A PAIR OF EARRINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 82

A PAIR OF EARRINGS.

It was Paris in the sixties, and a gala night at the Italian Opera. The Empress ' and her suite were in the Imperial box ; the Emperor, who had also been expscted, had been detained at the last moment by "important business," so it was announced — by an attack of illness in reality. But ills of any kind seemed far from the . radiant being round whom just then cenI tred the world of fashionable France. Eu- ' genie surpassed herself in brilliance that ■ night. Diamonds blazed on her corsaj>c I and on the shoulder knots of her gown, • but her lovely throat was entirely bare. i Just one spray of brilliants nestled in her ! hair, but that spray was clasped by the , f«mous Regent diamond, an historic gem larger and more precious than the Koh-i-Noor itself. In a box within two or three of that of the Empress sat a lady whose jewels were also peculiarly magnificent. They were chiefly rabies. A pair of remarkable pen^ deloques glittered in her ears. The stones were of large size and exqtiisite colour, but it wj.s the curious method of their mounting that made half the women in the house wild with envy and curiosity. How was it that those rubies seemed to swing i clear of the little brown ears that supported them? Madame de Babillot (the Empress her- ' self had taken the pains to find out the name of the stranger) was quite aware of the interest she was exciting. She sar. well forward, apparently absorbed by what was going on upon the stage. Behind her lounged her husband, a Mexican banker — things Mexican were all' the fashion in the Paris of 1865. A girl, extravagantly dressed, with gold dust gleaming on her dusky tresses, sat- beside her. Patti was singing in "Faust" that night ; but evidently the girl did not possess a soul for music ; even the great diva failed to bring any pleasure into the cold eyes or awaken j a sign of life in the rather defiant coun- ! tenance. j The curtain fell. j "Will yon care to leave the box?" asked |M. de Rabillot of his wife. "Or shall 1 take Lucie- for a stroll in the foyer?" "I shall stay here. Take the girl, rf you please. It will be quite a relief! • She sits there more like a draper's lay figure than anything of flesh and blood!" Madame spoke irritably. Lucie was her stepdaughtoi , and "not sympathetic." She did not even car© to put her gow ns -on gracefully. "She has no breeding ; none !" Madame would say — a remark which never failed to bring a dull revengeful light into the girl's eyes. Left alone in her box, the lady drew her scarf more closely about her shoulders — it was of priceless needlepoint lace. She toyed with fan and opera-glass, each ' of them worth a small fortune, so loaded j with gsms were they. Lavish display, leckless extravagance, was the prevailing note of the last days of the Third Empire. The whole house was blazing and brilliant thxt night. But Madame de Ra1 billot well knew that only one woman present could dispute the palm with herself, and that woman was the Empress. She looked across at Eugenic, and met the Imperial glance. The Empress re- ■ cognised the fact of her triumph. There could be no doubt of it ! And the banker's " wife swelled with pride. It was something j to be able to display her husband's wealth to advantage. He could roll together mil- { lions of fvancs, yes. "But of what good would millions be lying in the coffers at his office? Neither he nor Lucie knew how to make use of money. As for Lucie, a stuff gown, thick shoes, and a basket of broken bread for the fowls — that seemed the extent of her personal desires. A tap on the door of the box interrupted the tide of her meditations. A gentleman enlered. He was in uniform. Orders glittered on his breast, and he carried the baton used by certain of the Emperor's gentlemen-in-wAiting. He bowed profoundly, scarcely advancing further than j the door, so very deferential was he. j "Madame will pardon me. I have her '• Majesty's commands." Again he bowed. ! Madame de Rabillot nearly let her operaglasses fall over the cushion in her excitement. "Her Majesty !" she stammered. "Pardon me." The gentleman had the most elaborate manners in the world. ; Court breeding! — the banker's wife had 1 read of it, dreamt of it, imitated it. And her© was the reality actually before her ! , "It is the jewels madame is wearing on , which the blame must lie,"' he went on. I '"They have attracted the notice of the Empress. In fact, I am (.omnaanded to say tint her Majesty's extreme curiosity and admiration causes her to request that she may see one of the earrings niadame wears to-night. They are unique. Her Majesty will only detain the jewel for an instant. . . . The request is unusual, tbe Empress is quite awaie."' ! But Madame do Rabillot's eager hands had already detached the glittering mass of rubie« from her ear. "It is an antique," she said, making a desperate effort to sj>eak with fialjjmg^ <\as $&, tkouid}

