American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-07-18
VOL. NXIV.
ment cuffs it roundly for not answering

l
the prayer.
| He had gone over his papers again, rs
was said, and had thought that he might
worry through, as he called it, without
the open shame of failure and disgrace
of bankruptcy-for shame and disgrace
it seemed to him-if he could only lay
his hands on certain sum of ready
money, Il sum that was not Il large one
for man that was accustomed to the
figures that 9Ir. Rothely was, but some
| thing over Il hundred thousand dollars.
| The open shame of failure was IA great
deal to Mr.-Rothcly, for his pride was ii
trait that everything, SO far had fos-
tered; and the apprehension of the loss
his failure would entail on others was
still more to him, for he always felt him
self an honest man, and had believed
that, in respect to a record of unblem-
ished integrity, his pride had some reason
| for its being. Write on my grave
stonc," he was fond of saying, 81 Here
lies an honest man." Whether he was
| abstractly and intrinsically an honest
man, from whom deceit and untruth
| shrank as from the daylight, it never
| occurred to him to question; he had
| never been tested. "Show me the man
;=hom l have ever wronged of any
| thing." he would have replied, if the
doubt had been suggested, and would
| have considered it fully answered. "A
| hundred thousand dollars ready money"
he was saying now to himself: and us he
said it his eye rested inadvertently on the
door of the little iron safe let into the
wall where his wife's jewels were kept,
and which, in her fatigue, and i'm that
carelessness which with her was half
charm, she had that night left nj jar. And
a little devil began whispering in his ear:
- There is more than hundred thousand
dollars ready money there."
o yes, he knew that very well. Those
great square emeralds and their alternate
diamonds as large had cost him very
much more than that some years ago,
and now emeralds were in fashion, and
worth an added price. Fine emeralds
they were, too, every one a picked stone,
not a doublet among them, and looking
at them, one looked into the wells of soft
green light, the very essence of sunshine
in the heart of forests, of pools in messy
beds, and of the great sea depths. And
then, as for the diamonds, they too were
perfect specimens, not purely white per-
haps, but the more lustrous for that, as
their slightly yellow tinge at night be-
came only added luminousness, each one
of them all a stone with a history before
it had the honor of being in Mrs. ROthe-
ly's possession, each one of them all
worth its thousands. For Mr.. Rothely,
in his pride regarding his wife, had Law
lSllcl Oh ncT Il FORTUNE tnat lew absolute
millionaires would think of spending
and fine and sumptuOus as all her sur
roundings were, there were no finer jew
els in the ownership of any one woman
in the country. yes, there was no
doubt that hundred thousand dollars
ready money could easily be raised on
Mrs. Rothely's emeralds, necklace and
tiara and stomacher and bracelets, and
the less valuable accessories, if anybody
wanted to raise it. However, they were
Mrs. ROthely's jewels, not his; it was
only passing thought, that in reference
to their value; he had not yet fallen so
low as to think seriously of selling his
wife's pretty folderols, he hoped.
But if it were passing thought it was
one that came back again-camc back as
he lay awake turning this way and that
for some escape from his dilemma
back to stay. 1t was a strange thing for
a husband to be burning his brain with
distracting search for means to keep his
name afloat while his wife had those
very means lying idle in her jewel safe,
he said in his thoughts, and repeated it
little angrily. And what if he did think
of selling them? he said. Better men
had come to a worse pass. He bought
them, What if he did think of selling
them now? 1t would be only to make
himself able to buy them back-to buy
better. If he did sell them he would buy
better: there shouldn't be lady off the
thrones covered one-half so resplendently
with gems as his wife should be. Let
him once tide over these cruel breakers,
she should be Al radiant as whole con
stellation, if she wished. All at once Mr..
Rothely shuddercd He had, then,
really and seriously, been thinking of
taking his wife's jewels to carry him
through his difficulties,
Well, why not? he said, presently. Let
him look at the thing squarely. Would
his wife be more hurt or more benefited
by his doing so? Hurt for a season, GER
tainly, yet not so much hurt he would
be under the necessity of doing it; but
benefited in the end to an unreasonable
extent, since, unless he could be carried
through, not only jewels, but estate,
equipage. servants and all would have to
go to satisfy the demands of creditors
who would not wait for sentiment.
But only let him get through this strait
and with hundred thousand dollars
ready money the tide might turn at any
moment-and he would wind up his bust
ness, realize, and retire with Il sufficient
fortune to assure his wife perpetuity of
all the comforts and luXurics she had
hitherto enjoyed. Yes, on the whole he
thought he could do nothing so
wise as to raise the requisite
niouty upoH tnt JcNclH- put IitN-
ing arrived at that determination new
feature of the case presented itself to
Mr. Rothcly. What would Mrs. Rothely
say to the plan? Would she, in the first
place, be likely to listen TO it, and would
she take it reasonable woman |
shouldg No, she wouldn't. Mrs. Rothe-
ly wasn't IA reasonable woman. She was |
Il charming woman, but, as he had thought |
if not said when he married her, he
thanked heaven she wasn't that strong
minded thing-a reasonable woman A |
lovely, capricious, fascinating being she |
was, but one to whom syllogism was as
Sanscrit. And as he remembered all her |
sweet and gay Inconsistencies he felt |
that it would be quite impossible for him
to explain the thing to her. How could !
he tell her he would buy them back |
AGAIN. She would tell him that she |
should never have Il moments security |
in them afterward. What" he could |
hear her say, my emeralds, my beauti- |
full great emeralds, Sell my jewels, 1t
can't be that | understand you. To be
sure" with that sweet, inconscquential
way of hers, Il knew you were only
teasing me. My precious emeralds, in
deed"
And he could hear himself answering:
" Indeed am not testing. l meant what
/ said"
Meant what you saidr' he was sure
she would reply. Meant that you
must sell nv cmcralds, Why don't you
sell the house,"
Because real estate is low" with
literal persistency, needless of the in
tended sarcasm, and the house would
not bring "a third rs much AS the Jewels.