Mohave County miner. [volume] (Mineral Park, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1882-1918, 1890-04-12
TIE NECKLACE.

Now. madame. what do You think
Of that?" asked Mime. ValoiA drawing
from little mauve-colored velvet case
necklace Of curious beads OF a sub
stance resembling amber, but having
IN tho heart Of each light like that Of
the finest opal, and being generally Of
the color Of which we speak as crushed
strawberry. What are those stones?
II think the necklace beautiful" I
rsplied. But you must tell me what
tie stoneB are. for can not even guess;
have never seen anything like them,
NOR 90 they tally with any descriptions
thu. remember"
Nine. valois looked pleased.
"Ah, madame, I can not tell Won. "
she said, spreading her hands abroad;
NOR can any one, j believe. They
have been examined by many people
learned In such things without having
. name given to them. They are pref.
~ now. but when the warmth of the
wearer's neck acts upon them theg
glow like rubies. The little clasp also
become transparent, and you see that
q toad Is carved upon II. It has been
In our family century and hall, and
many celebrated jewellers and lapid aries
have seen 1t. never dreamed chat !
should be the first to get clew to the
mystery. but l thiak I have done so.
1t was by reaHng your Shakespeare,
madame. You look astonished, but h
% true. / am much indebted to your
Shakespeare, said Nine. Valois. What
. wonderful man he was! II was
while reading his plays that I solyed .
problem that was puzzled many gener-
fitions of our family. You remember
what he said: Like toad, ugly and
venomous, still hides precious jewel
In his head
My necklace. am assured, made
Of those jewels that are mentioned by
your Shakespeare. will tell you my
reasons for thinking so.
You must know that have in Ayic.
non a very old. yet still very pretty,
chateau, which l now lease to an
American.
IA hundred and fifty years ago our
family resided there, and one day .
Valois brought home to the chateau a
very gay and pretty Partisan wife.
Nine. Valois, coming a young bride to
her husbands chateau In Avignon,
thought 1t gray and gloomy. and felt
that after Paris it was very stupid. To
he sure there was great garden. but
y was % infested with toads that at
Grst her walks among the borders al
ways ended In her flying homeward In
- agony Of terror, crying out that the
little wretches were too disgusting %
endure.
Ono day. however, as she sat upon
. bench beside an old stone fountain.
she heard close to her a lille singing
noise, and saw squa.t.6g close beside
her on the bench . little toad. It sat
quite stiia and made this little plaintiye
musical scdnd continually. Its ewes
we're hxsd upon her, and she noticed
that they were very bright.
Poor little thing she said to her
self. Really, 1t looks hungry And,
having . little cake In her pocket, she
crumbled 1t upon the bench.
The toad looked al her az she did
70. and when she said kindly. There.
toady, L. your breakfast It hoped for.
ward and ale every crumb. Then it
did strange thing. 1t sat upon its
launches and touched its forefeet to its
forehead, ashn oriental does to make
an obeisanee, and hoped away.
THE next day Nine. vaIois awoke
thinking Of the toad, and whenever she
ate anything she liked very much she
saved some bits, saying Toady would
like that; and at sunset she went TO the
fountain, carrying basket, and sat
down upon the old bench.
Not five minutes had she been
seated there when she heard the soft,
aing1ng sound, and there sprung to the
bench beside her the toad she had fed
the day before and four OF the most
charming little toads any one ever saw
evidently Nine. Toad's family.
She sat In the middle, with two on
each side of her, and they ate the |
crumbs Mime. valois gave them, and
when all were gone Mime. Toad made |
salutation as on the first occasion and |
hoped away backward, as people are
expected to retire from the royal pres !
ence. and Nine. valois went home and |
wrote Ia her journal--which is pre-
served to this day-all the particulars I |
have rec0unted to you.
"She was now quite In love with |
Mime. Toad, and every day she went at |
the same hour to feed the little Great
ures. She was very young and very
much afraid Of her husband, who was
2 very grave, elderly man, and did not
like nonsense, so she did not tell him
anything about all this. but kept the |
secret for her diary until winter came.
Then indeed she was obliged to con-
hide the matter to her maid, for the
dearth OF insects caused q famine
among the toads. or so she supposed,
for when she went to the fountain hun
dreds Of them came and squatted about
her with pleading looks in their little
bottle-shaped eyes. and all their little
hands elasPed imploringly.
When she saw them thus assembled
for the first time. Mime. valois made
them this speech.
my pretty little toads. l love you
all. You are my tenants, being born
on my ground. I assure you you shall
not starve. Every morning and every
evening you shall be fed
AFTER this the maid always carried
, basket Of food to the bench and
distributed it. The army of
loads swallowed the last crumb. Mime.
Toad thanked her as at first, and away
they hoped All this and much more
she has written in her diary.
n