an unlicensed tendering of fortunes that amazed the world; and one may
easily imagine the sleepless anxiety of the Paternostros, as first one
and then the other of the millionaires ran up his bid with true
American prodigality.

Only--and this the mystifying feature of the episode--Felix Page could
never honestly be accused of prodigality in any circumstances. He
secured the ruby--at a fabulous price; but in the operation he made at
least one bitter, implacable enemy. Alfred Fluette returned to the
United States, smarting with the stings of defeat, and pledged to a
commercial warfare on the successful millionaire speculator. It waged
merrily thenceforward.

Why did Felix Page want the Paternoster ruby? It was impossible even
to surmise a tenable theory. His parsimony was notorious; he was a
bachelor without known kith or kin, and had never before been known to
evince the slightest interest in precious stones.

On the other hand, Mr. Fluette was not only a collector of gems, but
his collection was and still is one of the most famous in the world.
Perhaps Page was willing to sacrifice a fortune merely to thwart a
rival's ambition; perhaps he was only satisfying some old grudge about
which the world knew nothing--it was all speculation, and speculation
of a most unsatisfying sort, too. He got the stone, at any rate; and
here we have another instance of the man's peculiar disposition.

Whatever he did with the ruby nobody knew. There were many
connoisseurs and jewelers on this side of the water who were naturally
curious to see a gem of such renown; but with characteristic
selfishness the new owner refused one and all, not only a glimpse of
his costly prize, but would not even impart any information about it.
His was a dog-in-the-manger attitude; with no appreciation whatever of
his possession, he refused bluntly to allow anybody else to enjoy it.
The ruby was kept hid away.

Such, briefly, were the data I had neatly pasted in my scrapbook and
which memory had been all the morning trying to recall.

I paused in my promenade to survey Burke: what new adjustment must be
made of the bare facts so far gathered; what now, in view of this new
element injected into the case, was the attitude of this strange being
toward it--my regard shifted to Maillot--and his?

Just at this juncture my cogitations were broken in upon by the door
being unceremoniously thrown open. Stodger, much excited, darted in,
closing the doo