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

said W,sc. ns he pull,d the ring
from his finger and handed it I" us
for inspection. "Ile left it to me hy
his will, and | keep itin memory "f
one of the hest actors and one of the
best men ever knew
Meanwhile the ring WAS passing
from hand u hand, and the univer-
sal verdict was that none of us had
ever seen II finer stone.
"Turenne was rather II wealthy
man." said one of our little circle,
"but | didn't think he could have
afforded or would have cared to
spend so mu h money on an orna-
ment us that ring must have cost"
Gle wanted it for some special
purpose which altcrward fell
through" rejoined Wyse. Il know all
about it, for | bought it for him my
self. | had quite IL little adventure
on the OCCASION"
"Tell us the story" we cried.
"Well," said Wyse, taking pull
at his cigar and setting himself back
in his chair, "it is IL good many
years ago now. 1 was playing high
comedy characters at the old Prin-
cess :, and as | had been working
very hard | set off for the south of
France as soon as the season closed.
1t happened that Turenne (who had
proved himself true friend to me)
wanted a good diamond for pur-
pose l needn't trouble you with /;
and before sat out on my travels |
told him that if I met with a partic-
ularly fine one at moderate price |
would buy it for him, and he, being
too busy at the time TO attend to the
matter himself, gladly consented. |
was staying at Nice, when there
came to the hotel one of those tall
loquacious Americans who are now
so plentiful all over Europe. There
seemed to be nothing Objectionable
about the man, except that he was
vulgar and eternally talking about
the United States.
"On the evening after his arrival a
few of us happened to be sitting in
the bililard-room, and by some
chance or other the conversation
turned on the subject of diamonds.
81 don't know much about the
business myself, said the American,
but Pm told by good judges that
thar's about as good n stone as you'll
see in Il days round"
$50 saying he drew a ring from
his finger and handed it to me, who
happened to sit next to him. II
was, indeed, a magnificent brilliant
set in a ring of a peculiar pattern.
When the lamp was removed il
seemed to gather into itself the light
out of the semi-darkness, and glitter
ed like bit of broken glass in thu
sunshine. What is it worth p asked
one of the men present.
"That | can hardly tell you,
answered the American, seein' {
friend at Buenos sent it to me direct
and | had it cut myself But I'm
tired of it, and seldom wear it,"
"'Would you sell it?' | inquired
out of curiosity"
"I might, answered the Ameri
can, especially at this European
trip is cleaning me out faster than
expected and l don't want to &C
home to Vermont skinned as neatly
as cod. Yes, you may have that
diamond for eighty pounds of YOU
money, stranger, and dht cheap a
that, l should say
81 looked at the stone again, and
the longer / looked at it the better
liked it. Eighty pounds was quite
as much us my friend wished to pay
for stone, but what if I could ge
one for him worth a hundred fol
eighty pounds?
"Will you trade ?' he asked.
"I'm not u judge of diamonds my
,els,' sa'd I, returning the stone t
its owner "l'm afraid coul'ln'
buy without taking lapidary'
opinion as to its value"
"All right" said the American
carelessly, if you care to have it w
can go around to jewellers in thu
morning. And if he puts lowe
value on the stone than | did, yol
can have it at the price he names, i
you like to buy. l can't say faire
than that.
"The offer did, indeed, seem
very fair one and ! went to be-
that hight determined to secure tn
jewel for my friend if the expert re
portrd favorably of it.
"Next morning the American ant
| strolIed down to the shop of tn
chief ieweller of the town and whei