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“Don’t I look as though I were up?”

“Ah, Tress! Tress!” He approached the dressing-table. His eye fell upon the ruins. “What’s this?”

“That’s the solution to the puzzle.”

“Have you–have you solved it fairly, Tress?”

“It has solved itself. Our handling, and tapping, and hammering must have freed the springs which the box contained, and during the night, while I slept, they have caused it to come open.”

“While you slept? Dear me! How strange! And–what are these?”

He had discovered the two upright wires on which the crystal had been poised.

“I suppose they’re part of the puzzle.”

“And was there anything in the box? What’s this?” he picked up the scrap of paper; I had left it on the table. He read what was written on it: “‘A Present For You.’ What’s it mean? Tress, was this in the box?”

“It was.”

“What’s it mean about a present? Was there anything in the box besides?”

“Pugh, if you will leave the room I shall be able to dress; I am not in the habit of receiving quite such early calls, or I should have been prepared to receive you. If you will wait in the next room, I will be with you as soon as I’m dressed. There is a little subject in connection with the box which I wish to discuss with you.”

“A subject in connection with the box? What is the subject?”

“I will tell you, Pugh, when I have performed my toilet.”

“Why can’t you tell me now?”

“Do you propose, then, that I should stand here shivering in my shirt while you are prosing at your ease? Thank you; I am obliged, but I decline. May I ask you once more, Pugh, to wait for me in the adjoining apartment?”

He moved toward the door. When he had taken a couple of steps, he halted.

“I–I hope, Tress, that you’re–you’re going to play no tricks on me?”

“Tricks on you! Is it likely that I am going to play tricks upon my oldest friend?”

When he had gone–he vanished, it seemed to me, with a somewhat doubtful visage–I took the crystal to the window. I drew the blind. I let the sunshine fall on it. I examined it again, closely and minutely, with the aid of my pocket lens. It WAS a diamond; there could not be a doubt of it. If, with my knowledge of stones, I was deceived, then I was deceived as never man had been deceived before. My heart beat faster as I recognized the fact that I was holding in my hand what was, in all probability, a fortune for a man of moderate desires. Of course, Pugh knew nothing of what I had discovered, and there was no reason why he should know. Not the least! The only difficulty was that if I kept my own counsel, and sold the stone and utilized the proceeds of the sale, I should have to invent a story which would account for my sudden accession to fortune. Pugh knows almost as much of my affairs as I do myself. That is the worst of these old friends!

When I joined Pugh I found him dancing up and down the floor like a bear upon hot plates. He scarcely allowed me to put my nose inside the door before attacking me.

“Tress, give me what was in the box.”

“My dear Pugh, how do you know that there was something in the box to give you?”

“I know there was!”

“Indeed! If you know that there was something in the box, perhaps you will tell me what that something was.”

He eyed me doubtfully. Then, advancing, he laid upon my arm a hand which positively trembled.

“Tress, you–you wouldn’t play tricks on an old friend.”

“You are right, Pugh, I wouldn’t, though I believe there have been occasions on which you have had doubts upon the subject. By the way, Pugh, I believe that I am the oldest friend you have.”