The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-05-28
A BAG OF DIAMONDS.
-l.z.
The Tragedy That Was Enacted
Z in the Old Miser,s Bedroom.


Many times he had thought of It, and
finally had screwed his courage to the
sticking point.
4 fter all, what good to the old man
was that bag of gems? What good ex-
cept to count over, mark their twink
ling facets gloat over their value, and
laugh at those who might coyet them
Palsed fingers would shake as the
strings Of the chamois-skin treasury
were -rapturously united, and a mo-
ments life and energy flash into
pinched cheek and faded eye, as every
evening the revelation of untold wealth
woke in a withered heart it's only sur
wing passion. But what good to the
world or to the man was that brief
minute Of ecstasy? Was itsnot paid for
hundredfold by nights of fear and
forbodings of robbery that made life
perpetual horror? How often had Paul
heard his uncle wake from his noontide
nap with a dreaming cry: my dia-
.monds, my diamonds! Is that you,
Paul? ] thought it was robber. .
==Histheughts were to- come true to-
night, Paul tried to persuade himself
that the treasure he had set his heart
on belonged to him as much as if they
had been lying in a mine, the prize of
the first finder.
Then came another thought. His own
poverty and his great love. His unele's
ward was as poor as himself-poor,
proud and beautiful. Such flowers only
grow in hard and solitary places, in the
nipping air, and uncrowded even by the
uno "reminiscences of love. Straight,
slender and full-hued as rose, with a
big soul beaning in her face and eyes,
with meek, silent ways, and bearing
unflinchingly the blows of an old mans
brutal tongue, this girl had presented
to the poets mind the image of power,
of profound passion, of untiring con-
stancy, such as had enchanted him and
transformed -his-life.- She had been
first to shy him, then wistfully tender
as She pitied him. 1t was in the arbor
at the foot of the garden where he was
seated now, behind the hedge of clipped
Xew. that she nestled close in his arms,
and they had known the first moment
of happiness in their deserted lives.
I'VE must be patient, Paul. i r.
Patient did She sayp They had been
50 long enough. His plans were ripe
now, and he was watching the light in
his uncle's window. The old man
would sleep well-he had taken care of
that-to-night If he awoke? Well,
that was provided for. Old men are
not hard to smother. The night, dark
and damp, suited dark thoughts. And
the sting of long oppression, the blind
feeling after revenge for years of cruel
sights and insults, had long engeudered
such thoughts. And now came vision
Of an earthly heaven, the hope Of a new
life beyond the seas. .-.---
Yes, will fly with you at any time
you ask, the girl had said, resolutely.
We shall be happy, rich or poor"
No, not poor. He would provide
against that.
The lights in the windows of the
mansion had gone out. Even the win
dews on the ground floor, which open
on the piazza, are dark. This is his
uncles room. Paul rises from his seat.
The dripping jasmine spray that strikes
his cheek as he leaves the little summer
house makes his heart stop for a mo-
ment. He fears even the faint crunch
Of his footsteps on the gravel There
IS dog baying in the distance, as If
conscious that thieves are about 4
lie steals past the big pear tree at the
corner of the piazza, and trampling in
The soft mold of the@fiower garden, where
her jonquils and tulips grew, he creeps
breathlessly to the back porch. The
outer door is quickly opened. He |
thrusts out his hand to find the knob of
the house door, and, taking latch key
from his vest pocket, he opens it. too.
At the end of the hall is his uncle's
room. The house is silent But harl
did he hear a football? 1t must be a
heavy football that is heard on the
thick carpet and steady floor of oak
lie had never before explored this old
rambling dwelling in darkness It was
always to him sad and dreary place;
place of faded hangings, old-fashioned
and tasteless bric-a-brac, paintings in
i. spid in their furnished frames, and
books that echoed the fancy and opin-
lion Of a. dead neraIion-favorless as
Yesterdays news.
ne mas reached his uncle door.
There he produces dark lantern from
under cloak. Drawing up the slide
Tor a moment he flashes the cone OF
night over the hall and up the staircase
1t lights up for a moment oaken wains-
eoting, crowded hat-rack, the antlers
overhead, and the statue Of Cupid, pallid
as ghost, and then falls on the stair
case. AS it does so he snaps down the
+ slide, and all is darkness again.
a fes' all is dark and quiet. There is
no witness to his crime.
What would she say or think If she
saw him covering and crouching at his
unele'sdoor? The thought OF her rises
like phantom in his mind; she is all
IN white, yet calm, resolute, and
beautiful-an angel in contrast with
the inferno of his own troubled
thoughts-and yet it deepens his reso-
luton. He is the martyr seeing the
martyrs crown, the soldier with the re-
ward of his valor before his eyes, In
her purity, her strength, her peace, 1t
seems to him he would find an escape
even from the torture and shame of his
guilty mind. lie would bathe himself
in her presence as in flood of cleans
ing water, a second baptism. Her
smile, her trustfulness, the music of.|
her voice would b : heaven IN which