J. S. Fletcher

“ I shall take you up to my room at once, and we will have a wash while supper is being served."
I perceived that the servants of the hotel knew Mr. Lazaroff, and had much respect for him. He divested himself of his sweeping cloak and shabby hat in the hall, and repealed a well-knit figure clad in a much-worn grey suit. If you had met him in the street, and judged him by his clothes, you would have said that he was either very poor or very rich. A poor man would have worn such clothes from necessity, a rich man might wear them from choice or whim, secure in his own position. ”

“ Lazaroff, the great explorer, lives?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. "But I can't get any answer to the door. They must all be out; and yet I don't understand it. The servants ought to be in."
He gave me another sharp glance.
"Do you live there, too?" he asked.
"I am Mr. Lazaroff's secretary," I said rather haughtily.
"Oh!" he answered. "And how long have you been in his employ, may I ask?"
"Really," T said, "I don't quite see that that is any business of yours."
"It may or may not be," he answered; "but I may as well tell you that I am a police officer from Scotland Yard." ”

“ Lazaroff.
"You had gone prepared for mining, then?" said Sir Adolphus.
"I had gone prepared for anything."
"Umph! Is the mine you worked likely to yield still further?"
Mr, Lazaroff smiled at the Russian Ambassador and waved his hands deprecatingly towards his questioner.
"All will be told in good time," he answered smilingly. "I must not say more until our company is formed."
"Ah!" said Mr Adolplins. "Of course not. Well, have you any objection, Mr. Lazaroff, to lending me two of your diamonds—one rough, the other polished—for a day or two? ”

“ I tell you those diamond fields of mine are the richest in the world. We must have capital to work them. We shall have to get concessions and what not. Oh, yes, a great company, certainly! And we must not forget that 'twas I, Lazaroff, who discovered this new Ophir—nay, it is probably the real Ophir of Solomon. ”

“ Help yourself when you feel inclined. Now, I wanted to discuss two or three matters with you to-night, which I should like putting into shape to-morrow. Thanks; while you are on your legs you might give me some soda-and-whisky. There, now that we're comfortable I'll tell you of what I was thinking. I want you to comprehend the situation exactly. Here I am, Melchior Lazaroff, a Russian subject, just returned from an exploration of Central Australia such as no man ever made. I am known in my own country as an explorer, but what I have done before is as nothing to what I have just accomplished. ”

“ Lazaroff opened the porphyry box and displayed the contents. The Ambassador and attaché uttered exclamations of surprise and pleasure.
"Marvellous, indeed!" said the Ambassador. "they are magnificent! What light! what supreme purity! It will indeed give me great pleasure to undertake such a duty, Mr. Lazaroff. Very fortunately, I leave for Berlin to-night, where I am to meet his Imperial Majesty, who visits the German Court on his way to Denmark. I shall certainly be pleased to present your diamonds. ”

“ I bowed, and he passed on and followed the Ambassador and Sir Adolphus into the brougham. Mr. Lazaroff and I turned back into the house again.
"That is capital!" said he, rubbing his hands. "In three days every daily newspaper in Europe will be ringing with the praises of my beautiful diamonds. Accepted by the Czar—worn by the lovely Czarina! Why, it is the most splendid of advertisements. But come, I have work in the laboratory. May I trouble you to go into the morning-room and bring me the package of papers you will see there on the mantelpiece? They are on the left-hand side." ”

“ The wide piece of ground behind the west door was tenantless, but as I crossed it I saw the figure of a man hither and thither with quick, restless movements, as if he were a hound that seeks eagerly for the recovery of a lost trail. ”

“ The celebrated Russian explorer, Melchior Lazaroff, who has spent the last three years in Central Australia, has arrived in London on his way to St. Petersburg, and is shortly to lecture before the Royal Geographical Society. Mr. Lazaroff, who had previously made important excursions in Northern Siberia, Equatorial Africa, and Western Australia, has during his last exploration made discoveries of a most remarkable nature, and there can be little doubt that his revelations before the learned Society just mentioned will prove to be not only interesting, but absolutely startling. ”

