his chair,
gripping the arms fiercely, with his lips pressed into a thin line.
It was only by a supreme effort that he held himself in control; and
the lean, scarred face was working strangely.

"Well, if you insist on knowing," observed Mr. Wynne slowly, "I
suppose I'll have to tell all of it. In the first place--"

"_Don't!_" It came finally, the one word, from Mr. Czenki's half-closed
lips, a smothered explosion which drew every eye upon him.

Mr. Wynne turned slightly in his chair and regarded the diamond
expert with an expression of astonishment on his face. The beady
black eyes were all aglitter with the effort of repression, and
some intangible message flashed in them.

"In the first place," resumed Mr. Wynne, as if there had been no
interruption, "Mr. Kellner here--"

"Don't!" the expert burst out again desperately. "Don't! It means
ruin--absolute ruin!"

"Mr. Kellner had those diamonds--about sixty thousand dollars' worth
of them," Mr. Wynne continued distinctly. "Mr. Kellner decided to
sell some diamonds. One of the quickest and most satisfactory
methods of selling rough gems, such as those you have in your hand,
Chief, is to offer them directly to the men who deal in them. I went
to Mr. Henry Latham, and other jewelers of New York, on behalf of
Mr. Kellner, and offered them a quantity of diamonds. It may be that
they regarded the quantity I offered as unusual; that I don't know,
but I would venture the conjecture that they did."

He paused a moment. Mr. Czenki's face, again growing expressionless,
was turned toward the light of the window; Chief Arkwright was
studying it shrewdly.

"Diamond merchants, of course, have to be careful," the young man
went on smoothly. "They can't afford to buy whatever is offered by
people whom they don't know. They had reason, too, to believe that I
was not acting for myself alone. What was more natural, therefore,
than that they should have called in Mr. Birnes, and the men of his
agency, to find out about me, and, if possible, to find out whom I
represented, so they might locate the supply? I wouldn't tell them,
because it was not desirable that they should deal directly with Mr.
Kellner, who was old and childish, and lacking, perhaps, in
appreciation of the real value of diamonds.

"The result of all this was that the diamond dealers placed me under
strict surveillance. My house was watched; my office was watched.
My mail going and coming, was subj