The state herald., 1891-08-21
A STORY OF DIAMONDS
FROM BELGRAyIA,

'oNc' she was Haruiy trcdteu, poor
woman, at the time"
"If you were worth anything, you
would tell us all about it, Fred"
ooh. all right, Pm agreeable"
at would show II more becoming
modesty if you were to leave that to
Others to say-lct alone opinions diff
fering."
"Oh! you shut up, Dicky, and Just
throw me cigar, will you? and ri tell
you all about it.
1.-The two Westerveldts could hard.
y be said to get on together; fought
on together is n more correct word.
She had all the money, and he didn't
rvon give her the quid pro quo in love.
She was past her premiere jeunesse,
well into her second, In fact, when he
proposed to her, and to her beaux
Yeux. She was widow, and she gave
both love and money-till he spent the
latter and half killed the former.
Though it was still pretty vigorous
when knew them. She was bit
Jealous OF him, perhaps OF his youth
more thon anything else, Just as my
wife might be, who, pretty far down
the road OF life herself, wants her hus-
band to keep parallel with her It'smy
opinion he was bad to the core.
Yet she was awfully irritating,
She was the sort of n woman, you
know, who waited till you had pung-
ed yourself well back in your arm
chair and then would say-'Oh, as
you are up, do you mind giving me my
work basket, it's in the next room
Or-'As you're going up stairs, would
you Just bring dear Fido down with
you'-whcn you hadn't shown the
least sign OF stirring from where you
are, Then, too, she had that mad
denine way of shutting her eyes, with
n iluttcring sort OF movement (you
know the way some people have),
while she was talking. 1t always
made me long to skip out OF the room
while she was doing it, and peep
around the corner, to watch her sur
prise when she found had melted. 1t
might have cured her. She nursed me
like, anything though, when ! was
down with fever once, at Twivel; so
back her all through.
"IIe wasn't faithful to her, either /
happened to know of it, too, and II
made me feel regular snake all the
time she was looking after me. But
man has such n way of sitting tight on
another fellows affairs. and so new
er told her that he had flung away
any amount of her coin ON Lilly Nor
rison, She thought it all went
on racing, OF course they didn't
know each other so well before mar
riage. Matrimony is such an infalli-
BILE test its an irrevocable one, too,
worse luck. Mind you, very few out
siders knew OF the cnt aud dog life
they led. Married folks hide their
matrimonial wounds with such divini-
ty OF courage. All glory to them, say
|. lie was fond OF music; and she, like
that American chap, didn't know n
symphony from n boiler explosion
She was fond OF dabbing away with
brush in her hand, and he hadn't half
nn eye for color, excepting when Lilly
put the layers ON too thick; and 80 it
went on zig-zae fashion.
"I was stoppingdown at Twivel, one
summer, and the house was pretty
hull. There was no one particularly
fancied amongst the guests, so kept
my attention to my hostess, whom
rould see was suffering good deal Of
mental worry; besides really think
that the cash had begun to run short.
She SAID to me once, awfully bitterly:
| Give n man "short measure" Fred
do you know what mcanY-always
give him eight weight" "-if lac b,stows
1 ounces avoirdupois OF love ON you,
give him only ~ ounces, ii will
keep him hanging ON for the other
two. guessed at what she meant
and that she regretted not having
acted on that principle herself.
They were giving "A big dinner on
the 10th, and about three quarters OF
nm hour before anyone had turned up.
MIR. and Mrs. Westerveldt came into
the drawingroom where we wer. all
chatting.
"Mrs. Westeveldt said, inan nwfully
agitated way:
I" DO you know that all my din.
monds have been stolleny And Mr..
Wcsterveldt broke in significantly
with-We'llnot call them 81 olen" till
we've found out morcabout the case"
"She had been paie enough to begin
with, but she went liyid nt the i'm.
piled insult. Ladies diamonds, he
went on with snecr, get lost IN most
extraordinary ways sometimes, and
are found, too, in remarkable fashions
~ well, when the husbands make n
iuss over it,
at was Internally mean OF him, con.
sidering he hadn't bought his wifc's
cwels, and, the loss was all hers, il
was n shame to behave like hound
TO her before her guests.
"Skc snapped out (sho had a right
to be bit worked upl; You don't
suppose Pm likely TO hav. stolen my
own diamonds myself, am H.
He only raised his eyebrows like
two great marks oi oiintorrogntion-nnd
then played the injured, patient hus.
band for the rest Of the cveniue-and
Il went down with some OF the women,
and he got moro sympathy than he
deserved.
"Mrs. Westcrveldt's neck looked
bare and rather unlovely that night;
she had intended wearing her din.
mond-, and nothing would induce her
to wear n substitute. Have you ever
known woman with longish upper
lip that you could cnnoodloy Haven't.
Next day down came n detective,
and there WAS mn awful -hindy, All the
servants boxes routed out, all the
maids wearing AN air of Innocence nn
inch deep on their faces. and tossing
their heads at the sacrilcgc, and ,hc
butler getting drunk over Il. TO cclc.
brnte the event, aud Mr.. Wcsteryeldt
..a..,i..... an A.. i.al.I III. a, ,,,,t,s