STORY OF A YELLOW DIAMOND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 20

STORY OF A YELLOW DIAMOND.

{Specially written for the Witness Christmas

Number of 1894.)

By MURRAY AST ON:

We were all through the Indian Mutiny, my husband and I; and I could relate, had I the power, scenes that would make the strongst shudder, but such is not my intention. What I have to say, my readers may be told at the very cutset of this

narrative, is not of a blood- curdling natuie * and although the deeds of horror which it was my misfortune to witness may hive had a hardening influence on my nature as a woman, I know that what I taw had the effect aho of in creasing my power of selfleliance.

Ours bad been a love raatcb, and my hus band, Lieutenant John Brown, of the Regiment of Foot, had, his friends said married beneath him; and he had thereby iDCuned their displeasure. Did this wound us, you atk? By no means— it bad the effect of drawing us closer together ; and when we beard, later, of the ceath of uiy husband's father, it was no smpris-e for us to learn that John had bt en cut cfl wi'h the proverbial shilling. When this nf-ws reached us the fighting was all over. My b»-loved had ecaped without a scratch and, to, wonderful to re ate, had I. We, however, had agreed to quit India, and since the mother ccuntry affwided little attraction 10 people in our impoverished condition, we resolved to make our way to a new country, and finally decided in favour of New Zealand.

My husband had completed all his arrangements, and having received the proceeds from the sale of his ccmmisHon in the army, our passages in a fabt sailkg ship bound for Melbourne had been booked, when the news of a great dburbar or gathering of chiefs attracted our attention, and John, who was ever devising some plan to afford me pleasure, most thoughtfully arranged tor us to attend the meeting. It was a brilliant scene, and the dresses of the princes and other magnates were truly gorgeous. The jewels, it need hardly be stated, were of marvellous value, and one stone attracted my particular atteLtion. It was the centre stone worn in a huge turban by a man of great 6tature and noble bearing. Itt* colour was a brilliant yellow, and as it flashed in the sun I drew John's attention to theweaier first and to his jswel afttrwardc. " What stone is it ?" I wbispeied '•Tlia'," was i he reply, '-is a yellow diamond."

'• John, ('ear, you are jtkinp," I remember making '.nnwer. "Diamonds are always whm — now aieii't they ? ' "No >ou little stupid, they are not. They are found ot all colours. Some, indeed the mf-jorit), are whir^; come »re blue; there is kLo*u to txisr, a paid green v d r ety, and two U)i &t wondeiful btones are, respectively, emerald atd ruby red." I tock a lorjg ttare at the yellow diamond.

It was just like a huge cairngorm that I remember my respected grandmother used to affect, except that the gem which was formerly the property of my ancestress was remarkable for its beauty of colour and absence of fire, whereas that of the Rajah was alike wonderful in both colour and its phosphorescent reflection of rays. For one of the weaker sex I was always greatly interested in matters pertaining to £ s d, and accordingly I forthwith plied my husband with questions as to the value of diamonds generally and of this one in particular. John good-naturedly answered my queriep, and from what he said I gathered that £50,000 was by no means an outside value tor a tingle flee stone, and that years ago the Gaikwar of Baroda had paid £80,OOC

j for a brilliant of perfect water which weight d 125 carats, and was known as tbe S»*r of the

South. Another famous stone which we'gbed

13t5f carats was Fold in 1717 by Thomas- Pitt, grandfather of tbe first Earl of Chaiham, to the Duke of ( i leans, then Rtgtnt of Fratcr, { for £135,000, snd its value has since been J estimated at £480,C00. But one of tbe most. j euperb-colonitd diamonds at pretext known ! is the sapphire blue brilliant turned the | Hope diamond, valued at £20,0C0t0£30 000. My cupinity was iborcughly aroimd on r ehr-

irg thete large values, of whiih I bad pie-

viously had but. little knowledge, aud a fetling akin to coveiou£r.e.-s shot through u.y mind as I rt-garded again and again tr>ts display of untold riches which met my e^tr gaze.

When we lanred in Inv*-rcargill a few months later our money would not allow us to do more ihau take up a couple ot hundred acrfs of fairly good land close to Wyndham. Luckily we wrre not then Llet-htd with aiiy family, as I fear thar-oth*-rwit-e seme of us w uld have i-uffered from fahcrt commocp, since my tunband fn in bis previous training was totally unfit for

manual labour, and any work that was done years before in the Rajah's turban. But this was paid for in those days, when " cadets " was set on the top of a horn, the use of which were unknown, at a high scale of remurjera- I did not then know. I thought to myself tion ; and it was therefore with the greatest " I mu6t buy it," and then the utter folly of difficulty that we managed to eke out a bare the thought crushed me. How could I ouy existence. We certainly at the outlet had without money the meanest trifle, let alone a several valuable cows, but their quality was 1 priceless jewel ? Instinctively 1 drew my not improved by tbe decidedly primitive purse from my pocket and opened it. There attempts made by poor John at milking, and was nothiDg there, not even a shilling. But the butter which I turned ont with my own stay, what is this ?— my George IV sovereign : "fairy fingers"— John always called them joy !— I shall now venture. So I approached that— was decidedly strong and totally the counter of the shop, and as I old I was lacked that sweet nutty flavour which is so so excited that I could near my heart thump, pleasant a characteristic of the genuine thump, against my side I I was certain that article. No wonder, theD, that our local it was a diamond, and as the jeweller placed storekeeper did not evince any great paper- the mull, as he called it, in my hand 1 nearly ness in the acquisition of our own particular fainted. "What is the price of it?" I brand, and that his suggestion that we gasped. I must have looked awful, for the man regarded me with a look of commiseration, and on my stating that I felt faint— which indeed I did —he was kind enough to bring me a glass of refreshing cold water. "What is the u&e of this horn ? " I abked. ,„ " That, madame, is a mull for holding snuff,' was the reply. " Yen," I rejoined ; "it would make a nice Obribtmas present tor my husband, but I fear it will be bejond my meanp." " I think not," he smilingly replied. " I ocly bought it from a man this morning— an old soldier— who said he looted it in India." My heart gave a responsive bound, but I managed to keep faurprifaingly calm through it all. "Well, and what is the price? " I queiied. " You Bhall have it, madame, for 20*," he said. In a moment my purse was our, and extracting my longcherished sovereign from Its coverirg, I handed it without a word to the tradesman. He looked at it curiously for a moment, and then gallantly remarked that he would not part with that coin in a hurry, for it was too fine a specimen; and then he carefully wrapptd the mull in paper and handed it to me with a low bow. I left the shop in a perfect whirl of excitement and hurried home, grafping my tieasure in my hanu all the while. John came to the dcor to admit me, and at once exclaimed, " For heaven's Bake, what's the matter? You look fearfully pale and wild 1 " For reply I fell forward in a fainting lie in his strong arms, and it was a long time before I rt gained cooßciousnet s. My first inquiry wae, " Where

