smirked over the hidden humor of the situation, and Philip understood that if he would see the great man of the firm he must adopt a more emphatic tone.
"I had better warn you that Mr. Wilson, of Messrs. Grant & Sons, Ludgate Hill, sent me here to see Mr. Isaacstein. Am I to go back to Mr. Wilson and say that the office boy refuses to admit me?"
There was a sting in the description, coming from such a speaker.
"Look 'ere," was the angry retort. "Go avay und blay, vil you? I'm pizzy."
Then Philip reached quickly through the little arch, grabbed a handful of shirt, tie and waistcoat, and dragged the big nose and thick lips violently against the wires of the grille.
"Will you do what I ask, or shall I try and pull you through?" he said, quietly.
But the boy's ready yell brought two clerks running, and a door was thrown open. Phil released his opponent and instantly explained his action. One of the clerks, an elderly man, looked a little deeper than the boy's ragged garments, and the mention of Mr. Wilson's name procured him a hearing. Moreover, he had previous experience of the youthful janitor's methods.
With a cuff on the ear, this injured personage was bidden to go upstairs and say that Mr. Wilson had sent a boy to see Mr. Isaacstein. The added insult came when he was compelled to usher Philip to a waiting room.
Soon a clerk entered. He was visibly astonished by the appearance of Mr. Wilson's messenger, and so was Mr. Isaacstein, when Philip was paraded before him in a spacious apartment, filled with glass cases and tables, at which several assistants were seated.
"What the deuce – " he began, but checked himself. "What does Mr. Wilson want?" he went on. Evidently his Ludgate Hill acquaintance was useful to Philip.
"He wants nothing, sir," said Philip. "He sent me to you on a matter of business. It is of a private nature. Can you give me a few minutes alone?"
Isaacstein was a big-headed, big-shouldered man, tapering to a small point at his feet. He looked absurdly like a top, and surprise or emotion of any sort caused him to sway gently. He swayed now, and every clerk looked up, expecting him to fall bodily onto the urchin with the refined utterance who had dared to penetrate into the potentate's office with such a request.
Kimberley, Amsterdam and London combined to lend effect to Isaacstein's wit when he said:
"Is this a joke?"
All the clerks guffawed in chorus. Fortunately, Isaacstein was in a good humor. He had just purchased a pearl for two hundred and fifty pounds, which he would sell to Lady Somebody for eight hundred pounds, to match another in an earring.
"It appears to be," said Philip, when the merriment had subsided.
For some reason the boy's grave, earnest eyes conquered the big little man's amused scrutiny.
"Now, boy, be quick. What is it?" he said, testily, and every clerk bent to his task.
"I have told you, sir. I wish to have a few minutes' conversation with you with regard to business of an important nature."
"You say Mr. Wilson sent you – Mr. Wilson, of Grant & Sons?"
"Yes, sir."
Isaacstein yielded to amazed curiosity.
"Step in here," he said, and led the way to his private office, surprising himself as well as his assistants by this concession.
Philip closed the door, and Isaacstein turned sharply at the sound, but the boy gave him no time to frame a question.
"I want you to buy this," he said, handing over the diamond.
Isaacstein took it, and gave it one critical glance. He began to wobble again.
"Do you mean to say Mr. Wilson sent you to dispose of this stone to me?" he demanded.
"Not exactly, sir. I showed it to him, and he recommended me to come to you."
"Ah, I see. Sit down, there – " indicating a chair near the door. The diamond merchant himself sat at his desk, but they were both in full view of each other.
"Where did you get it?" he asked.
"I found it."
"Quite so. But where?"
"At this moment I do not wish to go into details, but it is mine, mine only, and I am quite willing that you should make every inquiry to satisfy yourself that it was not stolen. I suppose that is what you fear?"
Sheer wonder kept the Jew silent for a space.
"Do you know its value?" he said, with a sudden snap.
"Mr. Wilson told me it was worth several hundreds of pounds."
"Did he, really?"
"Yes. He said you would treat me quite fairly, so I wish you to advance me a few pounds until you have decided upon its real price. You see, sir, I am very poor, and my present appearance creates an unfavorable impression. Still, I am telling you the absolute truth, and I show my confidence in you and in my own case by offering to leave the diamond with you on your receipt, together with a small sum of money."
Philip thought he was getting on very well. Isaacstein's large eyes bulged at him, and speech came but slowly. He leaned forward and rummaged among some papers. Then he opened a drawer and produced a magnifying glass, with which he focused the diamond.
"Yes, it is worth six or seven hundred pounds," he announced, "but it will be some time before I can speak accurately as to its value. I think it may be flawless, but that can only be determined when it is cut."
Philip's heart throbbed when he heard the estimate.
"Then I can have a few pounds – " he commenced.
"Steady. You are not in such a hurry; eh? You won't tell me where you got it?"
"I may, later, if you continue to deal with me as honestly as you have done already."
Isaacstein moved on his seat. Even in a chair he wanted to wobble. There was a slight pause.
"Have you any more like this stone? I suppose not, eh?"
"Yes, I have many more."
"Eh? What? Boy, do you know what you are saying?"
"No doubt you are surprised, sir, but not more than I am myself. Yet, it is true. I have some – as big again."
Philip, in his eagerness, nearly forgot his resolution to advance slowly. How the diamond merchant would shake if only he could see some of the white pebbles in the meteor.
"As big again! Where are they?"
The chair was creaking now with the rhythmic swaying of its occupant.
"Where this one came from, Mr. Isaacstein."
Philip smiled. He could not tell how it happened, but he felt that he was the intellectual superior of the man who sat there glowering at him so intently. Already the boy began to grasp dimly the reality of the power which enormous wealth would give him. Such people as the Jew and his satellites would be mere automata in the affairs of his life, important enough in a sense, with the importance of a stamp for a letter or a railway ticket for a journey, but governed and controlled utterly by the greater personage who could unlock the door of the treasure house. For the first time, Philip wished he was older, bigger, more experienced. He even found himself beginning to wonder what he should do until he reached man's estate. He sighed.
Isaacstein was watching him closely, trying to solve the puzzle by the aid of each trick and dodge known in a trade which lends itself to acute roguery of every description. The look of unconscious anxiety, of mental weariness, on Philip's face, seemed to clear away his doubts. He chuckled thickly.
"How many, now," he murmured. "Ten, twenty – of assorted sizes, eh?"
"Far more! Far more! Be content with what I tell you to-day, Mr. Isaacstein. I said my business was important. When you are better acquainted with me, I think you will find it sufficiently valuable to occupy the whole of your time."
Philip was ever on the verge of bursting out into confidences. His secret was too vast, too overpowering