| Show L The Episode of the 11 BY GRANT GR NT f ALLEN ALL LEA German Professor Schemes J m s of y f Colonel y I y n 1 Clay glav lay Co Copyright Ih 1907 by W Gaman G 0 Chapman P y I II I I That winter in town my respected time his v had little on hands to bother himself about jabout out trifles like Colonel Clay A thunderclap burst upon him He saw s av saw his chief interest in South Africa threatened by a ser serious s r rIous ious feus an unprecedented and a crushing danger Charles does a little in gold and a antle 1 Ittle in land but his principal opera operations operations have always lain in the direction or of diamonds Only once in my life indeed have I seen him pay the slight slightest est cat attention to poetry and that was when I Happened one day to recite the lines Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear bea beaHe Ho He rubbed his hands bands at once find end murmured enthusiastically I 1 never thought of that We might get set up an Atlantic Exploration Syndicate Lim Limited Limited So attached is he to diamonds You may gather gathE r therefore what a shock It was to that gigantic brain to learn that science was rapidly reach reaching reaching ing a point where his favorite gems might become all at once a mere drug in the market Depreciation is ia the one bugbear that perpetually torments Sir Charles soul that winter he stood within measurable distance of so ap appalling appalling appalling palling a calamity It happened after this manner We Ve were strolling along Piccadilly tc wards towards Charles Char s club one afternoon he lie is a prominent member of or the Croesus in Pall Mall when near Bur Burlington Burlington lington house whom should we happen to knock up against but Sir Adolphus ordery Cordery the famous mineralogist and leading spirit of the Royal society He nodded to us pleasantly he cried in bis his peculiarly loud and piercing voice youre oure the thery very ry man I 1 wanted to meet today Good morning Wentworth Well Nell how about diamonds now Sir Gorgius have to sing small Its all up with you Heard about this ibis marvelous new discovery of machers Its calculated to make you diamond kings squirm like an eel in tn a frying pan panT panI T I could see Charles wriggle inside his clothes lothes He was most uncomfortable That a man like Cordery should say sa such suh things in so loud a voice on no matter how little foundation openly in Piccadilly was enough In Itself to tomake tomake tomake make u a sensitive barometer such as go down a point poin t or two Hush hush thanes said solemnly in that awed tone if voice which he lie al always ala ways nays a assumes when money is I bins bills blasphemed against Please dont Olt talk bilk tai k quite so loud All London can cau hear heur r you rOu Sir Adolphus ran his arm alm through Charles harles moi mOlt mart t amicably TI Tl ores eres noth with nothing ing Ig Charles hates like having als pIs arm i taken Come ome along with mo Rio to the th Athen Athenaeum he hf went on in the same sten stentorian f torian Ill tell teli you rou all about it Most interesting discovery discover Makes diamonds cheap as dirt Calculated to t o supersede South Africa altogether Charles allowed himself to be drag dragged dragged ged along There was wal nothing else pos possible sible ible Sir Adolphus A continued in a somewhat lower key ke Induced upon him i b by br Charles mute look of protest It ItAas was Aas a disquieting story He lie told it with gleeful unction It seems that Professor cher of Jena the greatest living authority on the hem of gems he said had lately Invented in invented Invented vented or claimed to have invented a system for artificially producing dia dla which had yielded most sur and unexceptionable results Charles Cht l os curled slightly lI Oh OhI I Inow I Inow now the sort of thing he said Ive heard of ot It before Very Ver inferior stones quite small and worthless ss produced product at immense cost and even then not worth looking at Im an old bird you ou know Cordery not to be caught with chaff haff Tell me a better one Sir Adolphus produced a small cut gEm gm from his pocket Hows that for forthe forthe forthe the first water he inquired passing a it across with a bread smile to the I skeptic Made under my own eyes e s sand and quite Inexpensively Charles examined It closely stopping short against the railings in St James square to look at it with his pocket lens There was no denying den Ing the truth It was as a capital small gem of ot the fin finest finest est cat quality Made under your own eyes e es he ex exclaimed exclaimed claimed still stilt Incredulous ulous Where mv my m dear sir at Jena The answer was a thunderbolt from irom froma iroma a clear sky No Xo here In Lendin last night as ever was before myself and Dr Gray and to be exhibit d by bv the president himself at a meeting of f fellows if It the Royal society vJ 1 i 2 I It Ip t p i v I If Ij I f j i I Ill WoO r f 7 II I I HL i i I l i i t tr I r 1 rl E j GI rj r rI rr I i Lr r Y r I a 44 I 1 Charles drew a lone breath This nonsense must be stopped no he said sand firmly It must be nipped nIp d in the bud budIt budIt budIt It wont do my dear friend we cant have such tampering with important Interests How de do you mean moon Cordery asked astonished Charles Charies gazed at him steadily