"A sapphire!" Annesley exclaimed. "My favourite stone. Yet I never saw a
sapphire like it before. It's wonderful--brighter than a diamond."
"It is a diamond," said Knight. "A blue diamond, and considered
remarkable. It's what your friend Ruthven Smith would call a 'museum
piece,' if you showed it to him. But you mustn't. He'd move heaven and
earth to get it! Nobody must see it but you and me. It wouldn't be safe.
It's too valuable. And if you were known to have it, you'd be in danger
from all the jewel thieves in Europe and America. You wouldn't like
that."
"No, it would be horrible!" Annesley shuddered. "But what a pity it must
be hidden. Is it yours?"
"It's yours at present," said Knight, "if you'll keep it to yourself, and
look at it only when you and I are alone together. I can't give it to
you, precisely, to have and to hold (as I shall give you myself in a
few hours), because this ring is more a trust than a possession.
Something may happen which will force me to ask you for it. But again, it
may _not_. And, anyhow, I want you to have the ring until that time
comes. I've bought a thin gold chain, and you can hang it round your
neck, unless--I almost think you're inclined to refuse?"
Another mystery! But the blue diamond in its scintillating frame was so
alluring that Annesley could not refuse.
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