ith a great emerald in the
centre; there were the interlacing crescents; and there were the
pear-shaped pendants, each a single stone, which gave a special value to
Lady Vandeleur's tiara.

Mr. Rolles was hugely relieved. The Dictator was as deeply in the affair
as he was; neither could tell tales upon the other. In the first glow of
happiness, the clergyman suffered a deep sigh to escape him; and as his
bosom had become choked and his throat dry during his previous suspense,
the sigh was followed by a cough.

Mr. Vandeleur looked up; his face contracted with the blackest and most
deadly passion; his eyes opened widely, and his under jaw dropped in an
astonishment that was upon the brink of fury. By an instinctive movement
he had covered the hat-box with the coat. For half a minute the two men
stared upon each other in silence. It was not a long interval, but it
sufficed for Mr. Rolles; he was one of those who think swiftly on
dangerous occasions; he decided on a course of action of a singularly
daring nature; and although he felt he was setting his life upon the
hazard, he was the first to break silence.

"I beg your pardon," said he.

The Dictator shivered slightly, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse.

"What do you want here?" he asked.

"I take a particular interest in diamonds," replied Mr. Rolles, with an
air of perfect self-possession. "Two connoisseurs should be acquainted.
I have here a trifle of my own which may perhaps serve for an
introduction."

And so saying, he quietly took the case from his pocket, showed the
Rajah's Diamond to the Dictator for an instant, and replaced it in
security.

"It was once your brother's," he added.

John Vandeleur continued to regard him with a look of almost painful
amazement; but he neither spoke nor moved.

"I was pleased to observe," resumed the young man, "that we have gems
from the same collection."

The Dictator's surprise overpowered him.

"I beg your pardon," he said; "I begin to perceive that I am growing
old! I am positively not prepared for little incidents like this. But
set my mind at rest upon one point: do my eyes deceive me, or are you
indeed a parson?"

"I am in holy orders," answered Mr. Rolles.

"Well," cried the other, "as long as I live I will never hear another
word against the cloth!"

"You flatter me," said Mr. Rolles.

"Pardon me," replied Vandeleur; "pardon me, young man. You are no
coward, but it still remains to be seen whet