cessive. At the same time I cannot conceal from you
that they are most unusual. Indeed, the whole case is
very much out of our way ; and I should certainly have
refused it had it not been for the reputation of the gen-
tleman who entrusted it to my care, and, let me add, Mr.
Scrymgeour, the interest I have been led to take in your-
self by many complimentary and, I have no doubt, well-
deserved reports."
Francis entreated him to be more specific.
158
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
"You cannot picture my uneasiness as to these con-
ditions," he said.
"They are two," replied the lawyer, "only two; and
the sum, as you will remember, is five hundred a year,
and unburdened, I forgot to add, unburdened."
And the lawyer raised his eyebrows at him with
solemn gusto.
"The first," he resumed, "is of remarkable simpli-
city. You must be in Paris by the afternoon of Sunday,
the 1 5th ; there you will find, at the box-office of the
Com6die Franchise, a ticket for admission taken in your
name and waiting you. You are requested to sit out
the whole performance in the seat provided, and that
is all."
" I should certainly have preferred a week-day," re-
plied Francis. " But, after all, once in a way
"And in Paris, my dear sir," added the lawyer,
soothingly. "I believe I am something of a precisian
myself, but upon such a consideration, and in Paris, I
should not hesitate an instant."
And the pair laughed pleasantly together.
"The other is of more importance," continued the
Writer to the Signet. " It regards your marriage. My
client, taking a deep interest in your welfare, desires to
advise you absolutely in the choice of a wife. Abso-
lutely, you understand," he repeated.
"Let us be more explicit, if you please," returned
Francis. "Am I to marry anyone, maid or widow,
black or white, whom this invisible person chooses to
propose ? "
' ' I was to assure you that suitability of age and posi-
tion should be a principle with your benefactor," replied
59
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
the lawyer. "As to race, I confess the difficulty had
not occurred to me, and I failed to inquire ; but if you
like I will make a note of it at once, and advise you on
the earliest opportunity."
"Sir," said Francis, "it remains to be seen whether
this whole affair is not a most unworthy fraud. The
circumstances are inexplicable I had almost said in-
credible ; and until I see a little more daylight, and some
plausible motive, I confess I should be very sorry to put
a hand to the transaction. I appeal to you in this diffi-
culty for information. I must learn what is at the bot-
tom of it all. If you do not know, cannot guess, or are
not at liberty to tell me, I shall take my hat and go back
to my .bank as I came."
"I do not know," answered the lawyer, "but I have
an excellent guess. Your father, and no one else, is at
the root of this apparently unnatural business."
"My father!" cried Francis, in extreme disdain.
"Worthy man, I know every thought of his mind,
every penny of his fortune!"
"You misinterpret my words," said the lawyer. '!
do not refer to Mr. Scrymgeour, senior; for he is not
your father. When he and his wife came to Edinburgh,
you were already nearly one year old, and you had not
yet been three months in their care. The secret has
been well kept ; but such is the fact, Your father is un-
known, and I say again that I believe him to be the origi-
nal of the offers I am charged at present to transmit to
you."
It would be impossible to exaggerate the astonishment
of Francis Scrymgeour at this unexpected information.
He pleaded this confusion to the lawyer.
160
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
"Sir," said he, "after a piece of news so startling,
you must grant me some hours for thought. You shall
know this evening what conclusion I have reached."
The lawyer commended his prudence; and Francis,
excusing himself upon some pretext at the bank, took a
long walk into the country, and fully considered the dif-
ferent steps and aspects of the case. A pleasant sense
of his own importance rendered him the more deliberate ;
but the issue was from the first not doubtful. His whole
carnal man leaned irresistibly towards the five hundred
a year, and the strange conditions with which it was
burdened; he discovered in his heart an invincible re-
pugnance to the name of Scrymgeour, which he had
never hitherto disliked ; he began to despise the narrow
and unromantic interest of his former life ; and when once
his mind was fairly made up, he walked with a new
feeling of strength and freedom, and nourished himself
with the gayest anticipations.
