‘Never mind, give me the ring,’ exclaimed Galitzin impatiently; ‘I know what I am doing.’ Thereupon the Italian took the ring off his finger and handed it to the prince, who, delighted with his purchase, gave him there and then a voucher for fifty thousand roubles, to be paid at sight by his business-manager. An hour afterwards the money was in the Italian’s pocket, and the next morning Galitzin repaired once more to the jeweller’s, telling him of his success in obtaining the diamond, and holding it up for his inspection. ‘But this is only a bit of paste,’ exclaims the dealer; ‘a splendid bit of paste, but after all, paste. It’s wonderful, though, how closely it resembles the single stone you showed me yesterday. It’s the same size, the same cut, the same shape. It’s calculated to deceive better judges than your excellency.’ His consternation notwithstanding, Galitzin soon perceived that he had been duped by an adroit scoundrel, who at the moment of handing him the ring had cleverly substituted a paste imitation of it, but an imitation calculated to impose upon all but the most expert. A hue-and-cry was raised after the Italian in Moscow, but immediately after securing the amount of his voucher, he had left. As for the prince, in addition to the loss of his money, he had the mortification of being pitied by no one; he was simply looked upon as ‘the biter bit.’ The affair of Z---- made a great noise in Vienna. The enormous amount of his loss, the circumstances under which it was sustained, the place itself of the gambling transaction, everything pointed to a diabolically conceived combination, scarcely to be reconciled with the age of the gamblers, the oldest of whom was only three-and-twenty. The sequel fully confirmed my prediction to S----. Alexander had the deepest aversion to gamblers and gambling. From that moment he withdrew his favour from S----, and eight months afterwards in Paris, in the private room of the Emperor at the Elysée Bourbon, S---- was forced to admit that he would willingly part with half of his fortune if the affair had never occurred, or if he had taken my advice about hushing it up. Z---- and the Comte B---- fought a duel with swords, in which the latter was worsted, and the sum paid in settlement of his winnings was comparatively a modest one. The Emperor Alexander would neither forgive nor forget the affair. A few years later the young comte, knowing that in Russia it is not sufficient to be somebody, but that it is necessary to be also something, wrote to the emperor to be attached to the legation at Florence; but Alexander sent a refusal in the following terms: ‘In consideration of the services rendered to our august mother by the Comte B----, your father, I excuse the glaring presumption of your request.’