he sound, or even to determine
its source, no other course seemed open but to let this distinguished
man depart with the suddenness his superstitious fears demanded.

That this was in opposition to the inspector's wishes was evident
enough. Naturally, he would have preferred Mr. Grey to remain, if only
to make clear his surprising conclusions in regard to a diamond which
had passed through the hands of some of the best judges in the country,
without a doubt having been raised as to its genuineness.

With his departure the inspector's manner changed. He glanced at the
stone in his hand, and slowly shook his head.

"I doubt if Mr. Grey's judgment can be depended on, to-night," said he,
and pocketed the gem as carefully as if his belief in its real value had
been but little disturbed by the assertions of this renowned foreigner.

I have no distinct remembrance of how I finally left the house, or of
what passed between my uncle and myself on our way home. I was numb with
the shock, and neither my intelligence nor my feelings were any longer
active. I recall but one impression, and that was the effect made on me
by my old home on our arrival there, as of something new and strange;
so much had happened, and such changes had taken place in myself
since leaving it five hours before. But nothing else is vivid in my
remembrance till that early hour of the dreary morning, when, on waking
to the world with a cry, I beheld my uncle's anxious figure, bending
over me from the foot-board.

Instantly I found tongue, and question after question leaped from my
lips. He did not answer them; he could not; but when I grew feverish and
insistent, he drew the morning paper from behind his back, and laid it
quietly down within my reach. I felt calmed in an instant, and when,
after a few affectionate words, he left me to myself, I seized on
the sheet and read what so many others were reading at that moment
throughout the city.

I spare you the account so far as it coincides with what I had myself
seen and heard the night before. A few particulars which had not reached
my ears will interest you. The instrument of death found in the place
designated by Mr. Durand was one of note to such as had any taste or
knowledge of curios. It was a stiletto of the most delicate type, long,
keen and slender. Not an American product, not even of this century's
manufacture, but a relic of the days when deadly thrusts were given in
the corners and by-ways of