He said but a word to the lawyer, and immediately
received a check for two quarters' arrears ; for the allow-
ance was ante-dated from the first of January. With
this in his pocket, he walked home. The flat in Scot-
land Street looked mean in his eyes ; his nostrils, for the
first time, rebelled against the odour of broth ; and he
observed little defects of manner in his adoptive father
which filled him with surprise and almost with disgust.
The next day, he determined, should see him on his way
to Paris.
In that city, where he arrived long before the appointed
date, he put up at a modest hotel frequented by English
and Italians, and devoted himself to improvement in the
French tongue ; for this purpose he had a master twice
161
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
a week, entered into conversation with loiterers in the
Champs Elysees, and nightly frequented the theatre.
He had his whole toilette fashionably renewed ; and was
shaved and had his hair dressed every morning by a
barber in a neighbouring street. This gave him some-
thing of a foreign air, and seemed to wipe off the re-
proach of his past years.
At length, on the Saturday afternoon, he betook him-
self to the box-office of the theatre in the Rue Richelieu.
No sooner had he mentioned his name than the clerk
produced the order in an envelope of which the address
was scarcely dry.
" It has been taken this moment," said the clerk.
" Indeed! " said Francis. " May I ask what the gentle-
man was like ? "
"Your friend is easy to describe," replied the official.
"He is old and strong and beautiful, with white hair
and a sabre-cut across his face. You cannot fail to
recognise so marked a person."
"No, indeed," returned Francis; "and I thank you
for your politeness."
" He cannot yet be far distant," added the clerk. "If
you make haste you might still overtake him."
Francis did not wait to be twice told; he ran pre-
cipitately from the theatre into the middle of the street
and looked in all directions. More than one white-haired
man was within sight ; but though he overtook each of
them in succession, all wanted the sabre-cut. For nearly
half-an-hour he tried one street after another in the
neighbourhood, until at length, recognising the folly of
continued search, he started on a walk to compose his
agitated feelings; for this proximity of an encounter
162
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
with him to whom he could not doubt he owed the day
had profoundly moved the young man.
It chanced that his way lay up the Rue Drouot and
thence up the Rue des Martyrs; and chance, in this
case, served him better than all the forethought in the
world. For on the outer boulevard he saw two men
in earnest colloquy upon a seat. One was dark, young,
and handsome, secularly dressed, but with an indelible
clerical stamp; the other answered in every particular
to the description given him by the clerk. Francis felt
his heart beat high in his bosom ; he knew he was now
about to hear the voice of his father ; and making a
wide circuit, he noiselessly took his place behind the
couple in question, who were too much interested in
their talk to observe much else. As Francis had ex-
pected, the conversation was conducted in the English
language.
"Your suspicions begin to annoy me, Rolles," said
the older man. "I tell you I am doing my utmost; a
man cannot lay his hand on millions in a moment.
Have I not taken you up, a mere stranger, out of pure
good will ? Are you not living largely on my bounty ? "
"On your advances, Mr. Vandeleur," corrected the
other.
"Advances, if you choose; and interest instead of
good-will, if you prefer it," returned Vandeleur, angrily.
" I am not here to pick expressions. Business is busi-
ness; and your business, let me remind you, is too
muddy for such airs. Trust me, or leave me alone and
find someone else; but let us have an end, for God's
sake, of your jeremiads."
"I am beginning to learn the world," replied the
163
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
other, "and I see that you have every reason to play
me false, and not one to deal honestly. I am not here
to pick expressions either; you wish the diamond for
yourself: you know you do you dare not deny it.
Have you not already forged my name, and searched
my lodging in my absence ? I understand the cause
of your delays; you are lying in wait; you are the
diamond-hunter, forsooth; and sooner or later, by fair
means or foul, you'll lay your hands upon it. I tell
you, it must stop; push me much further and I promise
you a surprise."
"It does not become you to use threats," returned
Vandeleur. "Two can play at that. My brother is
here in Paris; the police are on the alert; and if you
persist in wearying me with your caterwauling, I will
arrange a little astonishment for you, Mr. Rolles. But
mine shall be once and for all. Do you understand, or
would you prefer me to tell it you in Hebrew ? There
is an end to all things, and you have come to the end
of my patience. Tuesday, at seven ; not a day, not an
hour sooner, not the least part of a second, if it were to
save your life. And if you do not choose to wait, you
may go to the bottomless pit for me, and welcome."
