Show I 1 TASTE FOR ADORNMENT by FRANK M 01 OBRIEN BRIEN SE copyright late in the afternoon of the day that henry elton received from the chief bookkeeper a confirmation ot of his own idea that he had completed hi his first million he mr elton ellon remembered that he had forgotten something it was just twenty years ago toi day he be said to one of ills hla partners and the partner pricked up his ears as it if expecting orchestral accompany I 1 m ment erit that I 1 loft left farmerstown Farmers town f it was a day just like this down in i maine spring in the air but not so i much hellish noise I 1 been back there since i 1 village turn out to say farewell to 10 ayoung hero asked mr henderson who vibo was the floor member of the bro firm and aho vho a ho from experience fon on the exchange made it a habit to i omit superfluous language nothing like that replied elton those who aho wished id make a fortune were those to whom my parents owed bills when they died just a few weeks before the only on the level farewell I 1 got iwas was from mary sarre the neighbors daughter she was all of fifteen I 1 was as only seventeen myself only thirty seven now and an old mau man i A and nd so ashes thirty live five it ashes alne alile were you strong for her inquired I 1 mr air henderson it was his coarse way I 1 he never minced words even in calling on customers for or more margin 1 I think I 1 was said elton L why you married her 9 pursued the blunt partner 1 I had time said elton 1 I 1 dont know whether shed 4 I 1 marry me I 1 dont even know that 3 ashes alive probably if I 1 saw her coining this minute id run scream but if I 1 had gone back in ten years i and married her I 1 probably would be I 1 better off what have I 1 got now A pill xi lillion llon according to the books an apartment with a man servant who w bola Is i a constant reproach an automobile whose real owner the chauffeur w wont ont let et me jiggle the tha carburetor and a case of 0 occasional jumps which the doctor calls the wair warning ning of nervous breakdown a 4 that million night might have some come f slight alight appeal to the lady said henderson it if she Is still iree free and as attractive as of yore what was her Su juvenile venile idea of a triumphal return she asked me said elton slowly and reflectively to come back hon eit eat and buy her the brooch in the geo oral store I 1 aha ah a tobia ac 11 oom cm lamented henderson nothing beyond i fow present means I 1 trust r A plain little cameo thing laughed elton 0 with ith t two 0 faces on it and a boid square ar goold gold ban band nil around it I 1 think old baxter wanted tor for it said the tha gold was 18 carat we used to 0 jook ook at it almost every day 1 1 I think continued elton after a i pause that ill go to europe the market Is dull and im tired f 8 better go to maine said henderson perhaps Per hapa your chauffeur would consent t to drive you there four days later elton entered farm fann erB town in six cylinder triumph t t no one seemed to know him and he was glad of it I 1 t the old church was there and the old store with a new garage squatting beside it baxters Bai had not progressed much ej elton went in bought three apples nd asked to see collar buttons while g ke e trifled with the buttons he scanned la i he e show case t he had in his pocket a solitaire worthy Y of an assistant rajahs rajahn bride but e ie e knew the value of the dramatic and ana 13 ie a felt that it if well it if lie he wanted to a ay anything important the brooch ii 4 be a help 3 the brooch was there and it was till E elton aton bought it 1 I wonder onder 1 mus mused ed elton as its his car 1 ped toward tile the house of james sarre just juet how long that brooch was as in n he ie store and how much the loss on t was at compound interest T f S i elton was spared the embarrass ill nent ent of asking tor for mary sarre she was coming out of the gate as 11 e neared her fathers house ile he saw to tio things at a glance that e was unmarried and very poor he might have been able to tell you ily hy he knew she was poor but the a aie rt A or of learning at a glance whether ali person one has hag not been in twenty oars ears is married or not la Is an art that thai 16 annot be described at least not ere ft f nor did he w when ben the car stopped w M eside escde her need to bring into play ny ot of the small email polite conversation ful e had ad prepared in the fear that he light find her some one whom he ardly knew for to him she wae just the same p V when he had left lef t her or as nearly e same as twenty hard U years can lave ave a woman t aishe had aged but not as he had 1 here his lines had formed bard birard and rim tin hers here were only gentle her father WM w as still oil aA living she told y rl tin but T an invalid lav allrand all dand and tor for ten years y tie had a done her best to keep them jath th captaining Ms his little village car all jantry 00 business and eking out with r roses and nd hens but there ait was waa no lota to of complaint la in her story and nd at the