The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1908-01-14
ESTABLISHED 1875

SuDdued interest announced rnat the
lion of the evening had arrived. A
quick inclination of the head, snap
ping of long, slender fingers, ard the
performance was under way. With
lightning rapidity and wonderful deft-
ness the conjurer worked, and the
GREATNESS audience watched, not so
much the tricks as the unsmiling lips,
the inscrutable eyes, which seemed not
to see either the sea of faces appraised
to his nor even the assistant who did
his unspoken bidding.
Only one person In the fashionable
audience saw something more, and
that a quivering, blue eyed girl who
for one brief second had met and held
the magicians glance and seen burn
ing in those inscrutable eyes a fire
which had burned there on a night five
years before, fire lit centuries agone
in the eyes Of the worlds first man
Adam.
The assistant called for ring with
which his master would work a new
trick Mechanically Helen Morgan
handed him a magnificen Noop Of
pearls. Erskine took the ring gravely,
raised silver hammer and apparent
ly smashed the trinket into a thousand
pieces on an anvil OF curiously wrought
silver. Then he produced a sealed
casket of water, in which swan gold
fish, and in the mouth of the fish ne
found the hoop of pearls But the
ring was not returned to its owner by
the assistant. Instead, as the room
rang with applause, the magician him
self walked quietly down the aisle,
formed by the parting of many silken
skirts, and placed the ring on the girls
trembling white hand. Not even the
man with the monocle noticed that the
conjurer for an instant held the slim
fingers in his with pressure that
threatened to crush them, nor did be
dream that within the girls palm lay
another ring at which she dared not
look.
Somewhat awkwardly she slipped on
her long white glove. She was so
deeply engaged in this operation that
she did not even see the conjurer as
he left the improyised stage, In the
privacy of the boudoir hours later she
held the conjurer's ring under the
light of blazing electrolier
s'Such an odd was almost going
to say ugly-ring," she murmured as
she slipped it on her finger and turn
ed 1t this way and that A diamond,
an emerald, an amethyst, a ruby, an
o+I,o,. rx,oroI III n rov1v,r,i~o and a +o,aa1
formed the brilliant half hoop. Then
suddenly her cheeks burned crimson.
She had read the story of the many
colored gems. Their first letters spell
ed dearest" the message of the man
who had not forgotten his promises.
With her chocolate the next morning
came an oddly shaped French gray
envelope, bare of crest or monogram.
Forgive my temerity of last night,
ran the message within, "but for years
/ have been carrying that ring in my
pocket, waiting for our meeting They
were the first gems bought when
success came my way, and | gathered
them one by one, each perfect in its
way and worthy the one woman in all
the world. Yet last night heard You
were to marry the Earl of Warburton.
If this is true, do what you will with
the ring. If it is but an idle rumor,
drop me a single word to the Hotel
Cecil, Come"
Erskine laid aside the morning pa
pers, heralding him as the fashiona-
BILE worlds new found idol, to an
swer summons to the phone. The
voice at the other end of the wire fal-
tered, then grew firm and strong:
"Come. / could not wait to write F"