And so saying, the Dictator arose from the bench, and
marched off in the direction of Montmartre, shaking his
head and swinging his cane with a most furious air;
while his companion remained where he was, in an at-
titude of great dejection.
Francis was at the pitch of surprise and horror; his
sentiments had been shocked to the last degree; the
hopeful tenderness with which he had taken his place
upon the bench was transformed into repulsion and de-
164
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
spair; old Mr. Scrymgeour, he reflected, was a far more
kindly and creditable parent than this dangerous and
violent intriguer; but he retained his presence of mind,
and suffered not a moment to elapse before he was on
the trail of the Dictator.
That gentleman's fury carried him forward at a brisk
pace, and he was so completely occupied in his angry
thoughts that he never so much as cast a look behind
him till he reached his own door.
His house stood high up in the Rue Lepic, command-
ing a view of all Paris and enjoying the pure air of the
heights. It was two stories high, with green blinds and
shutters ; and all the windows looking on the street were
hermetically closed. Tops of trees showed over the high
garden wall, and the wall was protected by cbevaux-de-
frise. The Dictator paused a moment while he searched
his pocket for a key; and then, opening a gate, disap-
peared within the enclosure.
Francis looked about him; the neighbourhood was
very lonely ; the house isolated in its garden. It seemed as
if his observation must here come to an abrupt end. A
second glance, however, showed him a tall house next
door presenting a gable to the garden, and in this gable
a single window. He passed to the front and saw a
ticket offering unfurnished lodgings by the month; and,
on inquiry, the room which commanded the Dictator's
garden proved to be one of those to let. Francis did
not hesitate a moment; he took the room, paid an ad-
vance upon the rent, and returned to his hotel to seek
his baggage.
The old man with the sabre-cut might or might not
be his father; he might or he might not be on the true
165
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
scent; but he was certainly on the edge of an exciting
mystery, and he promised himself that he would not
relax his observation until he had got to the bottom of
the secret.
From the window of his new apartment Francis Scrym-
geour commanded a complete view into the garden of
the house with the green blinds. Immediately below
him a very comely chestnut with wide boughs shel-
tered a pair of rustic tables where people might dine in
the height of summer. On all sides save one a dense
vegetation concealed the soil: but there, between the
tables and the house, he saw a patch of gravel walk
leading from the veranda to the garden-gate. Studying
the places from between the boards of the Venetian
shutter, which he durst not open for fear of attracting
attention, Francis observed but little to indicate the
manners of the inhabitants, and that little argued no
more than a close reserve and a taste for solitude. The
garden was conventual, the house had the air of a prison.
The green blinds were all drawn down upon the out-
side; the door into the veranda was closed; the gar-
den, as far as he could see it, was left entirely to itself
in the evening sunshine. A modest curl of smoke from
a single chimney alone testified to the presence of living
people.
In order that he might not be entirely idle, and to
give a certain colour to his way of life, Francis had pur-
chased Euclid's Geometry in French, which he set him-
self to copy and translate on the top of his portmanteau
and seated on the floor against the wall; for he was
equally without chair or table. From time to time he
would rise and cast a glance into the enclosure of the
166
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
house with the green blinds; but the windows remained
obstinately closed and the garden empty.
Only late in the evening did anything occur to reward
his continued attention. Between nine and ten the
sharp tinkle of a bell aroused him from a fit of dozing;
and he sprang to his observatory in time to hear an im-
portant noise of locks being opened and bars removed,
and to see Mr. Vandeleur, carrying a lantern and clothed
in a flowing robe of black velvet with a skull-cap to
match, issue from under the veranda and proceed lei-
surely toward the garden-gate. The sound of bolts and
bars was then repeated ; and a moment after Francis per-
ceived the Dictator escorting into the house, in the mo-
bile light of the lantern, an individual of the lowest and
most despicable appearance.
