The Argosy, Vol. 52

The Fate of the Hara Diamond This 1891 installment of a continuing diamond-theft narrative centers on Chapter XXXVII, "A Little Dinner for Three." Captain Ducie hosts Mr. Van Loal and his daughter Mirpah at dinner in St. Helier (Jersey), where he asks the older man—a diamond merchant—to appraise a valuable gem he possesses: the Great Hara Diamond, a rare eighty-five-carat green stone weighing nearly two hundred thousand pounds. Van Loal examines it extensively and pronounces it nearly unique among European crown jewels. Ducie confides his intention to sell it and accepts Van Loal's services as negotiator. The following morning, Mirpah and her father depart unexpectedly on the Southampton boat with a mysterious clean-shaven gentleman, disappointing Ducie, who had intended to propose marriage. A final passage hints at another English steamer observed through a spyglass as the Van Loals' vessel departs, suggesting an unfolding complication.