ould consent to mix himself up with, what was (even
in HIS line of business) a doubtful and dangerous transaction.

Mr. Luker would consent to lend Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite the sum of two
thousand pounds, on condition that the Moonstone was to be deposited
with him as a pledge. If, at the expiration of one year from that date,
Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite paid three thousand pounds to Mr. Luker, he was to
receive back the Diamond, as a pledge redeemed. If he failed to produce
the money at the expiration of the year, the pledge (otherwise the
Moonstone) was to be considered as forfeited to Mr. Luker--who would,
in this latter case, generously make Mr. Godfrey a present of certain
promissory notes of his (relating to former dealings) which were then in
the money-lender's possession.

It is needless to say, that Mr. Godfrey indignantly refused to listen to
these monstrous terms. Mr. Luker thereupon, handed him back the Diamond,
and wished him good night.

Your cousin went to the door, and came back again. How was he to be
sure that the conversation of that evening would be kept strictly secret
between his friend and himself?

Mr. Luker didn't profess to know how. If Mr. Godfrey had accepted his
terms, Mr. Godfrey would have made him an accomplice, and might have
counted on his silence as on a certainty. As things were, Mr. Luker
must be guided by his own interests. If awkward inquiries were made, how
could he be expected to compromise himself, for the sake of a man who
had declined to deal with him?

Receiving this reply, Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite did, what all animals (human
and otherwise) do, when they find themselves caught in a trap. He looked
about him in a state of helpless despair. The day of the month, recorded
on a neat little card in a box on the money-lender's chimney-piece,
happened to attract his eye. It was the twenty-third of June. On the
twenty-fourth he had three hundred pounds to pay to the young gentleman
for whom he was trustee, and no chance of raising the money, except
the chance that Mr. Luker had offered to him. But for this miserable
obstacle, he might have taken the Diamond to Amsterdam, and have made a
marketable commodity of it, by having it cut up into separate stones. As
matters stood, he had no choice but to accept Mr. Luker's terms. After
all, he had a year at his disposal, in which to raise the three thousand
pounds--and a year is a long time.

Mr. Luker drew out the necessary documents on the spot