I 1 could see by the furtive gleam in my eyes ees he was distinctly frightened Where is the fellow ellow he asked askp Did he come orne himself or send ever t ver a deputy Here In Sir Adolphus re reo replied replied plied Hes staying sta ing at my house hou and he says ays hell be glad to show his experiments ex experiments experiments to anybody scientifically in interested interested in diamonds We Te propose to t have a demonstration of ot the process tonight at Lancaster gate Will you OU drop in and see it Would he drop in and see it Drop in at such a function Could he possibly stay away Charles clutched the enem 8 arm with a nervous ner nervous nervous grip Look here Cordery he said jui ai verIng this is a question affecting aff very ery important interests Dont Dout do anything rash Dont do anything foolish Remember that shares shores may rise ri e eor or fall on this He said shares in a tone of pro profound profound profound found respect that I 1 can c n hardly even indicate It was the racial crucial word in intile inthe tile the creed of his religion I 1 should Sl uld think it very vcr probable Sir Adolphus Ad replied with the callous indifference fn of the mere man of s si 51 i ence to financial suffering BUffeting Sir Charles was bland but peremptory peremptory tory Now observe he said a grave re responsibility responsibility responsibility rests on your shoulders The market depends upon you You Yo must not ask In any number of out nut outsiders outsider siders sider to witness these experiments Have a few mineralogists and am experts if it you like but also take care to in invite Invite invite vite representatives of ot the menaced interests in interests Interests I will come myself Im engaged en engaged to dine out but I 1 can Contract in an n indisposition and I would advise adle you ou to ask and say young They would stand for forthe forthe the tte mines as you and the mineralogists would stand for science Above all aU dont blab for heavens sake let there be no premature gossip Tell ier macher not to be he gassing and boasting of his success all over London We Ye are keeping the matter a pro profound profound profound found secret at machers own request Cordery answered more ser seriously Which Is why Charles said in his severest tone you bawled it out at atthe atthe atthe the very top of ot your voice in dilly However before nightfall everything was arranged to Charles satisfaction and off we went vent to Lancaster gate with a profound expectation that the German Gennan professor would do nothing worth seeing He was a remarkable looking man roan once tall I 1 should say from his long thin build but now bowed and bent with long lone devotion d to sta staly ly leaning over a crucible His hair prematurely white hung down upon his forehead but tut ut his eye was keen and his mouth sagacious He shook hands cordially with the men of science whom he lie seemed to know of old oid whilst he bowed somewhat distantly to the th South African Af African AfrIcan rican interest Then he began to talk in very helping out the sense now and again where his Ills vo vocabulary vocabulary vocabulary failed him by waving his rather dirty hands demonstratively about him His nails wore were w re a light ight but buthis buthis buthis his fingers I must say had the delicate deli I cate shape of ot a mans accustomed to minute manipulation He plunged at once into the thick of the matter tell teH telling telling ing us briefly in his equally thick accent ac accent accent cent that he now by his new n w to make for us goot soot and satis satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory factory He brought out his apparatus md explained or as as he said his novel method he said were but pure carbon He Knew how to crystallize it zat was all ze e se ge secret secret cret The men of science examined the pots and pans carefully Then he put in a certain number of raw r w materials and went to work with ostentatious open openness openness openness ness There were three distinct processes processes ses and he made two stones by each simultaneously The remarkable part of his methods he said was their rap rapidity rapidity rapidity and their the r cheapness In three quarters of an hour and he smiled sar sardonically sardonically sardonically he could produce a diamond worth at current prices pounds ster sterling sterling ling Ung lingAs As you ou shall shaH now see me I he remarked viz iz zis simple dus The materials fizzed and fumed The professor stirred them An unpleasant smell like burnt feathers pervaded the room The scientific men craned their necks In their eagerness and looked over one another in pat part was all an attention on After three quarters of ot an hour the professor still smiling began to empty the apparatus He removed a large lorge quantity of dust or powder which he succinctly described de described described scribed as and then took between finger and thumb from the midst of each pan a small white pebble I I not water worn apparently but slight slightly ly rough and on the surface From one pair of the p he produced two such stones and held them up before us triumphantly he said are genuine tia lia monds mends manufactured at a gost of four fourteen fourteen fourteen teen shillings and Then he tried the second pair he said still