himself. This meant that the secretwas known, and if known to another, what more likely than that thestranger possessed a complete manuscript--a manuscript which gave thecontext, not only of the curious statement, but of the directions of howthe truth could be verified.
Of the latter, he possessed only that one scrap of written manuscript.There must have been other folios, but all were, alas! missing. Theyhad, no doubt, been consumed by the flames before the eyes of the dyingman.
He was beside himself with anxiety. It could not have been Diamondhimself who had been at the Museum, for the Doctor was not a Hebrewscholar and, besides, he had been told by Frank that the man was badlydeformed. Therefore, his deformity would certainly have impresseditself upon the assistant-keeper.
By the "Tube" from Tottenham Court Road Station he travelled to NottingHill Gate, and turning into Pembridge Gardens, let himself in with hislatch-key.
Frank was with Gwen in the drawing-room, and they were taking their tea_tete-a-tete_ when the old man entered. After luncheon he had taken herto a matinee, and the happy pair had only just returned.
"Tell me, Frank," asked the Professor, almost before he had time togreet him, "did that friend of yours, Diamond, show those papers to anyone else besides you, do you think?"
"Certainly not. Why?" inquired the young man in some surprise.
"Oh, nothing," replied the Professor with slight hesitation. "I--well--I only thought that it would be a little unfair to trouble me ifsomebody else had already been making any researches."
"Nobody has seen it save myself, I can assure you. Diamond is a mostcareful and cautious man," Frank declared. "He brought them straightover from Paris, and came at once to me."
"He might possibly have shown them to somebody in Paris," the elder mansuggested.
"I asked him, and he distinctly told me that nobody save myself had seteyes upon them."
The Professor sank into an armchair, and in silence took the cup of teawhich Gwen handed to him.
"You're tired, dad," she said. "I see it in your face!"
"A little, dear. I've been at the Museum all day."
"I wish you wouldn't go to that horrid old place. It always gives you aheadache, you know," said the girl anxiously.
"Ah, my child," replied the old man with a sigh, "the place holds, forme, much that is interesting in life--in fact all that is interesting,except your own neat little self."
The girl laughed merrily, declaring that compliments should not be paidto her in the presence of Frank.
But the old man, sighing rather wearily, said:
"Well, Gwen, it's the truth. I have nothing much to live for, exceptyourself and my studies. When your dear mother died, the sun of my lifewas extinguished. And now you have grown up to take her place."
She and Frank exchanged quick meaning glances.
"I hope always to live near you, dear old dad, even after we'remarried," she said. "I shall never desert you."
Her father smiled, saying:
"That is what every girl says to her parents before marriage. Few,however, fulfil their promise."
"Well, dad, don't let's talk about parting till the time really comes,"exclaimed his daughter, in an endeavour to change the topic ofconversation. Only a moment prior to the Professor's return she andFrank had been discussing the future, and considering that very point.
"Have you been making researches in the Museum in connection with theburnt papers, Professor?" asked young Farquhar, who, standing in hiswell-cut suit of blue serge, looked a splendid specimen of the lithe,athletic young Englishman.
"Yes, I have."
"And the result?"
The Professor shook his head in the negative.
"At present I have failed to discover the slightest title ofcorroboration of your friend Doctor Diamond's wonderful theory. Theconstruction which may be placed upon the scrappy statements are many,but none upon which I can yet form any absolute conclusion."
He made no mention that he had caused photographic negatives of theburnt papers to be secured, or that, within his pocket, there reposed anaccurate copy of the accepted original of the Book of Ezekiel.
"You are still in opposition, then, to Diamond's theory?" asked theyoung man.
"Of course."
"But why?"
The Professor drank his tea slowly, and replaced the cup upon the littletable.
