rajah's Diamond.  That done, he might
return to pursue his researches at leisure, a wealthy and luxurious
student, envied and respected by all.  Golden visions attended him
through his slumber, and he awoke refreshed and light-hearted with
the morning sun.

Mr. Raeburn's house was on that day to be closed by the police, and
this afforded a pretext for his departure.  He cheerfully prepared
his baggage, transported it to King's Cross, where he left it in the
cloak room, and returned to the club to while away the afternoon and
dine.

"If you dine here to-day, Rolles," observed an acquaintance, "you may
see two of the most remarkable men in England--Prince Florizel of
Bohemia and old Jack Vandeleur."

"I have heard of the Prince," replied Mr. Rolles; "and General
Vandeleur I have even met in society."

"General Vandeleur is an ass!" returned the other.  "This is his
brother John, the biggest adventurer, the best judge of precious
stones, and one of the most acute diplomatists in Europe.  Have you
never heard of his duel with the Duc de Val d'Orge? of his exploits
and atrocities when he was Dictator of Paraguay? of his dexterity in
recovering Sir Samuel Levi's jewelry? nor of his services in the
Indian Mutiny--services by which the Government profited, but which
the Government dared not recognize?  You make me wonder what we mean
by fame, or even by infamy; for Jack Vandeleur has prodigious claims
to both.  Run downstairs," he continued, "take a table near them, and
keep your ears open.  You will hear some strange talk, or I am much
misled."

"But how shall I know them?" inquired the clergyman.

"Know them!" cried his friend; "why, the Prince is the finest
gentleman in Europe, the only living creature who looks like a king;
and as for Jack Vandeleur, if you can imagine Ulysses at seventy
years of age, and with a sabre-cut across his face, you have the man
before you!  Know them, indeed!  Why, you could pick either of them
out of a Derby day!"

Rolles eagerly hurried to the dining-room.  It was as his friend had
asserted; it was impossible to mistake the pair in question.  Old
John Vandeleur was of a remarkable force of body, and obviously
broken to the most difficult exercises.  He had neither the carriage
of a swordsman, nor of a sailor, nor yet of one much inured to the
saddle; but something made up of all these, and the result and
expression of many different habits and dexterities.  His features
were bold and aquiline; his expression arrogant and predatory; his
whole appearance that of a swift, violent, unscrupulous man of
action; and his copious white hair and the deep sabre-cut that
traversed his nose and temple added a note of savagery to a head
already remarkable and menacing in itself.

In his companion, the Prince of Bohemia, Mr. Rolles was astonished to
recognize the gentleman who had recommended him the study of
Gaboriau.  Doubtless Prince Florizel, who rarely visited the club, of
which, as of most others, he was an honorary member, had been waiting
for John Vandeleur when Simon accosted him on the previous evening.

The other diners had modestly retired into the angles of the room,
and left the distinguished pair in a certain isolation, but the young
clergyman was unrestrained by any sentiment of awe, and, marching
boldly up, took his place at the nearest table.

The conversation was, indeed, new to the student's ears.  The
ex-Dictator of Paraguay stated many extraordinary experiences in
different quarters of the world; and the Prince supplied a commentary
which, to a man of thought, was even more interesting than the events
themselves.  Two forms of experience were thus brought together and
laid before the young clergyman; and he did not know which to admire
the most--the desperate actor, or the skilled expert in life; the man
who spoke boldly of his own deeds and perils, or the man who seemed,
like a god, to know all things and to have suffered nothing.  The
manner of each aptly fitted with his part in the discourse.  The
Dictator indulged in brutalities alike of speech and gesture; his
hand opened and shut and fell roughly on the table; and his voice was
loud and heady.  The Prince, on the other hand, seemed the very type
of urbane docility and quiet; the least movement, the least
inflection, had with him a weightier significance than all the shouts
and pantomime of his companion; and if ever, as must frequently have
been the case, he described some experience personal to himself, it
was so aptly dissimulated as to pass unnoticed with the rest.

At length the talk wandered on to the late robberies and the Rajah's
Diamond.

"That diamond would be better in the sea," observed Prince Florizel.

"As a Vandeleur," replied the Dictator, "your Highness may imagine my
dissent."

