The day book. [volume], August 24, 1912, Image 18

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
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THE LAST RETURN
By Effie Stevens.
After two sleepless nights, dur
ing which all the. .latent supersti
tion of his nature haft "come to the
front, Harold Ashton decided
that he would rid himself of his
ill-omened opal at the earliest
possible moment.
He had nothing but ill-luck
since he owned the thing, the
crowning piece being his quarrel
with his fiancee, Marion Hulbert.
She had declared that the great
gem in its unique setting was too
showy an article of jewelry for a
man of good taste to wear. He
had thought differently, and the
outcome had been his final dis
missal. Yet how to dispose of the ring
was something "of a puzzle to the
unimaginative Ashton.
If he offered to give the expen
sive jewel to any of his acquaint
ances they would undoubtedly
think he had taken leave of his
senses.
To sell it, even for a third its
actual value, would take time;
and he wanted to get rid of it at
once.
Ashton remembered having
read of a man who destroyed his
opal by the -vigorous use of a
hammer, but he could not bear
the thought of ruining the beau
tiful gem.
Finally he decided that the
thing to do would be to lose it.
But the simple and obvious meth
ods of ridding .himself of it, by
qasting it from a rapidly moving
train, or hiding it into the ocean
from the deck of a steamboat,
never so much as entered his
liead.
He remembered, howeyer, that
a friend had once accidentally left
a diamond stud in a shirt which
was sent to the laundry. The
loss had been discovered at once,
and his friend had gone in pur
suit of the shirt, but the missing
stud was never found.
So when small Mickey Flanni
gan, his washerwoman's son, de
parted that morning with the
bundle of soiled clothes and inci
dentally the opal ring, Ashton
drew a long breath of relief.
A couple of hours later a maid
appeared at the door of Ashton's
room with the announcement
that, there was a lady down stairs
who was very anxious to see him.
A very stout, red-faced, gray
bonneted lady his washerlady,
in fact greeted him.
"What can I do for you today,
Mrs. Flannigan ?" Ashton inquir
ed blandly, although he could
come pretty near guessing the
good woman's errand, since he
had paid his bill only the week
before.
"Oi brought ye this," replied
Mrs. Flannigan, handing Ashton
his lost-rnay, rather, his found
opal. "Oi'm an honest woman,
so whin Oi found this in thd
wash, Oi thought Oi'd bether be
afther bringin' it back ter ye at
wance."
After thanking Mrs. Flannigan
substantially for her trouble,
Ashton, once more, slipped the in
auspicious ring upon his finger.
Later in the day Ashton drpp-
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