The Portland daily press., 1875-09-11

let me take a moment to bless that delightful
phrase, my DEAR" which says so much in
so little in according to its information and
emphasis. No man can be called pausibly,
brute, who says my dear" to his wife.
Yet am sure Nan felt my just indignation
and disgust far more deeply when l said it
than if l had expressed my sentiments in
pure nervous Saxon-"you are quite right,
my dear. I have been holding Miss Rivers
in my arms, with her head ON my shoulder,
at least fifteen minutes"
Nan looked at me; her great dark gray
eyes widened and darkened, her thin nostrils
dilated, the flush passed from her face as she
gazed.
know that looked serene, though I'M
smiling, but did not speak.
"Jack, what do you mean"
81 mean that Nelly Rivers tainted dead
away In her seat in church. Nobody was
with her, so picked her up, luckily found
carriage at the church door, carried her
home with her head on my shoulder, and
laid her, still unconscious, on the sofa, and
then went for doctor, who says it Is an at
tack of brain fever"
"Poor little thing! didn't know she had
any brains.o
'Nanon!'
And with this inexplicable creature, the
veriest woman l ever saw, flung herself into
lily dtuS duu CIltu WOISc LudU ever.
l am glad to say she did everything in her
power for poor little Nelly, and even professed
to be sorry when that beautiful shining hair
was all cut off.
But if groaned in spirit about Mans nose
after this, it was not long before had reason
to bless it. There was a smallpox panic in
the city, but we had not feared il, for our
quarter was high and clean, and in no way
exposed to infection; SO we were very care
less about being vaccinated. One night we
had been to concert with cousin OF mine
from Boston. There were many encores,
which heightened the performance, and our
seats were near the stage, George Stevens
was to take the midnight train, and the sta
ton was at least mile from the concert
hall. He must be there early to get some
baggage rechecked, and it was half past
eleven when we reached the door, and found
it raining. Only one carriage was left on the
stand, but had it brought up to the door at
once, it was at least shelter. l helped
Nanon up to the step, but the moment her
head entered the vehicle she shrank back, land
jumped down on the pavement.
II can't go in that thing, Jack. 1t smells
Of something dreadful
''Don't be absurd, Nanny" said I. keep
your handkerchief to your face, and get in.
George will be late"
81 can't Jack; I can't. Please don't get
in there, George. I know you will have
something if you do; we all shall. Oh, don't,
don't?"
must say was vexed. The driver swore
by all the saints, and devil besides, that nc
sick man or anything out of the way had ever
been in his carriage "sence the wurld was
med" But nothing convinced Nan. She
became painfully excited, and was fairly
forced to give up the matter or be downright
oruol Rut Gaorca would not ha norSua6ad
He looked at me with sort of contemptuous
compassion; but forgave him for he had
never been married. So Nan and walked
home, and George drove off to the station.
was sulky and Nan was sweet. She knew /
had made great effort to please her, and
she knew George had sneered inwardy at my
compliance, for her perceptions were keen
and quick, so she made herself unusually
lovely to reward me; and, better still, when
George was seized with smallpox fortnight
after and brought to the edge of death, and
| by police investigation I found out that the
| Indignantly virtuous hackdriver had that
very evening of the concert taken two small
| pox patients to the hospital, all Nan said was
"Oh, Jack, how good you were to let me
walk homew To which answered, "Bless
your dear nose!'
But was doomed to be still further indebt.
ed and reconcled to that wonderful organ. A
year or two after the smallpox affair Mans
old grandmother, decrepit Frenchwoman Of
ninety. died in Paris, and in fit of pique
left all her money and jewels to Mans moth.
er, whom she had utterly ignored since bel
marriage, to Mrs. Clements great distress.
But her son had turned out dissipated
worthless fellow, and at length was shot in a
| disreputable duel, and in the last year of heI
| life Madame Duparc quarreled with the niece
| she had adopted, and cut her off with a
| mourning ring. The inheritance amounted
| only to few hundred dollars in money, but
| the most valuable part was the jewelry, fol
besides sundry quaint old rings of enamel
| carbuncle, and sapphire, pair or two Of
| cameo and garnet bracelets, were a comb and
| necklace Of diamonds, an heirloom in the
| family of great value. Now Madame Duparc
ha hadd The forethought to leave these to
Mrs. Clement in such way that they could
| be alienated or sold, adding few cutting re-
marks as to her probable need of money since
| she had married that "vaurien American
| Poor Mrs. Clement! she was past sneers this
| long time, and the inheritance came to Man.
| and in due time reached her, after dangers by
| land, sea, and the custom-house.
Ofcourse some Ubiquitous reporter of the
| papers heard this item of news somewhere,
and made telling little paragraph. The
diamonds, in reality worth about fifteen thou
| Sduu uOlldio3 uSulCu do d SCNCuuy-AfC luOu'
sand bequest of jewels in big capitals. All
| the circumstances were arrayed before the
public, copied into city papers, repeated in
| weeklies; and from that moment our lives be-
! came a burden.
| What should be done with those diamonds
| till we could take them to New York and sci
them?
Nan did once put them on, having first sent
our girl off on an errand, looked under every
sofa and chair, behind the doors. into the
closets. She then closed the register, lest g
man should Turk in the cellar, and shut all
| the blinds, for fear of opera glasses across
the way. Then she lit all the gas, put or
her wedding-gown and the diamonds, and en-
| joyed herself must own she looked as love
| ly as goddess; the comb sparkled like cor.
onet of stars flor it was set starwise, in a
| quaint old fashion, in her coiled dark hair,
and the brilliants made river OF light about
her round throat. Diamonds evidently were
| the proper gems for her. They kinded the
deep sparkle of her eyes; they illuminated the
naughty little head with a sort of fitness not
describable. Her rich, soft gown of creamy
silk, with its falls and folds of rare old lace,
ure and piquant, high-bred face evidently
were meant for diamonds, or diamonds for
them.
"Nanv' said 1, "don't sell the things. We
don't need to; and they are lovely on you.
Nan turned slowly round and looked at me
with curious smile.
ooh, Jack is that your idea of the eternal
fitness of things? Shall wear these sparks
to church, or TO tea parties? Once year,
perhaps, there is a wedding that might
be blinded with my finery, unless every body
looked at the bride, as they ought. And be-
Sides" she added, with sudden energy, ''do
you want our lives made a nuisance with
these things? How have we spent the last
ten days?"
looked back with dismay; not day had
passed that we had not racked our brains for
place to hide these diamonds. They had
been respectively jewellers in the stove under
the ashes, down the register pipe, in pickle
jar full of bran, deep among piles of sheets in
the linen chest, lost in blankets in the cedar
closet, in the crown Of Mans Sunday bonnet,
and the pocket of my wedding coat, laid away
in drawer. Once they were twenty-four
hours in loaf of bread, all night in an old
foot.stove. Time fails me to recount their
wanderings. We neither slept quietly or took
needful exercise; and when people came to
the house and asked to see them, the very
friends of our bosons even, they were treated
with base subterfuges, and went away disap-
| pointed.
cannot say we told any right-angled and
1 l. I4- .ynI