You may be sure that at such times we talked much of the value that was
to be put upon the stone, and what was likely to be got for it, but never
could settle, not having any experience of such things. Only, I was sure
that it must be worth thousands of pounds, and so sat and rubbed my
hands, saying that though life was like a game of hazard, and our throws
had hitherto been bad enough, yet we had made something of this last. But
all the while a strange change was coming over us both, and our parts
seemed turned about. For whereas a few days before it was I who wished to
fling the diamond away, feeling overwrought and heavy-hearted in that
awful well-house, and Elzevir who held me from it; now it was he that
seemed to set little store by it, and I to whom it was all in all. He
seldom cared to look much at the jewel, and one night when I was praising
it to him, spoke out:
'Set not thy heart too much upon this stone. It is thine, and thine to
deal with. Never a penny will I touch that we may get for it. Yet,
were I thou, and reached great wealth with it, and so came back one
day to Moonfleet, I would not spend it all on my own ends, but put
aside a part to build the poor-houses again, as men say Blackbeard
meant to do with it'
I did not know what made him speak like this, and was not willing, even
in fancy, to agree to what he counselled; for with that gem before me,
lustrous, and all the brighter for lying on a rough deal table, I could
only think of the wealth it was to bring to us, and how I would most
certainly go back one day to Moonfleet and marry Grace.
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