You have not got the diamonds! Then where in God's name are they?"

"At the bottom of the ocean!"

The senior partner dropped back in his chair, white as death. Then
this was the outcome of all his hopes, all his planning. Faintly he
gasped:

"Why didn't you tell me so before?"

"I had no opportunity. I didn't want to cable such news. It might
have caused a slump in the shares. I could not let you know before.
This is the first time I've seen you alone."

The president said no more. The lines about his mouth tightened and
the expression of his face underwent a change. He uttered not a word,
but just sat there, his eyes fixed steadily on his companion, who
continued to fill his glass with champagne. Cornelius Winthrop Parker
was not a man to be easily deceived. He had too much experience of the
world for that. All his life he had been reading men and what he heard
now in the tone of his host's voice convinced him that he was lying.
That, in itself, was sufficient of a shock. To find Kenneth
Traynor--the soul of integrity and honor--deliberately betraying a
trust of such importance hurt him almost as much as the loss of the
gems. That they had gone down with the _Abyssinia_ he did not for a
moment believe. It was more likely that they had been sold--possibly
to make good Wall Street losses. Talk of big stock deals in which
Traynor had been mixed up had reached his ear before today, and more
recently this gossip had become more insistent. Kenneth was
interested, said rumor, in pool operations involving millions. The
recent sudden slump had found him unprepared. Ruin threatened him and
to save himself he had succumbed to temptation. This, at least, was
the theory which the President's alert brain rapidly evolved as he sat
watching the man in front of him. Perhaps all was not yet lost. If
the stones had not yet been disposed of, an effort might still be made
to recover them and at the same time save Traynor and his young wife
from the disgrace that such a grave scandal would entail. The first
thing necessary was to keep cool, show no concern and disarm suspicion
by pretending to accept the loss as irreparable. Then, at the first
opportunity, he would take Wilbur Steell into his confidence. That
wide awake lawyer would know exactly how to handle the case. Dick
Reynolds would have an opportunity to show his talent as a detective.
Breaking the long silence he said calmly:

"Of course, I understan