“ Lazaroff's exploration, the two gentlemen rose to take leave. Mr. Lazaroff arrested the Ambassador for a moment.
"The case of gems shall he conveyed to your Excellency by my secretary this afternoon," said he. "Permit me, before you leave, to explain to your Excellency the secret of opening this box, in which I propose to place the diamonds. Your Excellency perceives that it is of very delicate and beautiful workmanship. It is opened by a spring; you press with a finger and thumb there, and the lid flies back!" ”

“ That reminds me that I have heard rumours of a somewhat startling nature with respect to your discoveries. Come, is it a great gold mine that you have found?"
"It is not gold, your Excellency; it is diamonds."
"Diamonds—in Central Australia?"
"It will give me great satisfaction to exhibit them to your Excellency. They are the finest diamonds in the world. I defy any expert to pronounce them inferior to those of South Africa."
While he thus spoke, Lazaroff walked over to the safe, unlocked it, and produced the bag of unpolished stones which he had shown me a week previously. ”

“ I had sold or pledged most of my small belongings in order to raise my expenses from Leeds to Antwerp, and if I meant to return to Leeds that night from Hull a third-class ticket would cost almost the whole of my remaining capital. Yet what was there to do in Leeds if I returned? Why not remain in Hull over night, and have a look round in the morning? There were shipping offices there, mercantile offices, merchants' houses; surely I could find some employment amongst so many opportunities. ”

“ Then people began to call upon him. In one afternoon came: the Secretary for the Colonies; Sir Titus Tetlow, the distinguished botanist; Lord Starfish, well known for his researches in metallurgy; Professor Flitcroft, the famous geologist, and Lady Troutbeck, the most renowned lion-hunter in London. To all these people Lazaroff turned a deaf ear. His whole time was spent in his friend Zoubkorski's laboratory, into which he did not allow even me to enter. He was engaged in experiments; nothing must disturb him. ”

“ There was nothing wonderful in Troubetzkoy's being there; it was the expression in his face which surprised me. He looked like a man who wants to get somewhere in a violent hurry. I concluded that he was probably on his way to Charing Cross to make final arrangements for the Ambassador's departure, and dismissed the incident from my mind. It was about half-past two when I left Mount Street for the Embassy; by the time I had delivered Lazaroff's letter in Threadneedle Street, and returned, it was past six o'clock, the house was all in darkness ”

“ Troubetzkoy will already have left England. He may have escaped to the Continent by the evening boat from Harwich—either Rotterdam or Antwerp are favourite places for the disposal of stolen gems. But, considering everything, is it worth while tracking him?"
"That I must leave to you," said the Ambassador, rising. "I am obliged to terminate our interview, for my train leaves London in half-an-hour. Be good enough to communicate with my secretary on these matters during my absence. ”

“ Talk of your South African diamonds! Pooh! Wait until the Central Australians are put on the market."
It seemed to me that Lazaroff was unduly excited that morning. He talked incessantly of the Ambassador's visit and of the advantages to be gained by making a present of some of his diamonds to the Czar. While he talked he occupied himself in unpacking some of his chests and trunks, which were full of curiosities collected during his recent travels. Some of these he arranged in Zoubkorski's study, so that the Ambassador might inspect them. ”

“ The Ambassador frowned.
"Then he exceeded his duty," he said. "A package of such importance should have been handed to me personally. However"—he touched a bell on his desk and gave some order in Russian to the servant who answered it. "But your presence, Inspector, how is that accounted for?"
The Inspector drew out a cablegram.
"We have reason to believe, your Excellency, that the man who passed himself off as Lazaroff is an impostor. ”

“ It will open up possibilities such as the South African fields can never afford."
"I am no judge of diamonds in the rough," said the Ambassador. "You have none that have been in the hands of the cutter, I suppose, Mr. Lazaroff?"
"I was about to show you a few specimens, your Excellency," answered Lazaroff. He had taken the porphyry box from the safe and was divesting it of its wrappings. "There are a small number of diamonds in this box which I have had cut and polished, and I have dared to hope that I might persuade your Excellency to present them to his Imperial Majesty the Czar. ”

“ I remember wondering, with a sort of grim, cynical humour, how it was that a young man of two-and-twenty, strong, healthy, fairly well educated, and with three years' knowledge of commercial life, should find it so very bard to get on. ”

