The Springfield herald., 1912-05-24
7heAccursed Gems
By MAX PEMBERTON
Copyright. BY W. q. chapman.)

the lowest drawer OF my strong room,
shining from couple of dozen of prim
leather cases, with light which Is
full of strange memories. / call them
accursed because ! cannot sell them;
yet there are those with other histor-
les, stones about which the fancy of
romance has sported. and the strong
hand of tragedy has touched with
an indelible brand. 1t may be that
the impulse of sentiment, working
deep down in the heart of the ostensi-
bly, commercial character. forbids me
to cry some of these wares in the
market-place with any vigor; 1t may
be that the play of chance moves the
mind of the jewel-buyer to prejudice
against them. In any case, they lie
in my safe unhonored and unsung-
and, lacking that which Sewell called
the precious balsam" of reputation
are merely SO much carbon or mineral
matter giving light to iron walls which
give no light again.
For the stones which have no his
tory / am not an apologist. Some day,
those excellent people who now decry
them in every salon where Jewels are
discussed. will give up the hope of at
tempting to buy them cheaply; and
I shall make my profit. Everything
comes to him who can wait, and l am
not in a hurry. AS to the others,
which have been the pivots of romance
or serious story. they may we'll lie as
they are awhile they serve my mem
ory in the jotting down of some Of
these mysteries.
And that they do serve 1t l have no
measure of doubt. Here. for instance.
is little bag of pearls and diamonds.
It contains a black pearl from Koe-
pang. SO rich in silvery luster, and SO
perfect in shape, that 1t should be
worth eight hundred pounds in any
market In Europe: a couple of pink
pearls from the Bahamas. of fine ori-
ent yet pear-shaped, and therefore
less valuable as fashion dictates: Ave
old Brazilian diamonds averaging two
tarats each; a number of smaller dia-
monds for flush; and two great white
pearls. Ehich l finu at the very bot
tom of the bag. Those stones We're
bought by the late Lord Maclaren a
month before the date announced for
his marriage with the Hon. Christine
King. He had intended them as his
gift to her. handsome and sufficient
gift, 1t must be admitted. yet SO did
tickle fortune work that his very gen
erosity was the indirect cause OF
commotion in the week of the we'd
ding, and of as Pretty social scandal
as society has known for decade.
The matter was hushed up Of course.
For six weeks. as a wag said. 1t was
a nine days wonder. It was to me first
of all that Lord Maclaren related the
history OF 1t. and. despite my advice
to the contrary. laid 1t upon me that
/ should tell none in his lifetime. He
is dead now, and the publication of
the story will throw light upon much
that is we'll worth investigating.
Here then Is the story. l had a
visit from the chief actor in 1t to-
wards the end of June in the year
1890. He came to tell me that he was
married quietly in the middle OF the
following month to the Hon. Christine
King, the very beautiful sister of
Lord Cantiliffe She was then stay
ing at the old family place at st.
Peters, in Kent, and she wished to
avoid a public wedding IN view of the
recent death of her sister. whose
beauty was no less remarkable than
her own. MacLaren's visit was but
the prelude to the purchase Of pres
ent, and the business was made the
easier since he had the simplest no.
tions as to his requirements. He had
recently come from America-without
a wife mirabile dictu-and there had
seen a curious anchor bracelet. l
told him that I would make him a
model, and send it down to his hotel
at Ramsgate within week; and that,
II he then thought the Jewel to be
over snowy, We could refashion It.
He left much pleased, returning by
the Granville express to Kent; and
within the week he had the model;
and 1 received his instructions to pro-
ceed with the work.
1t Is necessary, I think, to say a
word here about this curious charact-
er. At the time l knew him, Maclar-
en- was man in his fortieth year.
though he looked older. He was once
vulgarly described in a club smoking
room as being "all hair and teeth
like a buzzard; and his best friend
could not have ranked him with the
handsome. Yet the women liked him
perhaps because it was a tradition
that he made love to every pretty girl
in town; and it was surprising be-
yond belief that he reached his for
tieth year, and remained single. When
he went to America in 1888 the whole
of the prophets gave him six months
of celibacy; but he cheated them, and
returned without wife. True, a copy
of an American society paper was
passed round the club. where the men
learnt with surprise that New York
had believed this elderly Don Juan to
be engaged to Evelyn Lenox. "the lady
Of the unlimited dollars" as young
Barisbroke of the Bachelors called
her; and had been very indignant
when he took passage by the Teutonic,
and left her people to face the filters
of a triumphant rivalry. But for all
that he was not married. and could af-
ford to laugh at the malignant scribes