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Gem Trader
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Yet,
when the bag was opened in the anteroom where the official personages
were to take over, the presentation caskets were found to be empty.
There was tremendous consternation, as may readily be imagined! What
could possibly have happened? The explanation was forthcoming, to the
relieved hilarity of all present, when Mynheer Ascher turned aside and
spoke to his personal servant who attended him, an old family retainer
of insignificant appearance whom nobody had noticed. The old fellow
felt in his pockets and produced from somewhere on his person a large
coloured handkerchief, into which were tied, peasant fashion, the gems
that in a few minutes were to be presented to the ruler of the British
Empire.
That is the reason why I think Ascher of Amsterdam must have had a considerably developed bump of humour.
There
are stories, strange, tragic, humorous or romantic, about all the great
stones. Diamonds above all others have attracted to themselves
innumerable histories beyond the dreams of mere imagination.
Consider
the "Braganza", size of a goose's egg and said to have weighed 1,680
carats in the rough. The full story is to be found in Mawe's Travels in Brazil, but
here are the main facts. Three men, whose names were Antonio de Sousa,
Jose Felix Gomez and Thomas de Sousa, having been found guilty of
various crimes, were banished into the interior of Brazil and forbidden
to approach the capital towns or remain in civilised society on pain of
perpetual imprisonment. Brazil is very vast and much of its territory
is even yet not fully explored. Driven into the unfrequented wilds, the
banished men determined to discover and exploit new mines, in the hope
that if they were
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