Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-07-02

''The magic emerald, did you say, Mr.
Langton Dear me, how very interesting y
s'Did you never hear of it before, Lady
Matilda 1 thought that everybody knew
that old story"
SO, one doesn't always hear things, you
know. But tell me, what does the magic
emerald do 2"
Lady Matilda's companion, with little
sigh of resignation, settled his back more
comfortably against the roots of the enor.
nous oak under which he was lying. He
was long, lean. wrinkled man, with
skin burned by long exposure to troplc
suns to the tint of the autumn leaves that
Law about him. He would have been a no.
ticeable figure anywhere, but he was par
ticularly SO amid his present surroundings.
He was the kind of man one would have
rather expected to meet in an Arabian
desert or on the wilds of the Pampas than
amid this quiet English landscape; and his
dress, which was compromise between
civilized requirements and tropic ease,
tended to increase the natural strangeness
of his aspect.
Stephen Langton, like all men of any
strength of character at all, had his friends
Anu Ills 6uSlIllcS, anu bIlClI VI A1I1l
differed as much as peoples estimates of
their acquaintance do differ. But on one
point they were unanimous Langton was
"queer." That verdict had been pro-
nounced on him very early in life, and had
stuck to him ever since. In the cradle, IN
the nursery, at school, he had differed
from all other babies, from all other chill
dren, from all other schoolboys. His reg
mental companions in the Two Hundredth
had accepted and confirmed the designa-
ton of his nurse and his schoolmates. He
took no interest in any of the things in
which the British subaltern most delighted
He did not bet, he never touched card,
he did not Drag about his proves to the
fair sex. / suspect that it was that last
mentioned trait that most exercised the
minds of his messmates. What could you
make of fellow who seemed as anxious to
avoid the Establishments of the prettiest
girls of garrison town as though they
had been as faded and as dull as the lady
whose commonplace bored him to death
on this glorious autumn afternoon? And
Stephen Langton was worth a pretty girls
smile, and might have had his choice in
most bathrooms. Independently of the
advantages of handsome face and figure,
his expectations were thrice as great as
those of any other man in the Two Hun
dredth But Nelly Despard of Portsmouth
and Nelly Despard of Chatham, and other
Nellys and Fannys innumerable, all of them
pretty and some of them rich, retired in
turn from the assault of that impregnable
fortress. Stephen Langton was not mar
rying man, and Sir Charles Grandson him.
self was not more ignorant of the verb "to
firt." He especially disliked any allusion
to his martial achievements and if he had
left his regiment with the "Rogue's
March in his ears, could not have been
more unwilling to talk of his campaigning
days. But he had done good service in his
time, and in many village on the wild
northwest border OF Hindostan the name OF
Langton Sahib the "Feringhee boy-devil, "
is whispered to this day by white-haired
men, who remember with what a rod of
iron he ruled the district in the days of
the rebellion. But somber as were the
prevailing tints of his character, it
had lights as well as shadows.
Many a man who was louder tongued in
sympathy lacked the depths of real tender,
ness that lay under that hard exterior. 1t
Is great tribute to the sterling worth of
a man who makes but few friends when
the few who know him most thoroughly
are loudest IN their praises. There were
those who could tell of deeds of quiet
heroic sef-sacrifice done by this silent and
sardonlc man on sea and battlefield, for
duty and for friendships sake. Every
body knew at whose cost the children of |
poor Jack Naseby were being fed and edu-
Gated, and how nobly the promise whis- |
pered in the ear of the dying comrade had |
been fulfilled. And when poor little |
Tompkins, the soap-boiler's son, came that |
awful eropper over the Derby, and saw |
nothing before him but to sell out and re. |
tire to an eternity of SOAP boiling under |
the eyes of an indignant father, it was
Langton who set him right, and tided him |
over that disastrous time. But still, in |
spite of such stories as these, of which his |
friends would tell you many, the ordinary |
verdict regarding Stephen Langton was |
that he was queer y and the general i'm |
preston he made on most people was the |
reverse of favorable.
On his accession to his fortune he had |
behaved in fashion totally different from
what had been expected of him. and Lang.
ton Hall had never for moment together
been empty Of guests His hberality in |
this respect did not arise from anv modifi.
cation of his own peculiarities. but was !
solely due to the influence of his sister.
Miss Bertha LangtOn, to whom. renort |
said, he was passionately attached. REPORT |
was right for once, and Bertha's word was
law to her brother who concentrated upon !
her all the affection that other men dissi-
pate on the thousand and one objects to |
which he was utterly indifferent.
90 Tho mario emerald - s.,I
Langton, -" has been an heirloom in the |
family for the last four hundred years. |
Apart from its associations, it is a very |
valuable stone from its size and quality. |
1t is said under circumstances to have the |
power OF losing its tint and becoming per-
fectly colorless
Lady Matilda.
g If its possessor is guilty of any great
meanness or rascality, if he betrays a
friend, or commits any really vile or wicked
action, the emerald loses its color, and |
when that happens it is warning of GER
tain punishment The criminal may strive
to avert the penalty; but it will come in
spite OF all he may do
And has that ever happened ?"
Never, since it has been in our family"
iesPohueo banSton, My forbears have
either been exceptionally virtuous, or the
emerald has lost its powers or never pos.
sessed them"
30 Mr.. Langton, pray don't cast doubt
on such a really charming story So very
romantic, so truly interesting. Bat, sup
posing that its possessor-you, for instance
Though I'm sure, of course, that YOU
wouldn't were to do something really
dreadful, would the emerald never recover
its color 90
Never, SO long as it remained in my