“He was positive, too, when he had retired the night before, that his jewels were undisturbed.
“Why just this exchange of a handful?
“For what reason had not double the quantity been removed? Nay, why not all, since it was possible to abstract a portion?
“At this question the eerie iteration of the merchant returned to his mind:
“‘Pebbles for diamonds!’
“At once the distasteful alternative upon which it was based recurred to him.
“A quick radiation illumined his mind, and subsided to darkness as promptly.
“Ram Lal!
“It was he who had indicated the substitution. But the merchant could no more enter the room in which the prince was seated at this moment than the most abject menial in the palace.
“Still, the merchant had been able to predict the disaster.