in the
room, the question naturally would have arisen, Who was the second?
Besides, the wine-bottles might have been identified as belonging to
me. The laudanum I poured out to account for its presence in his
stomach, in case of a _post-mortem_ examination. The theory naturally
would be, that he first intended to poison himself, but, after
swallowing a little of the drug, was either disgusted with its taste,
or changed his mind from other motives, and chose the dagger. These
arrangements made, I walked out, leaving the gas burning, locked the
door with my vise, and went to bed.

Simon's death was not discovered until nearly three in the afternoon.
The servant, astonished at seeing the gas burning,--the light streaming
on the dark landing from under the door,--peeped through the keyhole
and saw Simon on the bed. She gave the alarm. The door was burst open,
and the neighbourhood was in a fever of excitement.

Everyone in the house was arrested, myself included. There was an
inquest; but no clew to his death beyond that of suicide could be
obtained. Curiously enough, he had made several speeches to his friends
the preceding week, that seemed to point to self-destruction. One
gentleman swore that Simon had said in his presence that "he was tired
of life." His landlord affirmed that Simon, when paying him his last
month's rent, remarked that "he should not pay him rent much longer."
All the other evidence corresponded,--the door locked inside, the
position of the corpse, the burnt papers. As I anticipated, no one knew
of the possession of the diamond by Simon, so that no motive was
suggested for his murder. The jury, after a prolonged examination,
brought in the usual verdict, and the neighbourhood once more settled
down into its accustomed quiet.

V

ANIMULA

The three months succeeding Simon's catastrophe I devoted night and day
to my diamond lens. I had constructed a vast galvanic battery, composed
of nearly two thousand pairs of plates,--a higher power I dared not
use, lest the diamond should be calcined. By means of this enormous
engine I was enabled to send a powerful current of electricity
continually through my great diamond, which it seemed to me gained in
lustre every day. At the expiration of a month I commenced the grinding
and polishing of the lens, a work of intense toil and exquisite
delicacy. The great density of the stone, and the care required to be
taken with the curvatures of the surfaces of the