If Diamond had had to find out the riddle in order to see
Mr. Raymond again, I doubt if he would ever have seen him.

"Oh then," I think I hear some little reader say, "he could not have
been a genius, for a genius finds out things without being told."

I answer, "Genius finds out truths, not tricks." And if you do
not understand that, I am afraid you must be content to wait till
you grow older and know more.



CHAPTER XXIII

THE EARLY BIRD


WHEN Diamond got home he found his father at home already, sitting by
the fire and looking rather miserable, for his head ached and he
felt sick. He had been doing night work of late, and it had not agreed
with him, so he had given it up, but not in time, for he had taken
some kind of fever. The next day he was forced to keep his bed,
and his wife nursed him, and Diamond attended to the baby. If he
had not been ill, it would have been delightful to have him at home;
and the first day Diamond sang more songs than ever to the baby,
and his father listened with some pleasure. But the next he could
not bear even Diamond's sweet voice, and was very ill indeed;
so Diamond took the baby into his own room, and had no end of quiet
games with him there. If he did pull all his bedding on the floor,
it did not matter, for he kept baby very quiet, and made the bed