The Washington critic., 1888-01-21
THE DIAMOND CRESCENT,


comforts of the fireside.
was sitting in my office, on the
ground floor, watching the restless
people and philosophizing, as / have a
habit Of doing, upon the differences
in human condition, when my atten-
ton was suddenly arrested by child
wearing upon her breast superb
diamond crescent of purest water and
brilliancy. Before had time to form
ulate any opinion as to how so mag
nificent a jewel could have come into
the possession of q child, or to wonder
why its parents or guardians per-
mitted II to wear such a valuable
trinket upon the public streets, an
officer had the little one in his grasp.
Looking at IL nationally, nothing
would have seemed more probable
than that the child was thief, for |
did not fail to notice in my first glance
that her garments, although scrupu-
lously neat, were far from expensive,
nevertheless an unaccountable excite
ment took possession Of me, and |
rushed to her assistance, demanding
of the officer authoritatively, upon
what charge do you make this arrest?"
Instinctively recognizing friend,
the terrified child besought me not to
allow the officer to take her to Jail.
Look at that pin, the little thief !"
the officer said roughly, making a
movement to drag the child away.
"StopW | commanded, Indignantly
now, for I had made up my mind that
the child should at least have hear
ing. "Who says she is a thief?'
81 say So" returned the officer
sharply. "I know 'em, these street
gamins, and a precious lot they are |!
She's regular one, this one is"
Indeed, sir, ] am not thief Oh,
j am not, l am not. 1 didn't mean to
do wrong. / wanted to find my own
papa that Miss Adele says the crescent
will surely find"
The officer laughed coarsely. "That
is fine, isn't it? Highly dramatic for
one so young. You see L know 'em /;
they come in all ages from"
Officer" i interrupted him, for q
crowd was gathering now despite the
biting cold, and did not much enjoy
my position as one of the central fig
nres, "step with me into my office
while we hear the little ones story.
] am convinced that you have no more
right to arrest this child because she
wears costly ornament when walk
ing quietly along the public street,
than you would to ARE st the wife or
daughter of millionaire under like
circumstances. You know who am,
and if the facts do not corroborate the
story this child tells l promise to
deliver her over to you in the next
few hours"
"All right" said the officer, "take
her; you'll be wiser in the next
twenty -four hours, I'll wager"
And so was, but not just as the
officer anticipated. The child told me
singular story between her sobs, and
facts proved it strictly true. Indeed,
as had the little one in my Office be-
. fore the fire, warm and comfortable
except for the effects Of her fright, /
had time to see that her features and
expression were those of o young
princess of the blood, clear-cut, ex-
quisite and truthful. She was as far
removed from the youthful unfortu-
mates brought up in vice and crime as
is heaven from earth.
The gist of her story was that she
was great mans daughter, and the
only way she would ever find her
papa was by the crescent, which he
would recognize. She lived with Miss
Adele, music teacher, and they had
very little money. Miss Adele had
cried that morning because their coal
was nearly gone and she had no
money to buy more.
"When Adele had gone out put
the crescent on. and came to find
papa, for knew that if he saw that
he would buy us some more wood and
COAL" the child confided to me
earnestly.
! hailed cab at the conclusion of
the tale and took the child to the
street and number given me. A tall,
graceful woman of twenty-five OIL
"Why, my dear Eva" she cried,
clasping the child to her, where have
you been? l have been almost crazy
with anxiety about YOU"
But just at this moment Miss
Adele caught sight of me, and,
drawing herself up with dignity, she
waited for an explanation of my
presence there. Stating the case
briefly ! asked her to tell me some
thing about the child.
II will, sir" she said, motioning
me to be seated, with grace l have
rarely seen equaled. "The sole
guardianship of little Eva fell to me
strangely" she began. "I am the
daughter of clergyman, and, while
teaching music in my native village
in the West, it happened that one
winters night some eight years since
"a night not unlike what this
promises to benny father and !
were startled by means at oul
windows. Investigation showed q
woman and child. Both were nearly
frozen, and the woman, once in the
heated room, swoened. We sum-
moned physician, but she recovered
consciousness only to lose it again
until we found that she was dying
Towards the last the poor creature
muttered wildly and incoherently
and seemed to be in NOR,
tai terror of punishment for
some great crime. Just at the last
however, she became entirely rational
and made frantic efforts with dying
breath to tell us all about the child
but the most we could understand was
that Eva belonged to wealthy parents
and that something would prove hei
identity. Sewed up in the rags
wrapped about the baby girl we dis
covered the diamond crescent, which
is strangely engraved in ciphers, un
ineligible to a stranger, but no doubt
significant enough to the owners
whom we naturally supposed TO be
little Eva's parents, for this was evi
dently what the poor woman meant
10 convey.