Speaker 1: The puzzle. Anonymous Pooh came into my room holding something
wrapped in a piece of brown paper. Tress, I have
brought you something on which you may exercise your ingenuity.
He began with exasperating deliberation to untie the string which
bound his parcel. He is one of those persons who
would not cut a knot to save their lives. The
process occupied him the better part of a quarter of
an hour. Then he held out the contents of the paper.
What do you think of that, he asked. I thought
nothing of it, and I told him so. I was
prepared for that confession. I have noticed, Tress, that you
generally do think nothing of an article which really deserves
the attention of a truly thoughtful mind. Possibly, as you
think so little of it, you will be able to
solve the puzzle. I took what he held out to me.
It was an oblong box, perhaps seven inches long by
three inches broad. Where's the puzzle, I asked. If you
will examine the lid of the box, you will see.
I turned it over and over. It was difficult to
see which was the lid. Then I perceived that on
one side were printed these words puzzle to open the box.
These words were so faintly printed that it was not
surprising that I had not noticed them at first. Pew explained,
I observed that box on a tray outside a second
hand furniture shop. It struck my eye. I took it up.
I examined it. I inquired of the proprietor of the
shops in what the puzzle lay. He replied that that
was more than he could tell me. He himself had
made several attempts to open the box, and all of
them had failed. I purchased it. I took it home.
I have tried, and I have failed. I am aware,
Tress of how you pride yourself upon your ingenuity. I
cannot doubt that if you try, you will not fail.
While Pugh was proposing, I was examining the box. It
was at least well made. It weighed certainly under two ounces.
I struck it with my knuckles. It sounded hollow. There
was no hinge, nothing of any kind to show that
it had ever been opened, or, for that matter, of
that that it could be opened. The more I examined
the thing, the more it whetted my curiosity that it
could be opened, and in some ingenious manner. I made
no doubt, but how the box was not a new
one at a rough gas, I should say that it
had been a box for a good half century. There
were certain signs of age about it which could not
escape the practiced eye. Had it remained unopened all that time.
When opened, what would be found inside? It sounded hollow,
probably nothing at all? Who could tell? It was formed
of small pieces of inlaid wood. Several woods had been used.
Some of them were strange to me. They were of
different colors. It was pretty obvious they all must have
been hardwood. The pieces were of various shapes hexagonal, octagonal, triangular, square, oblong,
and even circular. The process of inlaying them had been
beautifully done. So nicely had the parts been joined, that
the lines of meeting were difficult to discover with the
naked eye. They had been joined solid, so to speak.
It was an excellent example of marquity. I had been
over hasty in my deprecation. I owed as much to Pew.
This box of yours is better worth looking at than
I first supposed. Is it to be sold? No, it
is not to be sold, Nor he fixed me with
his spectacles. Is it to be given? Away. I have
brought it to you for the simple purpose of ascertaining
if you have the ingenuity enough to open it, I
will engage to open it in two seconds with a hammer.
I dare say I will open it with a hammer.
The thing is to open without it. Let me see.
I began with the aid of a microscope to examine
the box more closely. I will give you one piece
of information. Pew. Unless I am mistaken, the secret lies
in one of these little pieces of inlaid wood. You
push it, or you press it, or something, and the
whole affair flies over. Such was my own first conviction.
I am not so sure of it. Now I have
pressed every separate piece of wood. I have tried to
move each piece in every direction. No result has followed.
My theory was a hidden spring. But there must be
a hidden spring of some sort unless you are to
open it by mere exercise of force. I suppose the
box is empty. I thought it was at first, but
now I'm not so sure of that either. It all
depends on the position in which you hold it. Hold
it in this position like this, close to your ear.
Have you a small hammer. I took a small hammer.
Tap it softly, with the hammer. Don't you notice a
sort of reverberation within? Pew was right. There certainly was
something within, something which seemed to echo back my tapping,
almost as if it were a living thing. I mentioned
this to Pew, But you don't think that there is
something alive inside the box. There can't be. The box
must be airtight, probably as much as air tight a
an exhausted receiver. How do we know that? How can
we tell that? No minute intercise must have been left
for the express purposes of ventilation. I continued tapping with
a hammer. I noticed one peculiarity that it was only
when I held the box in a particular position and
tapped at a certain spot there came the answering taps
from within. I tell you what it is, Pew. What
I hear is the reverberation of some machinery. Do you
think so? I'm sure of it. Give the box to me.
