more than enough to save the firm. At the same
time you would gain a charming wife."

"Yes, there are a good many girls about who might make charming wives,"
his son remarked dubiously. "No matrimony for me yet awhile."

"But it is absolutely necessary," his father urged.

"A very fine necessity," Ezra broke in savagely. "I am to tie myself up
for life and you are to use all the money in rectifying your blunders.
It's a very pretty division of labour, is that."

"The business is yours as well as mine. It is your interest to invest
the money in it, for if it fails you are as completely ruined as I
should be. You think you could win her if you tried?"

Ezra stroked his dark moustache complacently, and took a momentary
glance at his own bold handsome features in the mirror above the
fire-place. "If we are reduced to such an expedient, I think I can
answer for the result," he said. "The girl's not a bad-looking one.
But you said you had several plans. Let us hear some of the other ones.
If the worst comes to the worst I might consent to that--on condition,
of course, that I should have the whole management of the money."

"Quite so--quite so," his father said hurriedly. "That's a dear, good
lad. As you say, when all other things fail we can always fall back
upon that. At present I intend to raise as much money as I can upon our
credit, and invest it in such a manner as to bring in a large and
immediate profit."

"And how do you intend to do this?" his son asked doubtfully.

"I intend," said John Girdlestone, solemnly rising up and leaning his
elbow against the mantelpiece--"I intend to make a corner in diamonds."

CHAPTER XII.

A CORNER IN DIAMONDS.

John Girdlestone propounded his intention with such dignity and emphasis
that he evidently expected the announcement to come as a surprise upon
his son. If so, he was not disappointed, for the young man stared
open-eyed.

"A corner in diamonds!" he repeated. "How will you do that?"

"You know what a corner is," his father explained. "If you buy up all
the cotton, say, or sugar in the market, so as to have the whole of it
in your own hands, and to be able to put your own price on it in selling
it again--that is called making a corner in sugar or cotton. I intend
to make a corner in diamonds."

"Of course, I know what a corner is," Ezra said impatiently. "But how
on earth are you going to buy all the diamonds in? You would want the
capital