Captain Ducie awaited with hidden impatience the hour when it should
please M. Platzoff to fulfil his promise. He had not long to wait. Three
evenings later, as they sat in the smoking-room, said Platzoff:
"To-night you shall see the Great Hara Diamond. No eyes save my own have
seen it for ten years. I must ask you to put yourself for an hour or two
under my instructions. Are you minded so to do?"
"I shall be most happy to carry out your wishes in every way," answered
Ducie. "Consider me as your slave for the time being."
"Attend, then, if you please. This evening you will retire to your own
rooms at eleven o'clock. Precisely at one-thirty a.m., you will come
back here. You will be good enough to come in your slippers, because it
is not desirable that any of the household should be disturbed by our
proceedings. I have no further orders at present."
"Your lordship's wishes are my commands," answered Ducie, with a mock
salaam.
They sat talking and smoking till eleven; then Ducie left his host as
if for the night. He lay down for a couple of hours on the sofa in his
dressing-room.
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