Pew put the box to his ear. He tapped. Sounds
to me like an echoing tick tick of some great beetle,
like the noise which a death watch makes. You know,
trust Pew to find a remarkable explanation for a simple fact.
If the explanation leans towards a supernatural, so much the
more satisfactory. To Pew, I knew better. A sound which
you hear is merely the throbbing or the trembling of
the mechanism with which it is intended that the box
should open. The mechanism is placed just where you are
tapping it with the hammer. Every tap causes it to jar.
Sounds to me like the ticking of a death watch. However,
on such subjects trust, I know what you are, my
dear Pew. Give it an extra hard tap and you
will see. He gave it an extra hard tap. The
moment he had done so, he started, I've done it. Now,
what have you done? Broken something? I fancy? He listened
intensely with his ear to the box. No, it seems
all right. And yet I could have sworn I'd damaged something.
I heard it smash. Give me the box. He gave
it to me. In my turn. I listened. I shook
the box. Pew must have been mistaken. Nothing rattled. There
was not a sound. The box was as empty as before.
I gave a smart tap with the hammer, as Pew
had done. Then there certainly was a curious sound. To
my ear. It sounded like the smashing of glass. I
wonder if there's anything fragile inside your precious puzzle, pew,
and if so, if we are shivering it by degrees?
What is that noise? I lay in bed in a
curious condition, which is in between sleep and waking, when
at last I knew I was awake. I asked myself
what it was that it woke me. Suddenly I became
conscious that something was making itself audible in the silence
of the night. For some seconds, I lay and listened.
Then I sat up in bed. What is that noise?
It was like the tick tick of some large and
unusually clear toned clock. It might have been a clock,
had it not been that the sound was varied every
half dozen ticks or so by a sort of stifled screech,
such as might have been uttered by a small creature.
In an extremity of an anguish, I got out of bed.
It was ridiculous to think of sleep. During the continuation
of that uncanny shrieking. I struck a light. The sound
seemed to come from the neighborhood of my dressing table.
I went to the dressing table, the lighted match in
my hand, and as I did so, my eyes fell
on Pew's mysterious box. The same instant there issued from
the bowels of the box a more uncomfortable shriek than
I had heard previously. It took me so completely by
surprise that I let the match fall from my hand
to the floor. The room was in darkness. I stood,
I will not say, trembling, listening, considering their volume to
the eeriest shrieks I had ever heard. All at once,
they ceased. Then came the tick tick again. I struck
another match and lit the gas. Pugh had left his
puzzle box behind him. We had done all we could
together to solve the puzzle. He had left it behind
to see what I could do with it alone. So
much had it engrossed my attention that I even brought
it into my bedroom in order that I might, before
retiring to rest, make a final attempt at the solution
of the mystery? Now what possessed the thing? As I
stood and looked and listened, one thing began to be
clear to me that some sort of machinery had been
set to motion inside the box. How had it been
set in motion was another matter, But the box had
been subjected to so much handling, to such pressing and
such hammering, that it was not strange if, after all,
pure eye had unconsciously hit upon the spring which set
the whole thing going. Possibly the mechanism had gotten so
rusty that it refuses to act all at once, It
had hung fire, and only after some hours had something
or other set the imprisoned motive power free. But what
about the screeching? Could there be some living creature concealed
within the box? Was I listening to the cries of
some small animal in agony? Momentary reflection suggested that the
explanation of the one thing was the explanation of the
other rust. There was the mystery. The same rust which
had prevented the mechanism from acting at once, was causing
the screeching. Now, the uncanny sounds were caused by nothing
more nor less than the want of a drop or
to of oil, which an explanation would not have satisfied Pew,
it satisfied me. Picking up the box, I placed it
to my ear. I wonder how long this little performance
is going to continue, and what is going to happen
when it is good enough to cease? I hope. An
uncomfortable thought occurred to me, I hope Pew hasn't picked
up some pleasant little novelty in the way of an
infernal machine. It would be a first rate joke if
he and I had been endeavoring to solve the puzzle
of how to set it going. I don't mind owning that.
