tain, overjoyed, abandoned his ship, went on a binge, spent all the money, and finally committed suicide.
In
about 1768 the diamond continued to pass from one hand to another until
it reached an Armenian merchant, Salfras, who carried it to Amsterdam
and deposited it in the hank. A few years later Salfras sold "half' of
the stone to Lasarev.
About
this time Prince Orloff heard about it and was mightily interested. The
Prince was rich and highly favored in the court of Catherine the Great,
Empress of All the Russias. Catherine, of course, had many lovers at
one time or another but for a while there was no one held in so much
esteem by her as Prince Orloff. He was handsome, too.
But
after a while—as usual—Catherine tired of his attentions and began to
give her favor to others. One of these was Potemkin, who became not
only her lover but her Pooh-Bah in state affairs. He was a crafty man
who made great pretensions of bettering the state and the state of the
people. He put on great shows—displays of seeming happiness and
opulence and thriving industry—and took Catherine on tours so that she
might see them, which she did, much to her astonishment and pleasure.
Potemkin
was the originator, so to speak, of the Hollywood movie set. You go
out to an open-air Hollywood movie lot and see a street lined with fine
homes. You study these homes with much admiration; perhaps you notice
the fine doors. Here is a Dutch Colonial door: you study that. The
movie cameras begin to grind. Suddenly there is one of those unusual
rainstorms that are so usual to California. Everybody around you dashes
for the shelter of an automobile. You are wiser. You simply wall: up
to the Dutch Colonial door, throw it open and walk into the comfort
(39)
