Frostburg mining journal., 1883-12-22

them.
dapper gentemanly clerk came forward.
~ want a present, rich and handsome pres.
ent, for a lady," said.
''Yes sir. A fan. sir?"
''No, not fam" remembered Mrs. Darcy
had said "a dozen fans"
"a toilet case satchel, an ivory comb, glove,
box, napkin ring?"
"No; something better"
'Pardon; is it for Young lady"
felt my ears tingle, but answered, boldly,
''Yes, for young lady"
81 would recommend, say, a brooch"
"Let me see some brooches.
'With jewels or plain, sir p
''Jewels, of course.
''Here's neat thing" said the clerk, sin
sapphires."
color of her eyes, and she might forgive the
meanness Of the present for the richness of my
affection. "How much?' asked
"That, sir, is three fifty"
'sThree fifty" 1 repeated, deciding on it at
once-'three dollars and fifty"
The gentemanly clerk saved me from the
blunder. ''Three hundred and fifty dollars,
sir"
"Oh," said |, with sickly smile, 81 thought
So" But l hadn't thought so. The cost of the
trife was a great deal more than | had
dreamed. There was Just twenty dollars in my
pocket, and to have that bore my tailor's in
science and my landlady's duns Then | owed
Joe the money for the Long Branch visit, and
more borrowed since. Besides was at an age
when it seems so degrading to be poor-an age
when one likes to say, "Keep the change"
REMARKED, critically, to the clerk "Humph
on the whole, I don't fancy sapphires. Show
me pearls"
Certainly. Here's pretty thing only two
hundred"
After going through the whole stock of
pearls, asked for bracelets.
"Five hundred, eight, one thousand" said
the man, looking inpatient as other customers
were waiting.
"Could you show me rings?" l asked. l
thought of rings because, being small objects,
it seemed likely they might come within my
small means.
Diamond? ?" inquired the clerk.
Diamond of course"
He took out a case 81 rings, and ran over the
prices-'Two hundred, one seventy-five, four
hundred, one hundred" and so on. Lost in
troubled thought, stood rattling the keys in
my pocket in an under-bred fashion had, and
doing so, felt my great-amt's silver ring, which
drew forth with happy thought.
81 want" said l. 'to keep the silver setting;
reset the stone, and tell me at what price you
can furnish me its exact counterpart, say two
weeks from now."
'Yes, sir;" and off he went to some upper re-
gion. In little while, coming down and Civ
ing me the bare circlet from which the stone
had been taken, he said: 81 can't tell you
at the moment for how much we can mate the
diamond but our expert has weighed and ex-
amined it, and we will write to you.
every WELL"
'Address, pleasew
gave my number
Sand address for the new ring?"
''Miss Constance Darcy Fifth avenue. With
out fail, tomorrow"
| drew a long sigh as l stepped into the
street. The gift seemed so insignificant for
my beautiful Constance. As to the diamond,
why. in two weeks l would be twenty-one, and
have the three thousand dollars from my guard
ian. Before quadrupling that sum in Wall
street, would take out enough topay Joe, and,
above all things, I'd put stone in Jan Van
Boosen's ring as good or better than the old
one.
The next evening, Chrstmas-eve, was made
happy Constance wrote to me:
II have received your magnificent present.
How good you are I shall wear the ring al
ways. Look in tomorrow about three. I've a
particular reason for wishing to see you"
Oh, what was the particular reason" for
wishing to see me? believed l could guess.
OF course, sharp on the hour, l was with
Constance.
"Oh!' she exclaimed: 'Merry Christmas |!
The ring is lovely;" and she showed it on her
finger, sparkling wonderfully.
Mrs. Darcy came putting up like respectable
locomotive, and calculated: "oh, the ring is
superb!
'Now" said Constance, ''come and have
luncheon quite en- fan,lle," and she drew me
into the dining-room. 'There's nobody here
but Mr.. Reynolds"
There was old Reynolds, sure enough, at the
head of the table, smiling and beaming. But
Constance gave me comfort by talking all
lunch-time about my present And, in fact,
was astonished at the size and brilliancy OF the
| diamond, and almost feared that Tiffany had
| delivered the wrong one.
When we had pushed back from the table,
Constance began, brightly: ~ sent for you,
dear Mr.. Van Boosen, because you're such
| good friend" felt my heart standing STILL as
before a coming calamity, yet never guessed
what that calamity might be. 81 sent for you,
she went on, 'because from the first we have
| all liked you so much, and this beautiful ring
shows how sincere is your regard for"-she
hesitated, then made the pronoun ''us." 80
I'm going to tell you secret" She glanced
great secret" she repeated. felt as il were
| turning to stone. Then she said, deliberately
'I'm engaged to Mr.. Reynolds" had turned
| to stone couldn't move, couldn't think.
| hoped | was dying But Mrs. Darcy quickly
poured out some wine, and l lifted it to my
lips. Then / saw Constance standing up be-
hind Reynolds's chair. l thought she looked O
little scared for could feel my face was white
as marbe but in her own graceful, cordial way
she said: ''Yes, my dear Gerard-for we shal
call you Gerard, you're 30 very young-we are
to be married at once. You see, I'm thirty
years old, and can be"-she laughed pleas
antly at the notion-"quite mother to you
And Mr. Reynolds can be your father. How
nice !" She clapped her hands playfully. $50
you must come and see us often. Do now
like good boy"
"Come and see us" REYNOLDS added grimly
/ rose and stammered out some words;
don't know what they were.
Then Constance aflectionately put her hant
on Reynolds's shoulder, and exclaimed, with {
pretty pout; "Yes, am going to marry thi
baldhead. And hate badness. Never mind
dear; you must get some horrid stuff that j
make the hair grow" Reynolds clasped thu
hand on his shoulder, and laughing, kissed it
| said something more, without any idei
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