Herman Cyril McNeile

“ Blackton, my worst fears were confirmed. I subjected that stone to every known test—but it was useless. It was a diamond—perfect, flawless: and it had cost five pounds to make. I called together my syndicate, and at first they were inclined to be incredulous. They suggested fraud—as you know, there have been, in the past, several attempts made to obtain money by men who pretended they had discovered the secret of making diamonds in the laboratory. And in every case, up to the present, sleight of hand has been proved. ”

“ Just at the moment, however, let us concentrate on Professor Goodman. A telling picture that—wasn't it? Can't you see the old man, blinking behind his spectacles, absorbed in calculations on proteins for infants, with a ring of men around him not one of whom but would have murdered him then and there, if he had dared!”
“But I still don't see how this is going to be anything out of the ordinary,” persisted the girl.
“My dear, I'm afraid that the balmy air of the Lake of Geneva has had a bad effect on you.” Mr. Blackton looked at her in genuine surprise. ”

“ For a while her eyes followed the steamer puffing fussily away with its load of sightseers, and its attendant retinue of gulls: then she looked at the man standing beside her. Point by point she took him in: the clear blue eyes under the deep forehead, the aquiline nose, the firm mouth and chin. Calmly, dispassionately, she noted the thick brown hair graying a little over the temples, the great depth of chest, the strong powerful hands: then she turned and looked once again at the disappearing steamer. But to the man's surprise she gave a little sigh. ”

“ I don't profess to know anything about diamonds or the diamond market. But if what you say is correct—if the professor can manufacture for a fiver a stone worth ten thousand pounds, at current prices, you don't need to know much about markets to see that diamonds will be on a par with bananas as soon as the process is known. Further, you don't need to know much about markets to see that such a state of affairs would be deuced unpopular with quite a lot of people. ”

“ If you've got all your money in diamonds and wake up one bright morning to read in the paper that a diamond weighing half a ton has just been manufactured for three and sixpence, it's going to make the breakfast kipper look a bit jaded.”
“I know all that, old boy,” said Algy, a bit wearily. “But they're just additional reasons for the old ass taking the money. Then every one would be happy. ”

“ Just because he wants to spout out his footling discovery to a bunch of old geysers at the Royal Society ——”
Hugh regarded him dispassionately for a moment.
“I have often wondered why they ever let you leave school,” he remarked. “Your brain is even smaller than the ten bob helping of caviare they gave me at the Majestic last night. You don't really think it's a footling discovery, do you? You don't really think people run about the streets of London pressing two hundred and fifty thousand pounds on comparative strangers for fun?” ”

“ Edward Blackton smiled.
“Like life, my dear,” he said, slipping his arm round the waist of a girl who had just joined him at the window. “It's the fool who shouts in this world: the wise man says nothing and acts.”
The girl lit a cigarette thoughtfully, and sat down on the ledge of the balcony. ”

“ In others, however, the entries were far more human. After the name would be recorded certain details, frequently of a most scurrilous description. And these details had one object and one object only—to assist in parting the victim from his money.
Not that Mr. Edward Blackton was a common blackmailer—far from it. Blackmailing pure and simple was a form of amusement which revolted his feelings as an artist. But to make use of certain privately gained information about a man when dealing with him was a different matter altogether. ”

“ There isn't one, I tell you: they're perfect stones—and that's why we've come to you.”
Blackton laid the box on the table, and renewed the contemplation of his cigar.
“At the moment,” he remarked, “the connection is a little obscure. However, pray continue. I assume that you have interviewed the professor again.”
“The very next morning,” said Sir Raymond. “I went around, ostensibly to return his metal bowl, and then again I put the whole matter before him. I pointed out to him that if this discovery of his was made known it would involve thousands of people in utter ruin. ”

“ So much will depend on circumstances. At any rate, for the present you had better stop on here, and I will send for you when things are a little more advanced.”
A waiter knocked and began to lay the table for lunch; and when at two o'clock the coffee and liqueurs arrived, closely followed by his two visitors, Mr. Blackton was in a genial mood. An excellent bottle of Marcobrunner, followed by a glass of his own particular old brandy, had mellowed him to such an extent that he very nearly produced the bottle for them, but sanity prevailed. ”

“ To him it is a scientific discovery concerning carbon, and, according to him, carbon is so vitally important, so essentially at the root of all life, that to suppress the results of an experiment such as this would be a crime against science. ”

