He paused, and then added, almost apologetically:

“You don’t mind my telling it this way, do you? As though I wasn’t in it at all. It seems like that now when I look back and see those two boys. I almost forget that one of them was⁠—Harry Rayburn.”

“Tell it any way you like,” I said, and he went on:

“We came to Kimberley⁠—very cock-a-hoop over our find. We brought a magnificent selection of diamonds with us to submit to the experts. And then⁠—in the hotel at Kimberley⁠—we met her⁠ ⁠…”

I stiffened a little, and the hand that rested on the doorpost clenched itself involuntarily.