As this reflection crossed my mind, I placed Pew's puzzle
on the dressing table. The idea did not commend itself
to me at all. The box evidently contained some curious mechanism.
It might be more curious than comfortable, possibly some agreeable
little device in clockwork. The tick tick suggested clockwork which
had been planned to go a certain time, and then, then,
for all I knew, ignite an explosive and blow up.
It would be a charming solution to the puzzle if
it were to explode while I stood there in my
night looking on. It is true the box weighed very little.
Probably if I had said the whole affair would not
have turned the scale at a couple of ounces. But
then its very lightness might have been part of the
ingenious inventor's game. There are explosives with which one can
work very satisfactorily. Amount of damage with considerably less than
a couple of ounces. While I was hesitating, I own
it whether I had not better immerse Pew's puzzle in
a can of water, or throw it out the window,
or call down Bob with a request to at once
remove it to his apartment. Both the tick tick tick
and the screeching ceased, and all within the box was still.
If it was going to explode, it was now or never. Instinctively,
I moved in the direction of the door. I waited
with a certain sense of anxiety. I waited in vain.
Nothing happened, not even a renewal of sound. I wish
Pugh had kept his precious puzzle at home. This sort
of thing tries one's nerves. When I I thought that,
I perceived that nothing seemed likely to happen. I returned
to the neighborhood of the table. I looked at the
box askance. I tucked it up gingerly. Something might go
off at any moment, For all I knew, it would
be too much of a joke. If Peugh's precious puzzle
exploded in my hand. I shook it doubtfully. Nothing rattled.
I held it to my ear. There was not a
sound what had taken place. Had the clockwork run down,
and was the machine arranged with such a diabolical ingenuity
that a certain interval was required after the clockwork had
run down before an explosion would occur, Or had Russ
cause the mechanism again to hang fire. After making all
that commotion, the thing might at least come open. I
banged the box viciously against the corner of the table.
I felt that I would almost rather that an explosion
should take place than that nothing should occur. One does
not care to be disturbed from one's sound slumber in
the small hours of the morning for a trifle. I've
half a mind to get a hammer and try, as
they say in the cookery books, another way. Unfortunately, I'd
promised Pew to abstain from using force. I might have
shivered the box open with my hammer and then explained
that it had fallen or got trod upon, or sat
upon or something or so got shattered. Only I was
afraid that Pew would not believe me. The man is
himself such an untruthful man that he is in a
chronic state of suspicion about the truthfulness of others. Well,
if you're not going to blow up or open or something.
I'll say good night. I gave the box a final
rap with my knuckles and a final shake, replaced it
on the table, put out the gas, and returned to bed.
I was just sinking again into slumber when that box
began again. It was true that Pew had purchased the puzzle,
but it was evident that the whole enjoyment of the
purchase was destined to be mine. It was useless to
think of sleep while that performance was going on. I
sat up in bed once more. It strikes me that
the puzzle consists in finding out how it is possible
to go to sleep with Pew's purchase in your bedroom.
This is far better than the old fashioned prescription of
cats on the tiles. It struck me that the noise
was distinctly louder than before. This applied both to the
tick tick and the screeching. Possibly, I told myself as
I relighted the gas, the explosion is going to come
off this time. I turned to look at the box.
There could be no doubt about it. The noise was louder,
and if I could trust my eyes, the box was moving,
giving a series of little jumps. This might have been
an optical delusion, but it seemed to me that each
tick gave the box a bound. During the screeches, which
sounded more like the cries of an animal in agony
of pain even than before. If it did not tilt
itself first on one end and then on the other,
I shall never be willing to trust the evidence of
my own eyes again. And surely the box had increased
in size. I could have sworn not only had it increased,
but that it was increasing even as I stood. They're
looking on. It had grown, and was still growing, both
broader and longer and deeper. Pew, of course, would have
attributed it to a supernatural agency. There never was a
man with such a nose for a ghost. I could
picture him occupying my position, shivering in his night shirt
as he beheld that miracle taking place before his eyes.
