Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-02-19
THE LOST DIAMOND.

young as l. WAS when l did So" said
James Davidson to his friend, Charles
Bronson, as he glanced around his com.
Portable, well-furnished parlor, whose
walls and general appearance bore to
kens of woman's refined taste and care
"But l once thought my chances of get
ting married at all were very SLIM"
"How SOP"
"Well, I'll tell you. just help your.
self to fresh glass of claret, fill your
self pipe while 1 make cigarette, and
listen"
These preliminaries having been ac-
complished, Jim, good and intelligent
looking man of about twenty-six years
of age, began:
at was in 1S-. l had only been
about year out of my apprenticeship
but l was already a good workman.
liked my trade. There is something ar
tistic about jewelry that raises it above
mere labor, and my employers, Everett
s. johnson, of Nassau street, showed
their appreciation of me by confding
some very fine work to me and paying
very high wages. / made plenty OF
money, and felt no envy of the swells
who wore the pretty things l made
Well, was very comfortable as bach
elor, and the idea came into my head
that / might be better off if was mar
ried. You see, I'd known Lizzie over a
pany with her, besides being looked on
very favorably by her parents"
IL hadn't much trouble in getting her
to share my views, that as there were
plenty of partings in this world, we had
better part as seldom as possible. and to
that end get married.
You bet that the engagement ring !
made for her was a masterpiece. In
fact, she seolded me for my extraYa-
gance, and hinted that the money would
be better laid out in furniture. had
saved up nice little sum toward that,
and had my eye on a nice little cottage
which / hoped to rent to begin house
keeping in.
"WeIl, we had almost fixed the day,
which was not to be more than two
months hence, and Lizzie and | were
very much interested in advertisements
of furniture-houses, and never passed a
store of that kind without looking eriti-
cally and in a business-like way at car
pets, bedsteads, and such things. Lizzie
would blush and pinch my arm whenev-
er I'd price cradle. as / often did to
teaze her. Well, as said, we had just
made sp our minds to get spliced in Oc-
tOber next, when thing happened to
me which then thought the greatest
misfortune in the world, but which has
since turned out a great blessing.
owe to it this cozy little cottage, and ]
think also those habits of economy which
have enabled me to lay something aside
for rainy day.
at was one day in August, 1S-, the
men had just gone to dinner, and Twas
just going myself, but had stayed be
hind minute or two TO finish setting q
large, handsome diamond I'D got to fix
in a locket for an uptown jeweler and
which was wanted in a hurry. My bench
stood opposite the window which, OF
course, was open to catch what little all
there was, but the bench wasn't close to
the windOw-it was, in fact, two OF
three feet away. =
"You know diamond is pretty hard
and will bear good blow with the
hammer; so to fix it firmly, / gave it a
pretty smart stroke to bury it well in
the setting, when whizl it was gone.
fancied 1 heard it drop on the fieor, but
must have been mistaken, as most
thorough seach for it there failed to find
it. 1t couldn't have flown through the
window, it looked too far; but it must
have gone somewhere, and it was not on
the floor, was sure of that. called
Mr.. Everett, who happened to be in the
front office, and hastily explaining mat
ters | ran down stairs into the street. ]
had little chance of finding it if any one
had chanced to see it sparple. and you
know what crowds pass through Mas
sau street; he'd have picked it up imme-
diately, and besides, had q strong idea
it hadn't gone through the window
However, got a couple of bootblaeks
described the stone to them as bright
piece of glass I'd dropped, and gave
them half dollar each to lock for It,
with the promise of dollar il they
found it. There was no dinner hour for
me that day. l hunted all over the
shop, my fellow workmen helped me, we
moved all the furniture, and all in vain.
81 went home that evening feeling
pretty bad, and but little inclined for
sleep. saw myself ruined, the diamond
was worth over Thousand dollars, and
how was l to repay it? Inever thought
the firm would prosecute me, but stain
would rest on nay character, my Oecupa-
tiOn would be gone, and as for marriage,
it couldn't be thought of.
Next morning called round at my
fathers before he went to work, and
told him all about it. He was awfully
hurt, of course, said he would no more
suspect me of stealing it than he would
of nv being murderer, and was sure
that Everett & johnson thought the same
as he; but we didn't know what others
might think, and it would never do to
let suspicion rest on the name of Da-
wilson. At all cost the value Of the
stone must be paid. That was very
good. had about four hundred dollars,
with which 1 had intended furnishing
the cottage, but that wasn't half enough.
Well, advised by my father, who said
that if 1 could save four hundred l
could easily save the balance, | drew out
nv money with very different feelings
from what had anticipated while pay
ing it in, and went with the old man to
to Everett & JOhnson's and had a pri-
vate interview with them. l offered
them the money l had saved. and said
would repay them the rest by degrees
ont of nv earnings.
"The firm were very kind. They said
they always had high opinion of me,
and my present action confirmed it. 1t
was a sad accident, but / alone was ac-
countable for it; they would have to
replace tho diamond right away, and
they could not afford such loss, so they
accepted my offer and | retained my po-
sitiOn.
"My reputation was safe. but yet l
had to see aud explain matters to Lizzie
and her folks, and put off oar wedding,
and got over that better than expect
=. 4 fnnlI Ixr