Mr. Madgin smoked in silence for a little while, while Mirpah toyed
patiently with her bonnet strings. "The nut is simply this," said the
old man at last. "In India, twenty years ago, a diamond was stolen from
a dying man. I am now told to find the thief, to obtain from him the
diamond either by fair means or foul--supposing always that he is still
alive and has the diamond still in his possession--and on the day I give
the stone to its rightful owner the aforementioned five thousand pounds
become mine."

"A grand prize, and one worth striving for!"

"Even so; but how can I strive, when I have nothing to strive against? I
am like a man put into a dark room to fight a duel. I cannot find my
antagonist. I grope about, not knowing whether he is on the right hand
of me or the left, before me or behind me. In fact, I am utterly at
sea; and the more I think about the matter the more hopelessly
bewildered I seem to become."

"Two heads are better than one, papa. Let me try to help you. Tell me
the case from beginning to end, with all the details as they are known
to you."

Mr. Madgin willingly complied, and related _in extenso_ all that he had
heard that morning at Deepley Walls. The little man had a high opinion
of his daughter's sagacity. That such an opinion was in nowise lessened
by the result of the present case will be best seen by the following
excerpts from Mr. Madgin's diary, which, as having a particular bearing
on the case of the Great Hara Diamond, we proceed at once to lay before
the reader:--

EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF MR. SOLOMON MADGIN.

"July 9th, Evening.--After the wonderful revelation made to me by
Lady Chillington this morning, I came home, and got behind a
churchwarden, and set my wits to work to think the matter out. I
shut my eyes and puffed away for an hour and a half, but at the end
of that time I was as much in a fog as when I first sat down.
Nowhere could I discern a single ray of light. Then in came Mirpah,
and when she begged of me to tell her the story, I was glad to do
so, remembering how often she had helped me through a puzzle in
days gone by--but none of them of such magnitude as this one. So I
told her everything as far as it was known to myself. After that we
discussed the whole case carefully step by step. The immediate
result of this discussion was, that as soon as tea was over, I went
as far as the White Hart tave