the minutest fraction of a difference between them."



CHAPTER III

THURSDAY AT THREE

Mr. Latham ran through his afternoon mail with feverish haste and
found--nothing; Mr. Schultze achieved the same result more
ponderously. On the following morning the mail still brought
nothing. About eleven o'clock Mr. Latham's desk telephone rang.

"Come to my offiz," requested Mr. Schultze, in gutteral excitement.
"_Mein Gott_, Laadham, der--come to my offiz, Laadham, und bring der
diamond!"

Mr. Latham went. Including himself, there were the heads of the five
greatest jewel establishments in America, representing, perhaps,
one-tenth of the diamond trade of the country, in Mr. Schultze's
office. He found the other four gathered around a small table, and on
this table--Mr. Latham gasped as he looked--lay four replicas of the
mysterious diamond in his pocket.

"Pud id down here, Laadham," directed Mr. Schultze. "Dey're all
dwins alike--Dweedeldums und Dweedledeeses."

Mr. Latham silently placed the fifth diamond on the table, and for
a minute or more the five men stood still and gazed, first at the
diamonds, then at one another, and then again at the diamonds. Mr.