and a halo of subdued
radiance surrounded the great gem like a tender mist.

"I brought away a number of fragments of the diamond," said Clewe, his
voice sounding as if he spoke into an empty hall, "and some of them have
been tested by two of the gentlemen present. Here are the stones which
have been tested." And he laid some small pieces on the cloth. "They are
of the same material as the large one. I brought them all from what I
believe to be the great central core of the earth."

Everybody pressed forward, they surrounded the table. One of the
jewelers reverently took up the great stone; then in his other hand he
took one of the smaller fragments, which he instantly recognized from
its peculiar shape. He looked from one to the other; presently he said:

"They are the same substances. This is a diamond." And he laid the great
stone back upon the cloth.

"Is there any other place on the surface of this earth, or is there any
mine," inquired a shrill voice from the company, "where one could get a
diamond like that?"

"There is no such place known to mortal man," replied the jeweler.

"Then," said the same shrill voice, which belonged to a professor from
Harvard, "I think it is the duty of every one present, whose mind is
capable of it, to believe that the centre of this earth, or a part of
that centre, is a vast diamond; at the same time I would say that my
mind is not capable of such a belief."

The public excitement produced by the announcement of the discovery of
the pole was a trifle compared to that resulting from the news of the
proceedings of that day. Clewe's address, with full accounts by the
reporters, was printed everywhere, and it was not long before the
learned world had given itself up to the discussion.

From this controversy Roland Clewe kept himself aloof. He had done all
that he wanted to do, he had shown all that he cared to show; now he
would let other people investigate his facts and his reasonings and
argue about them; he would retire--he had done enough.

Professor Tippengray was one of the most enthusiastic defenders of
Clewe's theories, and wrote a great deal on the subject.

"Granted," she said, in one of her articles, "that the carboniferous
minerals, of which the diamond is one, are derived from vegetable
matter, and that wood and plants must have existed before the diamond,
where, may I ask, did the prediamond-forests derive their carbon? In
what form did it exist before they came