THE SANCI.	193
	dred and eighty thousand dollars. One would like to know where the above respectable mer­chant got the diamond, but unfortunately he seems not to have furnished any history with it — perhaps because it might have made him appear less respectable. Four years later the Sanci went to law. Prince Demidoff, it seems, agreed to sell it to a Mon­sieur Levrat, director of Forges and Mines in the Grisons, for one hundred and twenty thou­sand dollars, and Monsieur Levrat agreed to pay the price. Afterwards he contended that the diamond had been spoiled by being re-cut, which was very likely, and that it was worth only twenty-five thousand dollars. To this re­markable reduction in price Prince Demidoff seems to have assented, and he delivered over the stone to Monsieur Levrat who was to pay by instalments. Instead of paying, he pawned the stone, and the defrauded Prince sued him, won his case, and got back the diamond. This was all the more lucky for the Demidoffs, since