"I _know_ each of them to be worth anywhere from forty to fifty thousand dollars," he said quietly. "They're the kind the crowned heads scoop for jewels of state."

I nodded, and, getting up carelessly, I strolled to a window.

"Devilish lovely night," I said, poking my head out. And it was. Stars overhead and all that sort of thing, and lots of them below, too--I could hear them singing over on Broadway.

"All right, old chap; then here they go into the street," I said. "If my friend can't have 'em, then no jolly crowned heads shall. That's flat!"

Billings started forward with a regular scream.

I waved him back. "Don't come any nearer, old chap," I said, holding my arm out of the window, "or, dash me, I'll drop them instantly. Six stories, you know--stone flagging below."

"But, d.i.c.ky--"

"If you don't say you'll take 'em, time I count three, I'll give 'em a toss, by Jove! One!"

"Here, d.i.c.ky! Don't be a--"

"Two!" I counted. No bluff, you know; I meant jolly well to do it.

"Just one word--one second, d.i.c.ky!" he yelled. "Let me off with one, then. d.i.c.ky! d.i.c.ky, old chap! Be a good sportsman!"

I hesitated. Dash it, one hates to take an advantage.

Billings stretched out his arm appealingly. "Do, old chap!" he pleaded.

"Give me just one--one only!"

His hand shook like a quivering what's-its-name leaf.

I yielded reluctantly: "Oh, well then, call it off with one," I said.

And with a sigh I tossed him one of the rubies and dropped the other in the pocket of my smoking-jacket. Billings wiped his forehead, and then he thanked me and wiped his eyes.

"So good of you to give in, old chap," he snuffled. "Never will forget you for it!"

"Oh, I say, chuck it, you know!" I protested.

"Whole family will thank you," he went on in his handkerchief. "Princely magnanimity and all that sort of thing--you'll just _have_ to come up for the week end with me this--"

"I _will_!" I reached forward eagerly and insisted on shaking hands. By Jove, what luck!

And Billings looked regularly overcome. All he could do was just shake his head and pump my arm. Why, dash it, this seemed to affect him more even than giving in about the ruby. It was the first time I had ever accepted his invitation, you know.

"Tell you what, old chap," he said, as soon as he could speak. "I'm going to tell you what to do with that other stone. You save that for _her_."

"Her!" By Jove, I was so startled I lost the grip on my monocle.

Billings nodded emphatically.

"Yes, sir--for _her_; she'll be along one of these days."

"By Jove, you know!" I was almost dizzy with a sudden idea. I fished out the jewel and held it before my gla.s.s, squinting doubtfully at it. I wondered if it was _good_ enough for "her."

"I say, Billings," I murmured thoughtfully. "Blondes or brunettes, you know--which wear rubies?"

"Both!" He said it with a kind of jaw snap. "They wear anything in the jewel line they can freeze on to."

"But which--"

"The worst? Blondes, my boy--blondes, every time; especially those going around in black." Billings spoke gloomily. "Let me tell you, my boy--and I _know_--don't you ever have anything to do with a blonde if she's in _black_, especially black silk--hear?"

By Jove, his uplifted finger and fierce way of saying it gave me a regular turn, you know. But then there was the ruby, and I was thinking that--

"Perhaps the four of them in a bracelet," I muttered, "with something else to help out. They _might_ do."

"They might," said Billings in a tone of coa.r.s.e sarcasm. "They might do for a queen!"

I flashed a quick look at him. "Just what _I_ was thinking," I answered gently.

"Meantime," said Billings, yawning, "let's go to bed."

And just as I rang for Jenkins I suddenly was seized with a perfectly ripping idea that checked a long yawn right in the middle and almost broke my jaw. For I saw how I could do something handsome that would even up with Billings in a way for the ruby he wouldn't take.

"Tell you what, old chap," I said, slapping him on the shoulder, "_you_ are going to have them to-night!"

"Have--have what?" burst from him. "Rubies? I tell you I won't take another--"

"Rubies!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed contemptuously. "Rubies nothing! Something better--something worth while, dash it!"

I saw he would never guess it.

"Why, you shall sleep in the pajamas from China," I exclaimed. And gathering them, I placed them in his hands.

"By George, d.i.c.ky!" Billings' face showed feeling. "How infernally clever of you, old chap! How thundering timely, too!"

He held them up singly, studying their outlines critically.

"And see here, d.i.c.ky--why, great Thomas cats!" His eyes turned on me wonderingly. "Never noticed it before--did you? But I do believe they are just my size!"

His size! By Jove, I had forgotten all about the item of size! I just collapsed into a chair as he said good night, and sat there blinking in a regular stupefaction of horror as his door closed behind him.

For he was devilish sensitive about his bulk, and I dared not say a word.

CHAPTER X

A NOCTURNAL INTRUSION

"Oh, but I say, it's impossible, you know!" And I stared at Jenkins incredulously.