“ Apparently the old man agreed to give a demonstration to this bloke and some of his pals, and the result of the show was—great heavens, when I think of it, my brain comes out in a rash!—the result, Hugh, was that they offered him a quarter of a million pounds to suppress his discovery. Two hundred and fifty thousand acidulated tablets—and he refused. One supreme glorious burst on fifty thousand of the best, and an income from the remaining two hundred for the rest of his life. ”

“ Freyder—that the matter is big enough to warrant your attention. You must, Mr. Blackton: you really must!” He leaned forward in his excitement. “Think of it: millions and millions of dollars depending on the caprice of an old fool, who is really far more interested in his wretched albumin food. Why—it's intolerable!”
For a while there was silence, broken at length by Blackton.
“And so,” he remarked calmly, “if I understand you aright, Sir Raymond, your proposal is that I should interest myself in the—shall we say—removal of Professor Goodman? ”

“ I thought it over all last night, and decided to come and tell you this morning, so that we could all have a go at him tonight.”
“What has he done?” demanded Hugh, with some interest.
“You know he's got a laboratory,” continued Algy, “where he goes and plays games. It's a perfect factory of extraordinary smells, but the old dear seems to enjoy himself. He'll probably try his new albuminized chicken food on you tonight, but that's a detail. To get to the point—have you ever noticed that big diamond Brenda wears as a brooch?” ”

“ Illustration: Then we examined the bowl. “Without that retort,” the professor remarked, “the process would be impossible. It is the only thing known to science today which could resist the intense heat of the electric furnace”
“'I have just been watching a most interesting experiment with some blue cheese mold,' he told me, 'and I quite forgot the time. Now, what is it you gentlemen want to see?'”
For the first time a very faint smile flickered on Mr. Blackton's lips, but he said nothing.
“I told him,” continued Sir Raymond, “and we at once adjourned to the laboratory. ”

“ It's all so perfectly lovely: the sky is so wonderfully blue. Just look at that sailing boat,” she went on, pointing to one of the big lake barges, with its two huge lateen sails, creeping gently along. “It's all so peaceful and sometimes one wants peace.”
“True,” agreed the man. “One does. It's just reaction, and we've been busy lately.” He rose and began to pace slowly up and.down the balcony. “To be quite honest, recently L myself have once or twice thought that if I could pull off some really big coup—something, I mean, that ran into millions—I would give things up for good.” ”

“ Sir Raymond shivered, and into Blackton's eyes there stole a look of faint contempt as he watched the other man.
“Precisely, Mr. Blackton,” he muttered. “Precisely. In such a way, of course, that no shadow of suspicion can rest on us, or on—or on—any one.”
Mr. Blackton rose: the interview was over.
“I will let you know my decision after lunch,” he remarked. “Shall we drink coffee together here at two o'clock? I expect my daughter will be in by then.”
HE opened the door and bowed them out: then he returned to the table and picked up the bottle of champagne. ”

“ Sir Raymond paused and lit a cigarette.
“You may perhaps think, Mr. Blackton, that I have been unnecessarily verbose over details that are unimportant,” he continued after a moment. “But my object has been to try to show you the type of man Professor Goodman is.”
“You have succeeded admirably, Sir Raymond,” said Blackton quietly.
{fqm|“}GOOD. Then I will go on more quickly. We took his retort home, and we cut out the clinker. No one touched it except ourselves. We chipped off the outside seals, and we came to the diamond. ”

“ Blackton,” said the manager, “who wish to know when they can have the pleasure of seeing you. Their names are Sir Raymond Blantyre, and Mr. Jabez Leibhaus. They arrived this morning from England by the Simplen-Orient express, and they say that their business is most urgent.” ”

“ We worked it out after dinner, my boy—Brenda and I. Two hundred thousand at five per cent. We couldn't quite make out what it would come to, but whatever it is he has cast it from him. And then you wonder at my anguish!”
WITH a hollow groan, Algy helped himself to beer and sank into a chair.
“Look here, Algy,” said Hugh, after a pause, “you aren't playing the fool, are you? You literally mean that Professor Goodman has discovered a method by which diamonds can be made artificially?” ”

“ Information obtained first-hand, or from absolutely certain resources, was entered in red: items not quite so reliable in black. And under Sir Raymond Blantyre's name the entry was in red.
Blantyre, Raymond. Born, 1858. Vice President Metropolitan Diamond Syndicate. Married daughter of John Perkins—wool merchant in London. Knighted, 1904. Something shady about him in South Africa—probably I. D. E. Races a lot. Wife a snob. Living up to the limit of his income. 5.13.
MR. BLACKTON laid the book on his knee and looked thoughtfully over the lake. ”