The solution, which at once suggested itself to me, and
which would never have suggested itself to Pew, was that
the box was fashioned as if it were in layers,
and that the ingenious mechanism it contained was forcing the
sides at once, both upward and outward. I took it
in my hand. I could feel something striking against the
bottom of the box like a tap tap tapping of
a tiny hammer. This is a pretty puzzle of pews.
He would say that this is the tapping of a
death watch. For my part, I have not much faith
in deathwatches at hot genus omnae. But it is certainly
a curious task. I wonder what is going to happen next.
Apparently nothing except a continuation of those mysterious sounds. That
the box had increased in size, I had and have
no doubt whatsoever. I should say that it had increased
a good inch in every direction, at least half an
inch while I had been looking on. But while I
stood looking, its growths was suddenly and perceptibly stayed. It
ceased to move, only the noise continued. I wonder how
long it'll be before anything worth happening does happen. I
suppose something is going to happen. This can't be all
this to do for nothing. If it is anything in
the infernal machine line, and there is going to be
an explosion, I might as well be here to see it.
I think I'll have a pipe. I put on my
dressing gown, I lit my pipe, I sat and stared
at the box. I dare say, I sat there for
quite twenty minutes, when, as before, without any sort of warning,
the sound was stilled. Its sudden sustaine rather startled me.
Has the mechanism again hung fire? Or this time is
the explosion coming off? It did not come off. Nothing
came off. Isn't the box even going to open? It
did not open. There was simply silence all at once,
and that was all. I sat there in expectation for
some moments longer, but I sat for nothing. I rose,
I took the box in my hand, and I shook it.
This puzzle is a puzzle. I held the box first
to one ear, then the other. I gave it several
sharp raps with my knuckles. There was not an answering sound,
not even the sort of reverberation with pew and I
had noticed at first it seemed hollower than ever. It
was as though the soul of the box was dead.
I suppose if I put you down and extinguished the
gas and returned to bed in about half an hour
or so, just as I'm dropping off to sleep, the
performance will be recommenced. Perhaps the third time will be lucky.
But I was mistaken There was no third time when
I returned to bed. That time, I returned to sleep,
and I was allowed to sleep. There was no continuation
of the performance, at least so far as I know,
For no sooner was I once more between the sheets
than I was seized with an irresistible drowsiness, a drowsinessch
so mastered me that I, I imagine it must have
been instantly sank into a slumber which lasted till long
after the day had dawned. Whether or not any more
mysterious sounds issued from the bowels of Pew's puzzle is
more than I can tell. If they did, they did
not succeed in rousing me. And yet when at last
I did awake, I had a sort of consciousness that
my waking had been caused by something strange. What it was,
I could not surmise. My own impression was that I
had been awakened by the touch of a person's hand.
But that impression must have been a mistaken one, because,
as I could easily see by looking round the room,
there was no one in the room to touch me.
It was broad daylight. I looked at my watch. It
was nearly eleven o'clock. I am a pretty late sleeper
as a rule, but I do not usually sleep as
late as that. That scoundrel Bob would let me sleep
all day without thinking it necessary to call me. I
was just about to spring out of bed with the
intention of ringing the bell so that I might give
Bob a piece of my mind for allowing me to
sleep so late, when my glance fell on the dressing
table on which the night before I had placed Pew's puzzle.
It had gone. Its absence so took me by surprise
that I ran to the table it had gone, But
it had not gone far. It had gone to pieces.
There were pieces lying where the box had been. The
puzzle had solved itself. The box was open, open with
a vengeance, one might say, like that unfortunate Humpty Dumpty, who,
so the chroniclers tell us, sat on a wall. Surely
all the King's horses and all the king's men never
could put Pew's puzzle together again. The market tee had
resolved itself into its component's parts. How those parts had
ever joined was a mystery. They had laid upon no foundation,
as is the case with ordinary inlaid work. The several
pieces of wood were not only of different shapes and sizes,
but they were as thin as the thinnest veneer. Yet
the box had been formed by simply joining them together.
