Upon our arrival the young man said to me:
“I have so many little parcels that I don’t know where to put them. Would you do me the great favour of taking care of this one?”
I gave the object to my maid, who put it in my travelling case, and it passed the inspection of the customs-house officer.
That evening at the hotel the young man called on me with Mortier, and I gave him back his package.
He opened it smiling, and showed me the contents.
I had fraudulently brought in a bag of uncut rubies.
I treated the Roumanian as a cheat and told him that if he did not make the matter right with the customs I should hand him over to the authorities. Smiling all the while he promised that, since I took the affair to heart, he would go and make his peace, and he left.
I never saw him or his rubies again, it is needless to say.
I believe that from this time forward they have been seeking me in vain to charge me with smuggling a package through the customs-house.