You smile as if I had been
relating a pleasant fable. But tell me, if you can, how it happens that
in the forehead of yonder idol there is a small cavity lined with gold
into which the Diamond fits with the most exact nicety. That cavity was
there when I bought the idol and has in no way been altered since. The
shape of the Diamond, as you have seen for yourself, is rather
peculiar. Is it therefore possible that mere accident can be at the
bottom of such a coincidence? Is not my theory of the Wandering Idol
much more probable as well as far more poetical? You smile again. You
English are the greatest sceptics in the world. But it is time to go. We
have seen all there is to be seen, and the temperature of this place
will not benefit my rheumatism."
So the lamp was put out and Idol and Diamond were left to darkness and
solitude. In the vaulted room, at the entrance to the winding way that
led to the cavern, Ducie's eyes were again bandaged. Then up the
twenty-two stone stairs, and so into the carpeted room above, where was
the scent of pot-pourri. From this room they came, by many passages and
flights of stairs, back to the smoking-room, where Ducie's bandage was
removed.
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