more. "I don't mind. The fact is, I knew next
to nothing. Marbury was a man with whom I had some--well, business
relations, of a sort, a great many years ago. It must be twenty
years--perhaps more--since I lost sight of him. When he came up to me
in the lobby the other night, I had to make an effort of memory to
recall him. He wished me, having once met me, to give him some advice,
and as there was little doing in the House that night, and as he had
once been--almost a friend--I walked to his hotel with him, chatting.
He told me that he had only landed from Australia that morning, and
what he wanted my advice about, principally, was--diamonds. Australian
diamonds."

"I was unaware," remarked Spargo, "that diamonds were ever found in
Australia."

Mr. Aylmore smiled--a little cynically.

"Perhaps so," he said. "But diamonds have been found in Australia from
time to time, ever since Australia was known to Europeans, and in the
opinion of experts, they will eventually be found there in quantity.
Anyhow, Marbury had got hold of some Australian diamonds, and he showed
them to me at his hotel--a number of them. We examined them in his
room."

"What did he do with them--afterwards?" asked Spargo. "He put them in
his waistcoat pocket--in a very small wash-leather bag, from which he
had taken them. There were, in all, sixteen or twenty stones--not more,
and they were all small. I advised him to see some expert--I mentioned
Streeter's to him. Now, I can tell you how he got hold of Mr. Breton's
address."

The two young men pricked up their ears. Spargo unconsciously tightened
his hold on the pencil with which he was making notes.

"He got it from me," continued Mr. Aylmore. "The handwriting on the
scrap of paper is mine, hurriedly scrawled. He wanted legal advice. As
I knew very little about lawyers, I told him that if he called on Mr.
Breton, Mr. Breton would be able to tell him of a first-class, sharp
solicitor. I wrote down Mr. Breton's address for him, on a scrap of
paper which he tore off a letter that he took from his pocket. By the
by, I observe that when his body was found there was nothing on it in
the shape of papers or money. I am quite sure that when I left him he
had a lot of gold on him, those diamonds, and a breast-pocket full of
letters."

"Where did you leave him, sir?" asked Spargo. "You left the hotel
together, I believe?"

"Yes. We strolled along when we left it. Having once met, we had much
to talk