now perhaps you can go further and furnish me
with a description of the man himself. I shall then be able to tell you
whether my gentleman and your customer are one and the same person."

"I can describe him to you perfectly well. He was tall, but somewhat
sparely built, very sunburnt--which would be accounted for by his long
residence in the East--his hair was streaked with grey, he had dark
eyes, and a singularly sharp nose."

"Did he wear a beard?"

"No, only a moustache. The latter was carefully trimmed, and, I think,
waxed. Of this, however, I am not quite certain."

"And his name?"

"He would not tell us that. We pressed him to disclose it, but he
obstinately refused to do so. He said that if his name became known it
might lead to the discovery of his mine, and that he was naturally
anxious that such an event should not occur."

"But what guarantee had you that the stones were not stolen?"

"None whatever--but it is most unlikely. In the first place, they are
uncut; in the second, we have had them in our possession for some time,
and you may be sure have made the closest inquiries. Besides, there are
few such stones in Europe, and what there are, are safely in the
possession of their owners. Surely you are not going to tell me that
they were stolen?"

In the man's voice there was a perceptible note of alarm.

"I don't think you need be afraid," I said. "They were stolen by the man
from his two partners, and all they want is to get hold of him in order
to make him disgorge their share of what he got for them."

"I am glad indeed to hear that," was the reply. "I was beginning to grow
uneasy. And now is there any other way in which I can serve you? If so,
I shall be only too pleased to do it."

I informed him that, if I had anything else to ask him I would call upon
him again, and then took my departure. While I was in a great measure
satisfied with the information I had gained, I was not altogether easy
in my mind. The question to be answered was, was the man I was after the
same individual who had sold Jacob and Bulenthall the stones? The
description given me varied in several particulars to that furnished me
by Kitwater. My client declared him to possess black hair; the merchant
had said grey; the one had declared that Hayle possessed a beard, the
other that he had only a waxed moustache. The figure, however, was in
both cases identically the same.

Having satisfied myself that he had no more to tel