day
called together his creditors and informed them that whilst on a
journey he had been robbed of the wallets containing his whole valuable
stock, which was only partly insured. Some of the creditors, knowing
his reputation, were ready to believe this story and were prepared to
accept a composition of two shillings and sixpence in the pound to save
him from bankruptcy. They were even willing to help give him a fresh
start. But there were others less prepared to forgo their just claims
without further probing. They applied for a search-warrant, as a
consequence of which the whole of the missing stock was discovered
hidden beneath the brick floor of his wine cellar. It was a clumsy bit
of work, and the penalty, though not a gaol sentence, since his
creditors refused to prosecute, was an ostracism so severe that the
offender dared never again show his face amongst reputable traders in
any of the great gem centres of the world.
When
many years after I ran up against him in San Francisco, I asked him
point-blank what had possessed him to do such a thing, as he had been
perfectly solvent at the time. He said simply, and I believe
truthfully, that having devoted so many years to business, he thought
the time had come for him to retire on a sufficient competency in order
to devote the rest of his life to social and charitable works.
Another
public benefactor was H. F. (again the initials betray nothing of the
man), whose genius for organisation was so great that had he been in
the army he might have risen to be quartermaster-general. Instead,
having started as a mere working jeweller with practically no