The man who made that box must have been possessed
of ingenuity worthy of a better cause. I perceived how
the puzzle had been worked. The box had contained an
arrangement of springs, which, on being released, had expanded themselves
in different directions, until their mere expansion had rent the
box to pieces. There were the springs lying amid the
ruin they had caused. There was something else amid the ruin.
Besides those springs. There was a small piece of writing paper.
I took it up. On the reverse side of it
was written in a minute crabbed hand, A present for you.
What was a present for me? I looked, and not
for the first time since I had caught sight of
Pew's precious puzzle, could scarcely believe my eyes. There, poised
between two upright wires, the bent ends of which held
it aloft in the air, was either a piece of
glass or a crystal. A scrap of writing paper had
exactly covered it. I understood what it was when Pew
and I had tapped with a hammer had caused the
answering taps to proceed from within. Our tap caused the
wires to oscillate, and in these oscillations, the crystal which
they had held suspended had touched the side of the box.
I looked again at the piece of paper a present
for you? Was this the present? This crystal? I regarded
it intently. It can't be a diamond. The idea was ridiculous, absurd.
No man in his senses would place a diamond inside
a halfpenny puzzle box. The thing was as big as
a walnut. And yet I am a pretty good judge
of precious stones. If it was not an uncut diamond,
it was the best imitation I had seen. I took
it up, I examined it closely. The more closely I
examined it, the more my wonder grew. It is a diamond.
And yet the idea was too preposterous for credence. Who
would present a diamond as big as a walnut with
a trumpery puzzle. Besides, all the diamonds which the world
contains of that size are almost as well known as
the Choenor. If it is a diamond, it is worth
is worth heaven? Only knows what it isn't worth If
it is a diamond. I regarded it through a strong
pocket lens. As I did so, I could not restrain
an exclamation the world to a China orange. It is
a diamond. The words had scarcely escaped my lips than
there came a tapping at the door. Come in, I cried,
supposing it was Bob. It was not Bob, it was Pew. Instinctively,
I put the lens in the crystal behind my back
the sight of me and my night shirt. Pew began
to shake his head. What ours, Truss? What hours? Why?
My dear Truss. I've breakfasted, read the paper. My letters
came all the way from my house here, and you're
not up. Don't I look as though I were up?
Ah Tress Truss. He approached the dressing table. His eye
fell upon the ruins. What's this? That's the solution to
the puzzle? Have you? Have you solved it fairly? Truss?
It is solved itself. Our handling and tapping and hammering
must have freed the springs which the box contained, and
during the night while I slept, they have caused it
to come open. Well, you slept dear me, how strange?
And what are these? He had discovered the two upright
wires on which the crystal had been poised. I suppose
they're part of the puzzle. And was there anything in
the box? What's this? He picked up the scrap of
paper I had left it on the table. He read
what was written on it? A present for you? What's
it mean? Tress? Was this in the box? It was?
What's it mean about? A present? Was there anything in
the box? Besides? Phew? If you will leave the room,
I shall be able to dress. I'm not in the
habit of receiving quite such early clalls, or I should
have been prepared to receive you. If you will wait
in the next room, I will be with you as
soon as I'm dressed. There is a little subject in
connection with the box which I wish to discuss with you.
A subject in connection with the box? What is the subject?
I will tell you, pew, when I have performed my toilet.
Why can't you tell me? Now? Do you propose that
then I should stand here, shivering in my shirt where
you are prosing at your ease. Thank you. I'm obliged,
but I decline. May I ask you once more, Pew
to wait for me in the adjoining apartment. He moved
towards the door. When he had taken a couple of steps,
he halted, I hope trest that you're you're going to
play no tricks on me, tricks on you? Is it
likely I'm going to play tricks on my oldest friend.
When he had gone, he vanished, It seemed to me
with a somewhat doubtful visage. I took the crystal to
the window, and I drew the blind. I let the
sunshine fall on it. I examined it again closely and minutely,
with the aid of my pocket lens. It was a diamond.
