The Jasper news., 1919-10-30

ne rent-the circle that meets mere
twice n week. / have the house much
as a minister has his parsonage. If
there were ever any scandal-if they
turned me out from here-I'd be prac-
tically penniless. couldn't make a
fresh start with that hanging over me.
And then my son |"
I said, "Well, get the stones and I'll,
look at them If you care to have me
do that"
She left me with grateful smile,
but returned so quickly that ! rather
guessed she had the stones on her
person. 1t was dlngy little paste
board box she'd come back with, fas-
tened with common little elastic.
She slipped the elastic and placed the
box in my hand.
raised the lid ! give one look
at the contents, emptied out the stones
into my hand and-nearly fell Off my
choir
THE STONES HELD WERE
BLoOD-RED DIAMONDS And there
we're seven of them-a stone you don't
see one of in year, perhaps. WHY.
I didn't know there were such stones
in the heavens or the earth or the
waters under the earth Seven blood
red diamonds, absolutely flawless. first
water gems and perfectly matched to
the Inst facet. the last CLEAN and
twinkle in their radiant depths.
held them, almost frightened, and
really didn't hear what she was saying
till she remarked something about
their being matched.
Matched Well, they we're matched
this way: If an absolutely perfect me-
chanical mind with an absolutely per-
feet mechanical tool, working on abso-
lutely perfect substance can be con-
celved, the mind and the tool. work
ing without variation. might have pro-
duced those seven stones. Yes-I
should say they were mntchedi
81 remember you told me once" she
was prattling "that the larger the
stones the more individual they be-
came and the harder they were to
match. If they were worth five thou
sand dollars apiece couldn't get
say-forty thousand dollars for the
seven?"
"Forty thousand dollars !" gasped
looking at her now for the first time
since I'd looked Mt the stones.
An expression of disappointment
crossed her face. and of chagrn too
at having committed herself before
an expert-as she kindly regarded me.
Couldn't / get rs much as twenty
| thousand for them. don't you think 2"
she faltered. "Aren't rubles that size
worth even that2"
"RUBIES |" | must have simply
shouted the word Mt her.
"And aren't they rubies7 Oh. don't
tell me they're only pastel" She
looked ready to cry with disappoint-
ment and modification.
"PASTE" know yelled that
word so the walls echoed. "Why,
woman. they're DIAMONDS blood.
red diamonds-the most valuable stone
in the world"
She clasped her hands about my arm
and gave out long "O-o-ohI Then
they're worth forty thousand dollars
at the very leastl"
"Mrs. Delario," said soberly, al
can give you only rough estimate, for
those stones are far beyond my range,
but in my honest opinion they are
worth at least million dollars"
Silence fell on us-my words had
sort of stunned Us both; for until |
had spoken them aloud the full mean
ing of the diamonds hadn't come home
to me, and that ! sat there, casually
holding a million dollars in my hand.
1t all Mt once seemed a solemn thing
to be doing-an immense responsible,
ity. i dropped them back In their box,
pur the lid on and handed them TO her
Her own first words showed the
timid woman. "And I've all this right
here in the house with mel"
l felt sorry for her. / was glad !
didn't have them In the house will,
Inc. saw her apprehension when
her eyes roved over the room as II for
a possible hiding place. When her
eyes returned to the box she muttered
under her breath. "A million dollars
And ! asked only little for Lila's
sake. What confidence they must have
had In me! A million dollars" She
had evidently taken my word with i'm
picit trust that was right though
was almost doubling It myself. My
thoughts were chasing one another
and the silence between us was such
you could have heard pin drop, And
in that silence the front bell pealet
through the house.