end of an hour lie he un stood what she sha had tried to mako make in to him in me tb first am five minutes jn da she would not leave her rather father she had looked at the solitaire as t she might have looked at some new rose beautiful but exotic and she had flushed warmly when ho he brought the brooch to view for the brooch meant something to her some part of the twenty years ago but she would not take it 1 I cant marry you henry she ebe said you are too deep in your interests and this with a trace of gentle irony I 1 am too deep in mine it if you were poor it might be different it I 1 have you I 1 must have you all and always and my place Is here A rich fich man could not be happy here and a poor man would have to work work with hla his hands besides she continued 1 I would want you first to make sure that you are sure elton saw that to repeat his plead ings would be useless it if you should change chang e your mind lie he it if you should change yours she said with a smile when his sentence halted come back and so he avent rent away aay A week later on his nay ay tl the pier where lay ISY tile the steamer that wan wa to take him abroad elton stooped for a moment at the great shop abere he had bought the solitaire lock it up tor for me he said to tha renowned len owned mr gunn head of the geni department and while im a broad abroad get me a duplicate ot of this brooch the tha finest you can call ill be back lie ho said as lie he hurried out in about sl weeks he was back in new york in a month summoned by a cable from henderson who lio made it as mild as aa he could under the circumstances the said circumstances being that partner no 3 head of the bond department had culminated some secret little excursions cur into the home and haunts of the very highest finance by wrecking the firm of henderson co and blowing off the peak of his own inadequate head when tile the last penny had been wrung from every asset beginning with the seat on the exchange and ending with elfons motor car there remained to each living partner just elton spent the 37 cents on a telegram to mary sarre may imay I 1 come back it read he knew that the newspapers had told her of the smash then he said goodby good by to henderson it if v we e only had haa a hundred thousand said henderson sadly we might start all over again good luck old man elton waited in his dismantled apartment for or marys answer his luggage packed and ready the answer anamer came quickly yes if 1 you con can be content did you save the brooch elton laughed he had forgotten the brooch and the duplicate and the solitaire as well he would get the brooch on the way to tho the train and it the price of 0 the duplicate should be too high for or his slender purse he could turn baat the diamond he knew that she haino had no great longing for or that costly ring 1 I 1 suppose mr elton you have come about your duplicate said the jewel master I 1 have just been showing ing it to mr air morran and telling him about our luck in finding it at the bansley sale we got it for or 2000 and as you have been a very good customer the commission will be only five per cent 1 I expect to pay nearly so great a price as that said the stunned elton if you wish said mr air gunn almost eagerly we will dispose ot of it and without loss to you to be rank frank mr air morran Is rather keen about it it Is one of 0 the few ew exam examples pies of six century cameo work in which the artist was able to use the real oriental of the ancients ile he undoubtedly obtained tile the stone by using a part ot of a cameo of 0 the third century or earlier elton looked at his watch train time was not lar far off sell it to mr morran he said raid get the best beat price you can for roe me and keep your commission and it if let me have my own brooch and the ring ill be going gunn disappeared into the private room he was gone an unreasonably long time it seemed to elton 1 I hope you dont mind the liberty I 1 took in allowing mr air hunt to examine it he be said on lits return he Is mr expert you know they are in the private room roeln now no harm done said bald elton mr morran Is a man ot of quick action continued gunn a bit nervously and ill have to be as blunt as he Is he will 91 give you for or the cameo and not ask you anything about its wanderings from the time it left the vienna museum in 1710 1740 1 I thought said the hazy mr air kl EI ton with a note of suspicion in his voice that mr air figure was around 2200 for the copy yes said gunn but for this the rona gem lle hie most perfect small cameo of tile the first century before Cb christ and he held up the tha brooch from baxters store elton stepped to the window out in the sunlit street a pretty italian girl walked lithely along A pair of live chickens swung from her brown hand between her dark lips she held field the long stem of a red rose roae tell mr Af moran orran sala saia mr elton to mr gunn that I 1 have promised the rona ilona cameo to another I 1 one who has been waiting tor for it more than twenty dearal ye aral |