y might be until you
came of age. After the death of my father he might suppose that I should
take them out, or that, at any rate, I should go to whoever had them,
and see that they were all right, and he then, perhaps, engaged half a
dozen Lascars--there are plenty of them at the docks--and had me watched
wherever I went; and, do you know, that I believe I once owed my life to
them."

"How was that, Mark?"

"Well, I was captured by some fellows who suspected me to be a Bow
Street runner, and I think that it would have gone very hard with me
if a party of five or six prize fighters had not broken into the house,
pretty nearly killed the men in whose hands I was, and rescued me. They
said that they had heard of my danger from a foreign sailor who called
at Gibbons', with whom I was in the habit of boxing, and told him about
it. You see, until they learned where the jewels were, my life was
valuable to them, for possibly I was the only person who knew where they
were hidden; so really I don't think I have any reason for bearing a
grudge against them. They saved my life in the first place, and spared
it at what was a distinct risk to themselves. On the other hand, they
were content with regaining the bracelet, not even, as I told you,
taking my watch or purse. You see, with them it was a matter of
religion. They had no animosity against me personally, but I have no
doubt they would have stabbed me without the slightest compunction had
there been no other way of getting the things. Still, I think that I owe
a debt of gratitude to them rather than the reverse, and, after all, the
loss of the bracelet is not a serious one to us."

"I am glad it is gone," Millicent said. "You say it had already caused
the death of two men, and if you had succeeded in selling it I can't
help thinking that the money would have brought ill fortune to us. I am
heartily glad that the diamonds are gone, Mark. I suppose they were very
handsome?"

"They were magnificent," he said. "Dick and Cotter both agreed that they
had never seen their equal, and I fancy that they must have been worth a
great deal more than your father valued them at."

"Well, it does not matter at all. There is no history attached to the
others, I hope, Mark?"

"Not in any way, dear. They were bought, as the Colonel told my father,
in the ordinary course of things, and some, no doubt, were obtained at
the capture of some of the native princes' treasuries; but it was solely