CHAPTER III.
THURSDAY AT THREE Mr.Latham ran through his afternoon mail with feverish haste and found--nothing; Mr.Schultze achieved the same result more ponderously.

On the following morning the mail still brought nothing.

About eleven o'clock Mr.Latham's desk telephone rang.
"Come to my offiz," requested Mr.Schultze, in gutteral excitement.
"_Mein Gott_, Laadham, der--come to my offiz, Laadham, und bring der diamond!" Mr.Latham went.

Including himself, there were the heads of the five greatest jewel establishments in America, representing, perhaps, one-tenth of the diamond trade of the country, in Mr.Schultze's office.

He found the other four gathered around a small table, and on this table--Mr.Latham gasped as he looked--lay four replicas of the mysterious diamond in his pocket.
"Pud id down here, Laadham," directed Mr.Schultze.