"I speak on grounds of public policy," pursued the Prince.  "Jewels
so valuable should be reserved for the collection of a Prince or the
treasury of a great nation.  To hand them about among the common sort
of men is to set a price on Virtue's head; and if the Rajah of
Kashgar--a Prince, I understand, of great enlightenment--desired
vengeance upon the men of Europe, he could hardly have gone more
efficaciously about his purpose than by sending us this apple of
discord.  There is no honesty too robust for such a trial.  I myself,
who have many duties and many privileges of my own--I myself, Mr.
Vandeleur, could scarce handle the intoxicating crystal and be safe.
As for you, who are a diamond-hunter by taste and profession, I do
not believe there is a crime in the calendar you would not
perpetrate--I do not believe you have a friend in the world whom you
would not eagerly betray--I do not know if you have a family, but if
you have I declare you would sacrifice your children--and all this
for what?  Not to be richer, nor to have more comforts or more
respect, but simply to call this diamond yours for a year or two
until you die, and now and again to open a safe and look at it as one
looks at a picture."

"It is true," replied Vandeleur.  "I have hunted most things, from
men and women down to mosquitoes; I have dived for coral; I have
followed both whales and tigers; and a diamond is the tallest quarry
of the lot.  It has beauty and worth; it alone can properly reward
the ardors of the chase.  At this moment, as your Highness may fancy,
I am upon the trail; I have a sure knack, a wide experience; I know
every stone of price in my brother's collection as a shepherd knows
his sheep; and I wish I may die if I do not recover them every one!"

"Sir Thomas Vandeleur will have great cause to thank you," said the
Prince.

"I am not so sure," returned the Dictator, with a laugh.  "One of the
Vandeleurs will.  Thomas or John--Peter or Paul--we are all apostles."

"I did not catch your observation," said the Prince with some disgust.

And at the same moment the waiter informed Mr. Vandeleur that his cab
was at the door.

Mr. Rolles glanced at the clock, and saw that he also must be moving;
and the coincidence struck him sharply and unpleasantly, for he
desired to see no more of the diamond-hunter.

Much study having somewhat shaken the young man's nerves, he was in
the habit of traveling in the most luxurious manner; and for the
present journey he had taken a sofa in the sleeping carriage.

"You will be very comfortable," said the guard; "there is no one in
your compartment, and only one old gentleman in the other end."

It was close upon the hour, and the tickets were being examined, when
Mr. Rolles beheld this other fellow-passenger ushered by several
porters into his place; certainly, there was not another man in the
world whom he would not have preferred--for it was old John
Vandeleur, the ex-Dictator.

The sleeping carriages on the Great Northern line were divided into
three compartments--one at each end for travelers, and one in the
centre fitted with the conveniences of a lavatory.  A door running in
grooves separated each of the others from the lavatory; but as there
were neither bolts nor locks, the whole suite was practically common
ground.

When Mr. Rolles had studied his position, he perceived himself
without defense.  If the Dictator chose to pay him a visit in the
course of the night, he could do no less than receive it; he had no
means of fortification, and lay open to attack as if he had been
lying in the fields.  This situation caused him some agony of mind.
He recalled with alarm the boastful statements of his fellow-traveler
across the dining-table, and the professions of immorality which he
had heard him offering to the disgusted Prince.  Some persons, he
remembered to have read, are endowed with a singular quickness of
perception for the neighborhood of precious metals; through walls and
even at considerable distances they are said to divine the presence
of gold.  Might it not be the same with diamonds? he wondered; and if
so, who was more likely to enjoy this transcendental sense than the
person who gloried in the appellation of the Diamond Hunter?  From
such a man he recognized that he had everything to fear, and longed
eagerly for the arrival of the day.

In the meantime he neglected no precaution, concealed his diamond in
the most internal pocket of a system of greatcoats, and devoutly
recommended himself to the care of Providence.

The train pursued its usual even and rapid course; and nearly half
the journey had been accomplished before slumber began to triumph
over uneasiness in the breast of Mr. Rolles.  For some time he
resisted its influence; but it grew upon him more and more, and a
little before York he was fain to stretch himself upon one of the
couches and suffer his eyes to close; and almost at the same instant
consciousness deserted the young clergyman.  His last thought was of
his terrifying neighbor.

