“That’s the hand I play from,” said Holmes. “I put it all upon the table. But one card is missing. It’s the king of diamonds. I don’t know where the stone is.”

“You never shall know.”

“No? Now, be reasonable, Count. Consider the situation. You are going to be locked up for twenty years. So is Sam Merton. What good are you going to get out of your diamond? None in the world. But if you hand it over⁠—well, I’ll compound a felony. We don’t want you or Sam. We want the stone. Give that up, and so far as I am concerned you can go free so long as you behave yourself in the future. If you make another slip⁠—well, it will be the last. But this time my commission is to get the stone, not you.”

“But if I refuse?”

“Why, then⁠—alas!⁠—it must be you and not the stone.”

Billy had appeared in answer to a ring.