's bedroom. You
had come to demand payment for a bill--no bill of hers.'

"'It was no business of mine to inquire what value she had received for
it,' said Gobseck, with a malignant look at the Count. 'I had come by
the bill in the way of business. At the same time, monsieur,' continued
Gobseck, quietly pouring coffee into his bowl of milk, without a trace
of excitement or hurry in his voice, 'you will permit me to observe that
your right to enter my house and expostulate with me is far from proven
to my mind. I came of age in the sixty-first year of the preceding
century.'

"'Sir,' said the Count, 'you have just bought family diamonds, which do
not belong to my wife, for a mere trifle.'

"'Without feeling it incumbent upon me to tell you my private affairs, I
will tell you this much M. le Comte--if Mme. la Comtesse has taken your
diamonds, you should have sent a circular around to all the jewelers,
giving them notice not to buy them; she might have sold them
separately.'

"'You know my wife, sir!' roared the Count.

"'True.'

"'She is in her husband's power.'

"'That is possible.'

"'She had no right to dispose of those diamonds----'

"'Precisely.'

"'Very well, sir?'

"'Very well, sir. I knew your wife, and she is in her husband's power;
I am quite willing, she is in the power of a good many people;
but--I--do--_not_--know--your diamonds. If Mme. la Comtesse can put her
name to a bill, she can go into business, of course, and buy and sell
diamonds on her own account. The thing is plain on the face of it!'

"'Good-day, sir!' cried the Count, now white with rage. 'There are
courts of justice.'

"'Quite so.'

"'This gentleman here,' he added, indicating me, 'was a witness of the
sale.'

"'That is possible.'

"The Count turned to go. Feeling the gravity of the affair, I suddenly
put in between the two belligerents.

"'M. le Comte,' said I, 'you are right, and M. Gobseck is by no means in
the wrong. You could not prosecute the purchaser without bringing your
wife into court, and the whole of the odium would not fall on her. I am
an attorney, and I owe it to myself, and still more to my professional
position, to declare that the diamonds of which you speak were purchased
by M. Gobseck in my presence; but, in my opinion, it would be unwise
to dispute the legality of the sale, especially as the goods are not
readily recognizable. In equity our contention would lie, in law it
would collapse. M. Gobseck