e he deferred telling it until too late. Of course all this
was but a fancy on his part, although it is probable enough that the
possession of the diamonds was a source of danger in India, and might
have been a source of danger here had any thieves known that such
valuable gems were kept in a private house or carried about. At any
rate, I shall be glad to be free of the responsibility; and although,
naturally, I don't like leaving you at the present time, I think it best
to carry out your father's instructions at once, and to get them off
my mind altogether. Dick Chetwynd is going with me, so it will be a
pleasant little trip."

"Well, I am glad he is going with you, Mark; for although I know well
enough that they could never be watching for those diamonds to turn
up all these years, I feel sure I should fidget and worry if you were
alone. You are not going to take the others with you?"

"No, only this particular bracelet. None of the others are exceptionally
valuable, so far as I know. At any rate, your father did not specially
allude to them. I have no doubt that there are some really valuable
jewels among them, for my uncle prided himself on being a judge of
precious stones, and as he invested a large amount of money in them,
they are, no doubt, worth a great deal. Still, I don't suppose there
will be any difficulty in selling them here, and, at any rate, I don't
want to be delayed at Amsterdam by having to sell perhaps fifty or a
hundred pieces of jewelry; any time will do for that. I fancy that I
ought to be able to dispose of the bracelet in three or four days at the
outside. I have got from Bow Street a list of all the principal diamond
merchants in Amsterdam. That is a matter of great interest to the force,
as almost all precious stones stolen in this country are sent across
there, and if there is any special jewel robbery we send over a list of
all the articles taken to the merchants there. As a rule, that would
not prevent their dealing in them, but there are some who will not touch
things that have been dishonestly come by, and we occasionally get hints
that enable us to lay hands upon thieves over there."

"I hate to hear you say 'the force,' Mark, just as if you were still a
detective; it is bad enough that you should have belonged to it, even
for the purpose you did; but you have done with it now."

"Yes; but, you see, it is rather difficult to get out of the habit when
one has been for over a year cons