The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-12-14
(OouyriEht, lsla)

gift of mine for reading words as they
issue from peoples lips places me-
with or without my will. in the posi-
uon Of the eavssdropper. As to very
strict purists, this may not sound pleas
ant confession to make, will give an in
stance Of the. kind Of thing mean.
I suppose was about seventeen; know
/ had just put my hair up. which had
grown to something like a decent length.
Ny mother was not very well. Ny father
was reluctant to leave her. 1t looked as
IL the summer holiday which had been
promised me was in peril, when two ac-
quaintances. Mr.. and Mrs. Travers, rather
than that should lose 1t altogether, Of
fered to take me under their wing. They
were going for little tour in SWITZERLAND,
proposing to spend most Of their time at
Interlsken' and my parents feeling tnat
should be perfectly safe with them, &C
cepted their proffered chaperonage.
Everything went well until We got to In
terlaken. There they met some friends
who were going on climbing expeol-
ton, and, as Mr.. and Mrs. Travers were
both keen mountaineers, they were eager
to join them. was the only dtfficulty IN
their way.
The people in the hotel were for the
most part very sociable folk, as people In
such places are apt to be. Among other
made was a middle-aged widow, Mrs.
Hawthorne. When she heard Of what Mr..
and Mrs. Travers wanted to do, and how
they could not do it because of me, she
volunteered, during their absence, 10 oc-
cupy their place as my chaperon' assuring
them that every possible care should
be taken care Of me
In the hotel were stopping broth
er and sister, Mr.. and MISS
Il had
friendly. Mr.. Sterndale ! should have
set down as twenty-five or twenty-six'
and his sister as a year or two younger
What attracted me to Mr.. Sterndale
was that, from the very first, he treated
me with Difference, as IL I were at least
as old as he was.
On the third day after Mr.. and Mrs.
Travers had left Mrs. Hawthorne came
to me with long face and letter In her
hand.
MY dear, I cannot tell you how an
noyed I am, but I shall have to go to
England at once-today. And whatever
will become of your
It seemed that her only sister was dan
gerously Ill. and that she was imploreo
to go to her as soon as she could. VI
course, she would have to go. l told
her that it did not matter in the least
about me: Mr. and Mrs Travers would
knew so many people in the hotel, who
were all of them disposed to be friendly
I should be perfectly all right until they
came. She LETT for London that after
noon; but, so far from everything being
perfectly all right with me after she had
gone, the very next day my troubles De-
gan.
They began in the morning. 1 was Sit
ting on the terrace with a book. Mr..
Sterndale had been talking to me. Pres
emily his sister came through an open
French window from the lounge. Her
brother went up to her; sat still. She
was at the other end Of the terrace, ana
when she saw me she nodded and smhed.
When her brother came up TO her. ne
said something which, as his back was
toward me. Of course I did not catch; but
her answer to him, which was very gently
uttered 1 saw quite distinctly; all the
while she was speaking she was smiling
at me.
"she had a red morocco jewel-case
SORT of a thing on the corner of her man
tel-sheIf; I put it under the bottom tray
With the exception of that gold locket
which she is always wearing it's the only
decent thing in it! it's full of childish
trumpery."
her brother. and I saw her say it with
rather curious feelings. What had he
asked her? To what could she be re-
ferring? l had "a red morocco Jewel-case
sort of a thing" and it stood on cor
ner Of my mantle-shelf. l also had a
gold locket, which, If 1 was not. as she
nrt II. always wearing, did wear pretty
often. Certainly it was the only article
in nv jewel-case which was worth very
much: and with a horrid sort of qualm
7 owned to myself that the rest OF the
contents might come under the definition
~ "childish trumpery." She said she had
nut something under the bottom tray.
What bottom tray? Whose bottom tray!
There were trays in my jewel-case; she
could not possibly have meant that she
had put anything under one OF them-
The idea was too preposterous.
The evening before We had arranged
tn make an excursion to st. Beatenberg
on the Lake of Thun-five or six OF US
7 was dressed ready to start when Miss
Sterndale came through that French WIN
dow. She also was ready, and her
brother. Presently the others appeared.
I was feeling a little confused; l could
NOT think of an excuse which would give
me an opportunity OF examining my
iewel-case Anyhow, 1 kept trying to
tell myself it was absurd.
what is the matter with you Miss
Tee?" asked Mrs. Dalton; ''you look as
IL you were not enjoying yourself one
little bit"
When I got back to the hotel and was
in NV bedroom; 1 went straight up to
that red morocco jewel-case sort of
thing and looked at it. 1t was locked,
lust as had left it. Clearly had been
worrying myself all day long about it;
there was nothing to show that the con-
tents had been touched. lifted the two
trays-and 1 gasped. do not know how
else to describe it-something seemed all
at once to be choking me, SO that it was
with an effort that I breathed. In the
iewel-case, under the bottom tray, was
a pendant-a beautiful circular diamond
pendant, of the size. perhaps, Of q five
shilling piece. It was not mine; never
had anything so beautiful in my life.
Where. did it come from? Could Miss
Sterndale have put II there? Was that
the meaning of her words?
AS looked at ii began to have a very
uncomfortable feeling that I had seen 1t
before, or one very like 1t, on some one
in the house. My head. or my brain, or
something, seemed to be 30 muddled that
at the moment could not think who
that some one was. I had washed and
tidied myself before ] decided that /
would go down with the pendant in my
hand and, at the risk Of no matter what
misunderstanding, ask Miss Sterndale
what she meant by putting 1t there So,
when I had got my unruly hair into
something like order. downstairs I went, 4
and rushed into the lounge with SO much
inpetuosity that I all but cannoned
against Miss Goodridge, who was coming
out
stSood gracious, childr' she exclaimed.