Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-04-17
THE JEWELLERS WIFE.

II handsome young jeweler who loved his
gems so well that he thought them brighter
than any woman's eyes, and was impervi-
GUS to the smiles of the lovelest girls who
came to his shop to firt with the propri
etor rather than for the sake of the broken
earrings and bracelets which made their
excuse for doing SO.
It was known everywhere at last that
Max Rudolph did not intend to marry,
that his heart was given to his art-for he
was rather an artist in gems and gold than
a mere workman-and as he was not only
handsome but charming, and reputed
rich, this was very provoking fact in
deed to the young ladies who had cherished
hopes of winning his favor.
However, the Turks are right when they
say that no man can escape his fate. One
day, going into the country for the sake of
the fresh air, and to enjoy himself with
rural dainties at little wayside tavern,
there happened to be detailed to wait upon
him q beautiful young country girl so
sparkltngly beautiful that he said to him
self: "She has diamond eyes and ruby lips
and teeth Of pearls. Bhs is made Of jewels"
Then there came into his mind tho
thought that she was jewel herself well
worth the winning and wearing. Still,
she was but poor girl who earned her
bread as handmade at an inn, and he went
his way without doing more than to look
her. But he came again, and this bime
threw her a kiss; and again, and this time
the kiss was on her lips; and the third
time he said to himself that at last he had
found the woman he desired, and he wooed
and married her, and took her home with
him dressed in splendid garments, with
silken shoes upon her feet that had so often
followed the kline in wooden sabots.
For little while the jewelers. love ruled
his soul He forgot his most precious
Jewels for his fair Mina's sake, and happier
pair OF married lovers never wandered to-
gether in the moonlight or vowed eternal
constancy by the winter Preside. 1t was
not long, however. In year the jeWeler
had gone back to his old habits. He spent
hours in his workroom watching the pol
ishing of some rare stone He would leave
his Nina for weeks together while he
sought some gem of which he had heard.
He would sit and gloat over 8 great dia-
mond, turning it this way and that that the
light might the better fall upon it, while
she sat unheeded.
Nina never reproaehed him with this
change; but she grew sad, and often wepb
when no one observed her.
The husband never noticed it; his love of
Jewels had grown to be a monomania with
him. He had not the usual desire of crafts,
men for fame or for wealth. He had be-
come miser, who boarded gems instead of
gold. He refused to sell one of them at
any price. Men said that he was mad, and
that Satan in person had been seen stand
ing behind him whispering in his ear.
Still, he seemed to love his wife at times,
and to show it would bring jewels and lay
them III her lap, and tell her how to know
their value.
The simple woman admired them, but
she could not comprehend the power they
had over her husbands heart. And once
OIL twice she also thought that she saw a
figure, hideous, though shadowy, at her
husbands side, and cried out in terror.
She was now about to become mother,
and was full of strange fancies, as women
are, and the dark figure may have been
merely born of her imagination. But it
seemed to her to have the shape of Satan as
he is represented in the pictures that peas
ants see.
There was at this time talk of great
Jewel, a ruby of wonderful size and brill
None but u king could be it's owner, men
said, and there was great contest for it.
The handsome young jeweler with the
cleaning eyes and eager gestures who
gioated on it's splendor-Max Rudolph
from RhIneland-was thought to be out of
his mind when he declared it should be his.
But his it actually became.
Where he got all the money no one could
guess and there were those who said that
they saw strange black figure sitting
with him at his inn one night and heard
the chink of gold, and that Satan helped
him.
But the jewel was his, and he returned
home to his Nina wild with joy. She sat
upon 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
level of a 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
when he saw he was too late he uttered
hideous imprecation and lifted his hand
threateningly above his wifes head.
Glow born peasant kitchen drudge!
COW driver! beer serverl" he shrieked,
"Fool that 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
footl''
And then he struck her a furious blow
upon her white bosom, and she staggered
and fell.
The balcony was only defended by a 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 a splash into the river and
vanished beneath its waters and Max Ru
,lolnb cow hacida him the figure she had