ry well for him to be
jubilant. He had not lost the diamonds, and had everything to gain if he
found them; while I, even if he did recover the necklace, would only
be where I was before I lost them, and if he did not recover it I was a
ruined man. It was an awful facer for me. I had always prided myself on
my record. In eleven years I had never mislaid an envelope, nor missed
taking the first train. And now I had failed in the most important
mission that had ever been intrusted to me. And it wasn't a thing that
could be hushed up, either. It was too conspicuous, too spectacular. It
was sure to invite the widest notoriety. I saw myself ridiculed all over
the Continent, and perhaps dismissed, even suspected of having taken the
thing myself.

"I was walking in front of a lighted cafe, and I felt so sick and
miserable that I stopped for a pick-me-up. Then I considered that if I
took one drink I would probably, in my present state of mind, not want
to stop under twenty, and I decided I had better leave it alone. But
my nerves were jumping like a frightened rabbit, and I felt I must
have something to quiet them, or I would go crazy. I reached for my
cigarette-case, but a cigarette seemed hardly adequate, so I put it back
again and took out this cigar-case, in which I keep only the strongest
and blackest cigars. I opened it and stuck in my fingers, but instead
of a cigar they touched on a thin leather envelope. My heart stood
perfectly still. I did not dare to look, but I dug my finger nails into
the leather and I felt layers of thin paper, then a layer of cotton, and
then they scratched on the facets of the Czarina's diamonds!

"I stumbled as though I had been hit in the face, and fell back into one
of the chairs on the sidewalk. I tore off the wrappings and spread out
the diamonds on the cafe table; I could not believe they were real. I
twisted the necklace between my fingers and crushed it between my palms
and tossed it up in the air. I believe I almost kissed it. The women
in the cafe stood tip on the chairs to see better, and laughed and
screamed, and the people crowded so close around me that the waiters
had to form a bodyguard. The proprietor thought there was a fight, and
called for the police. I was so happy I didn't care. I laughed, too, and
gave the proprietor a five-pound note, and told him to stand every one
a drink. Then I tumbled into a fiacre and galloped off to my friend the
Chief of Police. I felt very sorry