"Oh, oh!" she exclaimed a few moments later, as she stood before a
small cabinet in one of William's rooms. "Oh, oh, how pretty!"
"Do you like them? I thought you would," triumphed William, quick joy
driving away the anxious fear in his eyes. "You see, I--I thought of
you when I got them--every one of them. I thought you'd like them. But
I haven't very many, yet, of course. This is the latest one." And he
tenderly lifted from its black velvet mat a curious silver necklace made
of small, flat, chain-linked disks, heavily chased, and set at regular
intervals with a strange, blue-green stone.
Billy hung above it enraptured.
"Oh, what a beauty! And this, I suppose, is Bertram's 'pewter chain'!
'Pewter,' indeed!" she scoffed. "Tell me, Uncle William, where did you
get it?"
And uncle William told, happily, thirstily, drinking in Billy's evident
interest with delight. There were, too, a quaintly-set ring and a
cat's-eye brooch; and to each belonged a story which William was
equally glad to tell. There were other treasures, also: buckles, rings,
brooches, and necklaces, some of dull gold, some of equally dull silver;
but all of odd design and curious workmanship, studded here and there
with bits of red, green, yellow, blue, and flame-colored stones. Very
learnedly then from William's lips fell the new vocabulary that had come
to him with his latest treasures: chrysoprase, carnelian, girasol, onyx,
plasma, sardonyx, lapis lazuli, tourmaline, chrysolite, hyacinth, and
carbuncle.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145