I LLINO I S
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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University of Illinois at
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Brittle Books Project, 2012.

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In Public Domain.
Published prior to 1923.

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•' a thorough knowledge of the natural laws rhicl
By
govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, andd b
a careful application of the fine properties of well-selecte
Cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables witi
a delicately flavoured beverage which may save us man
heavy doctors' bills.
It is by the judiciqus use of such
articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built
up until strong enough to resist every tendency to disease.

GRATEFUL-COMFORTING.

Oil

EPPS'S

Preserves and st rengthens the hair of Children and Adults.
Also sold in a Golden Colour.

(BREAKFAST)

ESTABLISHED 1851.

COCOA

Southam pton Buildings, Chancery Lane.
THREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS,
repaya ble on der land.
TWO per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, when not
drawn below [1 ,o.

STOCKS, SH ARES, and ANNUITIES purchased & sold.

BOILING WATER OR MILK.

SA.YINGS DEPARTMENT.
For the encour agement of Thrift the Bank receives small
urms o n deposit, and allows Interest, at the rate of THREE
PEER CENT. pel annum, on each completed £1. The Interest
is addedI to the principal on 31st March annually.
FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager.

Hundreds of subtle maladies are floating around us
ready to attack wherever there is a weak point. We may
escape many a fatal shaft by keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properly nourished frame."
-Civil Service Gazette. Sold only in packets, by Grocers,
labelled-"JAMEs EPps & Co., Homoeopathic Chemists,"
170, Piccadilly, and 48. Threadneedle Street; Works,
Holland Street, Blackfriars, London.

H

OV7 TO PURCHASE A HOUSE FOR TWO
GJINEAS PER MONTH, OR A PLOT OF LAND
FOR FI VE SH ILLINGS PER MONTH, with immediate
possessin. Apply at the Office of the BIRKBECK FREEHOLD
LAND SOCIETY.

The B. RKBEC2K ALMANACK, with full particulars, post
free.
FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager.

PIENNY LIBRARY OF FIOTION.
A rrangen cents I ave been made with distinguished Writers for a Series of Penny Stories, to meet the growing popular demand for
cheap, vholesome, and interesting Literature, and thus help to displace some of the noxious Penny Literature in circulation.
Each Stor y is complete in itself, and consists of 32 pages, demy 8vo, double columns; with Pictorial Wrapper.
The n ame of the Writers will be sufficient guarantee as to the character and interest or these Tales.

NIrEU*
THE
VIU TINY
GREY."
By G.

BROUGIT

TO LIGHT.

STAUNCH.

By G. MANVILLE FENN.

THREE

TIVIES

GOLDEN

TRIED.

FEATHER.

By Mrs. NEWMAN.

EAnovDY.

or

NUmBCERs

OF
THE
"HELEN
MANVILLE FENN.

A

LIVING
APPARITION.
ALLEN, B.A.

CONSTABLE

A 1.

" MEHLAI," &c.

SLIPPING

GRANT

By JESSIE M. E. SAXBY.

THE PLAGUE SHIP.

By B. L. FARJEON.
By the Author of

By

AWAY.

By G. A. HENTY.

By the Author of" Viv..,

VICTRIX."

SAVED BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH.

By Mrs.
SAKE.
I)ICK'S
FOR
Authwr 'f " GEORGE GEITH," &C.

By HELEN

RIDDELL,

LORD

SHIPTON.

JOHN.

By G.

MANVILLE FENN.

Volume I., containing the above Six Stories, in Paper Boards, 6d..
GONE.

lIy KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.

"'HE
PAYING
GIBBOrI-.

MARINE
FENN.
SOLDIER
WOLLEY.

By CHARLES

A TERRIhBLE INHERITANCE.

ALLEN.

IN
MY

PENALTY.

By GRANT

BY

ARMOUR.
KEEPER.

TELEGRAPH.

By G. MANVILLE
By C.

PHILLIPS-

By J. MACLAREN COBBAN,

Volume II., containing the above Six Stories, in Paper Boards, 6d.
London: 3, Northumberland Avenue, Charing Cross, W.C.; 43, Queen Victoria St., E..;
97, Westbourne Grove. W. Brighton: 135, North St.

THE VANISHING OPAL.

BY Th

REV.

P. B.

POWER,

M.A.,

Aut.r of " The Oiled Feather," etc.

?IBLISUED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.

LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.;
97, WESTBOURNE GROVE, W.

BRIGHTON:
NEW YORK:

135, No.RTH STREET.

E. &

J.

B. YOUNG & COv

THE VANISHING OPAL.
IN

that, in a house like his, there could be
the corner
what, even obscure
times, wouldofbe called an in those anything very valuable; in the next
court in the City of London, there dwelt place, few came there; and most of those
an old man, by name Isaac Coloman. In who did come were somewhat regular
appearance the old man looked what he customers, who came in by a back way.
was-a Jew. lHe had the characteristic Then, much of Isaac's business was transfeatures of his nation; but he had also acted out of doors, at other people's
what was peculiar to themselves, and houses, whither he went with his merthat of the most attractive kind. Im- chandise; but, from the nature of his
mense bushy eyebrows overshadowed
trade, his transactions, though large, were
Isaac's piercing eyes, a long, long beard comparatively few.
-a very remarkable appendage in those
And even if thieves did break through
days-flowed from the chin; and Isaac's
to steal, they would have gone away as
back was so bowed and bent that, he was they came, so far as getting anything was
under the necessity of using a staff, which concerned-unless, indeed, it was a volley
corrected the error in his centre of of bullets from the blunderbuss which
gravity, caused by the bowing aforesaid.
Isaac always kept loaded ready for any
Those eyebrows had been of use to emergency; and with which he might have
Isaac in going through life. When he been almost said to sleep every night.
wished to veil how keenly he was watchBut even if thieves had broken in, and
ing his customer, he dropped them old Isaac had told them they were welwonderfully low. It was the time be- come to all they could find, they would
fore the discovery of indiarubber to many have gone away as they came, for they
of its present homely uses, or we might
would not have found anything; for all
have supposed that Isaac's skin in. the the Jew's merchandise and treasure were
neighbourhood of those brows was elastic,
entirely out of sight. It was contained
and bent them down, when occasion
in a small iron box about a foot square,
required, a good deal below the ordinary and that box was let down into a deep
level. But it was in their elevation that hole in Isaac's sleeping-room-which was
those brows were of such good service;
what we should call a back kitchen; and
for it was perfectly amazing to see to even if thieves knew it was there, they
what a height they ascended on his fore- could not get it out, unless they had the
head, when he wished to express well- hook with which Isaac fished it up when
feigned amazement at the price asked, or he wanted it. Any line would have done ;
offered, as the case might be, for some but what about the hook ?
precious stone. Those eyebrows seemed
It was in this box that Isaac Coloman
almost to carry conviction with them; kept the specimen jewels in which he
and he who dealt with Isaac, unless he dealt-unset, and in some cases even
knew him well, often felt, as those brows uncut stones, all of them of great worth;
ascended towards the roots of the old pearls, too; but none save those which were
man's hair, that he had asked too much, perfect in shape and colour, and of great size.
or offered too little, and that the figure
Moreover, it was here that Isaac kept
must be amended to a considerable extent. what he would not sell-that which it
And Isaac Coloman, the Hungarian Jew, had been the dream and labour of his life
had some good customers in-that secluded to possess, and from which he would not
corner of the dingy court. Isaac made no part except with life itself; and Isaac
show-he had not even a shop-window;
would have given all his other jewels to
there was nothing lying about in his house any one who could have told him how
to indicate that he was in trade of any kind. not to part with that stone in death, but
Many circumstances combined to make to carry it away to Abraham's bosom, if
old Isaac feel safe from thieves. In the he could get there.
first place, no one would have suspected
Between Kacchla and Eperies, it