There could not be any doubt of it. If with
my knowledge of stones, I was deceived. And I was
deceived as never a man had been deceived before. My
heart beat faster as I recognized the fact that I
was holding in my hand what was, in all probability
a fortune for a man of moderate desires. Of course,
Pew knew nothing of what I had discovered, and there
was no reason why he should know not the least.
The only difficulty was that if I kept my own
counsel and sold the stone and utilized the proceeds of
the stale. I should have to invent a story which
would account for my sudden accession to fortune. Pew knows
almost as much of my affairs as I do of myself.
That's the worst of these old friends. When I joined Pew,
I found him dancing up and down on the floor
like a bear upon hot plates. He scarcely allowed me
to put my nose inside the door before attacking me.
Press give me what was in the box, My dear Pew,
how do you know there was something in the box
to give you? I know there was. Indeed, if you
know there was something in the box, perhaps you will
tell me what that something was. He eyed me doubtfully,
Then advancing, he laid upon my arm a hand which
positively trembled. Tress you. You wouldn't play tricks on an
old friend, you're write, Pew. I wouldn't, though I believe
there have been occasions on which you have had doubts
upon the subject. By the way, Pew, I believe I
am the oldest friend that you have. I I don't
know about that. There's Brasher, Brasher, who's Brasher? You wouldn't
compare my friendship to the friendship of such a man
as Brasher. Think of the taste we have in common,
you and I. We're both collectors, Yes, we're both collectors.
I make my interest yours and you make your interests mine.
Isn't that true? Pew? Tress what was in the box?
I'll be frank with you, Pew, if there had been
something in the box, would you have been willing to
go halves with me in your discovery? Go halves in
your discovery? Trash? Give me what was mine with pleasure, Pew,
if you will tell me what is yours. If you
don't give me what was in the box, I'll send
for the police. Do then I'll be able to hand
them what was in the box in order that it
may be restored to its proper owner. It's proper owner.
I'm its proper owner. Excuse me, but I don't understand
how that can be, at least until the police have
made inquiries. I should say that the proper owner was
the person from whom you purchased the box, or more
probably the person from whom he purchased it, and by whom,
doubtless it was sold in ignorance or by mistake. Thus, Pew,
if you will only send for the police. We shall
learn the gratitude of a person of whom we've never
heard of in our lives. I for discovering the contents
of the box and you for returning them. As I
said this, Pew's face was a study. He gasped for breath.
He actually took out his handkerchief to wipe his brow. Truss,
I don't think you need to use a tone like
that with me. It isn't friendly. What what was in
the box? Let us understand each other, Pew. If you
don't hand over what was in the box to the police,
I go halves. Pew began to dance on the floor.
What a fool I was to trust you with the box?
I knew I couldn't trust you. I said nothing. I
turned and rang the bell. What's that for that, my
dear Pew, is for breakfast, and if you desire it
for the police. You know, although you have breakfasted, I haven't.
Perhaps while I'm breakfast breaking my fast, you would like
to summon the representatives of law and order. Bob came in.
I ordered breakfast, and then I turned to Pew. Is
there anything else you'd like? No, I've breakfasted. It wasn't
of breakfast. I was thinking it was of something else.
Bob is at your service, if, for instance, you wish
to send him on an errand no, I want nothing,
Bob can go. Bob went directly. He was gone, and
Bob Pew turned to me. You shall have half what
was in the box. I shall have half, you shall.
I don't think it's necessary that the terms of our
little understanding should be expressly embodied in black and white.
I fancy that under the circumstances I can trust you, Pew.
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're welcome to look at
it where it is, look at it as long as
you like, and as closely. Pew leaned over my hand.
His eyes began to gleam. He is himself not a
bad judge of precious stones, as Pew. It's it's tress.
It's a diamond. That question, I've already asked myself. Let
me look at it. It'll be safe with me, it's mine.
I immediately put the thing behind my back. Pardon me.
It belongs to neither you or 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 pew 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'm 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 very hard on me. I made a movement towards
my waistcoast pocket. I'll return it to you. I handed
him the crystal, and with it, I handed it in
my pocket lens. With the aid of that glass, I
imagine that you will be able to subject it to
more cute examination. Pew. 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.
