fair, having returned from America and having cast aside her lieutenant, has come under protection of no less a person than his Grace Philippe of Orleans, the regent.  Now, as you know, the bank is the best friend of the regent, and this mysterious dame, as we are advised by servants of his Grace’s household, hath told his Grace such stories of the wealth of the Messasebe that he has secretly and quickly made over the control of the trade of those provinces to this new bank.  There is story also that his Grace himself will not lack profit in this movement!”

The hand of Conti smote hard upon the table.  “By heaven! it were strange thing,” said he, “if this foreign traveler should prove the same mysterious beauty Philippe is reported to have kept in hiding.  My faith, is it indeed true that we are come upon a time of miracles?”

“Listen!” broke in again Varenne, his ardor overcoming his obsequiousness.  “These are some of the tales brought back—­and reported privately, I can assure you, gentlemen, now for the first time and to yourselves.  The people of this country are said to be clad in beauteous raiment, made of skins, of grasses, and of the barks of trees.  Their ornaments are made of pure, yellow gold, and of precious gems which they pick up from the banks of the streams, as common as pebbles here in France.  The climate is such that all things grow in the most unrivaled fruitfulness.  There is neither too much sun nor too much rain.  The lakes and rivers are vast and beautiful, and the forests are filled with myriads of strange and sweet-voiced birds.  ’Tis said that the dream of Ponce de Leon hath been realized, and that not only one, but scores of fountains of youth have been discovered in this great valley.  The people are said never to grow old.  Their personal beauty is of surpassing nature, and their disposition easy and complaisant to the last degree—­”

“My faith, say on!” broke in De la Chaise. “’Tis surely a story of paradise which you recount.”

“But, listen, gentlemen!  The story goes yet farther.  As to mines of gold and silver, ’twas matter of report that such mines are common in all the valley of the Messasebe.  Indeed the whole surface of the earth, in some parts, is covered with lumps of gold, so that the natives care nothing for it.  The bottoms of the streams, the beaches of the lakes, carry as many particles of gold as they have pebbles and little stones.  As for silver, none take note of it.  ’Tis used as building stone.”

“In the name of Jehovah, is there support for these wonders you have spoken?” broke in Fraslin the Jew, his eyes shining with suppressed excitement.

“Assuredly.  Yet I am telling not half of the news which came to my knowledge this very morning—­the story is said to have emanated from the Palais Royal itself, and therefore, no doubt, is to be traced to this game unknown queen of the Messasebe.  She reports, so it is said, that beyond the country where L’Huillier secured his cargo of blue earth, there is a land where grows a most peculiar plant.  The meadows and fields are covered with it, and it is said that the dews of night, which gather within the petals of these flowers, become, in the course of a single day, nothing less than a solid diamond stone!  From this in time the leaves drop down, leaving the diamond exposed there, shining and radiant.”