Half-an-hour afterward the visitor was reconducted
to the street; and Mr. Vandeleur, setting his light upon
one of the rustic tables, finished a cigar with great de-
liberation under the foliage of the chestnut. Francis,
peering through a clear space among the leaves, was
able to follow his gestures as he threw away the ash or
enjoyed a copious inhalation ; and beheld a cloud upon
the old man's brow and a forcible action of the lips,
which testified to some deep and probably painful train
of thought. The cigar was already almost at an end,
when the voice of a young girl was heard suddenly cry-
ing the hour from the interior of the house.
" In a moment," replied John Vandeleur.
And, with that, he threw away the stump and, taking
up the lantern, sailed away under the veranda for the
night. As soon as the door was closed, absolute dark-
ness fell upon the house ; Francis might try his eyesight
167
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
as much as he pleased, he could not detect so much as
a single chink of light below a blind; and he concluded,
with great good sense, that the bed chambers were all
upon the other side.
Early the next morning (for he was early awake after
an uncomfortable night upon the floor), he saw cause to
adopt a different explanation. The blinds rose, one after
another, by means of a spring in the interior, and dis-
closed steel shutters such as we see on the front of
shops ; these in their turn were rolled up by a similar
contrivance; and for the space of about an hour, the
chambers were left open to the morning air. At the
end of that time Mr. Vandeleur, with his own hand,
once more closed the shutters and replaced the blinds
from within.
While Francis was still marvelling at these precautions,
the door opened and a young girl came forth to look
about her in the garden. It was not two minutes before
she re-entered the house, but even in that short time he
saw enough to convince him that she possessed the
most unusual attractions. His curiosity was not only
highly excited by this incident, but his spirits were im-
proved to a still more notable degree. The alarming
manners and more than equivocal life of his father ceased
from that moment to prey upon his mind; from that
moment he embraced his new family with ardour; and
whether the young lady should prove his sister or his
wife, he felt convinced she was an angel in disguise.
So much was this the case that he was seized with
e sudden horror when he reflected how little he really
knew, and how possible it was that he followed the
wrong person when he followed Mr. Vandeleur.
168
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
The porter, whom he consulted, could afford him little
information; but, such as it was, it had a mysterious and
questionable sound. The person next door was an Eng-
lish gentleman of extraordinary wealth, and proportion-
ately eccentric in his tastes and habits. He possessed
great collections, which he kept in the house beside him ;
and it was to protect these that he had fitted the place
with steel shutters, elaborate fastenings and cbevaux-de-
frise along the garden wall. He lived much alone,
in spite of some strange visitors with whom, it seemed,
he had business to transact; and there was no one
in the house except Mademoiselle and an old woman
servant.
"Is Mademoiselle his daughter?" inquired Francis.
' ' Certainly, " replied the porter. ' ' Mademoiselle is the
daughter of the house ; and strange it is to see how she
is made to work. For all his riches, it is she who goes
to market; and every day in the week you may see her
going by with a basket on her arm."
"And the collections?" asked the other.
"Sir," said the man, "they are immensely valuable.
More I cannot tell you. Since M. de Vandeleur's arrival
no one in the quarter has so much as passed the door."
"Suppose not," returned Francis, "you must surely
have some notion what these famous galleries contain.
Is it pictures, silks, statues, jewels, or what ? "
"My faith, sir," said the fellow with a shrug, "it
might be carrots, and still I could not tell you. How
should I know ? The house is kept like a garrison, as
you perceive."
And then as Francis was returning disappointed to his
room, the porter called him back.
169
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
" I have just remembered, sir," said he. " M. de Van-
deleur has been in all parts of the world, and I once heard
the old woman declare that he had brought many dia-
monds back with him. If that be the truth, there must
be a fine show behind those shutters."
By an early hour on Sunday Francis was in his place
at the theatre. The seat which had been taken for him
was only two or three numbers from the left-hand side,
and directly opposite one of the lower boxes. As the
seat had been specially chosen there was doubtless some-
thing to be learned from its position ; and he judged by
an instinct that the box upon his right was, in some way
or other, to be connected with the drama in which he
ignorantly played a part. Indeed it was so situated that
its occupants could safely observe him from beginning
to end of the piece, if they were so minded; while,
profiting by the depth, they could screen themselves
sufficiently well from any counter-examination on his
side. He promised himself not to leave it for a moment
out of sight; and whilst he scanned the rest of the the-
atre, or made a show of attending to the business of
the stage, he always kept a corner of an eye upon the
empty box.
