Mower County transcript., 1899-10-25
Of the turquoise deepened again, and
he felt him self nuito "a 70

Of the turquoise deepened again, and
he felt himself quite safe.
"But it was after that that he said
the turquoise saved him from some
thing that would have been the great
est calamity Of his life.
"Hs was very much in love with
cousin Of his, beautiful girl, he said,
who lived in the north Of England.
She cared very little for him. as l un-
derstood, except as cousin. though
her parents would have been glad to
see them marry. Well, he pressed his
advantages-his military reputation
and all that-as much as he could for
a long time, but there was another
suitor whom the girl seemed to prefer,
and he-as this poor fellow told me
was at least a decent man'-had held
the field all to himself before my man
appeared.
''However, he was beginning to
think that, with the help Of the girls
parents and one thing and another, he
would end by winning her. Then the
turquoise warned him again. 1t was
turning pale once more.
'HOu see, he couldn't interpret it
that he was going to lose this girl
whom he loved, because he hadn't won
her yet. So he came to the conclusion
that the paleness Of the turquoise
must mean so great calamity that
he could not guess at. And that led
him to give up the girl and leave her
to his rival. He could not bear the
thought, he said. Of taking her with
him into trouble. Don't you think it
was a splendidly unselfish thing to do?
"Well, his cousin married the other
man soon after, and my poor fellow
actually congratulated himself that his
cousin would be happy, no matter
what became Of him. But l believe
that the evil that threatened him was
simply his old enemy-drink. Per-
haps, in the bottom Of his heart, he
drunkard.
''After that he went back to India,
and, being, suppose. heartbroken
really and Respondent. he was turned
out of the army in spite of all his good
service in the past. Then he drifted to
Singapore and from there to Hong
kong, where he got a mercantile posi-
ton. When the demon Of drink still
pursued him relentlessly in the east,
he came to this country.
"But the remarkable thing about 1t
to me-outside of the poor chaps con-
graduating himself that he had been
saved from making his cousins life
wretched-the remarkable thing was
that the turquoise always kept pale
never got back color after he ran away
! to avoid marrying his cousin and then
got into trouble in India. l believe
that the paleness Of that confounded
stone was what bounded him to ruin"
When my chance acquaintance told
! me this, l could not help asking him
| whether the turquoise had regained
it's color since he got it. asked the
question in mere jest, but what was
my surprise when l saw pl: :nly by
his manner, though he tried to con-
ceal the fact, that he, too. was touch
ed with the turquoise superstition.
"Well," he said. laughing. 1T is odd
that the stone should have always
been a fine deep blue ever since it
came into my possession. isn't itY'
"Still more odd," said, "if an Amer
lean business man should believe in
such curious Asiatic fables
John and l never lost sight of each
other after that, and once at least a
thing happened that might have served
him as an argument for the truth Of
his fantastic belief
We had met, partly by chance, at
Baltimore and were once more occu-
pying the same room in a hotel John
was to have taken a train that morn
ing for PittSburg. but while he was
dressing I remarked to him as still
lay in bed: "Something's going to hap
pen to you. Your turquoise is getting
pale"
81 tell you what" he said, 81 won't
go to Pittsburg today"
He put off the journey, and that
evening the papers told us Of land
slide which had caused the wreck of
the train John had intended to take.
Several lives had been lost, and more
than score Of passengers had been
seriously hurt.
''If I had been on the train," said
John, II should have been killed. You
may say what you like, but the self
sacrifice of that poor fellow has left a
blessing on this turquoise. e."-Pittsburg
Press.