sUll more gleefully are bro II at a goat gost of ot and nine bence Finally he came to the third pair which he positively brandished before our astonished eyes And he cried transported hat haff gost me no nomore nomore nomore more zan tree and They were handed round for inspection Inspection inspection tion Rough and uncut as they stood it was of ot course impossible to judge of their value But one thing was certain The men of science had been watching closely at first and Were V ere sure Herr had not put the stones in they were keen at the withdrawal wl F 1 and were equally sure he had taken take n them honestly out of the I rill Ill now zem the pro professor professor fessor remarked in hi a casual tone as if 1 diamonds were peas looking round at atthe atthe a athe t the company And he singled out my m y One to Sir Charles Charleshe he said handing it one to Mr Mosen heimer helmer one to Mr as representing representing stinting the interest Zen one on e each to Sir to Dr Gray to t o Mr as representing eel science ence once You will haft hat zem zern cut and t upon zem in due gourse Bourse We mee meet t again at zis blace ze day abler domor row rov Charles gazed at him reproachfully The profoundest chords of his moral nature were stirred Professor he said In a voice of o f solemn warning are you aware that tha t If you ou have succeeded you have destroyed de destroyed destroyed the value of thousands of o f pounds worth of precious property The professor shrugged his shoulders Fot is dat to me he inquired with witha wit wita h a curious glance ot of contempt I 1 am amnot amnot a m not a financier I 1 am a man of science I 1 seek to know I do not seek to make mak maka e a fortune Shocking Charles exclaimed Shocking I 1 never before In my life e beheld so strange an instance of com corn complete complete insensibility to the claims of oth others others ers ersYe We Ye separated early The men of science science science ence were coarsely jubilant The dia diamond diamond diamond mond Interest exhibited a corresponding depression depres ion If this news were true they foresaw a slump Every eye grew gre w dim It was a terrible business Charles walked homeward with the th e es professor He sounded him gently a ato as asto asto s to the sum required should need arise to purchase his secrecy Already Sir S ii Adolphus had bound us all down to t o temporary silence as if that were necessary necessary necessary essary but Charles wished to know kno w bow how much would take tak taketo e to suppress his discovery The German Germa n was immovable No no he replied with positive petulance You do not understand I 1 Ido I do not buy and sell Zis is a chemical fact We Ye must bubUsh it for the sake sak e of its I 1 do not care car e for weal I hat hail no time tune to Waste In i n making money What an ma awful picture of a misspent mis misspent misspent spent life Charles observed to me af of afterward afterward And indeed the the man seemed to care car e for nothing on earth but the abstract t question not whether he could make mak e good diamonds or not but whether he h ee e could or could not produce a crystalline e form of pure carbon On the appointed night Charles went wen t back to Lancaster Gate as I 1 could not no t tall fall to remark with a strange air o of f complete and painful preoccupation Never before in his life had I 1 seen hi hiso him m so anxious The diamonds were produced with one on e surface of each slightly scored by th the e I cutters so as to show the water Then The n en I a n curious result disclosed itself Strange to say each of the the three diamonds given given given en to the three diamond kings turned turn d dout out to be a most inferior and valueless stone while each of the three entrusted to the care of the scientific investigators ors turned out to be a fine gem of ot the purest quality I confess it was a sufficiently suspicious suspicious suspicious cious conjunction The three representatives representatives of the diamond interest gazed at each other with inquiring side dide glances Then their eyes tell foil suddenly they avoided one another Had each In Independently Independently independently dependently substituted a weak and in inferior Inferior inferior natural stone for tor Professor machers manufactured peb pebbles pebbles 1 bles blos It almost seemed so For a mo moment moment moment ment I 1 admit I 1 was half inclined to suppose it But next second I 1 changed my mind Could a man of Sir Charles integrity and high principle stoop for tor lucres sale sake Ile to so mean moon an expedient not to mention the fact that even if he did and if did likewise the stones submitted to the scientific men would have amply sufficed to establish the reality and success suc success success cess of the experiments Still sun I must say Charles looked guiltily across at and andIo Io at while white three more uncomfortable or unhappy faced men could hardly have been found at that precise minute In the city of ot West Westminster minster minter Then Sir Adolphus spoke or rather he orated Ho He said in his loud and grating voice olce we had that evening and amI andon amIon andon on a previous evening been present at atthe atthe atthe the conception and birth of an epoch In the history of science Professor was one of those men of |
