Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1908 — the KING of DIAMONDS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

the KING of DIAMONDS.

By Louis Tracy,

Author of “Wings of the Morning,** “The Pillar of Light,’* Etc.

Now, punctuality was one of Mr. Abingdon's many virtues. At half past 7 to the tick bls brougham deposited him at the door. The two met with a cordial greeting that showed the close ties of mutual good fellowship and respect which •bound them together. "Fox won’t be here," said Philip. •Grainger has broken down—ill health. I suppose—and wired for him to go to Uncoln." “Ah, that’s a lift for Fox He is a clever fellow, and if be manages to **•11 the jury a joke or two he will influence a verdict as unfairly as any scan 1 know.” •‘Does it not seem to yon to be rather an anomaly that justice, which In the abstract is Impeccable, too often depends on other issues which have no possible bearing on the merits of the dispute Itself?” “My dear boy. that defect will continue until the crack of doom. Pascal laid It bare in an epigram, ’lt all depends on which side the Pyrenees Fox happens to be.’ ” “Unfortunately 1 am straddling the water shed at this moment. I have made a very Important discovery, Abingdon, and I am glad we are alone tonight; we can speak freely. Some people named Sharpe & Smith wrote to me yesterday.” ”1 know them—an old established Arm of solicitors.” “Well, they urged me to give them an appointment on a private matter,

•nd I did so. They began by trying to cross examine me. but that was an •bject failure. Seeing that whatever they bad to say must stand on its own legs, they told me an extraordinary •tory. It appears that at a place called the Hall. Beltham. Devon, lives an elderly baronet named Sir Philip Morland “Morland! Philip Morland!" “Ah. you remember the name! It was given to a young derelict who once figured In the dock before you on a charge of being in unlawful posses•ion"— “The matter is not serious, then?” “it is very serious. The real Philip Morland Is my uncle.” “Do you mean to say that you learned this fact for the first time today from Sharpe & Smith?” Philip laughed. By this time they were seated at the table, and their talk depended to a certain extent on the comings and goings of servants. At a dinner en famine, the presence of a ponderous butler and solemn lackeys was dispensed with. “Oh. you lawyers!” he cried. “That’s W nlee sort of leading question. But. marvelous as It may seen to .you, I must answer 'Yes.* My mother's maiden name was Morland. Her brother was much older than she, and it appears the dear woman married to please herself, thereby mortally offending the baronet “Why the ‘offense?’ ” “Because my father’s social position was’not equal to that of the aristocratic Moria fids. Moreover, her brother had an accident in his youth which Tendered him irritable and morose. From being a pleasant sort of man—which, indeed, he must have been did lie share aught of my mother's nature—he grew Into a misanthrope and gave his life to the classification of Exmoor beetles. He treated my mother very badly, so vilely that even she, dear •oul, during her married life held no further communication with him and never mentioned him to me by name. Now, one day on Exmoor be found a lady* who also was devoted to beetles—•t least she knew all that the Encyclopaedia Britannica could teach her. She was a poor but handsome widow.” “Ah!” } * “It is delightful to talk with you. {Abingdon. Your monosyllables help the narrative along. Sir Philip marlied the widow. She brought him a •on, aged five. There were no children born of my uncle’s marriage.” “Oh!” “When poverty overtook my dear one, •be so’ far obliterated • cruel memory as to appeal, not once, bnt many times.

