"
"The business is not intricate," Travers went on. "Nor do I propose
drawing out this meeting to any tiring length. The heat must be very
trying for the ladies present, but my wish to keep what passes
between us, at any rate for the time being, entirely secret, makes it
essential to sit in closed rooms. I will be as brief as possible. Two
years ago the Marut Diamond Company first came into existence under
the protection of our friend, Rajah Nehal Singh. For some time
previous to this event it had been my great ambition to open out a
diamond field in which, thanks to favorable reports, I sincerely
believed. My position, however, and above all my lack of personal
means, made the scheme an impossibility so far as I was concerned.
Chance brought me the pleasure and misfortune of making your
acquaintance, Rajah. I say 'misfortune,' because, as events have
turned, I can not but feel that my casual observations led you to
enter into an enterprise before which another man, if I may say so,
with more experience and less impulse, would have hesitated.
"Your generosity and enthusiasm brought my half-conceived plans into a
reality almost before I had any clear idea as to whither we were all
drifting. You will remember, Mrs. Cary, I did my best to dissuade you
from any rash investment; and even there, as director of the company,
I felt that I was not acting with entire loyalty to the man who had
put me into that position.
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