"Well," he answered with much deliberation, "because Biblical history isentirely opposed to it. The first Book of Kings relates in detail thebuilding of the temple by Solomon in B.C. 1012, the dimensions of thePorch, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Within and without thebuilding was conspicuous by the lavish use of gold from Ophir andParvaim. Above the sacred Ark, which was placed as of old in the MostHoly Place, were made new cherubim, one pair of whose wings met abovethe Ark and another pair reached to the walls behind them. In the HolyPlace, besides the Altar of Incense, which was made of cedar overlaidwith gold, there were seven golden candlesticks instead of one, and thetable of the shew-bread was replaced by ten golden tables bearing besidethe shew-bread the innumerable golden vessels for the service of thesanctuary. Instead of the brazen laver we know that there was a `moltensea' of brass, a masterpiece of Hiram's skill, for the ablutions of thepriests. It was called a `sea' from its great size, being five cubitsin height ten in diameter and thirty in circumference, and containing,it is estimated, about sixteen thousand gallons of water. It stood upontwelve oxen, three towards each quarter of the heavens, and all lookingoutwards. The brim itself, or lip, was wrought `like the brim of a cup,with flowers of lilies,' or curved outwards like a lily or lotus flower.The front of the porch was supported, after the manner of some Egyptiantemples, by the two great brazen pillars Jachin and Boaz, eighteencubits high, with capitols of five cubits more, adorned, as we are told,with lily-work and pomegranates.
"But," he added, "all this is historical fact. In the temple reposedthe most valuable collection of gold and jewels ever gathered together,and the dedication of the House of Jehovah, the God of Israel, was thegrandest ceremony ever performed under the Mosaic dispensation. And ifyou read 1 Kings, viii, and 2 Chronicles, v, you will there learn how,at the ceremony, Jehovah gave the sign of His coming to take possessionof His house. Then Solomon built his own house, placing within it thewonderful `wealth of Ormuz and Ind,' and to him came the Queen of Sheba,an event which marked the culminating-point of his glory. The very kingwho built the glorious temple, and to whom Jehovah had twice givensolemn warning in his old age, however, and under the influence of hiswives, turned his heart away from God. He served Ashtoreth, themoon-goddess of the Zidonians, and Moloch, the `horrid king' whom theAmmonites worshipped with human sacrifice. Solomon died in B.C. 976,and very shortly after his death the prophecy of Ahijah was fulfilled:his kingdom was rent in twain, and the parts, weakened by thedisruption, formed the separate kingdoms of Judah and of Israel."
"It will be interesting to trace the history of the temple from thatdate down to the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar," remarked Frank.
"That occurred about three hundred years after Solomon's death--at leastaccording to our latest chronologers," replied the Professor, "and it isin tracing that history that we have many of the points before usnegatived most decisively. Let me instance one or two of them."
"Yes, do, dad," cried Gwen, greatly interested. "I'm quite excited,over the mysterious affair."
"Then listen, child," the old man said. "But, first go and get a Biblefrom the study."
And the girl rose to do her father's bidding.
CHAPTER TEN.
FACT OR FICTION.
"I may perhaps with advantage give you very roughly some historicalfacts which tend to negative Diamond's theory," the Professor said,turning to Farquhar while Gwen was absent.
"That is what I'm most desirous of hearing," replied the young man. "Ican claim no special knowledge like yourself. Indeed, no man in Englandis more capable of expressing an opinion than you are."
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The Professor passed his hand through his scanty grey hair and smiled.He saw that his wide knowledge impressed this young man whose onlythought was a "sensation" in one or other of the Gavin group ofpublications.
Then, when Gwen had re-entered the room with a Bible in her hand, hesaid in that slow, deliberate habit of his, the habit of the scholar anddeep thinker:
"The theory of this Doctor Diamond is that the treasures of Solomon'stemple were hidden by the priests prior to the taking of Jerusalem byNebuchadnezzar. Well, that is a bold but quite unsubstantiatedassertion. As early after Solomon as the reign of Jeroboam the First,King of Judah, the golden calves, the symbols of