Margaret, will you look at these ?" He took from his pocket some shining substances resembling glass.

Some of them were flat, some round; the largest was as big as a lemon, others were smaller fragments of various sizes.
"These are pieces of the great diamond which were broken when the shell struck the bottom of the cave in which I found it.

I picked them up as I felt my way around this shell, when walking upon what seemed to me like solid air.

I thrust them into my pocket, and I would not come to you, Margaret, with this story, until I had gone to my office to find out if these fragments were really diamond.

I tested them; their substance is diamond!" Half dazed, she took the largest piece in her hand.
"Roland," she whispered, "if this is really a diamond, there is nothing like it known to man!" "Nothing, indeed," said he.
She sat staring at the great piece of glowing mineral which lay in her hand.