The Diamond Master

r. Schultze achieved the same result more ponderously. On the following morning th

gutteral excitement. "Mein Gott, Laadham, der-c

, perhaps, one-tenth of the diamond trade of the country, in Mr. Schultze's office. He found the other four gathered around

ed Mr. Schultze. "Dey're all dwins

en stood still and gazed, first at the diamonds, then at one another, and then again at the di

arned that I had received such a stone, and brought the one he had received for comparison. We made some inquiries together and found that a duplicate had been

m listene

belief," he burst out. "

f diamonds like dese keep popping up like dis, dat in anoder d'r

at size and beauty as these, would grow cheap if they were to be picked out of the void; and realization of this astonishing possibility brought five shrewd business brains to a unit of investigati

se," declared Mr. Schultze. "Vas iss?

ned hotel registers, quizzed paper-box manufacturers, pestered stamp clerks, bedeviled postal officials, and the sum total of thei

he morning of the eighth day it came. Mr. Latham was nervously shuffling his unopened personal correspondence when he came upon it-a formal white square envelope,

EAR

e names you know, a single large diamond of rare cutting and color. Please accept this as a gift from me, and b

than in this manner. In return for the value of the jewels I shall ask that you and the four others concerned give me an audience in your office on Thursday

cessity of secrecy in this matter, f

CORTLAN

zenki, Mr. Cawthorne, an Englishman in the employ of Solomon, Berger and Company, and Mr. Schultze, who gravely admitted that he was the first expert in the l

k a clerk entered with a card

aloud, and every man in the room moved a littl

r. Schultze sententiously, "v

one trace of egotism in manner or appearance-a fair type of the brisk, courteous young business man of New York. He wore a tweed suit, and in his left hand carried a small sole-leathe

Mr. Wynne, looking f

ary host, and introductions followed. Mr. Wynne passed along on one side of the table, sh

rest frankly upon the expert for a moment. "Your name has bee

bowed witho

is is the Mr. Czenki w

Mr. Zeidt?" the

ct, yes," repl

at you once did some sp

issan in

searching the other's face for an ins

ts for him, yes,

ultze at his left, and Mr. Czenki sat at the far end, facing him. The small sole-leather grip was on the floor at Mr. Wy

mosynary institution for the relief of diamond merchants," and he smiled a little, "for the gifts are preliminary to a plain business proposition-a method of concentrating your attention, and, in themselves, part payment,

ack a little, the better to stu

if there is a question in your mind, because everything I shall say is vital to each of you as bearing on the utter destruction of the world's traffic in diamonds. It is co

the table. Only the face o

all the other diamond fields of the world, including Brazil and Australia, have produced another five hundred million dollars' worth -in other words, since about 1868 a billion dollars' worth of d

I can place another billion dollars' worth of diamonds, at the prices that hold now, in the open market; and within still another year

s id?" demanded the

ity was the predominant expression, and coupled with that was amazement. Mr. Harris, with quite another emotion displaying itself on

l. "The diamonds are now in existence, untold millions of dollars' worth of them-but there is the tedious work of cutting. They're in existe

nd the deep earnestness of

might make, here and now?" suggested Mr. Latham coldly. "It occurs to

urned and s

ed diamonds-the rarest and most precious of all-the perfect rose-color, the perfect blue and the perfect green." He

ashed as it rolled, with that deep iridescent blaze which left no doubt of what it was. Every man at the table arose and crowded a

as if he himself had doubted it. "A dee

lion dollars if it's w

on almost

his, p

y green as the verdure of early spring, prismatic, gleaming, radiant. Mr. Czenki's beady eyes snapped as he caugh

said Mr. W

ue-elusively blue as a moonlit sky. Its rounded sides

d States glutted their eyes upon them. Mr. Latham's face went deathly white from sheer excitement, the German's violently red f