d Raikes sourly, "marvel, indeed; but the miracle of it is
that you have it back again. Your trust in human nature would be sublime
were it not so unsupported; it needs the tonic of loss. I hope this is
not habitual?"

"I will pay you the tribute of assuring you that it is not," replied the
Sepoy.

"Ah, ha!" returned Raikes with a mirthless grin. "I am to accept the
brief custody of this gem as a recognition of my personal integrity. I
see, I see. Well, I would appreciate the courtesy more if I could
indorse its incaution. However," he added abruptly, "why did you end
that extraordinary tale so inconclusively? I could almost suspect you of
a design to arouse my curiosity as to what is to follow."

"Ah, you remember, then?"

"Why not?" asked Raikes. "The narrative is singular enough, God knows,
to make an impression, and sufficiently recent to be definite. I would
not like to think that I could forget things so easily."

"Very well," said the Sepoy. "Come to my room at ten o'clock to-night; I
am due elsewhere until then."

With a promptness that attested his interest, Raikes presented himself
at the hour appointed, and his singular host again permitted him to
enjoy a delegate smoke.

"Here!" he exclaimed abruptly, producing a strong magnifying glass,
"here's a connoisseur whose revelations you may trust. Examine these
facets with its help," and again the Sepoy placed the sapphire within
reach of the covetous Raikes, who promptly availed himself of the
tantalizing privilege.

Waiting, apparently, until his auditor became absorbed in his
contemplation of the gem, the Sepoy at last began with the same even
modulations which characterized his narrative at the outset:

"No sooner had Ram Lal disappeared through the curtains than the curious
apathy of the prince vanished and was replaced by a demeanor of
perplexed concentration in the direction pursued by the merchant.

"The prince had listened without comment or interruption during the
recital of the narrator, his eyes fixed, the while, upon the brilliant.

"He did not know of the weird gestures of the speaker, nor had he seen
the wonderful transformation of the man.

"Consequently he was startled for the moment to contemplate the blank so
recently filled by Ram Lal.

"The sapphire, however, remained. That, at least, was real, and
replacing it in the box, he proceeded, with a degree of absent
preoccupation, to the courtyard, and presently found himself gazing