Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-08-21
The Daily Story
Mystery of Jewels-By F. A. Mitchell
copyrighted. 1914. by Associated Literary Bureau

| COMMUNICATION Win me, that he mi9bf
prove property. A number OF descrin.
| tons of stones or lots of stones c,rnn
to me, but none tailed with those tha,
| had been sent to me. 1t was iropos.
sible that l should be imposed upon in
a matter of weight alone
The theory of the police was that m
jewels had been stolen. probably in
one lot, from diamond merchant. WIZ
had reasons for not reporting his loss
Sometimes those losing goods. sus.
pecting or not suspecting the th,ef
put a private detective on the cas-
who advises keeping the whole mater
secret / showed the gems. the box
I'm which they came, the paper in which
they had been wrapped, to a detective
who studied them closely. but withou,
getting a clew. Had the box been
new one he might possibly have traced
it from the maker to the person wbo
had bought it. but it was evidentlt
very old, nothing of its kind hayins
been manufactured for many years.
] told no one except officials Of nv
find for several months. Then I in
formed Lucy Larraway of It. She gave
me no assistance in ferreting out the
sender. That had not yet heard from
him did not argue that would not
hear at any time, though the longer
the delay the less likelihood The fact
of their having been sent to me instead
OF a confederate tended to indicate
that when the thief had shipped them
his object was to get rid of them with
out even calling for them.
Lucy suggested that there was some
story in high life connected with them.
possibly a tragedy. She fancied, for
instance. profigate son of a wealthy
father stealing them from him, then
becoming terror stricken at exposure
and shipping them at random. A case
ike this would probably never be ex-
posed
AS time went on this theory or some
thing like it seemed to be gaining
ground with Lucy, and fell in with it
myself. l stated it to the police. who
told me that not a 1.-THE of the skele-
tons in family closets ever walked out
into the OPEN Possibly an explanation
OF this case of mine might come in
time. but there was little likelihood of
my having been put in possession OF
the jewels temporarily or 1 would
have been called on for them before
now,
At last / came to the conclusion to
use the property for my advancement.
At time following a financial panic
when securities were much depressed
I made a loan on the diamonds and
bought productive property. A quick
rise followed. and L sold out at a con-
siderable profit
When told Lucy of what had done
I expected that she would blame me
for jeopardizing property that L might
at any time be called upon to return.
She did not seem to take this view Of
it, however, reminding me that l had
done all / could to discover the owner.
whereupon 1 told her that 1 now saw
no reason why we should not be mar
ried. and she consented
For years the diamonds remained In
the safety deposit company's vault
Children grew up about Lucy and me.
But prospered, and there was enough
for all When sons and daughters
were going to college and our expenses
were considerable my wife suggested
that l sell the jewelry and put the
money into interest bearing property.
But / declined to do SO. intending them
for my children after my death.
For thirty years L lived a happy life
with my dear wife; then she left me.
Some time after her death | devoted
myself TO the melancholy duty of weed
ing out those numberless effects, con-
sisting of old letters and trinkets, that
n 70 dT-
over some private papers of hers,
found a list of diamonds, giving their
standing as to purity and their &C
curate weight. l recognized that ii
comprised the gems which had been
sent to me years agone. | could nc!
remember my wife having had copy
of this inventory.
Passing on 10 other papers in the
same receptacle. | came upon a, viii
executed more than thirty years before
by one Jane Larraway bequeathing to
her niece. Lucille LarrawGy. all her
property. l opened my eyes Mt this and
pushed on through the bundle Of pa
pers among which l had found it and
saw at once that they concerned the
settling of the estate of Jane Larraway
and that Lucy had received an in
heritance of $4,000.
If ever man looked back with emotion
on noble deed of one lost did on
seeing the evidence that my beloved
Lucy had converted a fortune into
diamonds and given them to me. con-
cealing herself as the donor. Oh. that
could bring her back for one moment
in which TO take her in my arms ana
tell her-or try to tell her-what | feh'
Alas. how many of us realize sacri
fees that have been made for us only
tfter the beloved one has passed be
yond our gratitude.
I told my children what their mother
iad done for us all and divided inc
gems among them, to keep il Oemory
af her.