THE VANISHING OPAL.
is Czernowitza, and there, in
claystone porphyry, is found the noble,
or precious opal. Its name noble, or
"precious," marks it as standing alone.
Exquisitely beautiful is the Mexican
opal-the fire-opal. Tiniapau and San
Nicholas may be proud of being its birthplace. Like an unmixed globule of green
fire-like a glow-worm's lamp, or a ball
of phosphorus moistened with oil-it is
indeed a gem worthy of a king, but it is
not the noble, the precious opal for all that.
Isaac Coloman had, in his iron box,
several grand specimens of fire-opals, all
carefully swaddled as if they had been
the infants of a king; for the fire-opal,
when exposed to wet, or even to damp,
loses all its brilliancy and colour. He had
rubies of pure pigeon-blood; he had emeralds almost without flaw, and green as
grass; but his treasure was a precious opal,
for which he had travelled and worn himself in his youth--for which he had paid a
large part of what he possessed; and
which now was a part, as it were, of his
very self. On others of his gems his
heart was not set. They were merchandise-they were no portion of himself.
They might come and go in the vicissitudes of buying and selling; but, except
as representatives of money, they were
nought to him. But with that precious
opal he would not part. The Jew would
have been as thoughhe heard not, even had
you offered him for it the ransom of a king.
This noble-this precious opal was
unset, and lay in a bed of velvet, inside a
small gold casket. In size it was about
twice as large as the nail on the third
finger of an ordinary hand.
But its
preciousness was not altogether in its
size, but in its lights, its fires, its flash,
its gleam, its softly-melting hues, its
rainbow tints, the changes of colour
which passed over it, as over the dolphin
as it dies. Was it a human soul imprisoned in a pearl, as the legend said,
and were those changing colours its
changing moods ! Ah ! who could tell;
but there it was-let each believe about
it what they would.
There were many reasons why the
Hungarian Jew attached so much import.
Q po sep of the noble stone,
the
i
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been
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Rungary,

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amongst us might be inclined to consider
" uncanny." She had had a high reputation amongst her people for wisdom, and
when this child was born the old woman
was on her death-bed. The child was
brought to her; and she said over it in
measured rhyme what, translated from
her dialect, would run nearly thus:" Seek thee a noble opal stone

With living fires-a choicest one;
And let it be thy daily guide,

All doubts and questionings decide;

Its yellow tint will tell of gold,
Its green of that which grows not old;

Prize above all its heavenly blue,
It guides to what is just and true;
But when you see its fiery red,
There's danger near-there's cause for
dread."

These almost dying words of his grandmother's, Isaac Coloman always kept in
view; and to get possession of such an
opal as would be worthy of thus being
his guide through life was his one desire.
In vain did his father send him to school,
in vain bind him to a trade; until he got
that stone he felt that he should never
get on in life, at least, as he could do-as
he might do-if he got possession of this
treasure.
Indeed, Isaac Coloman's schooling only
quickened his desire; for his old master
was himself a collector of precious
stones, in a small way, and had told the
youth some of the lore connected with
them. "Seest thou that opal, youth; it
is but a poor specimen, for my means do
not allow of my purchasing a noble opal.
This is but a hydrophane, milk-white and
nearly opaque, yet it has some iridescence; and this is a semi or half opal, and
this a common opal-the 'fire' or 'red.
dish' opal, and the 'noble' or 'precious'
are beyond my reach-there, thou mayest
have that piece of opal-jasper which hath
travelled far, all the way from the geysers in Iceland, and that of wood-opal of
which we have plenty in our own land.
But it will not be for our eyes to behold
the noble opal, such as Pliny tells us of
in yonder books. Those of olden time
knew how precious was the opal, as well
as we. The Greeks called it poederos
(cupid), and in the Orphio poems it is
sair to imitate the compleion of a lovely
th

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lve

t

opal, y sn

n

TIIE VANISHING OPAL.

I have mai ked what the ancients have
said of it. Pliny, who knew most of
such things in his day, says that, of all
precious stones the opal is the one most
difficult to describe, seeing that it displays at once the precious fire of carbuncles, the purple brilliancy of the
amethystos, and the sea-green of smaragdus (emerald), the whole blended together,
and refulgent with a brightness which is
quite incredible.

Antony, who proscribed Nonus that he
might secure the gem. But Nonus fled
from the country with only that single
ring; he would not part with it even to
save his life.
"I have heard, Isaac, the words which
thy grandmother pronounced over thee;
and I trust that some day thou mayest
possess a speaking stone, with colours
which will be but so many voices; but
thou seest that it must entirely excel

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" Would, my son, that our eyes could
see the opal of Nonus, which that same
Pliny speaks of-that would, indeed, be
a sight for mortal eyes. It was valued
at 20,000 sesterces, that is about
ducats of our money, and was in size as
large as a hazel-nut. Nonus held this
gem, as many a man did his wealth, at
iperil for it was coveted by MLar

35,000

anything thou beholdest here. These are
specimens, if I might so speak, of the
thing itself in its mere being, not in its
excellency; and truly, herein is a lesson
for us both-for the finest opal in the
world, even that thy grandmother spoke
of, suppose such could be found, is but
flint and water, as common things as
these be in the world, nd of but 1itt

