Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-30
PASTE OR DIAMOND?


spv,tiun. He left it To me Icy his will,
and keep it in memory Of one ct the
best actors and On 1T the best men
ever knew.
Meanwhile the ring was passing from
hand To hand, and tine universal verdict
WAS that none of us had ever seen finer
stone.
Turenne was rather a wealthy man,
said ,ne of our little circle. but
dIil think he could have afforded or
would have cared to spend so much
money on an ornament as that ring must
have cost.
He wanted it for some special pur-
pose which aftorward fell through, ." re-
Joined Wyse. Il know all about it, for
| bought it for him myself. l had quite
a little adventure on the occasion.
Tell uS the story. we cried.
Well. said Wy>,. taking pull at
his cigar and settling himself back in
his chair. 1T is Il good many years ago
now. WIS playing high comedy char
acters at the old Princess. and as l had
ben working very hard | set off for the
south of France as soon as the season
closed. II happened that Turenne, who
had proved himself true friend to me,
wanted good diamond for Il purpose |
nttdn I trouble You with. and before
set ont on NV travels | told him that if
| met with particularly fine one at a
moderate price | would buy it for him,
and he being too busy at the time to at
tend To the matter himself, gladly con-
scented. | was staying at Nice when
there came to the hotel one of those tall,
luQuICi0US Americans who are now SO
plentiful all over Europe. There seemed
To lee nothing Objectionable about the
man. except that he was vulgar and
eternallv talking about the United
States
ON the evening after his arrival a
few of us happened to he sitting in the
billiard room. and by some chance or
other the. conversation turned on the
subject Of diamonds.
| don I know much about the bust
ness my<, II. said the American. but
I'm told iy good judges that thar's
about as good stone as You II see in Il
day round.
80 saving he drew Il ring from his
finger and handed it to me, who hap
l,rncd to sit next him. 1t was indeed a
magnificent brilliant. set il IA ring of IA
peculiar pattern. When the lamp was
removed. II seemed to gather into itself
the light Cut IF the semidarkness and
glittvred like hit Of ken glass in
the sunshine. What ii WORTH asked
one OF the men preSen,.
That l can hardly tell yon, an
4 - fri nj
Buvnus sent it 10 m direct, and had
II cut myself. But 1 IN tired of it and
seldom wear it.
Would You sell IL l inquired ont
of curiosity.
might. answered the American,
',>p, c!allv a. this European rIipis clean
in me out faster than l expected, and
don't want TO 20 home to Vermont
skinned as neatly IS Il cod. Yes, you
may have that diamond for $50 of your
money. stranger. and dirt cheap at that,
| should say.
Il looked at the stone again, and the
longer l looked at it the more l liked
il. Eighty pounds was quite as much
as my friend wished to pay for stone,
but what if l could get one for him
worth 1luU Tor 4SU:
Will you trade: he asked.
| am not judge of diamonds my
self. said |, returning the stone to its
owner. IN afraid couldn't buy with
ont taking lapidary's opinion as to its
value
All right. said the American care
lesSly; If You care to hev it, we can go
round tn jewelcr's in the mornin.
And if he puts a lower value on the
stone than | did Won can hev it at the
price he names, if You like to buy.
can t say tairer than that.
The offer did indeed seem a very fair
one, and went to bed that night deter
mined 10 secure the jewel for my friend
if the expert reported favorably on it.
Next morning the American and
strolled down to the shop of the chief
leweler Of the town. and when we en-
tered the place first of all paid my
footing by purchasing some trife, and
then taking the ring from the hand of
my new acquaintance placed it before
the jrwel"r and asked him to give me
an opinion as to its value.
y YER fine stone, sir said the
Frenchman. Il congratulate you ON the
possession of so fine diamond
1t Is not mine. 1t belongs to my
friend here.
All, if that be the case, then con-
gratulute herm, said the polite trades
man.
What do you suppose it is worth?
| asked.
oh, it is difficult to say. said the
Frenchman. Struggling his shoulders.
Won gentleman sinks Won price NOR
for him; another sinks
Yes, hut what would you give if
you were to buy it? Would you give
1,s0O trancs:'
The jeweler did not reply for few
seconds. He popped his microscope
once more into his eye. held the ring up
to the light, examined the setting and
fell to making elaborate calculations
with a pencil on a sheet of paper.
/ do not often buy such large
stones, but will give you ,, 500 francs
for this one.
The Yankee did not reply, and the
Frenchman. assuming that his offer was
accepted. placed the ring on a little
ledge behind him and opened his desk
for his check book
- Not so fast. said Brother Jona-
than. The diamonds not for sale
Two thousand six hundred francs,
was the Frcnchman 5 reply.
The American shook his head.
- Seven hundred-eight hundredl'
"'No!
Nine hundred--:i, 900 trancs That
Is my last offer. Pause. l beg of you,
monsieur, before you refuse it, 1t is a
large sum-3. 900 francs. And as if he
were convinced that no one could refuse
such price he put tie stone once more
among his own treasures and again
turned round for his checkbook.
" Thunder, exclaimed the Yankee,
what do you take me for? tell you
can t and won't sell you the ring. 1t
was as good as sold to this British gen.
tleman last night, and it isn't mine to
NOVA Give mo ha