Evening star., 1923-01-07


nacular One begins in an English
drawing room and winds up on the
Cobb desert. You never know where
the roads going. Take it in big things
or take it in the trivialities of life--its
the same system.
But | am not going to lecture on
philosophy: | am going TO cite a case
a case that had an immense surprise
in it TO me- and series of events that
started out in one direction and con-
cuded in another ! saw them start
simply enough. but they changed on
me-" to keep our colloquialism.
l had just come down from Bar
Harbor. I had an artificial diamond.
made in Germany and ! was looking for
Walker. who knows more about ar
tificai stones than any other man in
America, unless il is Bartoldi.
Gems are a fad with Walker and a
profession with Bartoldi.
! do not know which of these motive
impulses moves a man to the higher
efficiency. The keen man with the fad
gets to be an expert, and the necessi-
ties of trade make the other one. Any
way. | wanted TO show my diamond to
both of them.
l found Walker in the Forty seventh
National Bank. on lower Fifth avenue.
He waved recognition and went on
with what he was saying TO the cashier
behind the grill:
There was no robbery: that's what
puzzles me. How did they get the
thing? It's lucky the bank discovered
that it was missing almost immedi-
ately and sent out the word. The
package had just come in and was iy-
ing on a shelf under the bookxeeper' S
desk. But how did they get it?'
And so l found Walker.
Nobody would ever have taken Walk
er for noted detective. In appearance
he was the last person any one would
have picked out for a secret agent.
He looked like Some sort of engineer.
Hc had a lean. sunburned face He
wore spectacles with steel rims that
went back behind his ears and he was
angular.
He looked like a practical person, and
that is precisely what he was. You
never could think that the man had
any Imagination; and he didn't have
any. At least. he didn't have any inn
aslnation in the sense that we usually
understand it. I suppose he had the
kind of imagination that the inventor
has or the mathematician when he fig
ures the orbit of stars, or the engineer
when he has to make some calculation
on The stresses of bridge.
] asked him to look at my diamond
when he came out. His face took on a
decided expression of interest.
Go up and see Bartoldi,: he said.
Il will be along in an hour
He added with a sort of smile:
There is no leisure in my trade.
Somebody's always either robbing a
bank or trying to rob-boring from
within or setting up some game on the
outs.ce''
Then he laughed.
Now, that is how l happened to find
Walke--just when / wanted to find
him. BY accident I stepped into some
thing, as you would say.
x x x
WELL, II was not explained to me-
w In fact, to Say plain truth, be-
hind a lot of courteous indirections he
put me out of the bank and sent me up
TO Bartoldfs to await his coming in
an hour. I do not mean that he Or
dered me out. He enticed me out; he
edged me out, good deal as one would
do with a child that had wandered
into a. rather tense conference.
I went up to Bartoldis. Every
body knows where it is.
He had a mammoth place on Fifth
avenue, rather far up-the trade is go
ing up. The big retailers saw that a
dozen years ago. Bartoldi is not the
greatest jewel dealer in the world, but
he is one of the greatest The great
est jewel dealer in the world is Mahado,
in Bombay; then come Vanderick, in
Amsterdam, and Hauseman, in Paris.
1t is a big shop, as I have said. But
you know it-there is no reason to de-
scribe it here. A huge place, with glass
cases, like every American shop, and
the Jewels displayed, as is the almost
universal custom in America. Not like
some of the foreign places, where you
see only a square of black velvet, and
the jewel, when you have named the
kind you want, is brought out of a
vault.
l was in this shop, before the long
counter that contains the trays Of dia-
monds, when BartoIdi appeared.
Appeared Is precisely the word; I
did not see him until suddenly he was
before me on the other side of the
glass case.
He does not look like a jeweler. In
fact. he does not look like anybody in
active life. He is big and gaunt, and,
in spite of the best ailor, he gives one
the impression of an immense human
body dried out in some desert. But
he is alive, all right. I would like to
see the man that could fool him about a
jewel.
] showed him my diamond. 1t was
big diamond, unset, and had it fold
ed up in piece of tissue paper.
He squinted at it between his thumb
and finger.
Good specimen" he said; "first-class
specimen. You can see the stratihca-
tions with your eye
He paused; then he went on:
81 never believed chemists could build
up diamond. OF course, they build
I'D rubies, and they do it cleverly. deuced
cleverly, but you can always tell by
the bubbles in them; they can't get the
bubbles out"
He moved my diamond out little
farther from his eye.
'T suppose 1t is insufficient pressure.
If they could get the angular cavities
that are in corundum, they would be
on the way; of course, they would
never get the steady glow of the gen.
uine ruby. But they would fool the
old ladies in a drawing room."
Then his voice went into a piping