United States or Libya ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
And a third sphere rolled along the table. This was blue elusively blue as a moonlit sky. Its rounded sides caught the light from the windows and sparkled it back. And now the three jewels lay side by side in Mr. Czenki's open hand, the while the five greatest diamond merchants of the United States glutted their eyes upon them. Mr.
Latham's face went deathly white from sheer excitement, the German's violently red from the same emotion, and the others there was amazement, admiration, awe in them. Mr. Czenki's countenance was again impassive. "If you will all be seated again, please?" requested Mr. Wynne, who still stood, cool and self-certain, at the end of the table.
It was only by a supreme effort that he held himself in control; and the lean, scarred face was working strangely. "Well, if you insist on knowing," observed Mr. Wynne slowly, "I suppose I'll have to tell all of it. In the first place " "Don't!" It came finally, the one word, from Mr. Czenki's half-closed lips, a smothered explosion which drew every eye upon him. Mr.
Cawthorne looked around, with bewilderment in his eyes. The others nodded their approval of Mr. Czenki's opinion. "The Regent, yes," Mr. Wynne agreed; "one hundred and thirty-six and three-quarter carats, cut as a brilliant, worn by Napoleon in his sword-hilt, now in the Louvre at Paris, the property of the French Government valued at two and a half million dollars."
Birnes had been seeking answers. The tense expression about Mr. Czenki's eyes was dissipated, and he sighed a little. "I saw the Red Haney affair in the newspapers this morning, as you will know," he continued after a moment. "It was desirable that I should come here with Miss Kellner, but it was not desirable, even under those circumstances, that I should permit myself to be followed.
Czenki's countenance, and he arose with his fingers working nervously. His beady eyes were glittering; his lips were pressed together until they were bloodless. "Vas iss?" demanded Mr. Schultze curiously. "My God, gentlemen, don't you see?" the expert burst out violently. "Don't you see what this man has done? He has he has "
Czenki's black eyes seemed to be searching the other's face for an instant, and then he nodded affirmatively. "I made some tests for him, yes," he volunteered. Mr. Wynne passed on along the other side of the long table, and stopped at the end. Mr. Latham was at his right, Mr. Schultze at his left, and Mr. Czenki sat at the far end, facing him. The small sole-leather grip was on the floor at Mr.
Henry Latham, and other jewelers of New York, on behalf of Mr. Kellner, and offered them a quantity of diamonds. It may be that they regarded the quantity I offered as unusual; that I don't know, but I would venture the conjecture that they did." He paused a moment. Mr. Czenki's face, again growing expressionless, was turned toward the light of the window; Chief Arkwright was studying it shrewdly.
Czenki's thin fist was clenched under his employer's nose, and the jeweler drew back a little, vaguely alarmed. "I don't understand what " he began. "The diamonds!" Mr. Czenki interrupted, and the long pent-up excitement within him burst into a flame of impatience. "The diamonds! He makes them! Don't you see? Diamonds! He manufactures them!" "Gott in Himmel!" exclaimed Mr.
Wynne, from the other end of the table, spun another glittering sphere toward them this as brilliantly, softly green as the verdure of early spring, prismatic, gleaming, radiant. Mr. Czenki's beady eyes snapped as he caught it and held it out for the others to see, and some strange emotion within caused him to close his teeth savagely. "And this!" said Mr. Wynne again.
Word Of The Day