of the weightiness of it you shall yourself judge.'

I shall not here set down that letter in full, although I have it by me,
but will put it shortly, because it was from a lawyer, tricked with
long-winded phrases and spun out as such letters are to afford cover
afterwards for a heavier charge. It was addressed to the Reverend Horace
Glennie, Perpetual Curate of Moonfleet, in the County of Dorset, England,
and written in English by Heer Roosten, Attorney and Signariat of the
Hague in the Kingdom of Holland. It set forth that one Krispijn
Aldobrand, jeweller and dealer in precious stones, at the Hague, had sent
for Heer Roosten to draw a will for him. And that the said Krispijn
Aldobrand, being near his end, had deposed to the said Heer Roosten, that
he, Aldobrand, was desirous to leave all his goods to one John Trenchard,
of Moonfleet, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England. And that he was moved
to do this, first, by the consideration that he, Aldobrand, had no
children to whom to leave aught, and second, because he desired to make
full and fitting restitution to John Trenchard, for that he had once
obtained from the said John a diamond without paying the proper price for
it. Which stone he, Aldobrand, had sold and converted into money, and
having so done, found afterwards both his fortune and his health decline;
so that, although he had great riches before he became possessed of the
diamond, these had forthwith melted through unfortunate ventures and
speculations, till he had little remaining to him but the money that this
same diamond had brought.

He therefore left to John Trenchard everything of which he should die
possessed, and being near death begged his forgiveness if he had wronged
him in aught. These were the instructions which Heer Roosten received
from Mr. Aldobrand, whose health sensibly declined, until three months
later he died. It was well, Heer Roosten added, that the will had been
drawn in good time, for as Mr. Aldobrand grew weaker, he became a prey to
delusions, saying that John Trenchard had laid a curse upon the diamond,
and professing even to relate the words of it, namely, that it should
'bring evil in this life, and damnation in that which is to come.' Nor
was this all, for he could get no sleep, but woke up with a horrid dream,
in which, so he informed Heer Roosten, he saw continually a tall man with
a coppery face and black beard draw the bed-curtains and mock him. Thus
he came at length to his en