of my good faith, I'm not
going to ask you for any money. All I require is food and a bed and
shelter, and that you may very well give me at Edward Street. Sartoris
never goes there."

"Make it worth while and the thing's done," Reggie said. "Give it a
name."

"Well, suppose we call it diamonds?" Richford suggested. "Have you
forgotten those magnificent diamonds that I gave my wife, bless her, for
a wedding present?"

A little gasp came from the listeners. It was evident to Richford that
he had struck the right chord, for he proceeded with more confidence.

"I gave my dear wife stones worth nearly, if not quite, L40,000," he
said. "I didn't hand over that little lot altogether out of
disinterested affection. A man who takes risks, as I do, is pretty sure
to come up against a financial crisis sooner or later, only it has been
sooner in this case. Though my wife chose to ignore me, I left the
stones in her possession because, being my wife, no creditor could lay
hands upon those gems. I went to her to-day and asked for them. Of
course I did not anticipate any difficulty whatever; I expected that she
would cock that imperially haughty nose of hers in the air and hand them
over to me as if I were dirt beneath her feet. To my astonishment she
utterly refused to do anything of the kind."

"Unkind," the woman Cora laughed; "and yet so like a modern wife. Had
she pawned them?"

"Not she! I was fool enough to say something that was not quite
complimentary of my creditors, and she refused to part with the stones
anyhow. Said that they would go to pay my debts. I threatened violence
and all kinds of things, but it was no good. I said that unless I had
money in forty-eight hours I should be in jail, but it was all to no
effect. Did you ever hear anything so maddening in all your life?"

"You have my deepest sympathy," Reggie said; "but you did not bring us
here to listen to a story that has no point to it like yours. You have
got some scheme in your head for getting hold of the stones. But you
can't do it alone."

"If I could should I be such a cursed fool as to bring you two in?"
Richford growled. "But I--but I can't appear. All I can do is to show
you the way and trust to your honour to give me a third of the plunder
when it is turned into cash."

"Hadn't you better get to the point?" Reggie suggested with undisguised
eagerness.

"I'm coming to that. After my interview with my wife I sat in the hall
trying to pull