The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-09-24
The Seven Emeralds.

The Seven Emeralds.
The man stood upon the welrbr1dge
watching me, conspicuous man with
strange clothes for river work upon
him, and q haunting activity which
drove him from the lock to the INN,
and again from the inn to the lock
with q crazy restlessness which was
maddening., had been for some hours
whipping the mill stream, which hes
over against the LIGHTHOUSE at Pang-
bourne; but meeting with no success
amongst the club, which, on this par
ticular July evening, were aggraVat
ingly Indifferent even to the succulent
frog, had punted to the bushes IN
the open river; and there lit my pipe
and fell to speculation upon nm VINO
favored me with so close an attention.
] have said that he was a conspicuous
man, and to this I owed it that, l had
seen him. He wore the straw hat OF
Jesus college, Cambridge, and a velvet
coat which shone brown and greasy
in the falling sunlight; but his legs
breaches, and he had brown boots reach
ing to his knees. Beyond this. he was
singularly handsome, 50 far as | could
Judge with the rivers breadth be-
tween US; and his hair was fair, with
ridiculous golden strain quite IN
looked for in one who has grown to
closely could not even conjecture, but
the fact was not to be disputed. l
had lain by the mill since the forenoon,
and since the forenoon he had hugged
to the weirbridge or to the LIGHTHOUSE
giving no attention to the. score OF
small boats and launches which passed
up or down to Goring or Mapledurham;
or even to the many pretty women VINO
basked upon the cushions of punts or
pair-oars. I alone was the object OF
his gaze, and for me he seemed to wait
thru the afternoon and until the tWl-
light.
Now, had the man hailed me, l
should have. gone shoreWards at once,
for my curiosity had been, petted by
his attentions until it waxed warm and
harassing; but this he did not doi
keeping his eyes upon me even when l.
had rested from casting and sat ldllng
in the punt. 1t would have been easy,
I concede, to have gone up river to,
ward Goring and 50 to have avoided
him; but this would have cut short
the chance Of explanation, and have
left ungratifed my desire to know who
he was, and wherefrom came his embar-
RAISING interest in my failure to en-
snare the exasperating club. 80 sat
there, in turn wondering II he were
honest or rogue, an adventurer or
an idler, riverman or a top from
Piccadilly. And as the problem was
beyond ME, 1 left it at last, and, taking
up my puntpole, | gave three or tour
vigorous thrusts which sent me I'M
mediately to the landingstage OF the
Swan Inn, and thence hence to tsa my t6id wa
an indifferent way Of dealing with the
man in the velvet coat if I wished
to know more of him; but mad
taken that little parlor of the, Inn
which juts out upon the hard OF the
boathouse; and [ could see from my ope1
windows both the panorama OF the locE
and that Of the open reach away to
ward the islands. It was now close
upon the hour Of 7, and the most par
of the river lay in cooling shadow: !
could hear by no means 1nharmonlous
a girls guitar; there were severa
launches waiting for the lockgates; anc
I recall we'll the face of very re
markable woman, who presently came
to the landing-stage in a gig, the cush
ions Of which were of an aggressive vel
low, but one, which was striking con
trast to her black hair and ivory-White
skin. Quite apart, however, from hel
indisputable beauty, had reason ,te
watch this conspicuous rswoman, FOL
no sooner had she como to the landing
stage than the man in the velvet coat
went to her assistance, and taking
boat, accompanied her up the village
high street, and SO carried her from
my view.
Here then, thought l.. is the end o:
nv mystery. The man had been wait
ing for the return of his wife, when |
with preposterous conceit, plumed my
self that he had been looking to speal
with me. What creatures of ideas w
are! And when l reflected upon It,, Ger
tainly it was monstrous absurd to thlnl
that one man should wish to watch an
other failing to catch fish thru a lon'
summers afternoon. Indeed, | LAUGHED
heartily at myself as the maid set m,
dinner, and put my creel and ro
upon the piano one puts everything
upon the piano in Thames village.
before daring the very substantial, i
rural, repast served to me.
One dimes up river, as most peopl
know, in semipublic state. Loafers, lott
erers, fruitsellers. boatmen-.an thes
congregate near the open window, an
discuss verbally the dishes which tn
diner discusses more substantially. Gus
no way interferes with our pleasure.
have 50 long learned to to lerate tn
presence before my easement of oars
man, peddler and even the less we
come bargee, that these now are almos
as salt to my appetite. And for tn
matter Of that, on the evening of whic
I am writing, the crowd was less tina
fruit, three men in obviously Cheapsid
blazers, and an old woman who sol
boot-laces and discussed the weathe
with me thru the easement at one an
the same time. She was such a me
nv old soul, and gave me 50 much {
her history and of that Of her son, VIII
was "fghtin' for his quane and coul
thry' in a place which she could NJ
mind herself Of, that forgot the ridic1
lous romance of the velvet-eoated ma:
and even his existence, until Of SUI
den he presented himself, no longt
watching me upon the bridge. but stan,
ing at the easement, and asking to (
admitted.
"I m most horribly sorry" said h
'tto intrude upon you at your Dime
but my train leaves for town in tie
minutes, and I particularly want 20,
opinion upon something which they te
In England
"By all MEANS" said r. "But yo,
estimate Of my opinion is hopeless
fatteri;ng; it concerns Jewels, I su
pose?'
"Exact1y,n said he; "and shall /
If you will tell me whether two er
era1ds have in my pocket are Of ar
value, and if 50, where would be tt
best place to dispose Of them?'
He took a ittfi paper box from h
coat and laid it near to my plate.
saw that it was box which had co
tanned tabloids of nitroglycerin