Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-05-19
The Sapphire
Original

ing. She died when was half through
college, and l was obliged to work my
way for the last two years there.
was bright enough to lead my class
from start to finish and on being grad
uated had no difficulty in finding a
teachers position.
Ambitious and determined to make
teaching a stepping stone to the acqui-
sition of wealth through the Opportuni-
ties it might offer, l accepted a posi-
ton of governess to the children Of a
retired muItimiIlionaire, Mr. Mortimer
He spent his time at his home in the
country on an estate of many thousand
acres His older boys were being fitted
for college by a tutor, Edmund Win
stOn, young, handsome, intellectual.
Mr.. Mortimer had also placed Winston
IN charge of any valuableS there might
be in the house, intrusting him with the
combination to the vault that had been
built for their safe keeping. l was
rather surprised at this, for Winston,
though thoroughly honest, seemed to
me to lack that shrewdness necessary
to such a guardianship.
One day Winston was carrying a
gem to the safe and, meeting me in the
hall, showed it to me- It was a very
large sapphire. I asked him its value,
and he told me it would be a fortune
to any but a millionaire l was not, as
some women would have been, attract
ed by its beauty, but it's value made
me very DESTROYS to possess it. People
have wondered that [, blessed with an
education, should have yielded to dis
honest craving. 1t was the conquest of
a problem that moved me- / longed to
overcome matter with mind. The
sapphire was protected by steel that l
could not break through It was for me
to enter the safe by mental process. In
other words, the door must be opened
1or me. In place of drills and dyna-
mite l must use whatever power Of in
duence I possessed for this purpose.
Winston must be my instrument.
It was not long before l felt that l
had inspired the tutor with sufficient
confidence in my honesty to trust me in
case of necessity. Though l tried in
every way to fascinate him, l felt that
had failed, not because he saw
through my design, but because 1 had
driven to attract him through the in
tellect, which is cold as the steel bolts
that protected the sapphire. Neverthe-
less it was a weakness induced by this
very intellect that relied upon-a pre-
occupation upon higher things than
guarding an inorganic substance.
One day it was announced that an
older daughter of Mr.. Mortimer by a
former wife was coming home from
Europe and her father was to go to
meet her on the arrival Of the steamer.
laid plan to possess my sapphire.
I wrote Winston in a disguised hand
note purporting to come from a law
yer who pretended to have found a
valuable piece of real estate that had
belonged to Winston's ancestors, the
title of which had reverted to him. The
lawyer must see him at once and be
commissioned to attend to the matter
or the opportunity would be lost.
fixed the day of meeting the same as
the expected arrival Of the steamer
On the morning of Mr.. Mortimer's
departure Winston came to me and told
me that he, too, must be absent for
couple of days. 1 suggested that if Mr..
Mortimer, who expected that his Gus
todian would never leave his post,
should wish for anything in the vault
during the time they were both absent
Winston would be blamed. After some
deliberatiOn he decided to leave the
combination with me. AT first 1 de-
clined to accept the responsibility, but
soon consented. promised him that in
case the safe must be opened l would
act for him.
OF course l must be known as the
thief. There was no hope of escape
from that. My plan was to disguise.
myself so that no one would know
me and so to some far eastern coun-
try with my possession. In the even
ing just before the lamps were light
ed I went to the vault, opened the door,
found the sapphire-I wouldn't take
anything more buIky-clOsed the vault
and went to my room. There made
up as a woman of fifty. Placing my
hand on the dOorknob to leave, felt
my finger tips Jingle with horror. 1t
was locked.
Darling to an anteroom, 1 found the
uOoA lSduLhS IIou II luIO TIE nan also
locked. Then | knew l was prisoner.
If could only get rid of the sapphire
l could not be convicted of the theft
at least so 1 supposed. 1 went to the
window and saw man on guard.
exercised my ingenuity to find a way
to part with the stone, but there was
no way.
The next afternoon my door was
opened, and a girl of twenty came in.
She was the returned daughter, Helen
Mortimer She had the appearance of
one to the manner born and looked at
me with kindly eyes. What she said
to me | could no more repeat as she
spoke it than 1 could give its effect
handed her the sapphire, which was
hn 4.11