look at it."

"You are welcome to look at it where it is. Look at it as long as you
like, and as closely."

Pugh leaned over my hand. His eyes began to gleam. He is himself not a bad
judge of precious stones, is Pugh.

"It's--it's--Tress!--is it a diamond?"

"That question I have already asked myself."

"Let me look at it! It will be safe with me! It's mine!"

I immediately put the thing behind my back.

"Pardon me, it belongs neither to you nor to me. It belongs, in all
probability, to the person who sold that puzzle to the man from whom you
bought it--perhaps some weeping widow, Pugh, or hopeless orphan--think of
it. Let us have no further misunderstanding upon that point, my dear old
friend. Still, because you are my dear old friend, I am willing to trust
you with this discovery of mine, on condition that you don't attempt to
remove it from my sight, and that you return it to me the moment I require
you."

"You're--you're very hard on me." I made a movement toward my waistcoat
pocket. "I'll return it to you!"

I handed him the crystal, and with it I handed him my pocket lens.

"With the aid of that glass I imagine that you will be able to subject it
to a more acute examination, Pugh."

He began to examine it through the lens. Directly he did so, he gave an
exclamation. In a few moments he looked up at me. His eyes were glistening
behind his spectacles. I could see he trembled.

"Tress, it's--it's a diamond, a Brazil diamond. It's worth a fortune!"

"I'm glad you think so."

"Glad I think so! Don't you think that it's a diamond?"

"It appears to be a diamond. Under ordinary conditions I should say,
without hesitation, that it was a diamond. But when I consider the
circumstances of its discovery, I am driven to doubts. How much did you
give for that puzzle, Pugh?"

"Ninepence; the fellow wanted a shilling, but I gave him ninepence. He
seemed content."

"Ninepence! Does it seem reasonable that we should find a diamond, which,
if it is a diamond, is the finest stone I ever saw and handled, in a
ninepenny puzzle? It is not as though it had got into the thing by
accident, it had evidently been placed there to be found, and, apparently,
by anyone who chanced to solve the puzzle; witness the writing on the
scrap of paper."

Pugh reexamined the crystal.

"It is a diamond! I'll stake my life that it's a diamond!"

"Still, though it be a diamond, I smell a rat!"

"What do you mean?"

"I strongly sus