The Sapphire Signet

by Augusta Huiell Seaman

"Then we told her all about the signet, and how we'd found it, and how valuable it was, and how we wanted above everything to return it to Alison's descendant, and were so glad we'd found her at last. Well, if you'll believe me, Mrs. Jewell looked simply stunned for a while, as if she couldn't trust her senses! And we had the hardest time convincing her that the signet was really hers and she must take it. She insisted it ought to be ours, since we had found it. But finally we managed to convince her that she was its rightful owner, and told her that Mr. Cameron would get it from the safe at the hotel and bring it over to her the next day."

"But why do you suppose Alison never told her about it?" interrupted Jess.

"That's just what we all couldn't fathom for a while, till at last Mrs. Jewell explained it in this way. Of course, when Alison was shipwrecked and rescued, she naturally supposed her trunk went down to the bottom of the ocean with the wreck. She told her grandmother that they had had to cling to the decks for several days, and never dared to go down to the cabins, for most of them were full of water. So she couldn't get at her trunk to take out anything. We think that when she realized that the signet was lost forever, and after her grandfather had forgiven her for everything (including that, no doubt), she just forgot all about the matter and either didn't think of it again, or else didn't want to. What troubled her most was the fear that the second half of her journal would sometime be discovered and deciphered, and she, perhaps, be considered a traitor for twice giving aid to Washington.

"But now listen to the best part of the story, which comes last! We had asked Mrs. Jewell to say nothing just yet about what we'd told her, and when the housekeeper came back for us, the old lady bade us good-by as calmly as though we hadn't just given her the surprise of her life. But on the drive to the hotel we asked a few questions about her and found out, to our astonishment, that old Mrs. Jewell was really in very straitened circumstances. For years she had supported herself by doing the most beautiful lacework, and had earned enough to live on. But since her blindness came, her money had gradually disappeared, and she had had to borrow on the farm and the lovely old furniture. The housekeeper said she was afraid it wouldn't be long before she would lose everything. Every one was so sorry for her and wanted to help, but she was very proud and would accept nothing from them. No one could imagine what she would do when she was homeless.

"It set us thinking hard, of course, and we told Mr. Cameron about it that night. He only said we must leave it to him, and he'd think out a scheme. Next day we three drove over there with the signet, and placed it in old Mrs. Jewell's hands. And right then and there Mr. Cameron told her that, if she cared to sell it to him, he'd be only too delighted to buy it. And he offered her enough to keep her living comfortably for the rest of her days.

"You should have seen that poor old lady's face! She begged and protested that he should not give so much, that she could not accept it. But he assured her that he knew positively it was the real value of the signet, and to prove it, read her a letter he'd received from some authority in such things. She gave in at last, and we left her with that big, fat check in her hands—the happiest woman in all Bermuda!"

"But what has become of the sapphire signet?" demanded her listeners, as Margaret paused.

"Here it is!" said Corinne, quietly, and she pulled from under the neck of her dress a thin golden chain. There on the end dangled the wonderful sapphire signet, more beautiful than ever since it had been cleaned and polished.

"Father has given it to me, and I'm going to keep it always, in memory of the long-ago Alison and the strange way we stumbled on her mystery. I shall not wear it all the time, for it's too rare and valuable to run the risk of losing. But I put it on to-day in honor of the most satisfactory meeting the Antiquarian Club ever held!"

It was about noon of a day a week or two later that Corinne and Margaret stood together at the open window of the Charlton Street parlor. A light breeze flapped the awnings to and fro, a warm midday sun shone on the pavements outside, and the droning sound of busy Varick Street came distantly to them as they stood looking out. The twins were still at high school, but Corinne had not returned there, as she was expecting to study up during the summer and in the autumn pass the examinations she was now missing. So, during these idle days, she spent the greater part of her time with Margaret. Since their long Bermuda weeks together, they had grown into even closer intimacy, and sisters could not have loved each other with deeper devotion.