The Progress., 1892-06-25

the cafe one afternoon WITH rather a.,
annoyed iuuS. and made some inquiries
Of the waiter francois raised his eye
e uroWS &ui shrugged his shoulders: thrrC
WAS some further conference. and then
he AMI Nlr. Birrhu.nYr began searching
..houi the floor o. the roou It presently
tr&u>pIro3 tnaJ he had lost a diamond
ont OF ms r1ug. which had contained
tArre matched h;1ihauts. 1t was no
where jo be fourd
II dou uud the loss Of the stone It
self. sad Mr. Brchmore at last. sitting
duNa near my table; but ~ one OF .
SIT matched 0Itn great difficulty, and
I'm afraid m"v never replace Ii.
Here was my opportunity. | set forth
hc wisdom. skill and resources of my
little S,tXun tIcud II glowing colora.
u;ru,ioucd the WORT: ne was doin-; f.,
lne. agd declared that If amy man I'D
Europe couid n"lp Mr. Dirchmoro 10 re
par ms loss, Eudu!ph WIZ he. Mr.
B.rchmore &! first piId iItiic hec:! 10 my
representations. tat finally | induced
him 10 accompany mc 10 the LATIN
The next morning. accordingly. we set
forth. and aS we saUItcrrd along the
wide, lic;is..It nuu!vvaytis our COmvCr
s&ton EeCarie more free and al"ule
tl.itu 1t had been hitherto / iound my
companion cOuld tp exceedingly enter
tanning when he cbusc II. auG hal = VAST
fund Of experience and adventure 10
draw upon. II" bad hcrn almost every
where, he had Eiate himself familiar
with al varieties of CIVILIZED and IN
civilized men; ~ Il matter Ui course, too.
be was versatile liI%uISt
The uulv direction III which he gaze
any evidence e comparative deficiency
Was IN that OF literature and the fine
arts. l,Is lie had bern essentially IN
active one. he cared little rD.' Toruyson
and Su-inburne. for Matthew Arnold
ana Carlyle. tie had. however. read and
appreciated "liacheth," and some other
of Shakespeare plays; and be was well
acquainted with several OF the romanced
Of ''Unab&sAed Defoe." did MOI dis
cover all this IN tie course of that one
stroll over to the Latin quarter. bat il
leaked ont during orr subsequent &C
quain1ance. which was destined to be-
come more intimate anI prolonged than
haG any idea OF tlcn. AS have inI-
mated. SIR. Bircl.:nuYe was quite fran;
and open in It's talk. except upon one
tolHc-Eimseif.
Or his inner life and circumstances
could learn nothing. Tnough ne never
was ob:uSely reticcnt, yet he con
tIivc,. never to refer to his own private
affairs. | could not satisfy myself
whether he were married or sIaglc,
whether he were n Catholic or atheist
hardly whether he were T.ch or poor.
Some shadow of grief. some incaEr3 OF
fear or calamity seemed to overwheln !
him ald impose silence. The most
could do was 10 draw differences. and |
my Inference was that he was Il bach !
clOr, millionaire. Il skcptic and man |
who at some period OF his lie had com !
mitted. either deliberately Or by force /
Of circumstances, a terrible crime You |
will see presently how far my estimate
was from the truth. or how near 10 it.
However, ant anticipating as it is. |
We arrived in due time ut i.Gdoiph's |
little shop and introduced him to |
Birchmore. | had previously told the /
latter about my diamonds AMI now / /
made Rudolph produce them Thc lam
of the world examined the gems with
evident interest and with knowledge /
Of their value and qualities which sur
prised Inc and caused the little ieyeler |
to eye my friend with keenness that / |
tool; to indicate Jealousy.
These are al Indian stones" vGs
Birchmores FIRST remark. There ia not /
an American among thcm-or, stay!
What Is thisy neither al American roraa
Indian! An African, | declare, and one
Of the finest | have scent"
Der Herr hat Recht," muttered Ru-
dolph, with glance at me. "Er vcrstcht
ja allies"
"You know German? Tic Saws what
you don't know about diamonds isn't
worth knowing" put in. Dirchmore
nodded with half smile.
Il ought to know something about
precious stones" he said. IL spcn. three
year, i'll Il diamond mine for one thing"
He seemed on the point Of saving more.