THE VANISHING OPAL.
value in themselves. Take six or seven
parts of water and ninety-two or three
parts of flint, and thou hast an opal,
Nay, not thou hast an opal, but the
materials of an opal; for, though thou
mayest separate a gem into its parts, thou
canst not bring them together again;
much less make into a gem materials
which had never been a gem before. I
have mused upon it, my son ; often mused
how easy it is to destroy, how hard to
create, or even to bring together again.
" Of many things have we to be proud
of this country; and one of them is, that
the finest opals in the world are with us.
In olden time that same Pliny tells us
that the best opal, which they called
Sangenon, came from India, and others
called Tenites from Egypt; there were
others, of a third quality, from Arabia,
but no mention is made of our Hungary at
all. Now, however, he who would have the
most precious of the opals must come to us.
"We have them here. The Turks
believe that the opal comes from no
earthly mine, but falls in the lightning
direct from heaven.* Had Plato written of our stone, there is no knowing how
noble he would have made its birthplace,
for he thought the origin of precious
stones to be the vivifying spirit abiding
in the stars, which, longing to form new
things, converts the most vile and putrid
matter into objects the most beautiful and
perfect. The diamond he believed to be
found like a kernel in the gold; he supposed that it was the purest and noblest
part, which had been condensed into a
transparent mass. Would that we knew
what he thought to be the first beginning
of the opal. What thy grandmother
knew concerning this stone I know not.
I only know that she was considered wise
amongst her people."
Now, all this talk with the garrulous
old schoolmaster still more inflamed the
imagination of Isaac Coloman, as was
natural, and excited the youth's desire
to become possessed of a "noble" or "precious " opal, such as his grandmother had
described; and when the old man told
him this, and that, from Marbodius and
* It was also called Ceraunium by the
anoients, rom a notion that it was thundr.
r~n,

Boetius, and Cardamus and Albertus
Magnus, and Langius, of the middle
ages; and that it was believed in those
days that the opal possessed-united in
itself-the special virtue of every gem as
connected with the distinctive colour with
which it was emblazoned, the pupil's
mind was made up; and he determined
to give up his life, if necessary, to the
search for, and acquisition of, this precious stone.
For many a long day did Isaac Coloman
search for such a gem as he desired, but,
though many precious stones came his
way, he did not meet with his ideal. He
heard, from time to time, of one specimen and another, and went hither and
thither, but only to find that he had been
misinformed, and that either through
ignorance, or a desire of the marvellous,
his informants had misled him. The
"precious" opal, he knew, was found
occasionally near Frankfort, and at the
mines in the Province of Gracias, in Honduras, South America, and even as far as
that did he travel in search of what he
craved; but he returned as he went,
empty as regards thatparticular possession.
At last, what Isaac Coloman so coveted
came, so to speak, of its own accord in his
way. One day, while looking over some
precious stones, a rough and uncouth man
came into the room. His appearance was
such that Coloman immediately swept all
the gems into his iron drawer, which
fastened with a snap, leaving the table
bare. The stranger, of course, saw Isaac's
evident terror, and rightly interpreted it.
"Nay, friend," said the rough man,
smiling, " thou need'st not fear. I come
more to give than to take. I have that
here "-and he held up a little ball of
dirty-looking rag- " that would buy all
the gems thou dost possess. I have heard
that thou art a lover of these "-and the
stranger began to untwist the rag-" and
I have come to sell, and not to buy or
take. Look at that;" and he exposed to
Isaac Colomon's gaze a large "precious"
opal-a " noble " opal-a gem that seemed
to have hidden deep within it not one
rainbow but many; a gem from which
one might have been pardoned if he had
listened to hear softly melting into one
another thp seven notes of th u48a
q

0.44

THIE VANISHING OPAL,

as the seven prismatic colours glided one
into another as the stone was slowly moved.
"Where didst thou get this?" said
Coloman, looking hard at the man from
beneath his shaggy brows.
" It is not that I wish my answer to be
rough," said Coloman's visitor, a couple
of deep gashes in whose face showed that

"It will suit thee better to have it than
me; but thou art not the only one, Isaac
Coloman, who is in search of a stone like
this. It will fetch its price, if I take it
far enough."
"And what dost thou ask? " said
Coloman.
" The most that thou canst give," re-

he had probably been in rough life,
whencesoever he had come, "but my
answer is, What is that to thee ? Thou
understandest," and he fixed his eyes in
turn upon the Jew.
Isaac Coloman did understand, espeai lly as the stranger took the stone, nd
bpg0n to rewrap it ia the r a d addes,

plied the man, " short of beggaring thyself. There, it will suit me well enough
to be paid in those gems, or partly in those
gems thou hast swept into that drawer;
for I can dispose of them to one and an"
other, here and there, when no one could
py the price of this s igle stone. I will

tgs insos~ and hgo44 9~do s

lTW1 VANIi'lN(i OPAL.

speak but one word; it would be a shame
to bargain over the light of a stone like
this. If I had not my own reasons for
selling it, thou wouldst not have had the
offer of it at all."
"I suppose thou comest from Czernowitza," said the Jew, hinting that the
stone was stolen. Would not 2,000 ducats
satisfy thee, one-third in gold and twothirds in stones ? There," said the Jew,
touching a secret-spring and re-opening
the drawer-" there are diamonds and
sapphires, and spinels,* and amethysts,
and emeralds, and chrysoberyls; there
are no rubies, but the spinels will serve
thy purpose as well; and if thou art
going to deal with folk who have not
much to spend, but who nevertheless love
precious stones, there are garnets, and there
is tourmaline, and onyx, and turquoise."
" And thou hast them all in one in this
one stone, if it becomes thine," said the
stranger. "Wilt thou have my stone ? "
It was plain, from the stranger's voice
and his half motion to depart, that the
bargaining must be short; and the matter
was expedited by his saying, "Here,
friend, I will change my terms, so as to
take nine parts of my price in stones-the
rest in gold. Stones are easier to carry
than gold, for a man who has a long way
to go. But hark, and mark well, give
good value in stones, else I may come
back again--nay, I will come back again
-and if I do, it will be to settle accounts once more, only in-a different way.
If thou givest what will prove to be of good
value, thou mayest never see me more."
And Isaac Coloman did as he was bid,
for his own sake as well as his visitor's.
Isaac had a salutary dread of a long knife
which he saw stuck in the stranger's
leather belt. He thought it would be an
ugly thing anywhere in the neighbourhood of the throat, especially in the dead
of night. So Coloman picked out good
value in stones-small and medium-sized
saleable stones.
" Wilt thou have any of these ?" said
the Jew, emptying out a little cup of
semi-opals, calcedonys, pale milky-blue
stones, what the Germans call waisei.e., orphan-because in certain lights it
* The spinel is the balas ruby; often taken
b and sold s the real ruby.

