life of his child.’  ’But why should Captain Chillington carry so valuable a stone about his person?’ I asked.  ’Would it not have been wiser to deposit it in the bank at Bombay till such time as the Captain could take it with him to England?’ ‘The stone is a charmed stone,’ said Rung, ’and it was the Rajah’s particular wish that the sahib Chillington should always wear it about his person.  So long as he did so he could not come to his death by fire by water, or by sword thrust.’  Said I, ’But how did the Russian know that Captain Chillington carried the diamond about his person?’ ’One night when the Captain had had too much wine he showed the diamond to his friend,’ answered Rung.  Said I, ’But how does it happen, Rung, that you know this?’ Rung, smiling and putting his finger tips together, replied, ’How does it happen that I know so much about you?’ And then he told me a lot of things about myself that I thought no soul in India knew.  It was just wonderful how he did it.  ’So it is:  let that be sufficient,’ he finished by saying.  ’Why did you not tell me till after the Russian had gone away that you saw him steal the diamond?’ said I.  ’If you had told me at the time I could have charged him with it.’  ‘You are ignorant,’ said Rung; ’you are little more than a child.  The Russian sahib had the evil eye.  Had I crossed his purpose before his face he would have cursed me while he looked at me, and I should have withered away and died.  He has got the diamond, and only by magic can it ever be recovered from him.’

“Your ladyship and miss, I hope I am not tedious nor wandering from the point.  It will be sufficient to say that when I got down to Chinapore I found that M. Platzoff had indeed been there, but only just long enough to see the Colonel and give him an account of Captain Chillington’s death, after which he had at once engaged a palanquin and bearers and set out with all speed for Bombay.  It was now my turn to see the Colonel, and after I had given over into his hands all my dead master’s property that I had brought with me from the Hills, I told him the story of the diamond as Rung had told it to me.  He was much struck by it, and ordered me to take Rung to him the next morning.  But that very night Rung disappeared, and was never seen in the camp again.  Whether he was frightened at what he called the Russian’s evil eye—­frightened that Platzoff could blight him even from a distance, I have no means of knowing.  In any case, gone he was; and from that day to this I have never set eyes on him.  Well, the Colonel said he would take a note of what I had told him about the diamond, and that I must leave the matter entirely in his hands.

“Your ladyship, a fortnight after that the Colonel shot himself.