could be proved.  All the jewellers consulted, at once confirmed the Colonel’s assertion that he possessed one of the largest diamonds in the world.  The question of accurately valuing it presented some serious difficulties.  Its size made it a phenomenon in the diamond market; its colour placed it in a category by itself; and, to add to these elements of uncertainty, there was a defect, in the shape of a flaw, in the very heart of the stone.  Even with this last serious draw-back, however, the lowest of the various estimates given was twenty thousand pounds.  Conceive my father’s astonishment!  He had been within a hair’s-breadth of refusing to act as executor, and of allowing this magnificent jewel to be lost to the family.  The interest he took in the matter now, induced him to open the sealed instructions which had been deposited with the Diamond.  Mr. Bruff showed this document to me, with the other papers; and it suggests (to my mind) a clue to the nature of the conspiracy which threatened the Colonel’s life.”

“Then you do believe, sir,” I said, “that there was a conspiracy?”

“Not possessing my father’s excellent common sense,” answered Mr. Franklin, “I believe the Colonel’s life was threatened, exactly as the Colonel said.  The sealed instructions, as I think, explain how it was that he died, after all, quietly in his bed.  In the event of his death by violence (that is to say, in the absence of the regular letter from him at the appointed date), my father was then directed to send the Moonstone secretly to Amsterdam.  It was to be deposited in that city with a famous diamond-cutter, and it was to be cut up into from four to six separate stones.  The stones were then to be sold for what they would fetch, and the proceeds were to be applied to the founding of that professorship of experimental chemistry, which the Colonel has since endowed by his Will.  Now, Betteredge, exert those sharp wits of yours, and observe the conclusion to which the Colonel’s instructions point!”

I instantly exerted my wits.  They were of the slovenly English sort; and they consequently muddled it all, until Mr. Franklin took them in hand, and pointed out what they ought to see.

“Remark,” says Mr. Franklin, “that the integrity of the Diamond, as a whole stone, is here artfully made dependent on the preservation from violence of the Colonel’s life.  He is not satisfied with saying to the enemies he dreads, ’Kill me—­and you will be no nearer to the Diamond than you are now; it is where you can’t get at it—­in the guarded strong-room of a bank.’  He says instead, ’Kill me—­and the Diamond will be the Diamond no longer; its identity will be destroyed.’  What does that mean?”

Here I had (as I thought) a flash of the wonderful foreign brightness.

“I know,” I said.  “It means lowering the value of the stone, and cheating the rogues in that way!”