heard that morning at Deepley Walls. The little man had a high opinion
of his daughter's sagacity. That such an opinion was in nowise lessened
by the result of the present case will be best seen by the following
excerpts from Mr. Madgin's diary, which, as having a particular bearing
on the case of the Great Hara Diamond, we proceed at once to lay before
the reader:--


EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF MR. SOLOMON MADGIN.

"July 9th, Evening.--After the wonderful revelation made to me by
Lady Chillington this morning, I came home, and got behind a
churchwarden, and set my wits to work to think the matter out. I
shut my eyes and puffed away for an hour and a half, but at the end
of that time I was as much in a fog as when I first sat down.
Nowhere could I discern a single ray of light. Then in came Mirpah,
and when she begged of me to tell her the story, I was glad to do
so, remembering how often she had helped me through a puzzle in
days gone by--but none of them of such magnitude as this one. So I
told her everything as far as it was known to myself. After that we
discussed the whole case carefully step by step. The immediate
result of this discussion was, that as soon as tea was over, I went
as far as the White Hart tavern in search of Sergeant Nicholas. I
found him on the bowling-green, watching the players. I called for
a quart of old ale and some tobacco, and before long we were as
cosy as two old cronies who have known each other for twenty years.
The morning had shown me that the Sergeant was a man of some
intelligence, and of much worldly experience; and when I had
lowered myself imperceptibly to the level of his intellect, so as
to put him more completely at his ease, I had no difficulty in