After considerable fencing and parrying, Mr. Rosenbaum made an offer for the gems, to which Mr. Mannering demurred.

“Show me a higher class of gems and I will offer you a better price,” said Mr. Rosenbaum, finally seeming to grow impatient.  “Show me one like this, for instance, and I will offer you a small fortune,” and opening a case which he had quickly drawn from his pocket, he took from it an enormous diamond, beside whose dazzling brilliancy the pair of gems under consideration seemed suddenly to grow dim and lustreless.  He held it up and a thousand rays of prismatic light flashed in as many different directions.

“What do you think of that, my dear sir?  When I can find a match for that magnificent stone, we can fill an order which we have held for more than twelve months from the royal house in Germany.  But where will I find it?”

Twirling the gem carelessly between his thumb and finger, he watched the face of his companion and saw it change to a deathly pallor.

“May I see that for one moment?” he asked, and his voice sounded unnatural and constrained, while the hand which he extended across the table trembled visibly.

“Most certainly, sir,” Mr. Rosenbaum replied, and, in compliance with the request, handed to Mr. Mannering the gem which the latter had himself disposed of less than three months before in one of the large Western cities.  Nothing could escape the piercing eyes now fastened upon that face with its strange pallor, its swiftly changing expression.  Unconscious of this scrutiny, Mr. Mannering regarded the gem silently, then removed his glasses for a closer inspection.  Having satisfied his curiosity, he returned the stone to Mr. Rosenbaum, and as he did so, found the eyes of the latter fixed not upon the gem, but upon his own face.  Something in their glance seemed to disconcert him for an instant, but he quickly recovered himself, and, replacing the colored glasses, remarked with a forced composure,-

“That is a magnificent stone.  May I ask when and where you found it?”

“I picked it up in one of your cities some three months ago, maybe, more or less.”

“You bought it in this country, then?  Why may you not expect to match it here?”

“Simply on the theory, my dear sir, that the lightning never strikes twice in the same place.”

“Well, sir,” said Mr. Mannering, calmly, “I will show you a stone so perfect a match for that, you yourself could not distinguish between the two.”

“You have such a diamond!” Mr. Rosenbaum exclaimed; “why then are you wasting time with these?” and he pushed the smaller diamonds from him with a gesture of contempt.  “Why did you not produce it in the first place?”

“Because,” replied Mr. Mannering, his composure now fully restored, “I do not propose to produce it until I know somewhere near what you will give for it.”

“My dear sir,” Mr. Rosenbaum’s tones became eager, “as I have already told you, if I can match this stone,” placing it on the table between them, “I will pay you a small fortune; money would be no object; you could have your own price.”