Press 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 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'm driven to doubts. How much did
you give for that puzzle? Pew? 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 ever 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 witnessed
this writing on the scrap of paper. Pew re examined
the crystal. It is a diamond. I'll state my life
that it's a diamond. Still, though it be a diamond,
I smell a rat. What do you mean? I strongly
suspect that the person who placed that diamond inside the
puzzle intended to have a joke at the expense of
the person who discovered it. What was to be the
nature of the joke is more than I can say
at present, But I should like to have a bet
with you that the man who compounded that puzzle was
an ingenious, practical joker. I may be wrong, Pew, we
shall see, But until I have proved to the contrary,
I don't believe that the maddest man ever lived would
throw away a diamond worth apparently, shall we say, a
thousand pounds a thousand pounds, This diamond is worth a
good deal more than a thousand pounds. Well, that only
makes my case stronger. I don't believe that the maddest
man that ever lived would throw away a diamond worth
more than a thousand pounds with such other wantonness as
seemed to have characterized in the action of the original
owner of the stone which I found in your ninepenny puzzle. Pew.
There have been some eccentric characters in the world, some
very eccentric characters. However, as you say, we shall see,
I fancy that I know someone who would be quite
willing to have such a diamond as this and moreover
would be willing to pay a fair price for its possession.
I will take it to him and see what he says. Pew,
hand me back that diamond, my dear Tress. I was
only going to Bob came in with the breakfast tray. Pew,
you will either hand that back to me at once,
or Bob shall summon the representatives of law and order.
He handed me the diamond, I sat down to breakfast
with a hearty appetite. Pugh stood and scowled at me.
Joseph Tress. It is my solemn conviction, and I have
no hesitation in saying so in plain English, that you're
a thief, My dear Pew. It seems to me that
we show every promise of becoming a couple of thieves.
Don't bracket me with you, not at all. You are
worse than I. It is you declined to return the
contents of the box to its proper owner. Put it
to yourself. You have some common sense, my dear old friend.
Do you suppose that a diamond worth more than a
thousand pounds is to be honestly bought for a ninepence?
He resumed his old trick of dancing round the room.
I was a fool ever to let you have the box.
I ought to have known better than to have trusted you.
Goodness knows you have given me sufficient cause to mistrust
you over and over again. Your character is only too notorious.
You have plundered friend and fowl alike, friend and fowl alike.
As for the rubbish which you call your collection, nine
tenths of it I know is a positive fact you
have stolen out and out? Who stole my rod? Sir
Walter Rawleigh Pipe wasn't a man, nam Pew. Look here,
Joseph Tress, I'm looking. Oh, it's no good talking to you,
not in the least you're You're dead to all the
promptings of conscience. May I inquire, mister Trest, what it
is you propose to do. I propose to do nothing
except some of the representatives of law and order fail that,
my dear Pew. I had some faint, vague, very vague
idea of taking the contents of your ninepenny puzzle to
a certain firm in hatt and Garden who are dealers
in precious stones, and to learn from them if they
are disposed to give anything for it. If so what,
I shall come with you with pleasure, on condition that
you pay the cab. I pay the cab. I'll pay half,
not at all. You either pay the whole fare or
else I will have one cab and you'll have another.
Is a three shilling cab fare from here to Hatton Garden.
If you propose to share my cab, you'll be so
good as to hand over that three shillings before we start.
He gasped, but he handed over the three shillings. There
are a few things I enjoy so much as getting
money out of Pew. On the road to Hatton Garden.
We wrangled nearly all the way. I own that I
feel certain satisfaction, irritating Pew. He is such an irritable man.
He wanted to know what I thought we should get
for the diamond. You can't expect to get munch for
the tense of a ninepenny puzzle, not even the price
of a cabfare. Pew. He eyed me, but for some
minutes he was silent. Then he began again, Truss, I
don't think we ought to let it go for less
than five thousand pounds. Seriously, Pew, I doubt whether when
the whole affair is ended, we shall get a five
thousand pence for it, or for that matter, five thousand farthings.
