"Why not! It attracted no special notice from the people as I came here. Nobody can smell it. It won't explode, nor burn a hole in my clothes. It is quite safe, I assure you." "But let me take it to Amsterdam. Boy! boy! It must weigh four hundred carats!" "Enough of business for to-day. I have a lot of things to attend to. Shall we say Tuesday?" "No. Wednesday at eleven. One word. Let me put it in my safe." "Good-by." Philip hailed a hansom and drove off to Ludgate Hill, smiling graciously at Isaacstein as he whirled away. The Jew swayed gently through the crowd until he reached the office, when he dropped limply into his chair. Then he shouted for his confidential clerk. "Samuel," he murmured, "take charge, please. I'm going home. I want to rest before I start for Harwich. And, Samuel!" "Yes, sir." "While I am away you might order another scales. In future we will sell diamonds by the pound, like potatoes." CHAPTER XI. _In Clover._ After picking up his belongings at the outfitter's, two smart Gladstone bags with "P. A." nicely painted on them, Philip stopped his cab at Somerset House. He experienced no difficulty in reaching the proper department for stamping documents, and thus giving them legal significance. An official glanced at Isaacstein's contract note, and then looked at Philip, evidently regarding him as a relative or youthful secretary of the "Philip Anson, Esq., Pall Mall Hotel," whose name figured on the paper. "I suppose you only want this to be indicated?" he said. "Yes," agreed Philip, who had not the remotest idea what he meant. "Sixpence," was the curt rejoinder. Philip thought he would be called on to pay many pounds--some amount in the nature of a percentage of the sum named in the agreement. He produced the coin demanded, and made no comment. With stamp or without, he knew that Isaacstein would go straight in this preliminary undertaking. A single glimpse of the monster diamond in his pocket had made that quite certain. For the rest, he was rapidly making out a plan which should secure his interests effectually. He hoped, before the day was out, to have set on foot arrangements which would free him from all anxiety. From Somerset House he drove to the Pall Mall Hotel. A gigantic hall porter, looking like a youthful major-general in undress uniform, received him with much ceremony and ushered him to the office, where an urbane clerk instantly classed him as the avant courier of an American family. "I want a sitting room and bedroom en suite," said Philip. "One bedroom?" was the surprised query. "Yes." "How many of you are there, then?" "I beg your pardon?" "Are you alone?" "Yes." The clerk fumbled with the register. Precocious juveniles were not unknown to him, but a boy of Philip's type had not hitherto arisen over his horizon. "A sitting room and a bedroom en suite?" he repeated. "Exactly." The clerk was disconcerted by Philip's steady gaze. "On what floor?" he asked.