messages to Empresses formed part of her daily experience "Pray inform her Majesty that the stor.es formed part of the treasure Cortez found in Paehunn.'' The imperial messenger was evidently not interested either in Cortez or Pachuna. He held out his hand for the pendelcr-ne ; ', bowed — how beautifully he bowed!— a.-id the next instant wns gone. Madame turned to note his entrance into the Imperial box. From where she sal ' she could command the little scene. She would be able to see the very expression ] of the Sovereign's countenance as she ; examined the rubies that Cortex had co- J veted. j At that moment Monsieur de Rnbillot ( returned. His step was always heavy, | and bis manner ponderous. He seemed • more phlegmatic than usual to-night ; and ' Lucie fell into her seat like a clumsy school '• miss. But Madame wa« too excited to notice how her husband or her "step- ' daughter behaved just then. Breathless with excitement, she told her story. "We shall se? it all from here !" she whispered. : "We shall see The Empress "' j But monsieur rose with a muttered oath. ' ; "Fool !" he hissed. "Where is your fine j ; equerry? See it all from here! I see -it j all already! You have given your' rubies • to a thief!" And out he dashed, with a ' disturbance that caused angry glances to -j j be shot towards the box and an attendant • to come with a request for silence. Lucie looked up, interested at lost. "So!" she said. The tone of the monosyllable carried j . conviction to macl-ime's brain, mystified as ' 1 it was by her husband's rapid utterances. J . The lord-in -waiting — the messenger of the ' j Empress — he really then was a thief! j i Blankly &he stared round at the Imperial j box. Her Majesty was placidly listening ' to the well-known air in which Marguerite admires the jewels which Faust has brought . to tempt her. Patti was singing that j song as only Patti can. Even in her be- j 1 wilderment madatre heard the clear, true ! notes, diamond pure, fall through tlie \ i great building like rain. To the end of ' , her life she hated every note of the "Jewel ' , song !" I I Evidently Eugenic was 'enjoying Patti's voice without one distracting thought. Her I suite, decorously respectful, were listening also. The gentleman who had carried off the earring was not visible. Ho iv indeed could lie have been? At that very moment he was ensconsed in the j depths of a fiacre, muffled in an overcoat, j on his way to a club in the Rue de Eivoli, ( whence he would emerge in some otheri guise, having cleverly given the police the ; Slip. j Paris was ringing with the story next . day, for the Mexican banker had no notion j of hiding anything for fear of ridicule. 1 After all, theri was no blame toMiis wife | for being imposed upon by a rogue. All 1 he thought of was the catching of that 1 rogue. He had given good hard gold for , thos- rubies, and he was too keen a busi- ; ness man io stand to lose his wealth with- . out an effort at recapture. ! Tne detectives were sanguine of success They had a shrewd idea as to the identity j of the thief. He hiad eluded them many times, it was true ; but the rubies would v I prove to be a valuable clue. The Prefect t.of Police himself called on Madame de ; Rabillot, and gave great hopes. The net j of the law was. tightening round the rascal, i and a day or two would probably see him • in custody. | "There is always the risk that he may j have already sent ihe rubies out of the country," said the man of justice. "But a very strict watch has been kept ; and, on the whole, we suspect him to have remained very quiet, and not attempted yet to dispose of his booty. You must keep up heart, Madame." Madame was sorry to lose her earring, no doubt ; but the fact of being so neatly j imposed upon galled her more than the ' loss itself. And her stepdaughter's sneers J did not mend matters. "You would have I been deceived yourself had you seen the man," she said, furiously. ' Lucie did not think so. j She did not pretend to be a woman of the great world. She was merely Lucie Rabillot, who disdained to tack on to her name the aristocratic particle to which i her family had so shadowy a ripht. But, ; j whatever she may be, she had been en- , dowed with sense enough to know the difference between a courtier of the : Tuileries — an Imperial chamberlain — and a , common thief ! ! Madame put a stop to this tirade by , ordering her carriage and driving off to the Bois. Lucie declined to accompany her. She was sick of talking endlessly about the affair of the earring, and preferred spending a solitary afternoon. Soon after Madame's departure a note arrived from the Prefect of Police. j "The messenger awaits an answer," said i the femme de chambre, who had been greatly impressed by the big official seal j on the envelope. ' "But Madame is not at home." Lucie fingered the note curiously. What could •Monsieur le Prefet be writing about? It j was not two hours since he had left the j house. Her father was not in his room. Ought she to open the note? She sent the maid to ask if the mes- ' senger could Avait until Madame's return. No. The man was very civil, but he said he had received orders to return immediately. He knew, he said, the contents of the note. It was to request that the other earring might be deposited fTt the police office to facilitate- the search, and as a means of identifying the stone*. H Mademoiselle would "do him the favour of opening the note she would see ?t once the need for haste. Mademoiselle did open the note. The prefect's messenger had spoken the trmh about the prefect's letier. II was short, businesslike, and perfectly court eons. Lucie went into her stepmother's, chamber. Ou the dressing iablc lay the little velvet case, which now contained, a! is, but one of its treasures. She packed the case carefully, tied and 1 .isskcl ih,sL tiax JL&vceL. Th£a she wrote :

