St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-07-09
1rvoluntari1y / betrayed tn. dreadful

she sWayed, staggering back ward.
My poor father!" she 1aoaned, as
held her HE is ruined forever-and
too! The daughter of convicted THE
is no fit wife of an honest mani"
my darling! You are wife for
d king. and as for your father, l swear t
y you that will save him yet"
t You? You cannot"
e i tell you that can and will" Fo
even as l spoke an idea 11ashd into m,
head which startled me by its audacity
! In moment had thought out every de
, tail.
l made up the stones, Champion dia
} nond and all, into a packet, carefully
/ closing the secret drawer and, contriv
, ing to get away without being seen, wen
straight to my brothers house in Kent
| managing to avoid the service of sub.
poena. Thus l was not present at the
police court proceedings, which would
have meant ruin for my plan.
Mr.. Nugent was committed for trial
and meanwhile staid in the country
working each night in my locked room
with the tools l had brought with me
until the gray dawn filtered under my
closed shutters
i When l saw my old employer in the
dock at the trial l was shocked at the
CHASTITY change which had come over
him.
The evidence at first went steadily
against him. 1t was proved that he had
lost money heavily on the stock ex-
change. Mr.. Champion swore that the
stone in the ring delivered to him by Mr..
Nugent's own hand was not his diamond,
One expert testified that not only was
the stone he now saw not the CHAMPION
diamond, it was not genuine jewel at
all, but a marvellous imitation All
other was not so positive. He looked at
the gem through his glass, turning it this
way and that. declaring that in all his ex-
perience he had never seen false stone
SO cleverly executed as this. Indeed, he
was not prepared to swear that it was
false
This was the first ray of doubt which
had been thrown by the evidence upon
Mr.. Nugent's guilt; and then l went
into the box. was cool now, for the
game had gone into had cost me many
qualm of conscience. But l had no in
tention of cheating Mr.. Champion,
swearing falsely, or furnishing my per-
sonal honor.
The preliminary question of the prose-
cutting counsel brought out the fact that
l had designed the rings setting and
done all the work upon it.
What sort of stone was it your en-
ployer gave you to set?" was the next
question.
AN extremely valuable white dia-
mond," l replied
DO you swear that you set the genuine
stone and delivered the ring when fin
fshed to the prisoner" ...
II do"
do you consider it possible that stone
might have been taken out and an imi-
tation one substituted"
Certainly! But could tell whether
the ring had been tempered with since
it left my hands,"
'Take this, then examine it, and in
form the court If that is the stone you |
set,"'
The ring was handed to me, and hush
fell upon the court. The kind of lull |
which denotes that vital point in case
has been reached.
put my hand in my waistcoat pocket
for my jewelers. glass, and the sharpest
eye could not have seen that also drew
forth a new ring, made in the secret
hours of the night-an exact counterpart
Of the other, save that 1t contained the
real Champion diamond.
l pretended to examine the imitation
with great care, while all eyes were
fixed upon me. At length returned the
glass to my pocket, and with it the ring
with the false stone. could hear my
heart beating; but, handing to the court
Usher the new ring, said, firmly, in re.
ply to the snappish "Well?" of the pros
ecuting counsel:
II swear unhesitatingly that the set.
ing of this ring has not been tempered
With, and that this is the genuine dia-
nond which was given me to set.
A rustic went round the room; the
expert pricked up his ears; the
counsel. with Mr.. Cramp-
on and the treasury solicitor, were I
over the ring.
"You honor" said the counsel, II ask 1
remission to recall the expert"
stepped out of the box and the expert
topped in. The new ring was put into
lis hand, friendly ray of sunshine Q
lighting up the jewel. d
"This is remarkable he said at last, e
1t is the first time have ever made a a
1istake. This stone is genuine. can Il
OF doubt it, n
And so the prisoner was free. But Il
hen the verdict of mot guilty" was c
faint groan echoed it, and g
dead man was taken from the dock. tt
spasm of the heart had proved fatal. h
Six months later Nell and were mar. v
led. On our honeymoon we were walk u
e in lane near Ilfracombe, when We p1
lme face to face with Mr. Champion. 81
no was stopping with his bride in a IL
country house. st
"Ah, Mr.. Wade!" he exclaimed "r
aven't seen you since that mysterious OF
Sc of mine. Do you know, have al OF
avs thought of you-as-a very-clever 81
am" RI
Thank you, said quietly. will Won m
low me to present you to my wife-the st
lily daughter of the late Mr. Nugent?"
Mr.. Champion raised his hat looked Il,
'enly at pretty Nell, shook hands with nc
both, and murmured: NJ
''Ah, understand" .,
Jewels in q D;er,> n. w