The Washington times., 1936-12-05
NOW
Miss Bessie's
Diamond
SIMPSONIA
BY HELEN ESSARY

can woman whose CndIul anu III
fluence have revived a dull old
world, are even now the visible
marks of the exciting Mrs. Simp-
sons youthful curiosity.
The marks on the glass were
made Just about % years ago by
the then Wallis Warfield. They
are the sign of her triumph in
finding out whether a diamond IN
e ring was genuine. They are also
part of my own childhood recol-
lections.
It's amusing to remember that
the Wallis who at the age OF II
was determined to learn the value
of a shiny jewel has since re-
ceived precious stones-emeraldS,
rubies and diamonds worth hun
dreds of thousands of dollars
from the King of England. Be-
fore her story is finished she may
wear on her own proud head the
crown of the British Empire.
The ring that came under Wal
lis childish investigation was, as
I said yesterday, the thrilling new
property of Miss Bessie, the tele
phone operator at the Preston
Apartment. Wallis spent her
school vacations there with her
mother, Mrs. T. Wallis Warfield,
before the mother and daughter
moved to 212 East Biddle Street
Miss Bessie had been presented
with this ring by the young man
who wanted to marry her. He
seemed a nice enough young man
and Miss Bessie loved him.
She bluShed when she mentioned
him. You could tell by the way
her eyes sparkled as she answered
a buzz on the switchboard that
her young man was at the other
end of the wire. .~
Miss Bessie was awfully happy
over the ring with which the young
man wanted to announce her en-.
gagement. It's setting held only
what we call chip diamond. But
it. was a symbol of devotion and
1t Sparkled.
Wallis inspected the offering
gravely one day. It shone on the
fourth finger of Miss BesSie's left
hand while Miss Bessie manipu-
lated the switchboard plugs in
her corner opposite the elevator
door.
'Tt looks very nice, Miss Bes-
Sie," said Wallis. But before
you marry your beau, don't you
think we ought to find out if the
diamond is real?"
"Of course it's real" said
Miss Bessie, indignantly, giving
the telephone plug an extra lab.
''YOu don't think Will would give
me a piece of glass, do yOu?"
'WeIl," said Wallis thought
fully, 81 think we ought to be
sure. Let me have it for a min
ute"
Miss Bessie reluctantly took
her engagement present off. 81
don't know why let you do
such thing" she said. "Be care
full now. Don't drop it,"
Wallis hurried to the big en-
trance door and scratched on its
plate glass with the setting Of
Miss Bessie's" ring.
Immediately there was a sound
that made the blood run cold. as
the stone pressed down hard by
Wallis hand cut on the glass a
ragged white line, half the length
of the door.
Wallis laughed delightedly.
81 told you it was the thing
to do" she said.
When Michael, the janitor with
the perennial rose, came up
from his back door a few minutes
later, Wallis and her friends we're
looking innocently at the maga-
zines piled opposite the mail
boxes.
Another youthful acquaintance
Of Wallis I remember well. he
was Antonio, the shoemaker, who
had a little shop across the Guild
ford Avenue bridge.
Wallis Simpson today probably
has so pairs of shoes. If she
doesn't like them she doesn't wear
them a second time. Maids and
footmen keep the boots she likes
In order.
If she Is Queen of England she
may even use rubieS for shoe but.
tons. Heaven knows, anything
can happen to Wallis now
But when Wallis was IL, her
mother sometimes sent her to Ar
tonic to have her old shoes half
soled. Antonio should appear in
this opera bouffe of the King and
the American and the wicked
Prime Minister. He should ap-
pear just as he was, small and
dark and very smiling in his funny
little one-eyed shop.
Antonio used to keep an endless
supply of tomatoes ripening in the
sun on an upside barrel beside his
door. Sometimes when we would
arrive with our paper-wrapped
shoes under our arms, Antonlo
would just have jumped down
from his cobbler's bench. With his
strong needle and thread trailing
from pocket of his thick, leather
CONTINUED on Page %, Col. II
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