Indian Diamond as mine has been. I was
trusted with the secret of Colonel Herncastle's
plan for escaping assassination. I received
the Colonel's letters, periodically reporting
himself a living man. I drew his Will, leaving the
Moonstone to Miss Verinder. I persuaded
his executor to act, on the chance that the
jewel might prove to be a valuable acquisition
to the family. And, lastly, I combatted
Mr. Franklin Blake's scruples, and induced
him to be the means of transporting the
Diamond to Lady Verinder's house. If any one
can claim a prescriptive right of interest in the
Moonstone, and in everything connected with
it, I think it is hardly to be denied that I am
the man.

The moment my mysterious client was shown
in, I felt an inner conviction that I was in the
presence of one of the three Indians— probably
of the chief. He was carefully dressed in
European costume. But his swarthy complexion,
his long lithe figure, and his grave and graceful
politeness of manner were enough to betray
his Oriental origin to any intelligent eyes that
looked at him.

I pointed to a chair, and begged to be
informed of the nature of his business with
me.

After first apologising—in an excellent selection
of. English words— for the liberty which
he had taken in disturbing me, the Indian
produced a small parcel, the outer covering of
which was of cloth of gold. Removing this
and a second wrapping of some silken fabric,
he placed a little box, or casket, on my table,
most beautifully and richly inlaid in jewels, on
an ebony ground.

" I have come, sir," he said, "to ask you to
lend me some money. And I leave this as an
assurance to you that my debt will be paid
back."

I pointed to his card. " And you apply to
me," I rejoined, "at Mr. Luker's recommendation?"

The Indian bowed.

"May I ask how it is that Mr. Luker
himself did not advance the money that you
require?"

. " Mr. Luker informed me, sir, that he had no
money to lend."

"And so he recommended you to come to
me?"

The Indian, in his turn, pointed to the card.
"It is written there," he said.

Briefly answered, and thoroughly to the
purpose! If the Moonstone had been in my
possession, this Oriental gentleman would have
murdered me, I am well aware, without a
moment's hesitation. At the same time, and
barring that slight drawback, I am bound to
testify that he was the perfect model of a client.
He might not have respected my life. But he
did what none of my own countrymen had ever
done, in all my experience of them—he
respected my time.

"I am sorry," I said, "that you should have
had the trouble of coming to me. Mr. Luker is
quite mistaken in sending you here. I am
trusted, like other men in my profession, with
money to lend. But I never lend it to strangers,
and I never lend it on such a security as you
have produced."

Far from attempting, as other people would
have done, to induce me to relax my own rules,
the Indian only made me another bow, and
wrapped up his box in its two coverings without
a word of protest. He rose— this admirable
assassin rose to go, the moment I had answered
him!

"Will your condescension towards a stranger,
excuse my asking one question," he said,
"before I take my leave?"

I bowed on my side. Only one question at
parting! The average in my experience, was
fifty.

"Supposing, sir, it had been possible (and
customary) for you to lend me the money,"
he said, " in what space of time would it have
been possible (and customary) for me to pay it
back?"

"According to the usual course pursued in
this country," I answered, " you would have
been entitled to pay the money back (if you
liked) in one year's time from the date at
which it was first advanced to you."

The Indian made me a last bow, the lowest
of all—and suddenly and softly walked out of
the room.

It was done in a moment, in a noiseless,
supple, cat-like way, which a little startled me,
I own. As soon as I was composed enough to
think, I arrived at one distinct conclusion in
reference to the otherwise incomprehensible
visitor who had favoured me with a call.

His face, voice, and manner—while I was in
his company—were under such perfect control
that they set all scrutiny at defiance. But he
had given me one chance of looking under the
smooth outer surface of him, for all that. He
had not shown the slightest sign of attempting
to fix anything that I had said to him in his
mind, until I mentioned the time at which it
was customary to permit the earliest repayment,
on the part of a debtor, of money that had
been advanced as a loan. When I gave him
that piece of information, he looked me straight
in the face, while I was speaking, for the first
time. The inference I drew from this—was
that he had a special purpose in asking me
his last question, and a special interest in hearing
my answer to it. The more carefully I reflected on
what had passed between us, the more shrewdly
I suspected the production of the casket, and
the application for the loan, of having been
mere formalities, designed to pave the way for
the parting inquiry addressed to me.

I had satisfied myself of the correctness of
this conclusion—and was trying to get on a
step further, and penetrate the Indian's motives
next—when a letter was brought to me, which
proved t o be from no less a person than Mr.
Septimus Luker himself. He asked my pardon
in terms of sickening servility, and assured me
that he could explain matters to my satisfaction,