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Rh "I am not thinking of getting married!" Hereford returned irritatedly.

Max turned with a bland smile. "Then what?"

"I came to ask you about emeralds, to get from you a list of the most precious emeralds in the world."

"The most brecious emerald in the world, my friend"—Max put the pot carefully down—"iss, beyont argument or doubt, the last little speck of green put by a man who loves ubon the finger of the lovet one."

"Then the next precious?"

"The next brecious would mean the largest, no doubt; and that—of course—iss the great Java emerald, the Surakarta. The next"

"You need go no farther, Max."

"Ach!" Max said, with interest. "So it