en, Who was the second?
Besides, the wine-bottles might have been identified as belonging to me.
The laudanum I poured out to account for its presence in his stomach, in
case of a _post-mortem_ examination. The theory naturally would be that
he first intended to poison himself, but, after swallowing a little of
the drug, was either disgusted with its taste, or changed his mind from
other motives, and chose the dagger. These arrangements made, I walked
out, leaving the gas burning, locked the door with my vise, and went to
bed.

Simon's death was not discovered until nearly three in the afternoon.
The servant, astonished at seeing the gas burning--the light streaming
on the dark landing from under the door--peeped through the keyhole and
saw Simon on the bed.

She gave the alarm. The door was burst open, and the neighborhood was in
a fever of excitement.

Every one in the house was arrested, myself included. There was an
inquest; but no clew to his death beyond that of suicide could be
obtained. Curiously enough, he had made several speeches to his friends
the preceding week that seemed to point to self-destruction. One
gentleman swore that Simon had said in his presence that "he was tired
of life." His landlord affirmed that Simon, when paying him his last
month's rent, remarked that "he should not pay him rent much longer."
All the other evidence corresponded--the door locked inside, the
position of the corpse, the burned papers. As I anticipated, no one
knew of the possession of the diamond by Simon, so that no motive was
suggested for his murder. The jury, after a prolonged examination,
brought in the usual verdict, and the neighborhood once more settled
down to its accustomed quiet.

V

The three months succeeding Simon's catastrophe I devoted night and day
to my diamond lens. I had constructed a vast galvanic battery, composed
of nearly two thousand pairs of plates: a higher power I dared not use,
lest the diamond should be calcined. By means of this enormous engine
I was enabled to send a powerful current of electricity continually
through my great diamond, which it seemed to me gained in lustre every
day. At the expiration of a month I commenced the grinding and polishing
of the lens, a work of intense toil and exquisite delicacy. The great
density of the stone, and the care required to be taken with the
curvatures of the surfaces of the lens, rendered the labor the severest
and most harassing that I