LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7202, 10 February 1892, Page 1

LITERATURE.

WELL MATCHED. (T/to llavk ) " What lovely things Jacobß always lias," and Miss Cora Sinclair sighed in a suggestive fashion, as she feasted her violet eyes on the glittering contents of the great Bond street jeweller's fascinatinglyarranged window. "Yes; not bad, some of them," drawled her companion, tugging aimlessly at his fair moußtaohe, and showing in every line of hia good-looking countenance the annoyance he felt at being pinned before tbe jeweller's shop in the middle of a bright June afternoon. The roadway wbb crowded with smartly turned-out carriages, and the pavements were thronged with an ever-shifting stream of people. At any moment friends of hi 3 might pass and recognise him. All the women of his acquaintance drove at this hour, to cay nothing of his wife and his mother-in-law. The remembrance of the last-named dame sent a shiver through Captain Annesley's form, and with' an Apprehensive glance aronnd him he touched Misa Sinclair's arm. " Come along, Cora, do. If you really want me to give you some chocolate at Charbonnel's let us cross the road and go there." But Mis 3 Cora only shook her pretty little head with its bronze-coloured hair, the same head that had fascinated the eye*, if not the hearts, of half the men in London during the pass Biz months in which she had made her nightly appearance on the board of the Hilarity Theatre. " Gracious Bakes, Tom. Do loot at those pearls, aren't they just lovely ?" She spoke with a alight twang, which her admirers stylo! "awfully fetching," nnd her greedy eyes shone like the jewels before her, aa she stared at a string of exquisitely matched gray pearla that nestled in r crenin su»tin neat. " Ye,?, very prul.ty. But I tfcous'ct jot didn't Ciro for pearl". Yon hlwa?a swear l>y .diamoudt!. And I should, thiak you've

more than enough of thorn. So come along to Charbonnei's." " I doa'b care for ordinary pearls," said Cora, without stirring, and pretending not to notice Captain Anneeley'a impatient manner. " But those gray ones are simply aaperb. I should like to look at them closer. Tom, let us go in and see them nearer." It was on the tip of Tom's tongue to refuse, but at that second his keen eyeß showed him a well-known barouche, and a well-known figure seated erect within it, in the act of entering Bond street from Conduit street. A block delayed the carriage for a moment, but once it moved on all would be over with hi or. "My mother-in-law, by all the powers," he muttered. "If her lynx eyeß once catch sight; of me walking with the bestphotographed and worst- talked- about woman in London, I shall have no peace for the rest of my natural life." He caught Cora's hand. " Come along, then/ he cried, " we willgb ill and just look at the pearls." But looking led to touching, and when Cora felt the satin smoothness of the beautiful beadb between her fingers she longed for them as only a woman born in the mud of the gutter, and brought up amid the hideous surroundings of baok streets, does long for lovely and artistic tßingß. "Tom, ask the price," she whispered, caressing the jewels with her hands and devouring them with her eyes. " Ask the price — they are divine, I must have them." "How muoh?" drawled Captain Annosley. "Twenty-two hundred pounds." "WhatP" cried Cora, forgetting for the moment her self-imposed rule of never betraying vulgar surprise, while Tom Annealey straightened his back and gave a little laugh of incredulity. " Twenty-two hundred fiddlesticks." He ran the string cf beads through his fingers, then tossed it back op to the glass counter. " Why, there are only uwenty-fonr beads in the thing. You can't get over me that they are worth nearly a hundred apiece." " Why, there's a stud there with a pearl in it just like these," cried Cora, flushed with indignation and disappointment, "and that is marked twenty-five pounds. I guess you think we're fools," and she flaahed a fierce look at the jeweller behind the counter. " I beg your pardon, Madame," said that person with a superior smtle spreading over his face, " a single pearl may be of small value, bat match it and its price is doubled. Match it again, and the value increases again. The price of this string of beads is regulated solely by the number of pearls used. If this had another row added to it, it would be trebled in value." "Ah! I daresay," said Tom* "bat I'm not going to give that price for a plain thing like that. Come along Cora." v The fatally barouohe had passed five minutes ago, and he deemed it best to give Cora her chocolate at once and then send her homo. But this plan did not suit the lady's view at all. She lingered at the counter, and did not move until her escort had already opened the door. Then she ran after him. " Tom ! Tom I don't be in Bnch a hurry. Those pearla are so perfect. I should like them. I feel quite off diamonds after seeing them. Make the mm an offer. Do now, to please me." Cora Sinclair was a very pretty woman and knew how to get her way. In another moment Captain Annesley returned to the counter. " Look here," he said, «' 111 give you fifteen hundred for those pearls. Mind, I don't think they're worth the money, bat this lady likes them, so I'll " The jeweller smiled as he replaced the jewels in the case. " I could not posaibly let them go at that prioe, sir. They are worth much more in the trade." " Not if I make it rea4y ?" queried the Captain, urged on by Cora's pouting lips and dewy eyes. " Not if you paid me over the counter this moment sir." " All right ! I shan't offer you any more," and, swinging his stick, he turned again to leave the shop. "Stop, Tom, one moment." It was- Cora who spoke. " Perhaps it would be as well to leave your address with Mr Jacobs, in case— in case— he changed his mind, and here she shot a glance at the jeweller, who for answer, shook his head deprecatingly. "Oh! well, here's my card," said Annesley, shortly; "If you think better of my offer, write to me at that address. Now for Charbonnei's.'* Bat Cora did hot want any chocolate, and would not go to Charbonnel's. She wanted to go home and rest, she said, and accordingly home she went But this astute little Yankee woman did nob do much resting when she got back to her dainty flat in Victoria street. On the contrary, she sat erect for over an hour, with puckered brows and clasped hands, trying with all the native cunning of her brain to compass the acquisition of the gray pearla. About six o'clock she sprang to her feet. " I have it," she cried, " and the pearls will be mine this time to-morrow. Marie !" she called her maid. " Tell Sims I want the brougham half an hour earlier than usual thia evening, and just bring my jewel case here." The last shutter was just going up at Mr Jacobs that evening when a neat single brougham pulled up at the door, and a lady closely veiled and clutching aßmall parcel in her hand descended. " I must see Jacobs at once. I won't keep him, but my business is important." Five minutes later Mr Jacobs handed Miss Sinclair back into her brougham. "Then you will write to Captain Annesley at once and tell him you will take fifteen hundred for the pearls ?" " I will send him a note by hand within an hour, Madame," aaid the jeweller with an obsequious bow. "And of course you won't put those diamonds of mine into your irindow, as they are——" " Certainly not. They will be broken up to-morrow, and I will have them carefully re-valued. Should there be any surplus in the estimate of their value which I have just given you, I shall be only too pleased, Madame, to make it good. A ring or a bangle, or — — — " " Oh ! all right, Jacobs, I trust you in the job. Tell my man to go to the Hilarity. Good night." *.* * * * " Yes ! By Jove ! I'm rather proud, Charlie dear boy, of having bested that fellow Jacobs. Fancy asking twenty-two hundred for a string of beads. I thought he'd jump at my offer in the long run, I had a note from him about nine last night. So I just looked in this morning, wrote him a cheque, and for fear of a mistake, pouched the puarb. Like to see 'em ?" Captain Annesley and his chosen chum, Charlie Moncrieffe, had just finished an excellent lunch at the Berkeley, and now they pushed the glasses and plates aside, and stretched the row of gray pearls across the table between them. Charlie gave a low whistle when he saw the perfect shape and tint of the ex-qui'aifclr-matched beads. "Why, my dear Tom, these are really lovely pearl?, as even and flawless as if they'd been c<i3t in a mould. And you boupht these for fifteen hundred pounds?" " That's what I wrote a cheque for, Charlie. Weil, I'm gWI you like 'em. I only hopp Cora will ba pleated " •: Stop a uiiaufe, oil chap," said Chatlie,