appears to contain a slight fiery radiance,
though it has not the proper beauties of
the opal. " I know not whither thou art
going, even as I know not who thou art ;
but if thou wendest thy way in Italy,
and call them girasoles, and turn the
stones to the solar beams, they have a
radiance for which the people will pay."
"Thou hast the real stone," said the
stranger. " Thou canst afford to throw in
two or three of them. That will do,"
said he, as, without ceremony, he took
up as many as his thumb and two next
fingers could catch up in a pinch, and
added them to the stones already looked
out, and, gathering them up and the
counted gold, took his departure.
"May I never see thee again," said
the Jew, feeling creepy in the neighbourhood of the jugular vein. "There is
mystery linked with the stone that thou
hast brought, and I am well content that
there should be mystery linked with thee
for ever-may it never be solved," said
the Jew. "For aught that I know, thou
mayest be Iscariot himself come back to
earth, and again a thief. I believe that
from the claystone prophyry of Czernowitza has this opal come."
Thus it was that this grand specimen of
the "precious" opal came into the possession of Isaac Coloman; and to him it was
of inestimable price. He valued it for
many reasons. He could not hope to find
a finer specimen anywhere, unless he
could plunder some royal crowns, if he
could find one even there. This must be
the stone of which his grandmother had
spoken just before she died-to possess
which meant health, and wealth, and
happiness, and all that man could get.
But there was something more. Isaac
Coloman loved money-loved wealth;
but money was a perilous possession for
his people. Had they not been despoiled of it throughout all ages ?-had
they not ever lived on the brink of a
volcano, and at timos Worse than on the
brink? had they not been overwhelmed
by its eruptions ? To be a Jew was to be
spoiled; and if there was difficulty in
getting wealth, was there not still greattr
difficulty in keeping it ? Hence, the trade
in precious stones had always found favour
in Coloman's mind: he could carry great

THE VANISHING

wealth in a girdle round his waist, or in
his pocket, if he chose.
" Wealth! " said the Jew to himself,
"it rules the world in the end. Kings are
dependent on it; beauty is bought by it;
your fellow-man will bow down, and
cringe to you, for it: he will let you
walk over him for it-aye, and men will
sell the souls they profess to make so
much of, for it. Ha, hah!" said Coloman; ' when I take that stone out with
me, and know that I have it about me,
how warm it will make my heart ?-how
firmly I shall tread!-how powerful I
shall feel! That man of Czernowitza
did not know the worth of that gem, or
what it could make a man feel, who knew
what it really was. I shall walk the
whole day, and feel that I could buy with
what I carry in my girdle every inch of
ground I cover. I shall look at many a
man who scorns me perhaps for myself,
and certainly for my creed, and feel that
I could buy him from the crown of his
head to his foot. And when trouble
arises I shall be ready to flee. They will
look, perhaps, for Isaac Colomon's wealth,
but they will not find it: where he is
there will it be; even a mouse-hole will
be enough to hide it: and there will be
no cat with smell keen enough to scent it,
or with claws sharp enough to seize it.
Oh! man of Czernowitza-whoever thou
art-thou knowest not what service thou
hast done to Isaac Coloman the Jew. If
a Jew could bless a Christian, Isaac Coloman would bless thee. Thou hast warmed
his blood, and brought joy and gladness
into his heart: thy gem hath brought all
the colours of the rainbow into Isaac
Coloman's soul. Thou hast given him
a bow of promise; and amid whatever
floods may come, thou hast assured him
hope.
"Alas! thou child of light," continued Coloman to himself, after he had
looked for a few moments gloomy and
sad-"alas! that some day I must die,
and leave thee behind. And in whose
but
keeping wilt thou be then?
why cannot I take thee with me ? " said
Isaac Coloman, half-wildly forgetting that
man brought nothing into this world,
and could carry nothing out; "why should
not a thing of beauty like thyself have

'Nay,

OPAL.

place in Abraham's bosom ? Who can
look into thee, and not think that thou
art more beautiful than many an one who
has a soul? Thou art small-thou art of
no weight. I would say to thee as said
Ruth to Naomi : ' Where thou goest I will
go, and where thou stayest I will stay.'
Say thou that to me-feel thou to me
that which I feel to thee; but no-no,"
said the Jew, suddenly remembering himself; " thou must stay on earth when I
have left it, but I will think how to
settle so that no evil befall thee. It may be
that thou shalt be buried with me; but that
I will think upon; enough for to-day.
that I have thee now.
Oh! man of
Czernowitza, though thou knewest not
all that thou wast doing, thou hast done
well to bring this stone to one who knows
how to value it. May I never see thee
again, nor thy knife ; unless thou findest,
which thou never wilt, another stone
like this, and thou comest to sell it to
me, feeling that I have treated thee well
with the gems I have given thee today. Now I think me of it, thou
needest not have had that pinch of opals,
inferior though they be, and not of much
worth even at the best-unless one gets
a customer who knows nothing about
stones; but thy knife is long, and I doubt
not it is sharp, and thou lookest as though
it were better to make sure that thou
wert contented, and would not come back
-thou, and thy knife-thy knife/ ugh,
it has an ugly look, and hath taken away
all stomach for my meal; but I have
thee, thou precious stone ! and that will
pick up the appetite again. I like a
knife for cutting meat withal; but I
dread a knife that would not stick at
cutting throats.*
Great were the longings of old Isaac
C oleman the Jew is not the only one
whose admiration of the opal finds vent in
enthusiastic language such as we have read.
Petrus Artensis, a visionary of the reign of
Henry IV., says: " The various colours of the
opal tend greatly to the delectation of the
sight-nay, more, they have the very greatest
efficacy in cheering' the heart and inward
parts, and specially rejoice the beholder's
eyes. One in particular came into my hands
in which such beauty, loveliness, and grace
shone forth that, it could truly boast that it

d&ew all gems to itself! while it surprised,

THE VANISHING OPAL.
Coloman to have the opal cut, that he
might enjoy the fulness of its light and
beauty. He had discernment enough to
know what that beauty would be when
the gem had been treated by a lapidary
of the first class. But could he trust it
out of his sight. Nay, he now had what
was to him like the pearl of great price;
and he would take care that it did not
lightly slip from his grasp.
In order that he might accomplish this,
the Jew determined to leave his present
abode, and go where he could get his gem
cut and polished under his own eye.
Moreover, he would return no more to
his present home. There were signs of
storm brewing in the air, which he did
not like. His people had already endured
much sufferings here, and there, and
almost everywhere ; and it seemed to him
that there was mischief near at hand.
He had heard of London, the capital of a
country where the people were safe; he
had even sent precious stones thither; he
knew by name some of his own people
there, and especially one Ben Ezra, with
whom he had corresponded on business
connected more particularly with opals,
and thither would he go.
Isaac Coloman was now advanced in
life, and he would draw in from business
so far as dealing in smaller and inferior
stones were concerned; he would give up
that branch to Sigismund, his son. Sigismund was his only child, he must inherit
all that he possessed, he would let him
astonished, and held captive, without escape or
intermission, the hearts of all that beheld it.
It was of the size of a hazel-nut, and grasped
in the claws of a golden eagle, wrought with

wondrous skill.

