I
spoke fast, and in talking to him convinced myself, so when I stopped for
want of breath I was quite sure that the stone was indeed a diamond, and
that Aldobrand had duped us.
Still Elzevir showed little eagerness, and only said--
''Tis like enough that what you say is true, but what would you have us
do? The stone is flung away.'
'Yes,' I answered; 'but I saw where it fell, and know the very place; let
us go back now at once and get it.'
'Do you not think that Aldobrand saw the place too?' asked Elzevir; and
then I remembered how, when I turned back to the room after seeing the
stone fall, I caught the eyes of the old merchant looking the same way;
and how he spoke more quietly after that, and not with the bitter cry he
used when Elzevir tossed the jewel out of the window.
'I do not know,' I said doubtfully; 'let us go back and see. It fell
just by the stem of a red flower that I marked well. What!' I added,
seeing him still hesitate and draw back, 'do you doubt? Shall we not go
and get it?'
Still he did not answer for a minute, and then spoke slowly, as if
weighing his words. 'I cannot tell. I think that all you say is true, and
that this stone is real. Nay, I was half of that mind when I threw it
away, and yet I would not say we are not best without it. 'Twas you who
first spoke of a curse upon the jewel, and I laughed at that as being a
childish tale.
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