taking the necklace from Tom's hand, and thoughtfully weighing it in his own as he Bpoke, " I— I — want to have another look at them." His faco grew grave, sad he cleared hia throat, lit a fresh cigar, then cleared his throat again. " I say, Tom, do yon know that— that your — that Mrs Annesley was speaking to me at Lady Dornton's ball last night about you, and—" "And Cora?" said Tom. Charlie nodded. "Whoße been making mischief? I'll break " and Tom began to bluster. " Shut op ! my dear boy. Ufa no use playing the innocent dodge, the maligned husband, with me. Of course you're no worße than other men, and your wife is a sensible little woman. But I think from what she let drop that she feela your neglect a good bit, and believe me, Tom, a woman would rather be ill-treated than neglected." "Well, dear old boy, what am I to doP I'm awfully fond of Olive, really, you know. Of coarse I've been a bit of a fool about Cora, but I'd throw her up to-day if I thought that my wife felt bad about it. I would, 'pon my word." •' If I might advise, I Bhonld not do anything precipitate. Cora might not care about having the chuck so suddenly, you knoTr, Slip's a queer - tempered little monkey, and might turn nasty. I should do one thing, however, and that immediately." "Well, what is it?" " Yon forget that your wife's birthday was last week. She gave me that as one instance of your neglect; women feel all these things much more than we imagine. Now, if you are a wise man, you will repair that neglect, and hold out a flag of truce, by " "Yes. By what?" " By giving her these." Charlie laid the pearls on the table, and leant back in his chair. " But Cora—" gaßped Captain Annesley. "I'm only advising you for the best, dear boy." Charlie Moncrieffe rose. "Now I must be off. Good-bye. "We Bhall meet to-morrow at Sandown, of course. Kind regardß to your wife." Tom Annesley paid the bill, and then strolled into the Park to finish his cigar and to think. The result of hiß cogitations waa that when Mrß Annesley passed through her boudoir in the dusky twilight of the evening of that same day, she found a large bouquet of red roßes and a cream satin-lined jewel case on the table. " How heavenly, how perfectly lovely t" she cried, smelling at the one and opening the other. "But how dreadfully imprudent of Charlie to Bend me such a magnificent present. Oh ! Tom is that you ? How you startled me, coming into the room like a ghost." " Did Imy dear P I'm sorry. But what ib that you have in your hand P" " Oh— er— the roses— er P" " No that jewel case." " "Oh! that's— that is— er— that's only a little row — a row of pearls. I suppose mamma has Bent them to me as a birthday present." "Can yon think of no one else, Olive, but your mother—?" Mrs Annesley flushed crimson to the roots of her hair. " No, Tom , I really can't 1 " " I remembered that your birthday had just passed, and I bought them as a little present for yon." "You, Tom? They are from you? What a darling you are !" Once more alone in her boudoir, Olive Annesley took herself to task. "How wicked of me to have bo misjudged Tom, and what a goose my conscience made of me, as if Charlie Moncrieffe would have dared send me such a handaome present." ***** A few weeks later Miss Cora Sinclair told Mr Charles Moncrieffe bow seven hundred pounds' worth of her diamonds had gone towards the purchase of Mrs Annesley's pearl necklace, but Mr Moncrieffe did not see n't on that occasion to mention the Bhare he had had in the transaction.