El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-18
A MUMMY NECKLACE.

The mummy necklace wa a quaint,
rough thing, more quaint than beauu-
full, yet with certain picturesqueness
and an undeniable fascination, alter
nate beads of comedian and gold, and
two tiny hearts hanging from the three
central beads.
My father gave it me one day, know
ing l had a fancy for these out-of-the-
way jewels. 1 do not know its history,
but was told it had been taken off the
neck of a mummy.
From the moment it was given me
its rious fascination overcame me.
I it day and night. l fancied II
bring me luck. J certainly felt
tiny soft pinches on my neck made by
the beads. This 1 wondered at for
time, but afterward grew too accus
toned to them to wonder. There were
curious marks on the beads; they were
Clipped off or indented. Here ano
there were dark stains.
From the moment 1 began to wear
the necklace my health failed. 1 grew
weaker and weaker, and at last fell
seriously i'll. Naturally did not dream
of connecting my illness in any way
lace. On the contrary, 1 chung to 1t
more and more, believing it to be a
talisman.
was lying on my sofa one day when
a friend, who had observed my neck
lace then for the first time, said: why
do you wear that? 1t isn't pretty. Let
me look at it,
She held it a moment and shivered.
ooh, it's a horrible thing! Don't
wear it. 1t will bring you dreadful
Ill luck. I believe those are the marks
Of teeth and the stains Of blood"
l said: eft bewitches me. I can't
bear to part with it, and 1 wear it day
and night"
Another friend of mine took dislike
to 1t. She was believer in magic of
all sorts, and was persuaded that the
necklace had made me i'll and was pre-
venting my recovery.
At last she persuaded me to let her
take it to a clairvoyant. A certain
cobbler in a suburb of London was the
clairvoyant we chose. He and I had
had strange experiences some time be-
fore this, but, as Rudyard Kipling
says, chat is another story"
I parted with the necklace re1uct-
antly. My friend promised to arrange
an interview with the cobbler the next
day, if possible.
That night 1 fastened my pearl neck
lace on, missing the feeling of the
mummy chain. 1 lay awake all night
l was not allowed sleeping draft, and
/ had coughed till was exhausted, but
Tot sleepy.
Toward dawn my nurse shut the
door between her room ard mine. I
remember observing the light coming
through the empty keyhole Of her door
and each side of my dark blinds.
The rain beat loudly on the windows.
lay listening to the weary sound.
Suddenly my wrist was seized and
violently shaken; the bangles I wore.
hung with talismans, ratified and jim
gIed together. Another moment and
my throat was seized by tightly
:lutching, strong hands.
said to myself: This is death. and
It is terrible
Still the clutch frightened. My pearl
ecklace was shaken. Even then 1
thought: 1.-The pearls will be scat
tered" Then the thought came, swift
and horrible:
He has come for his necklace"
CIe) The next flash of thought was:
This is a struggle of thousands of
years ago being re-enacted. Death is
terrible. If only 1 could call for help!
If only 1 could speak, But the fingers
ciutched my throat too tightly
And then I opened my eyes and saw
great gray formless thing 1t lay
stretched out on my bed, and through
it l saw the light shining through the
empty keyhole.
Even then. through M terror,