When he awoke it was still pitch dark except for the flicker of the
veiled lamp; and the continual roaring and oscillation testified to
the unrelaxed velocity of the train.  He sat upright in a panic, for
he had been tormented by the most uneasy dreams; it was some seconds
before he recovered his self-command; and even after he had resumed a
recumbent attitude sleep continued to flee him, and he lay awake with
his brain in a state of violent agitation, and his eyes fixed upon
the lavatory door.  He pulled his clerical felt hat over his brow
still further to shield him from the light; and he adopted the usual
expedients, such as counting a thousand or banishing thought, by
which experienced invalids are accustomed to woo the approach of
sleep.  In the case of Mr. Rolles they proved one and all vain; he
was harassed by a dozen different anxieties--the old man in the other
end of the carriage haunted him in the most alarming shapes; and in
whatever attitude he chose to lie the diamond in his pocket
occasioned him a sensible physical distress.  It burned, it was too
large, it bruised his ribs; and there were infinitesimal fractions of
a second in which he had half a mind to throw it from the window.

While he was thus lying, a strange incident took place.

The sliding-door into the lavatory stirred a little, and then a
little more, and was finally drawn back for the space of about twenty
inches.  The lamp in the lavatory was unshaded, and in the lighted
aperture thus disclosed Mr. Rolles could see the head of Mr.
Vandeleur in an attitude of deep attention.  He was conscious that
the gaze of the Dictator rested intently on his own face and the
instinct of self-preservation moved him to hold his breath, to
refrain from the least movement, and keeping his eyes lowered, to
watch his visitor from underneath the lashes.  After about a moment
the head was withdrawn and the door of the lavatory replaced.

The Dictator had not come to attack, but to observe; his action was
not that of a man threatening another, but that of a man who was
himself threatened; if Mr. Rolles was afraid of him, it appeared that
he, in his turn, was not quite easy on the score of Mr. Rolles.  He
had come, it would seem, to make sure that his only fellow-traveler
was asleep; and, when satisfied on that point, he had at once
withdrawn.

The clergyman leaped to his feet.  The extreme of terror had given
place to a reaction of foolhardy daring.  He reflected that the
rattle of the flying train concealed all other sounds, and
determined, come what might, to return the visit he had just
received.  Divesting himself of his cloak, which might have
interfered with the freedom of his action, he entered the lavatory
and paused to listen.  As he had expected, there was nothing to be
heard above the roar of the train's progress; and laying his hand on
the door at the further side, he proceeded cautiously to draw it back
for about six inches.  Then he stopped, and could not contain an
ejaculation of surprise.

John Vandeleur wore a fur traveling cap with lappets to protect his
ears; and this may have combined with the sound of the express to
keep him in ignorance of what was going forward.  It is certain, at
least, that he did not raise his head, but continued without
interruption to pursue his strange employment.  Between his feet
stood an open hat-box; in one hand he held the sleeve of his sealskin
greatcoat; in the other a formidable knife, with which he had just
slit up the lining of the sleeve.  Mr. Rolles had read of persons
carrying money in a belt; and as he had no acquaintance with any but
cricket-belts, he had never been able rightly to conceive how this
was managed.  But here was a stranger thing before his eyes; for John
Vandeleur, it appeared, carried diamonds in the lining of his sleeve;
and even as the young clergyman gazed, he could see one glittering
brilliant drop after another into the hat-box.

He stood riveted to the spot, following this unusual business with
his eyes.  The diamonds were, for the most part, small, and not
easily distinguishable either in shape or fire.  Suddenly the
Dictator appeared to find a difficulty; he employed both hands and
stopped over his task; but it was not until after considerable
maneuvring that he extricated a large tiara of diamonds from the
lining, and held it up for some seconds' examination before he placed
it with the others in the hat-box.  The tiara was a ray of light to
Mr. Rolles; he immediately recognized it for a part of the treasure
stolen from Harry Hartley by the loiterer.  There was no room for
mistake; it was exactly as the detective had described it; there were
the ruby stars, with a great emerald in the centre; there were the
interlacing crescents; and there were the pear-shaped pendants, each
a single stone, which gave a special value to Lady Vandeleur's tiara.

Mr. Rolles was hugely relieved.  The Dictator was as deeply in the
affair as he was; neither could tell tales upon the other.  In the
first glow of happiness, the clergyman suffered a deep sigh to escape
him; and as his bosom had become choked and his throat dry during his
previous suspense, the sigh was followed by a cough.