It had such vivid and various

colours that all the beauty of the heavens
might be received within it. Grace went out
of it.
Majesty shot from its almost divine
splendour. It sent forth such bright and
piercing beams that, it struck terror into all
beholders. In a word, it conferred upon the
wearer all the qualities granted by nature to
itself; for by an invisible dart it penetrated

the soul and dazzled the eyes of all who saw
it-appalling all hearts, however bold or

courageous. In a word, it filled with trem.
bling the bodies of the bystanders, and forced
them, by a predestinated impulse, to love,
honour, and worship (!) it. I have seen, I have

felt it : I call all that is sacred to witness. Of
a truth, such a stone as this is to be valued at
an inestimable amount.

now begin dealing on his own account;
and he himself would keep to trading in
none but stones of large price-the gems
of the gems of the trade.
"It will cost me nothing," said Isaac
Coloman to himself, "to go hence. Is
not the world my home-is it not the
home of our race-what true abiding
place have we for the sole of our foot ?
As Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, wandered, so do we; and the Turk has our
land-may every hair of his beard grizzle
and frizzle in Gehenna for ever. The
religion of the Nazarene saith, 'If thine
enemy hunger, feed him,' but I am not
of that faith; would that I could spit
upon the beard of every Mussulman that
is in my land. The world is my home,"
continued Coloman ; "nay, my gems are
my home; and where this gem shall be,
that will be my home henceforth in the
world; would that I could take it with
me wheresoever I am going. For a life
have I waited to possess this gem, who
knows in what disturbance it may be
lost, I will depart whither it, at any rate,
shall be safe."
Cutting opals is a ticklish business,
they are so brittle. Although the opal
defies the blow-pipe, only giving off
water, and becoming dark under its influence; it can yet be easily shattered by a
very little fall, or blow. Its brittleness
makes it anxious work for the lapidary, if he has a fine specimen to deal
with.*
No one was more aware of this than
the possessor of the one, of which we are
writing now; and when the work was at
last, finished, and the gem had been
brought up to perfection, both in sym* The opal owes its beauty and brittleness to
the same cause. Its display of tints is owing
to the minute

and irregular

fissures that

traverse the stone in several directions, con.
taining laminme of air, that reflect rays of
different intensity and various colours.

But

its structure causes it to be so fragile, and an
opal set in a ring has been known to split by
holding the hand too close to the fire on a

frosty day. It is also subject to deterioration,
for if the fissures, upon which its irridescenceo
depends, become choked up with grease or
dust, its value is gone.

The only way of re-

storing its beauty is by subjecting it to a
certain amount of heat-a hazardous experi-

ment with so brittle a stone.

THE VANISHING OPAL.

Io

metry and lustre, the weight of years
seemed taken off old Coloman's mind.
So tender is the opal that the leaden
plate on which it is cut has to be coated
with odoucis-emery powder that has
already been used upon other gems, and so
deprived of its asperity; it cannot bear
the same handling as other gems. But it
was all now safely accomplished, and
the heart of Coloman was at peace.
When Isaac Coloman arrived in London he made his way straight to the house
of Ben Ezra, which was in a retired part
of the East End. Ben Ezra was a

e
f

I'/

r

//

thorough Jew; and he remembered the
command to be good to the stranger,
which he found in his law. This he
sincerely wished to carry out; and it was
no drawback to his doing so that his
visitor was a man of large means, and one
with whom he might in the course of
business have many profitable dealings.
At the most, old Isaac and his son Sigismund were only two mouths to feed,
and that for a abort time: and there

might be profitable dealings with them
for many days. In the course of a short
time, Ben Ezra, who knew well the parts
of the town where his own dwelling was,
found a suitable place of abode for Isaac
Coloman; and the old man and his hostnow
sat together for the last time over the fire.
" Those Christian dogs," said Coloman,
" say of us children of Abraham that there
is no gratitude in us, but thou knowest
better than that. Now, tell me, Ben
Ezra, how can I show my gratitude to
thee for the kindness thou hast shown to
me and to my son ?"

/;

r
./!

"What I have done," said Ben Ezra,"I
have done according to the law, and seek
no return therefor. Nevertheless, if thou
wilt show kindness unto me, promise me
that when I want a gem which thou hast,
to make up a set, thou wilt not withhold
any which thou mayest have; nor, knowing my need, charge me more than its set
price. I have told thee that my trade
consists in the matching and fitting of
stones; a stone is of little use to-me un-

THE VANISHING OPAL.

less I know where to put it when I get
it; it is the matching of gems that brings
me my gain, and I pay any price in reason.
It is true there has to be much money
sunk, but then there is great profit to be
gained; and I have those of our own
nation who are able and willing to back
me up in any enterprise I have in hand;
and all I ask of thee is that, thou wilt
help me when it is in thy power."
So Isaac put his hand under Ben
Ezra's thigh, and, after the manner of
their ancient faith, sware unto him. And
Isaac, in truth, was not sorry--at least,
not now ; for if Ben Ezra made money out
of somebody, he might make some out of him
-- anyhow, it was well, so early in his new
career, to become in touch with evidently
a man of mark in his own particular line,
and one who might forward his own interests, and those of Sigismund his son.
But what about the opal ? What if
Ben Ezra should ever claim that ? Isaac
Coloman laughed in his sleeve. " For
that," said he, "he will never come. I
have sworn to sell him only those that
will complete the sets ! and never will he
find stones that come even near to this.
Nay, my jewel," said the Jew, "slumber
in thy bed safe and sound; if, indeed, thy
glorious fires can slumber or sleep. Ben
Ezra will never, never come for thee ! "
" And now," said Ben Ezra to his
guest, " there is as much to be made out
of this way of trade, as by dabbling in
petty stones all day long. As long as
vanity and love are in the world-in other
words, as long as there are women and
men-so long will there be a demand for
such goods as I deal in, and as thou dealest
in, too, No matter what the price, there
will be found a customer.* Some court
in diamonds, and some are courted in
them: that false god, Cupid, hath
diamond-tipped arrows. He is said to
have much to do with bright eyes and
ruby lips; but he is not above meddling
with bright stones, and with rubies them* The statement of Ben Ezra may be illus.
trated by the case of the necklace of diamonds
of historic fame as connected with Marie
Antoinette.
Boehmer and Bassange, Court
Jewellers to Louis XVI. of France, spent
several years in collecting a large number of
superb diamonds to form a necklace. Its price

was one million six hundred thousand livres.

