China,
an anti-luxury campaign in Japan with its incident legislation, and a
tin and rubber slump in Malaya were decisive factors in determining me
to beat a retreat before the crisis, which had already taken toll in
many good names in the diamond trade at home should claim mine, too.
My
friend and associate in Antwerp called me "faint heart", but this time
I was right and he was wrong. We had not gone our several ways above
eighteen months when his fortune, which at one time may have reached
the seven-figure mark in sterling, was swept away. But I consider that
Fate did not, after all, deal unkindly with him. No one was the worse
by a penny for his misadventure, and he himself was taken off
suddenly, before he really felt poverty. His faults, and he had some,
were such as the advantages of education might have eliminated, and his
good qualities many. An untruth was an abomination to him. He dealt
fairly, gave generously, and of him it might be said with justice that
"loyalty" was his middle name.
Such
was my large-scale dealing in diamonds, playing credits against
thousands of pounds' worth of goods over two continents. There are
other sides to the game, however, and I have known most of them. One
memory I have of a certain Malayan adventure, which I would not have
missed for worlds. It has a fine, delicate, leisurely flavour, full of
the adventure of Eastern trading. I will see if I can impart it to you.
There are still some parts of an ever-narrowing world
