"It ain't never been off me, mister, since I found it!" he said, producing a little packet wrapped in tissue paper. "There you are!" Guyler took the stud which Melky handed to him and laid it on the table around which they were all sitting. After glancing at it for a moment, he withdrew the studs from his own wrist-bands and laid them by its side. "Yes, that's sure one of the lot!" he observed musingly. "I guess there's no possible doubt at all on that point. Well!--this is indeed mighty queer! Now, I'll tell you straight out. These studs--all of 'em--are parts of six sets of similar things, all made of that very expensive metal, platinum, in precisely the same fashion, and ornamented with the same specially invented device, and given to six men who had been of assistance to him in a big deal, as a little mark of his appreciation, by a man that some few years ago made a fortune in South Africa. That's so!" Zillah turned on the American with a sharp look of enquiry. "Who was he?" she demanded. "Tell us his name!" "His name," replied Guyler, "was Spencer Levendale--dealer in diamonds." CHAPTER NINETEEN PURDIE STANDS FIRM The effect produced by this announcement was evidently exactly that which the American expected, and he smiled, a little grimly, as he looked from one face to another. As for his hearers, they first looked at each other and then at him, and Guyler laughed and went on. "That makes you jump!" he said. "Well, now, at the end of that inquest business in the papers the other day I noticed Spencer Levendale's name mentioned in connection with some old book that was left, or found in Mr. Daniel Multenius's back-parlour. Of course, I concluded that he was the same Spencer Levendale I'd known out there in South Africa, five years ago. And to tell you the truth, I've been watching your papers, morning and evening, since, to see if there was any more news of him. But so far I haven't seen any." Purdie and Melky exchanged glances, and in response to an obvious hint from Melky, Purdie spoke. "We can give you some news, then," he said. "It'll be common property tomorrow morning. Levendale has mysteriously disappeared from his house, and from his usual haunts!--and nobody knows where he is. And it's considered that this disappearance has something to do with the Praed Street affair." "Sure!" assented Guyler. "That's just about a dead certainty. And in the Praed Street affair, these platinum stud things are going to play a good part, and when you and your police have got to the bottom of it, you'll sure find that something else has a big part, too!" "What?" asked Purdie. "Why, diamonds!" answered the American, with a quiet smile. "Just diamonds! Diamonds'll be at the bottom of the bag--sure!" There was a moment of surprised silence, and then Melky turned eagerly to the American. "Mister!" he said. "Let's be getting at something! What do you know, now, about this here Levendale?"