selves. Whole estates have gone into a
necklace before now; and a paltry girl,
scarce out of her school-room, has worn a
large property upon her head. There is
madness in the world, but what is that to
us; if money can be made out of other
people's madness, by our sense, that is
our gain. And now, as this is thy last
night here, thou shall see my jewels, and
thou shalt show me thine."
So saying, Ben Ezra went to a small safe
which was let into the wall, and brought
out from it half a dozen round leather cases,
'
and a little leather bag. "This is my stock,"
said the Jew, " easily carried if there came
any threatening of danger, and easily hidden if there should be need to hide."
Then Ben Ezra opened one case in
which was an almost complete necklace
of single stones, all unset, and each one
resting in an indent which it exactly
fitted. There were only three stones
wanted-one about midway up the righthand side, one near the top of the left,
and the great centre stone itself.
" Each stone must fit its own indent,"
said Ben Ezra; "and its fitness, so far
as size is concerned, is settled by its properly filling its place. That one of rubies
is complete all to a single stone, and that
a small one, too. There are plenty to be
had which would fit that hole, but they
are not the true pigeon's blood.
" One stone only is wanting to this
necklace also. These, as thou seest, are
sapphires. They are my favourite stone.
I love their chastened light, it suits my
aged eyes; yet so, too, does that of the
opal, and the emerald. Ah ! the emerald
hath been thought always a strengthener
of the eyes; and those of old times were
never tired of looking at their rings when
garnished with this stone. Yet hath it extraordinary brilliancy, too; and amongst
the ancients there was a tale of a marble
lion with emerald eyes placed on the
tomb of a king called Ilermias, in the
island of Cyprus, near the fisheries there.
So far out to sea did the brightness of
these emeralds shine, that they frightened
the fish to a great distance; and it was
only when the emeralds were removed
that the fish came back. It may be a
fable," said Ben Ezra, "and take it for
what it is worth-but that is the tale.

ra

THE VANISHING OPAL.
"The sapphire is my stone, it seems to

soothe my spirits when I am vexed, it

:ems to rest me when I am worried and
worn with the chaffing and haggling in
which I must at times engage; but now
trat age has come, that is a weariness in
the flesh, and best becomes those who
deal in little stones. They tell wondertful things of the sapphire, friend-how
it prevents evil and impure thoughts, and
is an enemy to all poison. The folk of
olden time, and even the Christians in
former days, made much of my favourite
stone; so you see I do not make much of
it for naught. One of the great Christian*
lights taking upon himself to interpret our
prophet Isaiah-his impudence reaches
even to the stars-hath nevertheless
wisdom enough to know something of the
virtues of this precious stone, for he saith
that " the sapphire procures favours from
princes and pacifies enemies, and frees
from enchantments, and obtains the deliverance of captives. It is great, too,
my friend, in medicine, being a remedy
against fevers. Even the heathen knew
how precious was this stone, for they
wore it when they went to consult the
oracles; and it was sacred to Apollo, their
orach s' god. Christian and heathen are
both alike to me, yet I am pleased to see
they both had understanding of this stone.
And it is pure. I am told that in old
time, because of its attachments to chastity,
it was worn by princes; and now the
men the Christians call 'bishops ' wear it
often in their rings. This is my favourite
stone.
" And now what is thy favourite,
friend ? and having shown thee my gems,
let me see thine;" and Ben Ezra opened
the remaining cases, and emptied the contents of the leather bag upon the piece of
velvet which he had spread upon the
table.
CHAPTER II.
THE eyes of Isaac Coloman glistened
under their shaggy brows, as they devoured the beautiful gems which his
brother Jew spread out before him.
Then he produced his own. They were
not many; but they were all choice.
* St. Jerome on Isaiah xix.

There was the Odem and the Barabeth
and Nopheth, and the Sapper and the
Jahalom of the breastplate; the Sardius
and Carbuncle and Emerald and Sapphire
and Diamond of the jeweller's shop.
"Blessed be they! " said Isaac Coloman,
"' they shone in the breastplate of our
for
high-priest. May the day soon come
"
when they shall shine therein again !
"I know not when that will be," said
Ben Ezra; "my concern is as to where
they shall shine now; and from these,
friend Coloman, I think I can fit what is
wanting of the chief stones in one or two
of these cases;" and Ben Ezra picked
out three diamonds, a sapphire, and a
ruby. "And, now, are these all that
thou hast got? Hast thou no opal?
Coming from Hungary, how is it that
thou hast no gem from what I might
call the ' Home of Opals' ?"
Isaac Coloman shifted uneasily on his
chair, and stammered somewhat suspiciously in his speech, as he invented
some reasons why he had none of his
own country's precious stones.
Isaac had not gone very far, however,
when eyes quite as keen as his own looked
him through and through; and a hand
was laid upon his thigh. "I conjure
thee, by Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,"
said the Jew, " to hide nothing from me.
May their blessing be upon thee as thou
dealest faithfully with me ! Thou hast
yet something more-bring it forth! "
Isaac Coloman hesitated, and began to
stammer again; but it was of no use:
his host fixed his eyes, like those of a
serpent, on him. "I would not curse
thee under mine own roof," said Ben
Ezra; "'butif thou] showest me not
whatever thou hast in secret, I will
deliver thee to Beelzebub. Why should
we, who are brethren, not open our hearts
to one another, seeing they have to be
closed so fast to those with whom we
live ? I have that passing over me which
makes me feel that thou hast something
yet to show "-and Isaac Coloman's host
fixed his two now iterrible-looking eyes
on his guest.
Coloman's heart was terror-stricken at
the idea of being handed over formally to
Beelzebub; for Ben Ezra's whole ap.
pearance was changed, and
looked as

he

THE VANISHING OPAL.

though he were capable of doing such a
deed; so, slowly and deliberately, yet
with very nervous fingers, he undid the
bosom of his dress, and drew over his
head a leathern thong, with a leather
bag at the end. Here he paused.
"Proceed ! " said Ben Ezra, in a voice
which meant business of an unpleasant
kind if Coloman hung back.
Then the unhappy man undid the bag,
with a trembling hand, and from it took
a small casket of gold.
"Open!" thundered Ben Ezra; and

courage when he saw that his terrible
fiiend was thus subdued.
" Hast ever seen the like of that?"
asked Coloman. "Few eyes have beheld it
save those of the one I got it from, and
those of the one by whom it has been

cut."

"The man who owns that stone is to
be blessed," said Ben Ezra; "Peace be
to thee evermore!"
Then the Jew
moved the stone to and fro for a moment,
shading his eyes with one of his hands.
"If precious stones have their kings,

it

I

4"

,i

Coloman touched a spring, and revealed
to the eager eyes of his terrible host the
opal of Czernowitza.
The gem was a mass of imprisoned firefire of every hue; distinct, and not distinct-now blazing, now gleaming, now
shading colour into colour, and hue into
hue; it was music changed to colour-softly sinking, softly swelling; and it
had its effect on Ben Ezra. The Jew sat
spell-bound before the gem-it had conuquered him; and for a long time he did
not speak. Isaac Coloman plucked up

after the manner of men," continued
Ben Ezra, "then is this stone the
monarch of all opals. They say that
gems are male and female-the deeper
colour being the male, and the lighter
the female; but this is king and queen in
itself; it hath colours deep as colours can
be-it hath colours light as colours can
be; so tender are they that it seems as
though that stone could feel. Speak!
my guest; and if one might mention
money in connection with so rare a gem
-hath it any price ?"

