



Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed
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[Illustration: Budapest 1896 17/III Dr. Jokai Mor]




MAURUS JOKAI


BLACK DIAMONDS


A Novel

TRANSLATED BY
FRANCES A. GERARD


NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS.

All rights reserved.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                          PAGE
I.        A BLACK PLACE                             1
II.       THE SLAVE OF THE BLACK DIAMONDS          11
III.      THE MAN-EATER                            27
IV.       A MODERN ALCHEMIST                       35
V.        THE DOCTOR                               50
VI.       COUNTESS THEUDELINDE                     63
VII.      THE COUNTESS'S ALBUM                     79
VIII.     THE EXORCIST                             95
IX.       "AN OBSTINATE FELLOW"                   132
X.        THE HIGHER MATHEMATICS                  146
XI.       SOIREES AMALGAMANTES                    155
XII.      RITTER MAGNET                           166
XIII.     ONLY A TRIFLE                           189
XIV.      THIRTY-THREE PARTS                      207
XV.       TWO POINTS                              225
XVI.      GOOD-BYE                                232
XVII.     THE LAST REHEARSAL                      245
XVIII.    FINANCIAL WISDOM                        253
XIX.      FILTHY LUCRE                            259
XX.       NO, EVELINE!                            278
XXI.      RESPECT FOR HALINA CLOTH                291
XXII.     TWO SUPPLIANTS                          301
XXIII.    FINANCIAL INTRIGUE                      312
XXIV.     THE BONDAVARA RAILWAY                   317
XXV.      THE POOR DEAR PRINCE                    324
XXVI.     DIES IRAE                                327
XXVII.    FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS      348
XXVIII.   TWO CHILDREN                            352
XXIX.     IMMACULATE                              357
XXX.      MAN AND WIFE                            365
XXXI.     EVA DIRKMAL                             373
XXXII.    CRUSHED                                 378
XXXIII.   CHARCOAL                                387
XXXIV.    CSANTA'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT        395
XXXV.     THE GROUND BURNS UNDER HIS FEET         401
XXXVI.    CHILD'S PLAY                            406
XXXVII.   EUREKA                                  411
XXXVIII.  AT PAR                                  419
XXXIX.    THE UNDERGROUND WORLD                   428
XL.       ANGELA IS EVEN WITH IVAN                442
XLI.      HOW IVAN MOURNED                        450
XLII.     EVILA                                   453
XLIII.    THE DIAMOND REMAINED ALWAYS A DIAMOND   459





BLACK DIAMONDS




CHAPTER I

A BLACK PLACE


We are in the depths of an underground cavern. It is bad enough to be
underground, but here we are all enveloped in black as well: the
ceiling is black, so are the walls; they are made of blocks of coal.
The floor is one great black looking-glass. It is a sort of pond,
polished as steel. Over this polished surface glistens the reflection
of a solitary light, the light of a safety-lamp shining through a wire
net.

A man guides himself over the pond in a narrow boat. By the doubtful
light of the lamp he sees high pillars, which rise out of the depths
below and reach to the very roof of the cavern--pillars slender, like
the columns of a Moorish palace. These pillars are half white and half
black; up to a certain point only are they coal black, beyond that
they are light in color.

What are these pillars?

They are the stems of pines and palm-trees. These gigantic stems are
quite at home in the layers over the coal-mine, but how have they
descended here? They belong to another world--the world of light and
air. The coal layers overhead sometimes take fire of themselves, and
the fire, being intense, has loosened the hold of these giants and
sent them below.

Coal-pits kindle of themselves often, as every novice knows, but in
this case who extinguished the flames? That is the question.

The solitary occupant of the