a few explanatory lines. Lucie prided herself on her plain handwriting and condensed style of epistle. Had Madame written the answer to the Prefect's note it would have been three times as long, and not half so much to the point. So it was with some self-satisfaction that the girl -watched the messenger leave the door and walk rapidly off in the direction of the police office. "What respectable men the Government employs !"' she meditated, "One does like to sco soldierly bearing and definite purpose, even it it be but a policeman in plain clothes.*' The family was going to a reception that evening ; and the banker returned early from his business to dine and be ready in good time. He himself disliked this eternal pleasuring; but. as his wife urged, what was the use of having gathered up a fortune if they were not to reap its harvest? When Lucie- was married and settled, and his wife had her fill of enjoyment, he would coax here to spEnd- part of each year at least in the . conntiy. whore .he could grow prize turnips and really know what-vonifort meant. He was tanking of this very scheme as Lucie brought him his slippers ano! cigarettes. Father and daughter allowed themselves to relax etiquette a little when' Madame, was r.ait of the way. As Lueie filled his petit verre she told him the incident of the Prefect's request for the remaining earring, and of her dread lest her stepmother should resent the facts of her having opened the note. "You see, father, I knew exactly what was in it. The messenger was quite aware what he had come for." "Urn! But M-a-darnt© is a little — a little difficult at times," returned Monsieur, doubtfully. "Perhaps it would be as well to represent that message had been sent, and say nothing about the nc^." But Lucie rejected the idea with scorn. "I never do things that I am afraid to avow," she said, a trifle grandly. "Only one does so hate a fuss." "Yes," he acquiesced. "One does so hate a fass." It rather seemed as though the tempest, they feared was not to break after all. Madame returned in a most amiable mood, fche had met La Marquise de G. with her brother, the handsome Italian Duca, and they had been gracious enough to stand fully 10 minutes by her carriage, and had! been so sympathetic over the loss of tha rubies — so interested about Mexico, and the treasure of Cortez ! So Lucie made her little confession, •putting the open note in her stepmother's Land, and explaining that she judged it needful to read the letter before entrusting tlift messenger with the earring. Madame started violently. "You did not give him the earring !" she almost shrieked 1 . "Hoiw did j-oii know he- was not an impostor? You wretched- srirl ! I shall never see that earning again!" "What nonsense !" Lueie had grown very pale, nevertheless. "It is not nonsense! The- note, you say? Oh, vts ! It is not very difficult to write a note."' Her anger rose to an- alarming pit *-h. Poor Monsieur de Rabillot ! The fuss ha ha<s dreaded had arrived with a. vengeance. "Cairn yourself, my dear-one-." He knsvr tho bebt way to stem, the torrent. "I will send round 1 at once to the police, office. In 10 minutes or so we shall know for certain that the earring is safe in the Prefect's hands." But Madame's instincts were ~ight this time. The Prefect had written no note — sent no messenger — seen no earring. "Of course not !" Madame's triumph was so keen, it almost made up for the loss. "I should never have sf»nt precious jewels such as those to the first rascal that demanded them. I should have been more cautious. I aw surprised at Lucie! One would have thought" a child of 10 would hav6 been- more worldly wise!" Then all at once a flood of scarlet swept over her face. She remembered the fata of the first earring. Where was her caution? Where her worldly wisdom then? Lucie' s eyes imst hers. But Lucie did not utter a word. They understood each other at last; understood, too, that there was no room for recrimination. • • • • • A mir of peculiarly magnificent, earrings found their way to a jewel dealer ;*] .Amsterdam. "It is a sin to break up such cunning setting," sa.id th? man, looking at them with professional delight. Bub ilia rubies were torn from the gold, nevertheless, and appeared again as part- of a tiara sold to a. royal princess before the year was out, Madame de Rabillot never speaks now of the treasure of Pachuna. MacLmoisello Lucie is affianced to a Senator, to her father's pride and her stepmother's satisfaction. But she is somehow not quite sure tl.at her judgment is infallible; and she never by any chance refers to a. certain evening at the opera when her father's wife mistook a thief for an equerry of the Empress. —"I have shootinsr pains in my face, dcav." — '"Indeed, darling. Perhaps you use too much powder." — A city minister travelling' one day by the subway got into conversation with a frllow-pa^senger, ■nho had the appearance of being an artisan. The latt-er was very communicative, and in the courso of conversation stated Unit lie was a coupler on the railway. "Oh." said the minister. "I mj-self havo been in that line of tiUoinci-9 for the !a c t ihirtv-five years."' Looking up, and perceiving from his clerical collar tho v.rofe* ion to w'lich his fellow-traveller belonofO'l, the vd'iway coupler rek irre-d, "Oh, but I can I^at voj, sir.'' — "How can j-oit beat me?" — ''"We el. sir, I can uncouple, and vc canna : ye couple- yours for better ot> fo? worse !" First romp the rhilK with other ills. To sot u=> all a sneo'/ns. "\Vr\ pay our hil!> a>id make our wills, With couaiuncr ?no with wheevin^. Around our berh, wi'.h =haking 1 cac!-j, Ths doctors koep us- poor. Till all our dread at last is sped JBy Woods' Gbsat PEPPEKiinn 1 ojjs2»