the document, but it is
the insanity of a diseased mind manifesting itself by fantastic
exaggeration of sentiment, rather than of a mind confiding to itself
its own delusions as to matters of fact. There is therefore nothing so
certain as that Ul-Jabal did steal the gem; but these two things are
equally evident: that by some means or other it very soon passed out of
his possession, and that when it had so passed, he, for his part,
believed it to be in the possession of the baronet. "Now," he cries in
triumph, one day as he catches Sir Jocelin in his room--"_now_ you have
delivered all into my hands." "All" what, Sir Jocelin wonders. "All,"
of course, meant the stone. He believes that the baronet has done
precisely what the baronet afterwards believes that _he_ has
done--hidden away the stone in the most secret of all places, in his
own apartment, to wit. The Persian, sure now at last of victory,
accordingly hastens into his chamber, and "locks the door," in order,
by an easy search, to secure his prize. When, moreover, the baronet is
examining the house at night with his lens, he believes that Ul-Jabal
is spying his movements; when he extends his operations to the park,
the other finds pretexts to be near him. Ul-Jabal dogs his footsteps
like a shadow. But supposing he had really had the jewel, and had
deposited it in a place of perfect safety--such as, with or without
lenses, the extensive grounds of the manor-house would certainly have
afforded--his more reasonable _role_ would have been that of
unconscious _nonchalance_, rather than of agonised interest. But, in
fact, he supposed the owner of the stone to be himself seeking a secure
hiding-place for it, and is resolved at all costs on knowing the
secret. And again in the vaults beneath the house Sir Jocelin reports
that Ul-Jabal "holds the lantern near the ground, with his head bent
down": can anything be better descriptive of the attitude of _search_?
Yet each is so sure that the other possesses the gem, that neither is
able to suspect that both are seekers.

'But, after all, there is far better evidence of the non-possession of
the stone by the Persian than all this--and that is the murder of the
baronet, for I can almost promise you that our messenger will return in
a few minutes. Now, it seems to me that Ul-Jabal was not really
murderous, averse rather to murder; thus the baronet is often in his
power, swoons in his arms, lies under the influence of narcotics in