Why not? Why not? It's a magnificent stone, magnificent. I'll
stake my life on it. I tapped my breast with
the tips of my fingers. There's a warning voice within
my breast that ought to be in yours, Pew. Something
tells me, perhaps it is the unusually strong vein of
common sense which I possess, that the contents of your
ninepenny puzzle will be found to be in magnificent Dew,
an ingenious, practical joke, my friend. I don't believe it,
but I think he did. At any rate, I had
unsettled the foundations of his faith. We entered the Hat
and Garden office side by side. In his anxiety not
to let me get before him, Pew actually clung to
my arm. The office was divided into two parts by
a counter which ran from wall to wall. I advanced
to a man who stood on the other side of
this counter. I want to sell you a diamond. We
want to sell you a diamond, interpolated Priw. I turned
to Pew. I fixed him with my glance I want
to sell you a diamond here it is. What will
you give me for it? Taking the crystal from my
waistcoat pocket, I handed it to man on the other
side of the counter directly. He got it between his
fingers and saw that it was that he had got.
I noticed a sudden gleam came into his eyes. This
is this is a rather fine stone, Pugh nudged my arm.
I told you so, paid no attention to Pew. What
will you give me for it? Do you mean, what
will I give you for it? Cash down upon the nail?
Just so, what will you give me for it? Cash
down upon the nail? The man turned the crystal over
and over in his fingers. Well, that's rather a large order.
We don't often get a chance of buying such a
stone as this across the counter. What do you say, too,
well to ten thousand pounds? Ten thousand pounds. It was
beyond my wildest imaginings. Pew gasp, he lurched against the counter.
Ten thousand pounds, he echoed. The man on the other
side glanced at him. I thought, a little curiously, if
you can give me references or satisfy me in any
way as to your bonafides. I am prepared to give
you for this diamond an open check for ten thousand pounds, or,
if you prefer it, the cash instead, I stared, I
was not accustomed to see business transacted on quite such
lines as those. We'll take it, murmured pew. I believe
he was too much overcomfort by his feelings to do
more than murmur. I interposed, my dear sir, you will
excuse my saying that you arrived very rapidly at your
conclusion in your first place. How can you make sure
that it is a diamond? The man behind the counter smiled,
I should be very ill fitted for the position which
I hold. If I could not tell a diamond directly
I get sight of it, especially such a stone as this.
But have you no tests you can apply. We have
tests which we can apply in cases when doubt exists.
But in this case there is no doubt whatsoever. I
am as sure that this is a diamond as I
am sure that it is air I breathe. However, there
is a test. There was a wheel close by the speaker.
It was worked by a treatle. It was more like
a superior sort of traveling tinker's grindstone than anything else.
The man behind the counter put his foot upon the treadle.
The wheel began to revolve. He brought the crystal into
contact with the swiftly revolving wheel. There was a sh
and instantly his hand was empty. The crystal had vanished
into the air. Good Heavens, he gasped, I never saw
such a look of amazement on a human countenance before
it splintered. PostScript, it was a diamond. Although it had splintered.
In that fact lay the point of the joke. The
man behind the counter had not been wrong. Examination of
such dust it could be collected, proved that fact beyond
a doubt. It was declared by experts that the diamond,
at some period of its history, had been suggested to
intense and continued heat. The result had been to make
it as brittle as glass. There could be no doubt
that its original owner had been an expert too. He
knew where he had got it from, and he probably
knew what it had endured. He was aware that from
a mercantile's point of view, it was a worthless so
it could never have been cut. So, having a turn
for humor of particular kind, he had devoted days and weeks,
I possibly months, to the construction of that puzzle. He
had placed the diamond inside, and had enjoyed in anticipation
in an imagination the alnishtar visions of the Lucky Finder.
Pewbay blamed me for the catastrophe. He said, and still says,
that if I had not, in a measure and quite
gratuitiously insisted on the test, the man behind the counter
would have been satisfied with the evidence of his organs
of vision, and we should have been richer by ten
thousand pounds. But I did satisfy my conscience with the
reflection that what I did, at any rate was honest,
though at the same time I am perfectly aware that
such a reflection gives pew no sort of satisfaction.