today
sent me some small crystallized particles, presenting exactly the
appearance of fragments of a broken diamond. In lustre, in a certain
lamellar structure in the surfaces of cleaving, in refractive power,
they accorded so closely with that mineral that it seemed hardly rash
to proclaim them even at first sight to be diamonds."
There
was a lot more to the letter, but that was the important part. "What
do you think of it?" demanded the doctor eagerly. He read aloud
emphatically, in case I had missed it, " 'exactly the appearance of
fragments of a broken diamond.' . . . Isn't that quite suggestive?
Isn't that enough? I never noticed it until this General Electric
affair started me thinking again about Hannay, and I read the article
over. As soon as I came across that phrase I hadn't any more doubts.
That disposes of part at least of your argument as to the rare type.
If they were all parts of one diamond . . ."
"Do they in fact look like parts of one smashed-up stone?" I asked.
He
said, "Oh, as to that, it's quite impossible to tell. You'll see for
yourself that they're too small for anyone to make out to that extent.
Remember, we're not sure these are the very ones Story-Maskelyne wrote
his letter about. Hannay probably sent in several batches during the
excitement; he must have corresponded extensively with the professor,
and some of his first specimens, no doubt, were used up in tests."
I
wasn't convinced. I tried to tell him something about the Research
Laboratory experiments, and he showed quick interest at the name of De
Beers. "How are they taking this General Electric news?" he asked.
"Hasn't it knocked them pretty hard?"