to the human coleopterus of Exmoor, but she was invariably frozen off either by Lady Louisa Morland or by Messrs, Sharp? & Smith.” "Did they admit this?” i "By no means. lam telling you the facts. I am still on tpp of the Pyrenees.” “Then how did you ascertain the facts?” “1 have In my possession ever since my mother’s death the letters they wrote to her. They were fresh In my memory when you and I first met In the Clcrkenwell police court. That Is why the name of Philip Morland was glib on my tongue." "So 1 have only heard historical events—events prior to the last ten years?” "Exactly. My uncle is now sixty years of age. Lady Louisa Morland’s son is twenty-four. Her ladyship’s whole alm in life has been to secure him as the baronet’s heir. The title, of course, he cannot obtain. But, most unfortunately, he has no penchant for beetles Indeed. Lady Louisa’s researches have long since diminished in ardor. Her son’s interests are divided between the Sports club and the coryphees of the latest musical comedy* Moths are more in his line apparently. My uncle, who is preparing a monograph on the fleas which patronize Exmoor wild ponies, came to town last week to visit the British museum. Unhappily he heard something about his stepson which disturbed his researches. There was a row.” “Why do you say ’unhappily?’” “Because I am dragged Into the wretched business on account of it. After a lapse of more than~twenty-flve years he remembered his sister, went to bls solicitors, made a fearful hubbub when he heard of letters received from her and answered without his knowledge and ascertained that she was dead and had a son living At any cost, they must find that son. They have guessed at my Identity for some time. Now they want to make sure of it." "And what did you say?” "I told them I would think over the situation and communicate with them further." “Were they satisfied?” "By no means. They are exceedingly anxious to placate the old man. They probably control a good deal of his money.” “Um!” , "Of course! You see the delicacy of their position. After playing into the hands of Lady Louisa for nearly a quarter of a century they suddenly find the whole situation changed by the baronet’s belated discovery that he once had a sister.” "You have not told me all this without a purpose. Do you want my advice?" Philip’s face was clouded, his eyes downcast. “You understand." be said after a long pause, “that some one, either the man or the woman—the woman, I think—is morally responsible for my mother’s death. She was poor—wretchedly, horribly poor—the poverty of thin clothing and insufficient food. She was ill, confined to a miserable hovel for weary months and was so utterly unprovided with the barest necessities that the parish doctor was on the point of compelling her to go to the workhouse Infirmary when death came. Am I to be the Instrument of God's vengeance on this woman?” Mr. Abingdon, who had risen to light a cigar, placed a kindly band on the young man’s shoulder. “Philip,” he said, with some emotion, “I have never yet heard you utter a hasty judgment. You have prudence far beyond your years. It seems to me. speaking with all the reverence of a man in face of the decrees of Providence, that God has already provided a terrible punishment for Lady Louisa Morland. What Is tbe name of her son?” “I do not know. I forgot to ask.” “I have a wide experience of the jeunesse doree of London Hardly a week passed during many years of my life that one of his type did not appear before me in the dock. What is he—a roue, a gambler, probably a drunkard?" "Al! these, I gathered from the solicitors.” "And if your mother were living, what would she say to Lady Morland?" "She would pity her from the depths of her heart. Yes, Abingdon, you are right. My uncle’s wife has chosen her own path. She must follow it. let it lead where Mt will. 1 will write to Messrs. Sharpe & Smith now. * But step Into my dressing room with me for a moment, will you?” In a corner of the spacious apartment to which be led bls guest stood a large safe. Philip opened it Within were a number of books and documents, but in a large compartment at the bottom stood a peculiar object for such a repository—an ordinary leather portmanteau. He lifted it on to a couch and took a key from a drawer in tbe safe. “This is one of .my treasures which you have never seen,” he said, with a sorrowful emUa. .“it has not beenln the light for many years.’’ He revealed to his friend’s wonder-

ing eyes the tattered suit, the slipshod boots, the ragged shirt and cap, the rusty doorkey, associated with that wonderftil month of March of a decade earlier. He reverently unfolded some of his mother’s garments, and bls eyes were misty as he surveyed them. But from th 4 pocket of the portmanteau be produced a packet of soiled letters. One by one he read them aloud, though be winced at the remembrance of the agony his mother must have endured a# she experienced each rebuff from lAdy Morland and her husband’s solicitors. Yet he persevered to the end. "I wanted a model for a brief communication to Messrs. Sharpe & Smith,” he said bitterly. "I think the general purport of their correspondence will serve my needs admirably." As he closed the Gladstone bag his stern mood vanished. “Do you know,” he said, “that this odd looking portmanteau, always locked and always reposing In a safe, has puzzled my valets considerably? One man got it out and tried to open it I caught him in the act I honestly believe both he and the others were under the Impression that I kept my diamonds In It.” “By the way, that reminds me of a request from Isaacsteln. As all the smaller diamonds have now been disposed of and there remalp only the large stones, he thinks that some of them might be cut into sections. They are unmarketable at present.” “Very well. Let us appoint a day next week and overhaul the entire collection. I intend to keep the big ones to form the center ornaments of a tiara, a necklace and gewgaws of that sort.” "I am glad to hear It.” “My dear fellow, 1 suppose there will be a Mrs. Anson some day, but 1 have not found her yet. "Whoe’er she be. That not Impossible she. That shall command my heart and ma." Add a ripple of laughter chased •way tbe last shadows from his face.

(To be continued.)

" I know them— an old established firm of solicitors.'’