'Tis ruled we should not touch the stone again, and so 'tis best; let be, let be; let us get home.' He put his hand upon my shoulder gently, and spoke with such an earnestness and pleading in his voice that one would have thought it was a woman rather than a great rough giant; and yet I would not hear, and broke away, sheltering the match in my hollowed hands, and making back to the red flower.

But this time, just as I stepped upon the mould, coming to the bed from the house side, the light fell on the ground, and there I saw something that brought me up short.
It was but a dint or impress on the soft brown loam, and yet, before my eyes were well upon it, I knew it for the print of a sharp heel--a sharp deep heel, having just in front of it the outline of a little foot.

There is a story every boy was given to read when I was young, of Crusoe wrecked upon a desert isle, who, walking one day on the shore, was staggered by a single footprint in the sand, because he learnt thus that there were savages in that sad place, where he thought he stood alone.
Yet I believe even that footprint in the sand was never greater blow to him than was this impress in the garden mould to me, for I remembered well the little shoes of polished leather, with their silver buckles and high-tilted heels.
He _had_ been here before us.

I found another footprint, and another leading towards the middle of the bed; and then I flung the match away, trampling the fire out in the soil.

It was no use searching farther now, for I knew well there was no diamond here for us.
I stepped back to the lawn, and caught Elzevir by the arm.