14

THE VANISHING OPAL.

"Nay, friend; there is the spell of an fetched a great price, for it was believed
It is to be a potent charm against the plague
ancient prophecy upon that stone.
priceless to me."
and poison, and hence, indeed, it got its
Ben Ezra sank for a few moments into name. The Persians thought much of it,
a deep reverie; then looked peculiarly and from ' bad-zaher '-expelling poison
at his guest, and bade him cover up the -- 4hey gave it its name. This one would,
in former days, have been of great price,
stone again.
"And now, friend," said Ben Ezra, for in India the larger stones fetched
But, now, guess from
" as thou hast shown me, I verily believe, high figures.
all thou hast-and I confess that, in the what mine or river has this come."
"I know not," answered Coloman ;
possession of that stone, thou hast wealth
that I did not credit thee with, I will " the stone is new to me."
"Well, I will save thy breath, and
show thee some opals which I have.
They are for a royal necklace, and I have time, and patience in guessing. It comes
agents in many parts of the world, en- not out of the earth at all."
"It drops, then, from heaven," cried
deavouring, at any cost, to enable me to
Coloman, drawing away from the stone
complete it. It wants but two stones;
and when they are got, it will be wealth as though it were too holy to be touched.
" Nay, it cometh not from heaven."
to me, and to those who have sunk their
" Then from hell, for there is nowhere
money in it with me. Moreover, I will
show thee the Bezoar, which thou hast else;" and the Jew shrank away from the
never seen, and which is a curiosity cabalistic-looking box.
which few see now.
"Nay, nor from hell; but from the
It came to me
kidneys of the cervi-cabra-a wild animal
from the treasures of the Grand Turk."
Then Ben Ezra groped in the far back of Arabia, partaking of the nature of the
of his safe, and drew forth a case similar deer and the goat, only somewhat larger
than this last. But this, if left alone,
to the others which Coloman had seen,
and also a little box, of some dark wood would be but a simple beginning for it. It
carved with some curious figures. They is said to have been formed in the poison
were hieroglyphics, and probably of some of serpents which have bitten her produce,
combined with the counteracting matter
cabalistic nature.
The case' of opals at once riveted the with which Nature has furnished it.* I
attention of Coloman. They were indeed can tell thee no more about it than that.
of the very first class-excellent in size,
*Concretions of various kinds are found in
and symmetry, and fire-but far inferior
the stomachs of herbivorous quadrupeds, very
to the stone which he himself possessed.
small
Isaac Coloman admired them, and gave generally having for their nucleus some taken
indigestible substance which had been
his opinion of each of them, and they into the stomach. A marvellous stone is said
were duly returned to the case; not, how- to be found in the brain of a dragon-serpent;
ever, without Coloman's observing, with but, in order to ensure its lustre and powerful
some uneasiness, that the host declared influences, it is to be extracted from the living
animal. Philostratus tells us how these won.
that, at one time, he had almost despaired derful dragons were captured "by the exhibiof completing the set before he died, but tion of golden letters and a scarlet robe." The
that he had hopes-he felt fresh courage-men spread them out before the serpent's den,
since he had seen his friend's gem; and but, " first of all, they magically infuse a soposo the opals were put away-away into rific quality into these letters, whereby the
the safe-but, nevertheless, not out of Isaac dragon has his eyes Overcome, losing all power
to turn them away. They also sing over him
Coloman's mind, or of Ben Ezra's either. many spells of mystic art, whereby he is drawn
Then came the turn of the little forth, and putting his neck outside the den, falls
wooden box. " Thou must not look for asleep upon the letters. Then the Indians
beauty here," said Ben Ezra; "this assail him as he lies, cut off his head, and make
savours more of the curious than the prizes of the gem within it; not always, howof
beautiful.
This is the Bezoar, or, as ever, the charm not being probablythe the right
sort. Often does the dragon seize
Indian's
some call it, the Bezuar, or others, the axe-charms and all-and escapes with them into
Beeza stone. There was a time when it his hold, all but making the mountain tremble."

THE VANISHING OPAL.
Such stones are very rare now; and I
doubt not some day I shall get a great
price for this, if I wish to part with it,
which is not likely. Now, brother, we
will go to bed, and to-morrow thou shalt
go to thine own habitation, and may good
luck go with thee, and mayest thou
prosper, and thy head be exalted above that
of thy fathers back unto the fourth generation." And so the two separated, and
each went to his own room.
But not to sleep-at least, not to sleep
at once. Ben Ezra saw in Isaac Coloman's
opal the completion of the royal necklace,
provided only he could get the one stone
which was missing; and Isaac Coloman
saw a flashing red light in his opal, such
as he had never seen before. Three times
he shut his eyes, and moved it to and fro,
and then suddenly looked at the first
colour which presented itself; and on each
occasion it was red-a danger signal, if
his grandmother's words were true. And
Isaac did not sleep the sleep of the just
that night; but spent its hours in falling
down precipices of opal, and in being
stoned with opals, after having been cast
out of synagogues; and inbeing starved,
and choked with opals, seeing that evil
angels set them before him when he was
hungry, instead of bread.
" What have I done ? " thought Isaac
Coloman, during such parts of the night
as he lay awake; " I have put mine hand
under Ben Ezra's thigh; I have sworn to
him that he shall have any stone of mine
which he may need to make up his sets;
what if he find the wanted stone for that
opal necklace, which lacks but that one
for its completion ? what if he come to me
for my most precious gem ? But the stone
he wants to match is good, very good;
he may never get its like, and so never
come for mine; and then there is the
price, he can never pay the price, although
he hath so many in company with him
that I know not how great the sums at his
command ; and he may die, and there is no
written bond, then shall I be clear of
mine oath."
On the other hand, Ben Ezra's dreams
may, in comparison with poor Isaac Coloman's, be said to have been hilarious. He
saw the necklace completed, and hung
round the neck of a queen; he saw Isaac

