With this color, and assuming it to be six carats, even if _badly_ cut, it would be worth ten or twelve thousand." Mr.Latham mopped his brow.

And this had come by mail, unregistered! "It would not be possible to say where--where such a stone came from--what country ?" Mr.Latham inquired curiously.

"What's your opinion ?" The expert shook his head.

"If I had to guess I should say Brazil, of course," he replied; "but that would be merely because the most perfect blue-white diamonds come from Brazil.

They are found all over the world--in Africa, Russia, India, China, even in the United States.