Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-05-02
THE NECKLACE.


from n little mauve-colored velvet case
"A necklace of curious beads of sub
stance resembling amber, but having
in the 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 stonesm
II think the necklace beautiful" l
replied. Bat you must tell me what
the stones are, for can not even guess;
have never seen anything like them,
nor do they tally with any descriptions
that remember"
Niue. Valois looked pleased.
'.Ah, madame. l can not tell You"
she said, spreading her hands abroad;
NOR can any one, l 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
weHFer's neck acts upon them they
glow like rubies. The little clasp also
become transparent, and yoG see that
a toad is carved upon it. 1t has been
in our family century and a half, and
many celebrated jewelers. and lapidaries
have seen il. | never dreamed that |
should be the first to get clew to the
mystery. but think | have done SO.
1t was by reading your Shakespeare
madame. You look astonished but il
is true. am much indebted to your
Shakespeare" said Mime. Nalois. What
wonderful man he was! 1T was
while reading his plays that l solved .
problem that was puzzled many gener-
fitions of our family. You remember
what he said: Like toad, ugly and
venomous, still hides a precious jewel
in his head
my necklace, | am assured, made
of those Jewels that are mentioned by
your Shakespeare. l will tell you my
reasons for thinking so.
You must know that / have in Avig.
non a very old, yet still very pretty,
chateau, which l now lease to an
American.
"A hundred and fifty years ago our
family resided there, and one day
Valois brought home to the chateau Il
very gay and pretty Partisan wife.
Nine. Valois, coming young bride to
her husbands chateau in Avignon,
thought it gray and gloomy, and felt
that after Paris it was very stupid. To
be sure there was great garden. but
it was so infested with toads that at
first her walks among the borders al
ways ended in her dying homeward in
an agony of terror crying out that the
little wretches were too disgusting to
endure.
Zone day. however. as she sat upon
bench beside an old stone fountain,
she heard close to her little singing
noise, and saw sqNatting close beside
her ON the bench little toad. 1t sat
quite still and made this little plaintive
musical sound continually. Its eyes
were fixed upon her. and she noticed
that they were very bright.
Poor little thing she said to her.
self. Really, it looks hungry And,
having a little cake in her pocket, she
crumbled it upon the bench.
The toad looked at her as she did
so, and when she said kindly, There.
toady, is your breakfast it hoped for
ward and ate every crumb. Then it
did strange thing. 1t sat upon its
launches and touched its forefeet to its
forehead, as an oriental does to make
an obeisance, and hoped away.
1.-The next day Mime. Valois 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,
singing sound, aud 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. Tcad's family.
''Sbe sat in the middle, with two on
each side of her, and they ate the
crumbs Nine. Valois gave them, and
when all were gone Nine. 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 in her journal-which is pre-
served to this day-all the particulars
have recounted to you.
''She was now quite in love with
Nine. 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
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-
tide the matter to her maid, for the
dearth of insects caused a famine
among the toads, or SO she supposed,
for when she went to the fountain hum
dreds of them came and squatted about
her with pleading looks in their little
bottle-shaped eyes, and all their little
hands clasped imploriugly.
when she saw them thus assembled
for the first time, Nine. Valois made
them this speech.
"My pretty little toads. l love you
all. You are my tenants, being born
on my ground. / 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
madame distributed it, The army of
soads swallowed the last crumb. Nine.
Toad thanked her rs at first, and away
they hoped. All this and much more
she has written in her diary.
Time passed on and one day there
come n baby to the chateau-a beauti.