10. The Diamond Cross
The same lady wished to have a diamond cross reset, and pleased with the intelligence shown by the jeweler, she decided to give him the work.
Fig. 8.—The diamond cross.
But she was determined to give him no opportunity of cheating her, so she counted the stones from top to bottom ([Fig. 8]), and found there were nine. She then counted them from the bottom to the extremity of each arm of the cross, and found that they also numbered nine. Having noted these figures, she sent the cross to be reset.
But the jeweler was a crafty man, and knowing how she had reckoned the diamonds, he stole two, and having reset the remainder, he returned the finished piece of work.
When she received her cross, the lady thought it looked rather different, and counted the stones according to her former plan. The numbers were exact! So she paid the jeweler, who went off smiling.
How had he managed the theft?
11. The Quarrelsome Railways
Five competing railway companies decided to place termini in a certain small town. But land was dear; and after much negotiation they were able to secure sites only as shown in [Fig. 9].