Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1898-10-26
| |

Together we ransacked the old bu-
reau, and at length Nell touched the
spring which opened the secret drawer
| drew In my breath sharply. for the
light of the candle which l held struck
out a CLEAN from a pile of exquisltely
made false stones, which lay in a parti-
tion on the left hand. while on the right
was the Lan.bton diamond.
| Invountarily | betrayed the dread
full nature of the discovery by an ex-
clamation, for, left to herself, Nell
would not have understood. But she
was quick to comprehend, and reallz-
ing the worst she swayed, staggering
backward.
my poor father" she moaned, as
held her. HE Is ruined forever-and
/, too. The daughter Of a convicted
thief Is no ut wife for an honest man."
"My darling, you are wife for king,
and rs for your father, | swear to you
that will save him yet"
"You-you cannot
81 tell you that can and will" For
| even as spoke an Idea had flashed into
my head which startled me by its au-
| dacity. In moment l had thought
out every detail
1 made up the stones, Lambton dia-
mond and all, into packet, carefully
closing the secret drawer, and contrlv-
| Ing to get away without being seen,
and went straight to my brothers
house in Kent, managing to avoid the
| service Of subpoena. Thus | was not
present at the police court proceedings,
which would have meant ruin for my
| plan.
Mr.. Nugent was committed for trial.
and meanwhile | stayed In the country
working each night in locked room,
with the tools had brought with me-
until the gray dawn filtered upon my
closed shutters.
| dock at the trial l was shocked at the
CHASTITY change which had come over
him.
| The evidence at first went steadily
| against him. Lord Lambton swore
that the stone In the ring was not his
diamond. One expert testified that
not only was the stone he now saw not
the Lambton diamond, but was not a
| genuine jewel at all, but a marvellous
| initiation. Another was not so posi-
| tive. He looked at the gem through
his glass, turning II this way and that,
declaring that In all his experience lie
had never seen u false stone so cleyerly
executed as this. Indeed, he was not
prepared to swear that 1t was false.
| This was the first ray of doubt which
had been thrown by the evidence upon
Mr.. Nugents guilt; and then | went
| into the box. | was very cool now, for
| the game | had determined on had
| cost me many qualm of conscience.
| But | had no intention of cheating
Lord Lambton. swearing falsely, or
furnishing my personal honor.
The preliminary question of the pros
ecuting counsel brought out the fact
that l had designed the rings setting.
and done all the work upon It,
What sort of stone was 1t your EN-
ployer gave you to set?' was the next
question.
AN extremely valuable white dia-
mond," replied.
do you swear that you set the genu-
Inc stone, and delivered the ring when
finished to the prisoner?''
II do"
do you consider 1t possible that
stone might have been taken out and
an imitation one substltuted?"
Certainly. But could tell whether
the ring had been tempered with since
1t left my hands"
Take this, then, examine 1t, and In
form the court II that Is the stone you
set"
The ring was handed to me, and a
hush fell upon the court. The kind of
hull which denotes that vital point in
a case has been reached.
l put my hand In my waistcoat
pocket for my jewelers. glass, and the
| also drew forth new ring, made In
the secret hours of the night-an ex-
act counterpart of the other. save that
1t contained the real Lambton dia-
mond
| pretended to examine the imitation
with great care while all eyes were
fixed upon me. At length l returned
the glass to my pocket. and with II the
false stone. | could hear my own
heart beating, but. handing the court
usher the new ring. | said firmly In
reply to the snappish "Wellg" OF the
prosecuting counsel:
II swear unhesitatingly that the set
ting OF this ring has not been tempered
with, and that this is the genuine dia-
mond which was given me TO set"