"They'll be here within twenty minutes," answered Zillah. "It's very kind of you to take so much trouble!"
The American drew an easy chair to the fire, and pointed Zillah to it.
"Well," he remarked, "I guess that in a fix of this sort, you can't take too much trouble! I'm interested in this case—and a good deal more than interested now that you tell me about these platinum studs. I reckon I can throw some light on that, anyway! But we'll keep it till your friends come. And I haven't introduced myself—my name's Stuyvesant Guyler. I'm a New York man—but I've knocked around some—pretty considerable, in fact. Say!—have you got any idea that this mystery of yours is at all connected with South Africa? And—incidentally—with diamonds?"
Zillah started and glanced at Lauriston.
"What makes you think of South Africa—and of diamonds?" she asked.
"Oh, well—but that comes into my tale," answered Guyler. "You'll see in due course. But—had it?"
"I hadn't thought of diamonds, but I certainly had of South Africa," admitted Zillah.
"Seems to be working in both directions," said Guyler, meditatively.
"But you'll see that when I tell you what I know."
Purdie and Melky Rubinstein entered the room within the twenty minutes which Zillah had predicted—full of wonder to find her and Lauriston in company with a total stranger. But Zillah explained matters in a few words, and forbade any questioning until Mr. Stuyvesant Guyler had told his story.
"And before I get on to that," said Guyler, who had been quietly scrutinizing his two new visitors while Zillah explained the situation, "I'd just like to see that platinum solitaire that Mr. Rubinstein picked up—if he's got it about him?"