The second act had been some time in progress, and
was even drawing towards a close, when the door
opened and two persons entered and ensconced them-
selves in the darkest of the shade. Francis could hardly
control his emotion. It was Mr. Vandeleur and his
daughter. The blood came and went in his arteries and
veins with stunning activity; his ears sang; his head
turned. He dared not look lest he should awake sus-
picion ; his play-bill, which he kept reading from end to
170
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
end, and over and over again, turned from white to red
before his eyes; and when he cast a glance upon the
stage it seemed incalculably far away, and he found the
voices and gestures of the actors to the last degree im-
pertinent and absurd.
From time to time he risked a momentary look in the
direction which principally arrested him; and once at
least he felt certain that his eyes encountered those of
the young girl. A shock passed over his body, and he
saw all the colours of the rainbow. What would he not
have given to overhear what passed between the Van-
deleurs ? What would he not have given for the cou-
rage to take up his opera-glass and steadily inspect their
attitude and expression ? There, for aught he knew, his
whole life was being decided and he not able to in-
terfere, not able even to follow the debate, but con-
demned to sit and suffer where he was, in impotent
anxiety.
At last the act came to an end. The curtain fell, and
the people around him began to leave their places for the
interval. It was only natural that he should follow their
example; and if he did so, it was not only natural but
necessary that he should pass immediately in front of
the box in question. Summoning all his courage, but
keeping his eyes lowered, Francis drew near the spot.
His progress was slow, for the old gentleman before him
moved with incredible deliberation, wheezing as he went.
What was he to do ? Should he address the Vandeleurs
by name as he went by ? Should he take the flower
from his button-hole and throw it into the box ? Should
he raise his face and direct one long and affectionate look
upon the lady who was either his sister or his betrothed ?
171
NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS
As he found himself thus struggling among so many
alternatives, he had a vision of his old equable existence
in the bank, and was assailed by a thought of regret for
the past.
By this time he had arrived directly opposite the box ;
and although he was still undetermined what to do or
whether to do anything, he turned his head and lifted
his eyes. No sooner had he done so than he uttered a
cry of disappointment and remained rooted to the spot.
The box was empty. During his slow advance Mr.
Vandeleur and his daughter had quietly slipped away.
A polite person in his rear reminded him that he was
stopping the path ; and he moved on again with mechani-
cal footsteps, and suffered the crowd to carry him unre-
sisting out of the theatre. Once in the street, the pressure
ceasing, he came to a halt, and the cool night air speedily
restored him to the possession of his faculties. He was
surprised to find that his head ached violently, and that
he remembered not one word of the two acts which
he had witnessed. As the excitement wore away, it
was succeeded by an overweening appetite for sleep, and
he hailed a cab and drove to his lodging in a state of
extreme exhaustion and some disgust of life.
Next morning he lay in wait for Miss Vandeleur on
her road to market, and by eight o'clock beheld her step-
ping down a lane. She was simply, and even poorly,
attired ; but in the carriage of her head and body there
was something flexible and noble that would have lent
distinction to the meanest toilette. Even her basket, so
aptly did she carry it, became her like an ornament. It
seemed to Francis, as he slipped into a doorway, that
the sunshine followed and the shadows fled before her
172
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND
as she walked; and he was conscious, for the first time,
of a bird singing in a cage above the lane.
He suffered her to pass the doorway, and then, com-
ing forth once more, addressed her by name from be^
hind.
"Miss Vandeleur," said he.
She turned and, when she saw who he was, became
deadly pale.
" Pardon me," he continued; " Heaven knows I had
no will to startle you; and, indeed, there should be no-
thing startling in the presence of one who wishes you
so well as I do. And, believe me, I am acting rather
from necessity than choice. We have many things in
common, and I am sadly in the dark. There is much
that I should be doing, and my hands are tied. I do not
know even what to feel, nor who are my friends and
enemies."
She found her voice with an effort.
" I do not know who you are," she said.