“Another brilliant aggravation?” asked Raikes.
“Ah!” laughed the Sepoy, “is that your estimation of the sapphire?”
“Yes,” returned Raikes with acid frankness. “To be permitted to appropriate the gleam and the radiance; to comprehend the cunning of the facets; to appraise its magnificent bulk intelligently, and witness the careless possession by another of all these beatitudes, I think that constitutes an aggravation.”
“It has been known to degenerate into a temptation,” continued the Sepoy, reflecting the cynical humor of the other.
“Aye!” admitted Raikes, “and has concluded in surrender.”
With this the strangely assorted trio left the table directly, the Sepoy to his problematical business, the spinster to escape the reprimand foreshadowed in the eyes of her brother, and Raikes to keep his treasures under malicious surveillance.
All that day his diseased mind tortured itself with impossible theories and absurd speculations, until his attempts to explain the curious substitution degenerated into a perfect chaos of despair and bewilderment.
With an impatience he could not explain, Raikes at last presented himself at the apartment of the Sepoy as the hour of ten was striking.
He was greeted by the curious individual within with a demeanor which somehow offended Raikes with the impression that his prompt eagerness was the subject of amused calculation.
His irritation, however, was not permitted to develop, for no sooner had he seated himself in the chair indicated by his host than the latter placed upon the table, within easy reach of his harassed visitor, a small box of leather and directed him to press the spring.