“ Dear me, how exceedingly fine they are! I suppose I am right in conjecturing that it is your intention to form a financial company here in London for the purpose of working the diamond fields of Central Australia?"
"Your Excellency apprehends me exactly. I thank your Excellency for your condescension in deigning to present these gems to the Czar. The package shall be delivered at the Embassy this afternoon."
Lazaroff was about to remove the diamonds from the table when the negro boy entered with a card. Lazaroff was about to shake his head ”

“ This nation of yours is the first commercial nation in the world. It must be here in England that the discovery of diamonds in Australia must be first revealed. Now, the question is, how shall we reveal it? ”

“ The sudden death of an unknown man took place in a private hotel in Silver Square, London Hocks, shortly before twelve o'clock last night. Earlier in the evening a tall, well-built man, of somewhat distinguished presence, but dressed in a ready-made suit of blue serge, took a room in the hotel and afterwards supped in the coffee-room. ”

“ Troubetzkoy left the Embassy shortly after three o'clock, and has not yet returned," he said. "That is most strange—he is to accompany me on my journey at half-past nine, and I had entrusted him with duties which should certainly have occupied him all the afternoon. At what hour did you deliver the package to Mr. Troubetzky?" he added, turning to me.
"At three o'clock, your Excellency. And at twenty minutes to four I saw Mr. Troubetzkoy driving in a hansom cab into the Strand from Trafalgar Square." ”

“ You can imagine what would have happened had that box reached the person it was intended for?"
I nodded my head in silence.
""Well," he said presently. "I don't think you'll ever know much more than that, Mr. Merrill. And these people"—he tapped the newspaper lying on the desk—"won't learn any more of the real facts, either. There are some matter's which come under our notice that are best said nothing about. You'll take my hint, eh?"
From that day to this I have never heard another word of the pseudo-Lazaroff. ”

“ You will, of course, communicate with our own police agents in London at once?"
The Inspector promised that all necessary steps should be taken both as regards the man calling himself Lazaroff and the missing Trodbetzkoy, and we then left the Embassy. Our cab was still waiting outside, and we got into it and drove to Mount Street. The Inspector was extremely thoughtful; but as we pulled up at the house he made a remark which I scarcely comprehended at the time—
"It will be strange if to-morrow does not bring a solution of the whole mystery!" ”

“ Lazaroff turned to me and with a peculiar smile said—
"I daresay you're curious to know why I made so much to do over the loss of my little box to-night?"
"I am, rather," I answered.
"You shall see the box," he said, and produced the brown paper package from the bosom of his coat. He unfolded two wrappings of paper and and exposed to view a third wrapping of waterproof cloth. When this was undone, there was an inner wrapping of silk, and when that fell away I saw a small box fashioned out of some material with which I was not acquainted. In size it resembled a fairly large cigar case ”

“ He took the papers from my hands, dictated to me a paragraph about the visit of the Russian Ambassador and the diamonds which were to be presented to the Czar of Russia, and then went off to the laboratory, leaving me to make copies and send them to the newspapers.
When we met at luncheon, Mr. Lazaroff laid by the side of his cover a small parcel very neatly done up in oiled silk. It was sealed in several places, and I made no doubt that it contained the gems. In this supposition I was correct. As soon as the meal was over he handed me the packet and bade me carry it to the Russian Embassy. ”

“ I go to London to-morrow morning—can you join me there on the following day?
"Ye-es," I said, "I think so. The only difficulty is—I have no money."
"Oh!" he said. "Never mind that. Allow me to hand you your first month's salary in advance." He took out a note-case and gave me two ten-pound notes—"There—now I suppose it will be necessary for you to return to Leeds before going up to town?"
"Yes," I said. "There are things there which I must get."
He took up a Bradshaw and turned over its pages. Then he looked at his watch.
"It is half-past nine o'clock," he said. ”

“ I shall have no correspondence this afternoon, so don't hurry. A little fresh air will do you good."
I left the house and proceeded to the Embassy. At the door I was confronted by a gigantic porter, who, upon my mentioning Troubetzkoy's name, immediately conducted me into a small waiting-room. There the attaché presently joined me, and from his manner I judged that he was in haste and had no time for more words than were absolutely necessary.
"You have the package?" he said, holding out his hand for it. "Ah, yes; that is right. ”