Description: |
Hope Diamond, which on all social occasions, nowadorned his person? He had been warned and entreatednot to buy the gem. Two of its former owners had beenkilled, and three injured while wearing the stone. He hadnow decided, contrary to the advice of his friends, to wearthe diamond to the Margrave ball, and it was for the pur-pose of making his toilet in preparation for the ball thathe was now speeding home.The cabby, having seen the liberal tip bestowed uponJames, and having visions of a like sum, made the trip in ashort time, and speedily drew up in front of a house in theRue Louis. Philip jumped out and pitching the cabby agold piece, rushed up the steps and disappeared into thehouse.About an hour and a half later he reappeared. It wasdark now and all that lit up his presence was a large dia-mond. So great and powerful were its rays, that they pene-trated the gloom for several feet around him. He had de-cided to walk to the Margraves, the distance not being far.He arrived late and when he had deposited his coat in theante-room, he entered the reception hall.Contrary to general expectations Lady Margrave se-cured the services of Magif for her ball, and when Fawntentered, he saw the mathematician who was in a discus-sion of the powers of the Fourth Dimension. Yes, hewas saying, thru the possession of certain fourth dimen-sion formulii, it is possible for me to change my form tothat of any other person or thing. The simple part lies inthe transformation, the complex is the return to mortality.In the latter come the use of divers formulii and woe to theone who forgets the most minute particle of any formula.Fawnt joined the assembly and was introduced to Magif.The mathematician seemed much interested in the newarrival, and when he noticed the stone Philip was wearing,he asked question after question concerning it.Philip found, that, as the night wore on, the stone wasa source of great annoyance to him. He danced with noone, talked with no one, and walked with no one who did notultimately bring the conversation to The Diamond. Atlast in desperation Fawnt left the room as the only way toescape his questioners. The evening being rather warm hewent out upon an overhanging balcony to get the benefit ofthe slight breeze which was blowing. He had not been herelong when he was startled by, (you will laugh when I tellit), a beam of light. The beam which had the form ofa cone fell from somewhere above and terminated on thebreast of Fawnt. The portion of the cone-shaped beam,which would be considered the base, rested directly uponthe diamond. Stupified with fear and wonder Phillip fellback against the rail. The beam followed. Adapting itselfto the slightest change in Fawnts position the beam moved,so that the diamond always formed the center of the circleof light about it. There was no escape. Move as Fawntwould, the beam followed. Without a sound but withbeating heart Philip felt his senses return. His torturedmind asked the question, Could it be the diamond? Hewanted to believe it was, but he KNEW it wasnt. Phy-sicists say that the rays of light after leaving their sourcemust diverge and not converge. It could not be the dia-mond. WHAT WAS IT? The question surged in his brain.No answer suggested itself, but now, something tug-ged on his shirt front. He looked, and God, thediamond stud began to turn. Absolutely nothing touchedit. Removed as though by visible hands, the diamond nowbegan to ascend the beam. Frozen motionless with terrorFawnt watched in breathless horror, watched, the dia-Page Thirty-seven |
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Source: |
http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloom/id/1107 |
Collection: |
Bloomington High School |
Further information on this record can be found at its source.