that in this metamorphosis there is always an intermediate stage: the
stone first changes from blue to a pale colour spotted with brown, and,
lastly, to a pure white. Thus, Ul-Jabal having stolen the stone, finds
that it is of the wrong colour, and soon after replaces it; he supposes
that in the darkness he has selected the wrong chalice, and so takes
the valueless stone from the other. This, too, he replaces, and,
infinitely puzzled, makes yet another hopeless trial of the Edmundsbury
chalice, and, again baffled, again replaces it, concluding now that the
baronet has suspected his designs, and substituted a false stone for
the real one. But after this last replacement, the stone assumes its
final hue of white, and thus the baronet is led to think that two
stones have been substituted by Ul-Jabal for his own invaluable gem.
All this while the gem was lying serenely in its place in the chalice.
And thus it came to pass that in the Manor-house of Saul there arose a
somewhat considerable Ado about Nothing.'

For a moment Zaleski paused; then, turning round and laying his hand on
the brown forehead of the mummy by his side, he said:

'My friend here could tell you, and he would, a fine tale of the
immensely important part which jewels in all ages have played in human
history, human religions, institutions, ideas. He flourished some five
centuries before the Messiah, was a Memphian priest of Amsu, and, as
the hieroglyphics on his coffin assure me, a prime favourite with one
Queen Amyntas. Beneath these mouldering swaddlings of the grave a great
ruby still cherishes its blood-guilty secret on the forefinger of his
right hand. Most curious is it to reflect how in _all_ lands, and at
_all_ times, precious minerals have been endowed by men with mystic
virtues. The Persians, for instance, believed that spinelle and the
garnet were harbingers of joy. Have you read the ancient Bishop of