It swung outward, revealing the door of a safe.

He manipulated the combination, took from a drawer of the interior a box, opened it and stared at a magnificent Burmah ruby.

It was or had been a royal jewel, presented to Masewell Price by one of the great princes of India whose portrait he had painted.

The pearls had all been captured long since by Price's sisters and by Morgan V.for his wife; but this ruby his mother had given him as she lay dying.

She had bidden him leave it in his father's safe until he was out of college, and then keep it as closely in his personal possession as possible.