understand him; or if you have business of your own between you that
is to be done first, let me withdraw, and I'll come again when you are
at leisure."

"No, no, madam," says the Dutchman very kindly, "you must not go; all
our discourse is about you and your jewels, and you shall hear it
presently; it concerns you very much, I assure you." "Concern me!" says
I. "What can it concern me so much as to put this gentleman into such
agonies, and what makes him give me such devil's looks as he does? Why,
he looks as if he would devour me."

The Jew understood me presently, continuing in a kind of rage, and spoke
in French: "Yes, madam, it does concern you much, very much, very much,"
repeating the words, shaking his head; and then turning to the Dutchman,
"Sir," says he, "pray tell her what is the case." "No," says the
merchant, "not yet; let us talk a little farther of it by ourselves;"
upon which they withdrew into another room, where still they talked very
high, but in a language I did not understand. I began to be a little
surprised at what the Jew had said, you may be sure, and eager to know
what he meant, and was very impatient till the Dutch merchant came back,
and that so impatient that I called one of his servants to let him know
I desired to speak with him. When he came in I asked his pardon for
being so impatient, but told him I could not be easy till he had told me
what the meaning of all this was. "Why, madam," says the Dutch merchant,
"in short, the meaning is what I am surprised at too. This man is a Jew,
and understands jewels perfectly well, and that was the reason I sent
for him, to dispose of them to him for you; but as soon as he saw them,
he knew the jewels very distinctly, and flying out in a passion, as you
see he did, told me, in short, that they were the very parcel of jewels
which the English jeweller had about him who was robbed going to
Versailles, about eight years ago, to show them the Prince de ----, and
that it was for these very jewels that the poor gentleman was murdered;
and he is in all this agony to make me ask you how you came by them; and
he says you ought to be charged with the robbery and murder, and put to
the question to discover who were the persons that did it, that they
might be brought to justice." While he said this the Jew came impudently
back into the room without calling, which a little surprised me again.

The Dutch merchant spoke pretty good English, and he knew that the