But Kelson wouldn't say a word till he had finished eating. He then
lolled back in his seat and began:--

"Arriving at the Baldwyn I went straight to box one. A tall figure
rose to greet me, and then, an angry voice exclaimed, 'Why it's not
Herbert! Who are you, sir? Do you know this box is engaged?' "'I humbly beg your pardon, Miss Barlow,' I said, 'I do know it is
engaged, but I came as Mr. Delmas' deputy and friend.' "'Came as Herbert's deputy and friend,' Ella Barlow repeated--and by
Jove the diamonds did shine--she was simply a mass of them, hair,
neck, arms and fingers--and she had been so well faked up for the
occasion that she was almost good-looking; but I thought of all I knew
about her--and shuddered. "'I will explain myself,' I said, 'Mr. Delmas telephoned to you this
afternoon, did he not?' "She nodded. "'Saying that he very much regretted he could not leave business in
time to escort you here. Would you mind very much going by yourself,
and he would join you as soon as possible.' "'Yes,' Ella Barlow said, 'he told me all that.' "'Very well, then,' I went on, 'he rang me up some minutes later and
asked me if I would take his place for the first hour or so, and he
would be here by the end of the first act.' "'But it is most unheard of,' Ella Barlow ejaculated, 'I don't know
you--I've never seen you before!' "'That is, of course, very regrettable,' I said, 'but I will do all I
can for the past. I've something to say that I'm sure will interest
you. Have I your permission?' --and without waiting for her reply I sat
next to her. The box was a big one, big enough to hold half a dozen
people, and we sat in the extreme front of it. The lights were not
full up, as the orchestra had not started playing. I kept her
attention fixed on my face so that she was unaware what was taking
place, immediately behind her. "'What is it?' she said, 'whatever can you have to say that can be of
any possible interest to me?' "'Why,' I replied, 'to begin with I know something about your
character!' "'Then you're a fortune teller!' she exclaimed eagerly, 'can you read
hands?' "'I can read everything,' I said looking hard at her, 'hands, head,
and feet. I am psychometrist, dentist, physician, metaphysician all in
one!' "'I don't understand,' she said looking queer, 'what is the meaning of
all this?' "'It means,' I said slowly, 'that I have discovered who sent those
anonymous letters to Herbert Delmas!' "'Anonymous letters! how dare you!' she cried, 'what have anonymous
letters to do with me?' "'A very great deal, madam,' I replied, 'shall I remind you of their
contents and the occasions on which you wrote them?' I did so. I
recited every word in them and told her the hour, day and
place--namely, when and where each was written, and I summed up by
asking what she would pay me not to tell Delmas. "For some minutes she was too overcome to say anything; she sat grim
and silent, her pale eyes glaring at me, her freckled fingers toying
with the diamonds. She was baffled and perplexed--she did not know
what course to pursue! "'Well,' I repeated, 'what have you to say? Do you deny it?' "She roused herself with an effort. 'No,' she said venomously, 'I
don't deny it. Denial would be useless. How did you find out? Through
one of the maids, I suppose. They were bribed to spy on me!' "'How I discovered it is of no consequence,' I said, 'but what is of
consequence to you as much as to me--is the payment for hushing it
up!' "'Payment!' she cried, raising her voice to a positive shriek in her
excitement, 'pay _you_--you nasty, beastly, cadging toad. You--' but I
can't repeat all she said, it would make you both blush! I let her go
on till she had worn herself out and then I said, 'Well, Miss Barlow,
why all this fuss--why these fireworks! It can't do you any good. We
must come to business sooner or later. If you don't pay me handsomely
I shall tell Miss Roberts as well as Mr. Delmas.' "'Mr. Delmas won't believe you,' she hissed, 'you've no proofs at
all!' "'Perhaps not,' I said, 'but I've proofs of this. I know you have two
deformed toes on your left foot, that all your teeth are false, and
that you go to that charlatan, Howard Prince, in Californian Street to
be faked up. I must be brutal--it's no use being anything else to
women of your sort. You've got a certain species of eczema, and you
flatter yourself that no one but you and Prince are aware of it. What
have you got to say now, Miss Barlow?' But Ella Barlow had fainted. When she came to, which I managed after vigorous application of salts
and water--the effects of the latter on her complexion I leave you to
imagine--I again broached the subject. "'What is it you propose?' she said feebly. "'Why this,' I said, 'you hand me over all those diamonds, and your
defects will--as far as I am concerned--always remain a secret. Refuse, and Miss Roberts and Mr. Delmas shall know all there is to be
known at once.' "For some minutes she sat with her face buried in her
hands--shivering. Then she looked up at me--and Jerusalem! it was like
looking at an old woman. 'Take them,' she said, 'take them! I shall
never wear them again, anyhow. Take them--and leave me.' "Well, you fellows, I steeled my heart, and slipped every Jack one
that was on her into my pocket. "'You won't tell them,' she whispered, catching hold of me by the arm,
'you swear you won't.' I won't try and remember exactly what I
answered--but outside the door of the box Delmas joined me. He had
been concealed within and had heard everything that passed. "'I can't say how grateful I am to you,' he said. 'It's a bit low
down, perhaps, but, then, we were dealing with a low-down person. You
thoroughly deserve those diamonds--will you accept an offer for them
from me? I should like to buy them for Miss Roberts and present them
to her on our reconciliation.' We came to terms then and there, and he
'phoned through to me an hour ago to say that he had made it up with
Miss Roberts, that she was delighted with the diamonds, and that they
are going to be married next month." "So out of evil good comes," Hamar said, "the maxim for us, remember,
is--out of evil evil alone must come. What are you going to do to-day,
you two?" "Rest!" said Kelson, "I'm tired." "Eat!" said Curtis, "I'm hungry!" "Now look here, this won't do," Hamar remarked, "you've earned your
rest, Matt, but you haven't, Ed. You can't go on eating eternally." "Can't I?" Curtis snapped, "I'm not so sure of that, I've years to
make up for." "Then do the thing in moderation, for goodness sake!" Hamar
expostulated, "and recollect we must, at all costs, act together. We
have now twelve thousand dollars between us in the bank--that is to
say, the capital of the Firm of Hamar, Curtis and Kelson represents
that amount. It is our ambition to increase that amount--and to go on
increasing it till we can fairly claim to be the richest Firm in the
world.