In two weeks Fitz-Norman calculated that the diamond mountain was about equal in quantity to all the diamonds in the world. It was impossible to know its exact value. No one in the world had enough gold to buy it. And what could anyone do with such a huge diamond?

It was an amazing situation. In one sense, he was the richest man that ever lived; and yet, what was he worth? The discovery of such a diamond would create a disaster on the world market. The only thing he could do was to sell his discovery secretly.

Fitz-Norman started traveling to different parts of the world. With one hundred thousand dollars and two trunks filled with diamonds of all sizes he sailed to St Petersburg in Russia, where he stayed in a small hotel. He met with the court jeweler and announced that he had a diamond for the Czar. He remained in St Petersburg for two weeks, moving from one hotel to another because his life was in danger.

Fitz-Norman then moved on to leave for India. Before he left Russia he promised the Czar to return the next year with bigger and better diamonds. He then visited the capitals of twenty-two countries and talked with five emperors, eleven kings, three princes and a sultan. At that time he calculated his wealth to be one billion dollars.

From 1870 until his death in 1900, the history of Fitz-Norman Washington was a long story of immense wealth. He married a lady from Virginia, had a son, and murdered his brother because he often got drunk and nearly told people their secret. There were a few other murders during these happy years of progress.

Before his death, he converted his money into gold and deposited it in banks all over the world. His son, Braddock, transformed the gold into a very rare element, radium, so that a billion dollars in gold could fit in a little box.

Three years after Fitz-Norman's death, his son decided that the business had gone far enough. His wealth was beyond calculation and could support all the Washingtons for generations, so he closed the diamond mine. But he knew that he had to protect his secret.

This was the family John T. Unger was staying with. This was the story he heard in his silver-walled sitting room that morning.