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AN EXPENSIVE FARCE
417
Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph sent the fol­lowing to his paper:
" M. Lemoine has had a slight attack of influenza. He has, however, made some further statements which are worth noticing, and one is that the sealed envelope deposited in the London bank does not contain the for­mula for making diamonds, but concerns the manufacture of bort. As regards this, he says that the truth has never before been made public. There were two distinct con­tracts, one concerning the manufacture of bort, and the other that of diamonds. The second contract was never carried out. M. Lemoine offered no further explana­tion on this point.
" Regarding his future experiments, he will not let the public, and especially the newspapers, into the secret as to the time and place, though he allowed it to be under­stood that the time would most likely be in July. He does not wish to be disturbed by troops of reporters hanging about his door when he is engaged in the man­ufacture of diamonds. Of course, he will have to in­stall an entirely new workshop before he can resume operations."
The release of the envelope to the French Court drove Lemoine to an extremity. He was equal to the situa­tion. He said he had no objection to prove his ability to the Court by actually manufacturing diamonds, but would not consent to have his secret formula read and published. That appeared reasonable. He was af­forded every facility and given until June 9 to make his claims good. On the 9th he appeared in court and said that unforeseen circumstances had rendered his ex­periments abortive, but with the greatest confidence 27