256 M. CONSTANT'S DIAMONDS book iii
wine
for that purpose to make me drink, because I differed from most men,
who speak much and say more than they know when they have drunk, but,
as for myself, it is then I talk least; nevertheless, since I desired
to satisfy them, so that they might not have any regret for their good
wine, • I would tell them the truth frankly. It is true, then, I told
them, that M. Constant not only gave me a commission to buy him a
parcel of diamonds, but he also gave me money to pay for them, and I
purchased them for 16,000 rupees. I had no sooner finished speaking
than M. Faure, turning to the three others, ' Gentlemen,' said he, '
you will bear me witness that M. Tavernier has 16,000 rupees' worth of
diamonds for M. Constant, which he left me an order to receive when he
departed for Holland.' I replied without disturbing myself, that if he
wished for them, he would have to run after them, but that I did not
believe he would overtake them ; that it was more than six months
since I had dispatched them by land, and that I was much surprised at
his having taken this commission, and wondered how M. Constant and he
could have known that I would go to Batavia. I saw that it annoyed him
to find that he had not got what he expected, and as they did not wish
to drink any more they all four departed.
On
the following day, early in the morning, an officer of the Company
handed me a summons to appear at 11 o'clock before the Town Council,
where the Avocat Fiscal was present to take up the case on behalf of
the Company. I did not fail to be present at the Town Hall at the hour
named, when, immediately, these gentlemen called me in, and with great
compliments asked me if it was true that M. Constant had asked me to
make an investment in diamonds to the amount of 16,000 rupees, and also
where they were. I said that as regards the purchase of the diamonds it
was true that I made it, but that I knew not where they were, because
more than six months had elapsed since I forwarded them to him from
Surat by land. Upon that the gentlemen of the law delivered sentence
that it was not for M. Faure to interfere in the matter, but it was the
duty of the Avocat Fiscal to follow it up ; that at that time M.
Constant was in the Company's
