The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-10-15
JEWlEZ MYSTERIES
Bv, MAX PElMBERTON.
My Lady of the Sapphires.
Copyright, 1904.

TO the Writing JaDle IN my private
office. It is there much on the princi-
! pie which compels monk to set a skull
upon his praying stool, or a son of Mo
b no to calculate plous phrases at
ssapit. " wrote Plautus. Had Fate Gas east
than of a playwright, he would have set
down stronger phrase.
1 first saw my lady two years ago, |
tho it was only upon the day OF my In
PRODUCTION that | learned her name. She |
had then, tho knew it not, been be-
fore the town for many weeks as a
physiognomist, mistress of the stars, |
q reader of faces, and in many other |
capacities interesting to the, idle and
the credulous. Society, which laughed
guineas for the possession of themi
great danes sat in her boudoir and
discussed amatory possibilities; even
the youth of the city, drawn by the
prettiness of her manner and her un-
questionable good looks, came cheerful
" from two sources,' or had passed
thru the uninteresting complaints of in
fancy without harm. In her way, she
was the event of the season. Dowagers
scolded her, but came again and again
to probe family secrets, and learn the
men flocked to her to know what posi-
bility there was of an early return to
the bliss of single life; mere boys
ventured upon the hazard of a little
shown the door by a formidable lackey:
Turnout her career scandal never lifted
its voice against her. She was en-
gagged ultimately to Jack Lucas, and
her marriage was as brilliant as her
career had been fortunate.
When a curious chance and combina-
ton Of events first brought me to &C
Quaintance with her she was in the
very height of her practice. Carriages
crowded daily in Dover street where,
with her mother, she had rooms-and it
vas the 5; thing to D., consult her YET IN
onel Oldfeld, the collector of cats
eyes, and Bracebridge, at the Bohemian
club, hard by her house, had never
heard of her. The conversation turned
during the soup-when talk is always
watery-upon the press of broughams
in the street without, and Oldfield men
toned her history to me, and the sur
prising nature of many things she had
told him.
cit is easy enough,' said he, "to
look at mans hand and deduce scar
let fever and measles somewhere be-
tween two and twelve years Of age; but
when q woman tells you calmly that
you were ready to die for two other
women at the age of one-and- twenty,
t,s Mt thing to Son make y91H p =,
Bracebridge. Glove is distinctly a
matter for specialization.
~ did pause, sir,'' said the colonel
ness comes in. She told mo that neither
of the women cared the snap Of finger
for me, and I have really come to the
put glamor upon most things, but it
is hard, even at fifty, to recall wom-
an mo- of thirty years ago.
s,an emory no is dap9g sa! vice which
forget. There should be no yesterday
for the man Of the world. But l know
the morbid kind of recollection you
speak about. There was a fellow here
only the other night who kept pro-
posal book, He put the noes, on one
balanced the columns every Christmas.
One day he left the book in cab, and
has spent his time since going to Scot
land Yard for it. That comes of remin-
iscencesl'
1T agree with you in the main" said
the Colonel; "there is very little in
any mans private life which is Of cop
Germ to any one but himself. The lady
we are speaking Of knows this, and
makes her fortune by her knowledge
The truth Is that we all love little
plain-spokenness. There is far too mucl
a clever man, discreetly, and you fatte1
him; inform him that he is brainles
ass, and he will kick you. But when you
put black cap on your head, and talk
O wand in your hand, and charge {
guinea for the spectacle, the fool will
hear Of his folly cheerfully.'
"Then the girl you mention is a mer
vulgar fortune-teller, said I interven
ing for the first time. cts astonishing
how little difference there is, when 20,
come to reckon it up, between the taste
Of a grand dame and the tastes Of he
cook. The one goes in at the from
door to get her hand read for a guinea
the other goes out Of the back to hav
an equally plausible delineation for six
ponce. -Crednity does not know an.
| distinction OF class; in the case I men
odd. Those of us who have no particr
lar objection to spill salt, shiver to sc
the new moon thru glass. That ma
| alone who tells you frankly that he be
leves in all superstitions is free fro1
the blemish. But common fortune-tel
ing, I confess, leaves me unmoyed.'
, IF 1t began and ended in the mer
vulgar allotment of tragedy and G
marriage, should agree with you,
said Bracebridge, speaking with unusu:
6n tRat this am Of Pne1aed
cleverness, or at least of uncommon wi
if one-half said of. her be true, she
the best of the profession we hav
known. And after all, it is an achiev
ment to be the best at some occup;
ton, If it's only that of picking pool
cts.
"Speaking Of that.'' said Oldfel
81 once knew man in the '6Oth' WI
was proud because society paper d
Bcribed him as the finest idler in E.
rope. That was a negative distinctic
pr surprising beauty, you must admi
In the lady's case, howeve
there is something substantial
! praise She can talk
things Of which I would not attem1
to spell the name, with a fuency whi(
is charming, if it is not accurate; 81
has room full of unreliable books; al
7 believe there are dozen men in tow
who will swear that she has made di
, monds before their very eyes. TIL
: should interest you, Sutton. A woms
4 who is the possessor Of what she cal
= the 'alkahest' or universal solvent,
. E not to be interviewed for a .guin
: every day. Besides, she might give "
some useful hints
."And who knows" said Bracebrida
"what might come of it. I presur
you pay three pounds odd an GUN
for the genuine metal today. Und
certain contingencies you might get
for threepence, and wife into t
F. barpain.D