"I don't think it is necessary that the terms of our little understanding should be expressly embodied in black and white. I fancy that, under the circumstance, I can trust you, Pugh. I believe that I am capable of seeing that, in this matter, you don't do me. That was in the box." I held out the crystal between my finger and thumb. "What is it?" "That is what I desire to learn." "Let me look at it." "You are welcome to look at it where it is. Look at it as long as you like, and as closely." Pugh leaned over my hand. His eyes began to gleam. He is himself not a bad judge of precious stones, is Pugh. "It's--it's--Tress!--is it a diamond?" "That question I have already asked myself." "Let me look at it! It will be safe with me! It's mine!" I immediately put the thing behind my back. "Pardon me, it belongs neither to you nor to me. It belongs, in all probability, to the person who sold that puzzle to the man from whom you bought it--perhaps some weeping widow, Pugh, or hopeless orphan--think of it. Let us have no further misunderstanding upon that point, my dear old friend. Still, because you are my dear old friend, I am willing to trust you with this discovery of mine, on condition that you don't attempt to remove it from my sight, and that you return it to me the moment I require you." "You're--you're very hard on me." I made a movement toward my waistcoat pocket. "I'll return it to you!" I handed him the crystal, and with it I handed him my pocket lens. "With the aid of that glass I imagine that you will be able to subject it to a more acute examination, Pugh." He began to examine it through the lens. Directly he did so, he gave an exclamation. In a few moments he looked up at me. His eyes were glistening behind his spectacles. I could see he trembled. "Tress, it's--it's a diamond, a Brazil diamond. It's worth a fortune!" "I'm glad you think so." "Glad I think so! Don't you think that it's a diamond?" "It appears to be a diamond. Under ordinary conditions I should say, without hesitation, that it was a diamond. But when I consider the circumstances of its discovery, I am driven to doubts. How much did you give for that puzzle, Pugh?" "Ninepence; the fellow wanted a shilling, but I gave him ninepence. He seemed content." "Ninepence! Does it seem reasonable that we should find a diamond, which, if it is a diamond, is the finest stone I ever saw and handled, in a ninepenny puzzle? It is not as though it had got into the thing by accident, it had evidently been placed there to be found, and, apparently, by anyone who chanced to solve the puzzle; witness the writing on the scrap of paper." Pugh reexamined the crystal. "It is a diamond! I'll stake my life that it's a diamond!" "Still, though it be a diamond, I smell a rat!" "What do you mean?"