have thought it only friendly to give this person a word of
warning, if I had known where to find him. We had separated when the
ship reached the port of Falmouth, in Cornwall, and had not met since. I
gave him my address in London; but he gave me no address in return.

"On the voyage home, Beljames told me that a legacy had been left to
him; being a small freehold house and garden in St. John's Wood, London.
His agent, writing to him on the subject, had reported the place to be
sadly out of repair, and had advised him to find somebody who would
take it off his hands on reasonable terms. This seemed to point to a
likelihood of his being still in London, trying to sell his house.

"While my mind was running on these recollections, I was told that a
decent elderly woman wanted to see me. She proved to be the landlady of
the house in which Beljames lodged; and she brought an alarming message.
The man was dying, and desired to see me. I went to him immediately.

"Few words are best, when one has to write about one's own troubles.

"Beljames had heard of the intended prosecution. How he had been made
aware of it, death left him no time to tell me. The miserable wretch had
poisoned himself--whether in terror of standing his trial, or in remorse
of conscience, it is not any business of mine to decide. Most unluckily
for me, he first ordered the doctor and the landlady out of the room;
and then, when we two were alone, owned that he had purposely altered
the course of the ship, and had stolen the diamonds.

"To do him justice, he was eager to save me from suffering for his
fault.

"Having eased his mind by confession, he gave me the slip of paper
(written in cipher) which you will find inclosed in this. 'There is my
note of the place where the diamonds are hidden,' he said. Among the
many ignorant people who know nothing of ciphers, I am one--and I
told him so. 'That's how I keep my secret,' he said; 'write from my
dictation, and you shall know what it means. Lift me up first.' As I did
it, he rolled his head to and fro, evidently in pain. But he managed to
point to pen, ink, and paper, on a table hard by, on which his doctor
had been writing. I left him for a moment, to pull the table nearer to
the bed--and in that moment he groaned, and cried out for help. I ran
to the room downstairs where the doctor was waiting. When we got back to
him he was in convulsions. It was all over with Beljames.

"The lawyers who are to defe