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