Mr. Vandeleur looked up; his face contracted with the blackest and
most deadly passion; his eyes opened widely, and his under jaw
dropped in an astonishment that was upon the brink of fury.  By an
instinctive movement he had covered the hat-box with the coat.  For
half a minute the two men stared upon each other in silence.  It was
not a long interval, but it sufficed for Mr. Rolles; he was one of
those who think swiftly on dangerous occasions; he decided on a
course of action of a singularly daring nature; and although he felt
he was setting his life upon the hazard, he was the first to break
silence.

"I beg your pardon," said he.

The Dictator shivered slightly, and when he spoke his voice was
hoarse.

"What do you want here?" he asked.

"I take a particular interest in diamonds," replied Mr. Rolles, with
an air of perfect self-possession.  "Two connoisseurs should be
acquainted.  I have here a trifle of my own which may perhaps serve
for an introduction."

And so saying, he quietly took the case from his pocket, showed the
Rajah's Diamond to the Dictator for an instant, and replaced it in
security.

"It was once your brother's," he added.

John Vandeleur continued to regard him with a look of almost painful
amazement; but he neither spoke nor moved.

"I was pleased to observe," resumed the young man, "that we have gems
from the same collection."

The Dictator's surprise overpowered him.

"I beg your pardon," he said; "I begin to perceive that I am growing
old!  I am positively not prepared for little incidents like this.
But set my mind at rest upon one point: do my eyes deceive me, or are
you indeed a parson?"

"I am in holy orders," answered Mr. Rolles.

"Well," cried the other, "as long as I live I will never hear another
word against the cloth!"

"You flatter me," said Mr. Rolles.

"Pardon me," replied Vandeleur; "pardon me, young man.  You are no
coward, but it still remains to be seen whether you are not the worst
of fools.  Perhaps," he continued, leaning back upon his seat,
"perhaps you would oblige me with a few particulars.  I must suppose
you had some object in the stupefying impudence of your proceedings,
and I confess I have a curiosity to know it."

"It is very simple," replied the clergyman; "it proceeds from my
great inexperience of life."

"I shall be glad to be persuaded," answered Vandeleur.

Whereupon Mr. Rolles told him the whole story of his connection with
the Rajah's Diamond, from the time he found it in Raeburn's garden to
the time when he left London in the Flying Scotchman.  He added a
brief sketch of his feelings and thoughts during the journey, and
concluded in these words:

"When I recognized the tiara I knew we were in the same attitude
toward Society, and this inspired me with a hope, which I trust you
will say was not ill-founded, that you might become in some sense my
partner in the difficulties and, of course, the profits of my
situation.  To one of your special knowledge and obviously great
experience the negotiation of the diamond would give but little
trouble, while to me it was a matter of impossibility.  On the other
part, I judged that I might lose nearly as much by cutting the
diamond, and that not improbably with an unskilful hand, as might
enable me to pay you with proper generosity for your assistance.  The
subject was a delicate one to broach; and perhaps I fell short in
delicacy.  But I must ask you to remember that for me the situation
was a new one, and I was entirely unacquainted with the etiquette in
use.  I believe without vanity that I could have married or baptized
you in a very acceptable manner; but every man has his own aptitudes,
and this sort of bargain was not among the list of my
accomplishments."

"I do not wish to flatter you," replied Vandeleur; "but, upon my
word, you have an unusual disposition for a life of crime.  You have
more accomplishments than you imagine; and though I have encountered
a number of rogues in different quarters of the world, I never met
with one so unblushing as yourself.  Cheer up, Mr. Rolles, you are in
the right profession at last!  As for helping you, you may command me
as you will.  I have only a day's business in Edinburgh on a little
matter for my brother; and once that is concluded, I return to Paris,
where I usually reside.  If you please you may accompany me thither.
And before the end of a month I believe I shall have brought your
little business to a satisfactory conclusion."


[At this point, contrary to all the canons of his art, our Arabian
Author breaks off the "Story of the Young Man in Holy Orders."  I
regret and condemn such practises; but I must follow my original, and
refer the reader for the conclusion of Mr. Rolles's adventures to the
next number of the cycle, the "Story of the House with the Green
Blinds."]
