The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1888-08-11

that the diamond did not shine as
brightly as it had done the night be
fore.
Next morning | took the ring to a
second jeweler and asked him his
opinion as to its value. He oxamin-
ed the diamond carefully and laid
it down on the glass case before him
with one contemptuous word
Paste ln
'Paste !" l echoed. impossible l'
Certainly paste, and very good
imitation, he replied, turning away.
my heart sank within me.
Eighty pounds was sum l could i'll
afford to lose 1t ment IA summary
end to my holidays, not to speak of
embarrassments that would last
some time.
"With faint hope that the second
expert had been mistaken, l took
the ring to the jeweler who had Of
Eered the American three thousand
francs for it.
ale seemed pleased to see me,
but as soon as he had glanced at the
ring his face changed.
"This is not the same ring you
showed me yesterday" he said in
tone that made it plain that he
thought l meant to cheat him. AT
least, he added, it is not the same
stone. This is not stone at all it
is paste
$50 1 have been told," said sadly
Are you sure the jewel showed
you yesterday was a genuine dia-
mandY
81 am certain of it," he answered.
"The honorable conduct Gas | had
thought it) of the stranger in refus-
ing to sell to the jeweler was now
ineligible. The jeweler meant to
keep the real stone. 1t was not diff
ficult to see how the fraud had been
managed. The swindler had had
two rings made exactly alike ofa
striking and peculiar pattern. In
one of them he had placed a genuine
and very fine diamond, closely res
embling in size and shape the gem
uine one in the first ring. The one
he wore and offered to sell was the
true stone. When he got it back
from the jeweler he had kept it and
had given me.the sham one in ex-
change for my eighty pounds. What
was / to do?
The first thing was to ascertain
whether my friend had left the hotel.
of course he had-on the afternoon
of the previous day still, the scent
was hot, fancied should have but
little difficulty in tracing him. But
when l found my difficulties would
only begin. OF course he would
swear that he had sold me the ring
with the stones which the jeweler
had declared to be genuine. | might
conceivably, have substituted paste
for the true gem as well as he. In
any case, when / thought of the diff
ficulty of getting back my money
from an American wandering about
Europe, my heart sank within me
Even if the police consented to help
me, taking my word against his,
even if therogue were convicted, how
was | to recover the two thousand
francs?
"These thoughts passed through
my mind as | hurried back to the
hotel. Certainly the prospect was
gloomy enough.
81 easily ascertained that the
American had taken the train for
Paris the day before, and | deter
mined to follow him at once. | did
not despair of finding him as he
would probably put up at oneofthe
good hotels.
"On the way up to Paris | could
think of nothing but my loss. This
fellow l saw had hit upon IL very
safe and profitable method Of swim
ding. In nine cases out of ten the
cheated man would not discover his
loss for years after he had seen the
last of the American, if, indeed, the
trick was discovered at all for the
paste was quite good enough to de
ceive casual observer, as the ownei
would, of course, be actuated by Il
profound faith in his diamond
straight from Brazil. Had it not
been for the incident of my finding
the ring case, which the rogue haC
accidently dropped, should in all
probability have unwittingly cheat
ed poor Turenne out of his money
and he might afterward have beel
supposed to be trying to palm off
spurious diamond for II real gem
f In all probability the fellow made I
living-and very good one-b,
going about Europe and practising