that
they had as a matter of fact come from Jagersfontein. Sir Julius'
lawyers dug up the dealer who had sold them to Le-moine, and he
appeared as a witness.) And so the months went by until, in 1908, when
Lemoine had collected sixty-four thousand pounds from Wernher, Beit
and was still asking for more and saying his process wasn't quite
ready, Sir Julius grew suspicious enough to demand an inquiry.
Lemoine, summoned to appear at trial for fraud, ran away. He was
apprehended later, tried, convicted, and sent to prison. The experience
saddened Sir Julius and discouraged all diamond magnates, for a long
time, from investing in diamond-making adventures, until it was
forgotten, along with Moissan and Hannay. The Hannay diamonds rested
undisturbed in the Mineral Department of the Museum. The only people
who didn't drop the subject completely were mineralogists.
"And now General Electric," I said when the men fell silent.
"And now General Electric," Mr. White repeated. "Well, all we can do is wait and see."
The
turmoil I was half expecting at the Diamond Research Laboratory was not
there. In fact, the place was remarkably calm, just as much so indoors
as out, and that was pretty calm. It made me think of the latest
addition to some new American university, with its neat brick exterior,
and the broad cement staircase indoors, and the wide corridors on every
floor, and the big cool rooms. I was taken in hand by a bright young
guide, and the first thing he showed me was a small museum where
various forms of industrials were exhibited: in wiredrawing dies,
whose importance has been much enhanced since the beginning of World
War II, in stonecutting saws, and glass cut-
