Is it clear, sir ?" "Why, it's absurd, fantastic, chimerical!" Mr.Latham burst out irritably.

"It's ridiculous to consider such a thing." "I beg your pardon," Mr.Czenki apologized.

"It is only a conjecture, of course.

I may add that I don't believe that three stones of the size of the replicas which Mr.Wynne produced here could have been found anywhere in the world and brought in here-- smuggled in or in the usual way--and the secret held against the thousands of men who daily watch the diamond fields and market.

It would not be difficult, however, if one man alone knew the source of the stones, to keep it from the world at large.