"It was once your brother's," he added.
John Vandeleur continued to regard him with a look of almost
painful amazement; but he neither spoke nor moved.
"I was pleased to observe," resumed the young man, "that we have
gems from the same collection."
The Dictator's surprise overpowered him.
"I beg your pardon," he said; "I begin to perceive that I am
growing old! I am positively not prepared for little incidents
like this. But set my mind at rest upon one point: do my eyes
deceive me, or are you indeed a parson?"
"I am in holy orders," answered Mr. Rolles.
"Well," cried the other, "as long as I live I will never hear
another word against the cloth!"
"You flatter me," said Mr. Rolles.
"Pardon me," replied Vandeleur; "pardon me, young man. You are no
coward, but it still remains to be seen whether you are not the
worst of fools. Perhaps," he continued, leaning back upon his
seat, "perhaps you would oblige me with a few particulars. I must
suppose you had some object in the stupefying impudence of your
proceedings, and I confess I have a curiosity to know it."
"It is very simple," replied the clergyman; "it proceeds from my
great inexperience of life."
"I shall be glad to be persuaded," answered Vandeleur.
Whereupon Mr. Rolles told him the whole story of his connection
with the Rajah's Diamond, from the time he found it in Raeburn's
garden to the time when he left London in the Flying Scotchman.
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