San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-05-09

out and insisted upon their being made
up into regular set by some skillful
jeweler.
We were thinking of going to Rome
at the time to spend six or eight months,
and the first idea was to give the job to
Castellani But then it appeared that
my mother had got her eye fixed upon n
certain man in Paris, who she had been
told was the first lapidary in Europe.
He. and none but he, should set our
diamonds. You know my mother gen.
orally had her way, and she had it in
this case. The fellow certainly did un-
derstand his business; his work was
we'll done, as you may have noticed this
evening. A queer, pale, nervous little
chap he was; not Frenchman at all,
but Saxon, born in Dresden, | believe,
or some village in that neighborhood.
His name was Rudolph-Heinrich Ru-
dolph. He lived and worked in a little
dark shop in the Latin quarter.
He and became quite intimate. You
see, | had been commissioned to attend
to this diamond business and to remain
in Paris until it was done. was to
watch it through all its stages, and be
sure that my mothers directions regard
ing the style of the setting were accu-
rately followed. When all was finished
| was to pay the bill and bring the dia-
monds on to Rome, where the family
would by that time be established. Well,
was young fellow, just feeling my
oats. and probably was not much cast
down at the prospect of spending a
month or two alone IN Paris, as you might
suppose But | doubt whether should
have attended to my ostensible business
SO faithfully as | actually did had not
been so greatly taken with my little
friend Rudolph. He and | "twigged"
one another, as boys say, from the first,
used to sit and watch him work for
hours at time, and as he worked he
would talk, and very queer, captivating
talk good deal of it was. He was a
thorough artist and enthusiast, and
seemed to care for nothing outside of
his profession. He did not appear to me
to be in the way of making much money
and it occurred to me that it might be
acceptable were |, in an unobtrusive
way to introduce him to some wealthy
customers knew few people in Paris;
but there was a Mr.. Birchmore, an
American gentleman, staying at my
hotel, with whom | had foregathered
over cup Of coffee and cigar once or
twice; he was a handsome, middle aged
man, with an atmosphere of refined af-
oho bo,
beftted duke. Not bit like your ira.
ditional Yankee; in fact, I'm not sure
that should have suspected him if |
hadn't seen his address-"Fifth avenue,
New York city, U. S. Ain the hotel
register about week after my arrival
He was an agreeable man enough,
though not at all the sort to take iber-
ties with; however, | made up my mind
that | would get him to Rudolphs on
the first pretext that offered.
Well, | had an excellent pretext be-
fore long. Mr.. Birchmore came into
the cafe one afternoon, with rather an
annoyed look, and made some inquiries
| of the waiter Francois raised his eye
brows and shrugged his shoulders; there
was some further conference, and then
he and Mr.. Birchmore began searching
7 about the floor Of the room 1t presently
TRANSFERRED that he had lost "A diamond
ont OF MS ring. which had contained
three matched brilliants Ii was no
where TO be found.
II don't mind the loss of the stone it.
self" said Mr.. Birchmore at last, sitting
| down near my table; but it's one of a
| set matched with great difficulty. and
I'm afraid may never replace it.
Here was my opportunity. set forth
the wisdom. skill and resources of my
| little Saxon friend in glowing colors.
mentioned the work he was doing for
] me. and declared that if any man III
Europe could help Mr.. Birchmore to re-
pair his loss, Rudolph was he MIR.
Birchmore at first paid little heed to my
representations, hut finally | induced
him to accompany me to the Latin
| quarter. and at least make the attempt.
The next morning, accordingly, we SET
forth. and as we sauntered along the
wide, pleasant boulevards our CONVEX
sation became more free and atfable
than it had been hitherto. found my
companion could be exceedingly enter
tanning when he chose it, and had vast
fund of experience and adventure Il
draw upon. Ae had been almost every.
where; he had made himself familiar
with all varieties of civilized and un
civilized men: as a matter of course. too
he was a versatile linguist.
The only direction in which he gavt
any evidence of comparative deticienc,
was in that of literature and the fin,
arts. His life had been essentially al
active one; he cared little for Tennysol