Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-05-07

sand francs, with the setting" replied
Rudolph, to whom the words had been
addressed. "Monsieur's estimate would
have been correct but that this stone
here Is little of color and this one has
q slight flaw, which is now in part con-
cealed by the setting"
"You travel under proper precautions,
I trust9" said Birchmore after pause,
turning gravely to me. 81 know the
confidence you young fellows have in
your courage and cleverness, but dozen
or score Of thieves might conspire to-
gether for such prize as this, and
against their skill and address no single
man would stand chance. Ahl know
something of it. was robbed once"
"Do tell me about it." / exclaimed,
with an impulsive betrayal Of interest
that made me smile the next moment.
another time," said he, shaking his
head; and presently he added, "You viii
pardon me for presuming to counsel
your"
"My dear sir, am much obliged to
you. My idea is that the simplest pre-
cautions are the best. l shall carry the
stones in an inner pocket and | shall go
armed. No one will suspect me, and if
Tense at all events"
Mr.. Birchmore said nothing more, and
indeed seemed scarcely to listen to my
remarks. now suggested to him that
he might show Rudolph his ring. He
put his hand to his waistcoat pocket and
gave half suppressed ejaculation of dis
appointment and annoyance. He had
left the ring at homel
mo matter; l will call tomorrow,
Herr Rudolph" he observed. 'rve no
doubt shall find what / want here, if
anywhere. Good morning is, if
you are ready, Mr.. Gainsborough? By
the way, Rudolph, 1 suppose you put
your treasures in "a safe at night"
."Oh, by all means, Herr, replied the
little Saxon. "And have a Waterman
also, who guards all night long"
ga prudent fellow; yes, that will do"
murmured Mr.. Birchmore in an under
tone to himself. Then, with parting
nod and smile, to which the jeweler did
not respond, he sauntered out, follow
ing him. We walked back to the hotel.
did not see him again until after din
ner, when he offered me cigar, and
when we had smoked together awhile in
silence he said abruptly:
GIVE found that stone"
looked at him inquiringly.
1.-THE diamond out of my ring. In my
trousers pocket, of all places in the worldl
Fell out while | was cropping for my
keys, suppose. Sorry to have raised
false hopes in your friend Rudolph. By
the way, he'll have finished that job Of
yours before very long"
"In about week, fancy. shall be
sorry to leave Paris"
Eyes? Well, it is a nice place; but
one gets tired of the incest places in
time. | do. like to be moving"
"a shall have month to spend on my
way to Rome. This is almost my first
experience of the Continent. wish
had some travelling companion who
knew the ropes. This hint let fall in
the hope that he might propose to join
me, but as he made no rejoinder ! at
length ventured to put it more plainly.
gave a rough sketch of the route pro-
posed to follow, asked his opinion upon
it and finally said that should his in
clination lead him also in that direction
1 should be very glad of his company.
"Well, sir, I'm obliged to you," re-
piled Mr.. Birchmore after pause of
some moments. ''You couldn't pay q
man better compliment than to ask
him to travel with you; and would ac-
cept your offer as frankly and fearlessly
as you make it, only-well, the fact is,
I'm not so entirely at my own disposal
as may appear to you to be. l have
been through a good many experiences
in life, and some of the consequences are
upon me still. When you have reached
my age-if you ever do reach it-you
will understand me better. l suppose !
may be fifteen years your senior; well,
fifteen yeaEs means good deal-a good
4 deal" He pulled a meditative cloud or
two and then added, you're not hurti
You see how it is? would really like
to accompany you-but can't"
OF course warmly disavowed all re-
sentiment, and felt inwardly ashamed of
having forced him, by the freedom of
my advances, into making this explana-
ton. Meanwhile, could not help hk-
ing him better than ever ana feeling
more than ever interested, not to say
curious, about him. 1t was now certain
that some mystery or other attached to
him. cast covert glances at him in
the vain attempt to read something OF
his secret through his outward aspect
But he was inscrutable, or rather there
was nothing especially noticeable in
him. His face, as l have said, was
handsome in its contours; he wore 6
heavy mustache and a short, pointed
beau on his chin. His forehead was
wide across the temples, but low, an6
dark brown hair, rather stiff, and
streaked here and there with gray, grew
thickly over his head. His hands were
large and hairy up to the second joints
of the fingers, but they were finely anC
powerfully formed and the fingers ia
pered beautifully, with nails smoothly
cut and polished.
In figure he was above the medium
size and appeared strongly built, though
he had complained to me more thar
once of rheumatism or some other bodily