San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-04-30

home to his Nina wild with JOY She sat
upon a little balcony that overhung the
| river Watching for him, and he embraced
| and kissed her and clasped her to his heart
Now, hold your hand" said he "The
| jewel shall lie in its palm See how lovely
it is! And thOu-thOu art the loveliest
| Jewel of woman; there is none like thee
anywhere"
And Nina, happy in his praises, looked
| up at him rather than at the gem--looked
| and saw over his shoulder the hideous face
of the fend, and forgetting all about the
ruby clasped her hands and shrieked aloud,
and as she did so the jewel dropped from
her palm, glittered at her feet an instant's
space, and glanced from the floor of the
balcony into the blue depths of the Rhine
| Rudolph had started to seize it, but
4 when he saw he was too late he uttered
| hideous imprecation and lifted his hand
| threateningly above his wifes head
| "Low born peasant! kitchen drudge!
| COW driver, beer server.' he shrieked.
Fool that l was to think that your clumsy
| fingers could hold jewels fast! Fool that |
! was to marry coarse creature like you,
| born to eat black bread and walk bare
| footr'
| And then he struck her a furious blow
| upon her white bosom, and she staggered
| and fell.
The balcony was only defended by rail
| of carved wood that time and weather had
| weakened long ago. As the form of Nina
| struck it it broke from its fastenings, and
| she fell with q splash into the river and
| vanished beneath its waters, and Max Ru-
| dolph saw beside him the figure she had
| seen, and knew it for Satan's self.
Demon! you have done thisr" he cried,
| as he sprung into the water after his wife.
| She had risen to the surface, and he
| caught her and swan with her to land.
He implored her pardon, and she gave it
| to him freely; but alas! the deed was done.
In a little while she lay in her coffin with
| her baby on her bosom, and he followed
her to the grave, and over her the turf
grew green in time, and a stone was placed
| on which We're these words:
"Mina, the beloved wife of Max Rudolph
A jewel lost to him forever"
Max returned to his desolate home and
dwelt there alone. Shortly he be gan his
pursuit of rare jewels again with more
energy than ever No zone knew what he
did with them, for no one saw him go at
midnight to his wife's grave, and there
bury them one after another until the sod
above her heart was rich with jewels.
He lived on wretched food, with scarcely
fire enough to warm him. He wore the
garb Of beggar. Piece by piece the old
| furniture of his house, its pictures and its
ornaments were sold, the money converted
into gems But it was to Mina's grave
that he bore them, and there he buried
them, with prayers and tears, and the
black fiend that had haunted his youth
ceased to appear to him, nor was it ever
seen by any one at his shoulder
AT last it was known that he had sold
his home and his land, and retained only
the right to dwell while he lived in the
room from which the balcony-the balcony
on which Nina stood when he laid the
jewel in her palm, and whence she had
fallen to her death beneath his blow upon
her bosom.
There he sat, often the whole night
through A fatal disease had come upon
him. He knew its dread symptoms well,
but he sought no physician. Death was
welcome to him. Only he prayed always
for some token that Nina had forgiven
| him. His hair was white as bleached
linen; he had the aspect of very aged
| man, though he was not really old. Grief
| and remorse and terror of the fiend had
| made him what he was, and now he was
| poor-so poor that he could not buy the
smallest gem to bury in his murdered
| wife's grave.
| One night he had in the house only one
little piece of black bread and no more
| He sat upon a wooden bench, and in the
corner lay an old straw bed. He sat in the
balcony-the broken rail had not been
mended-the water sobbed below. He was
weeping-weeping for her whom he had
killed so long ago, and his remorse and
| grief would have touched the hardest heart
| who could have read his Alright.
Assuredly it appealed to heavens mercy,
for as the clock in a tower hard by struck
midnight a strange thing happened. The
| waves, never so high before, began to leap
up and wash the floor of the old balcony.
| They were white in the moonlight-white
as woodland they looked to him some
times like the faces and hands and arms of
sea spirits, so that in spite of himself he
| stretched out his own hands to touch
them, and, grasping something that melt
ed between his fingers, still held fast
small hard substance, which, as he opened
| his palm, glowed like a coal of fire.
| A candle stood upon the hearth within.
| Trembling and overwhelmed with super
| stitious terror, he arose and staggered to-
| ward it, and saw that what he held was
| great ruby, the very stone that he had laid
in Mina's palm so long ago-the gem of
| priceless value for the possession of which
he had Wed with kings.
An hour later the moon at her setting
| looked on him as he tottered over the road
| to the graveyard and knelt at last beside
| Mina's grave.
There, with a little knife he carried, he
| dug a hole and buried the ruby hands