Thoto by Burton Bros. Dunedin

should salt it down for use in the wintei bad to be accepied by us, although mud c gainst the grain, 6itce we wtie particular!} anxious to convert the "oleaginous compound'' — another of John's favourite expreesioi s— into teaand sugar, which anxieij was not shared by our mticbant, who wa6 a practical man of large expeiiei cc, and one, at all events, who knew good V utter when he faw it. Our farming experience was not a happy one, but we managed to tciape along somehow for a pericd of ten yearr, durirg which time a little sen was bom to up, lor whose sake we felt ir necet^aiy to make a great effort. He was five }eais old when we came to our resolution 10 quit our holdhg at Wjnohiinj aud move intoDuuedin. John did tot know what be would do for a livjt g. He thought he might become a bometbirg in the city, but te was heariily tirtd ut coultry life, with country iare and ciuotiy society, and for Rupert's t-ake — that was our child's name— I agreed that we should try the towD, at all bvet-ts for a lime. We had no difficulty in renting a couple of furnished rooms very pleasantly situated on the high ground at Cavertham, atd while our money lasted we were very happy ; but. one i sad morniiig dear John : came to me with a very , loDg face and taid that we j wtre at our lafet pound. I , had.no idea that we were fco reduced in ciicumstance^, and be} cud an old George IV sovereign which was given 10 me by my godmother in the da>B ot my infancy, and which I had earned in my purse enveloped in a piece of rag ever since I can remember, I hart nothing of value beyond an old waich and one or two trinkets worth perhaps a few shillings altogether. I had soon made up my mind what course to pursue. I would try to , obtain employment as cook, or, better still, as house-

keeper, bince John could i not secure a billet, poor ! helpless old dear that he I waf. Accordingly, slipping j ju u<y baunei — I rumemt>er inn tiiie fih though, it were yesierday— I made my way &* quickly j as I could without runnii g to a registry I office, where I made my wai.tb known. it wab the day tit/ore Ctiriiiijuad 18C1J, and ' KVtryone st emed hajpy aud chtertul — in , foCt I rt member tliit.kuiy to ruyt-elf that J ■ appetred the on'y untirfppy person in the city. I was slowly reiumirg horuewardh when my aiiectiou was airesied t>y aometLir^ flashii g in ilie window ot a small ! jeweller's bhop which I chanced to be pat-S-ng. I stopped and carefully legardtd the ot<jtcr.. It was a stone, the exact counterpart of the one I had noticed v ore than ten '

r i is (be mull?" > I " Mull I— what mull ?" answeied my hasr ' band. I staggered to my feet and tottered to thß ■ ball, and theie on tbe floor lay the glorious r bi ore flashing all kinds of coloured fiie. I i, bad removtd the paper from it while I waited , for admission, ifteb'y pointed my linger in i its direction, atid in an instant John bad picked «p the treasure. Poor fellow, he gtztd ar, the diamond for rnaDy seconds open mouthed, with to ludicrous an expression of countenance that I could not refrain fjom an outburst ot bytiuncal Jacgbier, which although it ir:ghitLerJ John had to good an t fltct upon me that I was able to cohtnntly relate the whole of i he circumstances atienoirg my purchase. "It's a diamond, right enough ! " exclaimed Job», "and no doubr. of great value. I vote that I stare tor India wnh it, where such a gem is certain to be known, and where it will commsind a fer rr gher price from its hibtorical asbociaiiouß than in Euiope." "Ycu surely wouldn't go without me 7" I ' reproachfully ventured. " That 1 would not ! " said my gallant hu6- ' band, who foithwith tealtd the compact with a kiss. The remainder cf this 9 tory is soon told. We found without difficulty an obliging banker to list.en to our tale, and although he appeared a little incredulous at the oulset, on beirg favoured with a sight of the gem itself he gladly consented to our proposed overdraft ol £250, at-d even suggested that we tfcke more, but as the rate ot interest was a high one in those days we did not avail our6tlves of tie offer. We made a pltasant journey back to India, and soon found a purchaser for the diamond at a price higa enough to make us incependent for the lest of. our days. The stone bad been looted, and it returned to the possession of its former owner. We have never been able to trace the old soldier who sold it to the Dunediu jeweller, although we have spared no effort in that diiection. I, however, financially assisted my jewelltr friend from whom I bought the mull, and he has loug since retired from business with a competency which he mainly attributes to the yellow diamond.