een made?"

"Oh, I've read something about it, yes; but what I--"

"Every school-boy knows how to make a diamond, Mr. Latham. If pure
carbon is heated to approximately five thousand degrees Fahrenheit,
and simultaneously subjected to a pressure of approximately six
thousand tons to the square inch, it becomes a diamond. And there's
no theory about that--that's a fact! The difficulty has always been
to apply the knowledge we have in a commercially practicable way--in
other words, to isolate a carbon that is absolutely pure, and invent
a method of applying the heat and pressure simultaneously. It has
been done, Mr. Latham; _it has been done!_ Don't you understand what
it means to--"

With an effort he repressed the returning excitement which found vent
in a rising voice and quick, nervous gestures of the hands. After a
moment he went on:

"Half a score of scientists have made diamonds, minute particles no
larger than the point of a pin. Professor Henri Moissan, of Paris,
went further, and by use of an electric furnace produced diamonds as
large as a pinhead. You may remember that when I first met Mr. Wynne
he inquired if I had not done some special work for Professor
Moissan. I had; I tested the diamonds he made--_and they were
diamonds!_ I dare say the suggestion Mr. Wynne conveyed to me by
that question--that is, the suggestion of manufactured diamonds--had
been carefully planned, for he is a wonderful young man, Mr. Wynne--
a wonderful young man." He paused a moment. "We know that he has
millions and millions of dollars' worth of them--we know because we
saw them--and who can tell how many billions more there are? The one
man holds in his hand the power to overturn the money values of the
earth!"

"But how do you know he makes them?" demanded Mr. Latham, returning
to the main question.

"He suggested it by his question," Mr. Czenki went on. "That
suggestion lingered in my mind. When the detective, Mr. Birnes,
reported that Mr. Wynne was an importer of brown sugar I was on the
point of advancing a theory that the diamonds were manufactured,
because of all known substances burnt brown sugar is richest in
carbon. But you, Mr. Latham, had discredited a previous suggestion
of mine, and I--I--well, I didn't suggest it. Instead, that night I
personally began an investigation to see what disposition was made of
the sugar. I found that the ships discharged their cargoes in
Hoboken, that the sugar was t