He eyed me, but for some minutes he was silent.  Then he began again.

“Tress, I don’t think we ought to let it go for less than—­than five thousand pounds.”

“Seriously, Pugh, I doubt whether, when the whole affair is ended, we shall get five thousand pence for it, or, for the matter of that, five thousand farthings.”

“But why not?  Why not?  It’s a magnificent stone—­magnificent!  I’ll stake my life on it.”

I tapped my breast with the tips of my fingers.

“There’s a warning voice within my breast that ought to be in yours, Pugh!  Something tells me, perhaps it is the unusually strong vein of common sense which I possess, that the contents of your ninepenny puzzle will be found to be a magnificent do—­an ingenious practical joke, my friend.”

“I don’t believe it.”

But I think he did; at any rate, I had unsettled the foundations of his faith.

We entered the Hatton Garden office side by side; in his anxiety not to let me get before him, Pugh actually clung to my arm.  The office was divided into two parts by a counter which ran from wall to wall.  I advanced to a man who stood on the other side of this counter.

“I want to sell you a diamond.”

“We want to sell you a diamond,” interpolated Pugh.

I turned to Pugh.  I “fixed” him with my glance.

“I want to sell you a diamond.  Here it is.  What will you give me for it?”

Taking the crystal from my waistcoat pocket I handed it to the man on the other side of the counter.  Directly, he got it between his fingers, and saw that it was that he had got, I noticed a sudden gleam come into his eyes.

“This is—­this is rather a fine stone.”

Pugh nudged my arm.

“I told you so.”  I paid no attention to Pugh.  “What will you give me for it?”

“Do you mean, what will I give you for it cash down upon the nail?”

“Just so—­what will you give me for it cash down upon the nail?”

The man turned the crystal over and over in his fingers.

“Well, that’s rather a large order.  We don’t often get a chance of buying such a stone as this across the counter.  What do you say to—­well—­to ten thousand pounds?”

Ten thousand pounds!  It was beyond my wildest imaginings.  Pugh gasped.  He lurched against the counter.

“Ten thousand pounds!” he echoed.

The man on the other side glanced at him, I thought, a little curiously.

“If you can give me references, or satisfy me in any way as to your bona fides, I am prepared to give you for this diamond an open check for ten thousand pounds, or if you prefer it, the cash instead.”

I stared; I was not accustomed to see business transacted on quite such lines as those.

“We’ll take it,” murmured Pugh; I believe he was too much overcome by his feelings to do more than murmur.  I interposed.