"In yonder bag," said the gentleman, immediately resuming his colloquy, "are one hundred pieces of gold, valued at twenty dollars each. Such part of this as you find necessary, you are to expend in executing the commission with which I shall presently intrust you: the residue you are to retain as a fee for your services. This strong box you are immediately to convey to your lodgings in my cabriolet (which waits for you below at the back gate), devoting to its safety the most extraordinary care; for it contains a priceless treasure. If by nine o'clock to-morrow morning you receive no word from me, you will know that I am no longer in the world of the living, and that the vengeance that has followed so relentlessly upon my footsteps has at last overtaken me. In that case you are immediately and with all despatch to convey this box to Bordentown in the State of New Jersey, and are to deliver it to the person designated upon the address attached to the handle. He is my brother; and his name, as you will discover, is Mr. Michael Desmond. Upon the opposite side of the ferry at Paulus Hook you will find a post-chaise awaiting its passenger. This I have provided for myself in case I am able to escape the dangers which overhang me. Should I not be so fortunate as to accomplish an escape, you are to take my place in the conveyance, and to pursue your commission, stopping neither day nor night until it is accomplished. My brother I make the legatee of the greater part of that wealth (the price, if you please, of treachery and of blood) which has proved the source of my own undoing. Behold! You shall see it for yourself!" As he spoke, our young lawyer's extraordinary client stepped briskly to the box, applied a key to the lock, and lifted the lid. Within was a considerable mass of closely packed lamb's-wool, which--as Griscombe, consumed by a fever of curiosity, arose to observe--the speaker deftly removed, displaying to the young lawyer's dazzled and bewildered gaze a sight that well-nigh bereft him of what reason he had remaining after his late most incredible interview. Reposing upon a second mass of lamb's wool, hollowed out as though to receive its precious contents, was a double handful of precious stones of inconceivable size and brilliancy, which, in the light of the candles that had been lit, shed forth a thousand dazzling sparks of infinite variety of flaming colors. It was but a glance: the next moment the lamb's wool was replaced, the lid was clapped down again, the key turned, and Griscombe's bedazzled sight returned once more to the objects about him.