“Sufficient, perhaps, in conjunction with the other evidence, to prove it in a moral sense, but certainly not in a legal one,” said Mr. Madgin, quietly but decisively.  “Your ladyship must please to bear in mind that Captain Chillington in his letter makes no absolute mention of the diamond by name; he merely writes of it vaguely under certain initials, and, if called upon, how could you prove that he intended those initials to stand for the words Great Hara Diamond, and not for something altogether different?  If M. Platzoff were your ladyship’s next-door neighbour, and you knew for certain that he had the diamond still in his possession, you could only get it from him as he himself got it from your son—­by subterfuge and artifice.  Your ladyship will please to observe that I have put forward no opinion on the case.  I have merely offered a statement of plain facts as they show themselves on the surface.  With those facts before you it rests with your ladyship to decide what further steps you wish taken in the matter.”

“My good Madgin, do you know what it is to hate?” demanded Lady Chillington.  “To hate with a hatred that dwarfs all other passions of the soul, and makes them pigmies by comparison?  If you know this, you know the feeling with which I regard M. Platzoff.  If you want the key to the feeling, you have it in the fact that his accursed hands robbed my dead son:  even then you must have a mother’s heart to feel all that I feel.”  She paused for a moment as if to recover breath; then she resumed.  “See you, Mr. Solomon Madgin; I have a conviction, an intuition, call it what you will, that this Russian scoundrel is still alive.  That is the first fact you have to find out.  The next is, where he is now residing.  Then you will have to ascertain whether he has the diamond still in his possession, and if so, by what means it can be recovered.  Only recover it for me—­I ask not how or by what means—­only put into my hands the diamond that was stolen off my son’s breast as he lay dead; and the day you do that, my good Madgin, I will present you with a cheque for five thousand pounds!”

Mr. Madgin sat as one astounded; the power of reply seemed taken from him.

“Go, now,” said Lady Chillington, after a few moments.  “Ordinary business is out of the question to-day.  Go home and carefully digest what I have just said to you.  That you are a man of resources, I know well; had you not been so, I would not have employed you in this matter.  Come to me to-morrow, next day, next week—­when you like; only don’t come barren of ideas; don’t come without a plan, likely or unlikely, of some sort of a campaign.”

Mr. Madgin rose and swept his papers mechanically into his bag.  “Your ladyship said five thousand pounds, if I mistake not?” he stammered out.

“A cheque for five thousand pounds shall be yours on the day you bring me the diamond.  Is not my word sufficient, or do you wish to have it under bond and seal?” she asked with some hauteur.