Coloman's opal the cynosure of the whole
Court; he heard himself spoken of as the
jeweller who only could produce such sets
of stones ; he found himself deluged with
orders of extraordinary magnitude; and
finally, he discovered a mountain of opal
-all precious stone, all noble opal-all
as beautiful as Isaac Coloman's choice gem;
and from thishe had onlyto clip off as much
as he wanted; and, best of all, no one could
ever find out where it was but himself.
It is high time for us to inquire what has
become of Isaac Coloman's son, Sigismund.
As soon as Isaac had time to look about
him, he sought a good opening for his son.
He himself dealt only in large stones,
stones in which it would be perilous indeed to make a mistake; let Sigismund
begin with smaller fry, and by and by he
would be fit for larger operations.
Sigismund was accordingly set up as a
jeweller in a general way, and in process
of time began to do remarkably well.
Every evening, for a long time after the
shop was shut, he came to his father's to
report progress, to get advice, and to get
himself generally kept up to the mark.
Young men, in a general way, do not care
to be kept up to the mark; they are their
own mark, and they seem to themselves
to be always up to that; but Sigismund
had a profound veneration for his father's
judgment in precious stones; and he
would not buy if he could help it, even a
turquoise, without his opinion on it.
Time passed on, and Sigismund prospered in the world. Even after he paid
his father ten per cent. interest-the very
lowest the old man would take-on the
stock purchased, and money generally
advanced, he was not only able to pay
his way, but also to put something by.
A little, quiet pawnbroking business
in the way of taking in jewellery on
pledge, also helped him on; and he
was a young man who might be pronounced to be doing remarkably well.
But Sigismund didnot tell any one of this.
One of the lessons which he had learned
from his old father was, to "Keep his
mouth shut, and his ears and eyes open;"
"two ears, my son, for hearing, and two
eyes, my son, for seeing, and but one
mouth-one mouth, my son for speaking.

z6

THE VANISHING OPAL.

precious stone which is as a wife to me.
I find its companionship enough; it is
unto me as the one ewe lamb which lay
in the poor man's bosom; and though
thou canst not have one supreme object
of affections, as I have until I die, if
even then" (for Coloman had not yet
quite given up the idea of being buried
with his opal), "still thou canst divide
thine affections amongst many; and thou
knowest there is a proverb that' in a
multitude there is safety.' Here thou
had Odem and Pitdah, and Bareketh and
Nophek, and Sapper and Jahalom, and
Lishem and Shebo, Aclamah and Thar.
shish, and Storham and Jaseph with thee
-all that were in the breastplate thou
hast here-spend thine admiration, and
I may say thy love on them. A heart
divided amongst many is a safe heart, my
son; but the heart that trusts in one is in
peril-from-from-who knows fromhow many people, how many things."
For a while, all this seemed very good
to Sigismund; and he became a real admirer, and almost lover of precious stones.
He could find true pleasure in looking at
them, and sorting them, and experimenting with various lights upon their
refulgent properties; but Sigismund was
young, and in addition to various hearts,
some of gold and some of precious stones,
in glass-cases, he had one made of something else--who can tell what? in his
own breast ; and whilst the young man's
head was quite satisfied with the stonetheory of his father, his heart could not
be thus satisfied at all.
How is it that we cannot get these
as women do."
" Precious stones, my son, do not jangle heads and hearts always to work together ? How is it that the head refuses
and wrangle, as women often do."
"Precious stones, my son, will not say sometimes to find reasons for the heart,
'Nay ' when thou sayest ' Yea; ' or ' Yea ' and that the heart will dispense with
when thou sayest ' Nay,' as the perverse "reasons," and be content with feelings
in their place ? Know, good reader, if
woman will."
" Precious stones will not be bright to- you know it not already, that love is an
day and dull to-morrow, but are ever instinct, and instinct requires no reasons.
bright; they are cheerful companions,
Sigismund did not love any one; and yet,
unknown to himself, he wanted to love
which trouble thee not with talk."
" They need no doctor, my son; they some one, and to have someone to love.
do not go out of their own accord, and
It is related of the eccentric prince
whither thou dost not know; and if thou Potemkin that, in his latter days, tired of
sendest them, and for thine own purpose a life of dissipation and turbulence, he
requirest them not back, they will not would sit alone in the long winter evencome. As thou knowest, I have one ings, before a table covered with black
Remember, my son, the proverbs of Solomon, and how often he speaketh of the
peril of the tongue."
And, in truth, Isaac Coloman had practised as he preached. He had not spent
over many words, even on his only son.
If Isaac spake much to himself, having
his audience within, where no one could
see it, he spoke very little to the world
without.
"He who speaks little is
thought to know a great deal," was one
of the proverbs that Isaac manufactured
for himself, and his own guidance; and he
would not have been averse to giving Solomon a turn out of it, or the loan of it at ten
per cent. on what he made out of it, if only
he were alive and proverb-making now.
Isaac Coloman's son Sigismund had
often longed to hear something of his
mother, Hedvige; but his father gave him
very little information about her. All he
could gather was that she had been awoman
of a gentle spirit; and that, having been
heard to say that the gentleness of the
Nazarene was of heaven, she had been
cursed by his father, though she had never
wandered from the Jewish faith.
From Isaac Coloman, the son Sigismund inherited no soft spot, but from
the mother Hedvige he did; and hence,
perhaps, it came to pass that he could
not for all his life long make himself
completely happy with only precious
stones. The young man's father gave
him from time to time various admonitions on the subiect :-" Precious stones, my son, neither eat
nor drink; nor do they want fine clothes,

THE VANISHING OPAL.
Then having his diamonds
velvet.
brought, of which he had a prodigious
quantity, he would continue for hours
amusing himself like a child in placing
them one after another in the form of
circles, crosses, and fanciful figures, considering each before he placed it, and
then admiring the situation of it, or removing it to another. On one of these
evenings the thought occurred to him to

a*7

black diamonds, in imitation of the
ribbon of the Order of St. George. He
frequently amused himself by pouring
the diamonds out of one hand into ai
other, as children play with little stones.
Like Potemkin, Sigismund set out
gems in this form, and that; but, aft, r
all, stones were stones, and nothing
more; even as hearts are hearts, and
nothing less.

h'i

ID OLO

weigh the diamonds; they were found to
amount to several pounds. The most remarkable were what composed an epaulette
of brilliants to the value of 850,000
roubles; another of coloured stones of
800,000 roubles, perfect rubies, weighing
from 35 to 36 carats, of inestimable
value; the picture of the Empress
Catherine IT. pendant to yellow and

There were many evenings when Sigismund did not go to his father's; and
these he spent for the most part at
home, in the little parlour behind the
shop; and there he often looked into the
fire, and thought of the cold black stones
which he put on- it being turned into
glowing light, flaming, blazing-like his
own gems; and doing what they could

I8

THE VANISHING OPAL.

may shine in your ears, and on your
neck, and round your wrist; and if such
were allowable in the country in which
you lived, hanging in a ring from your
nose. You do not particularly care even
to have them as a ring on your fingers.
A plain gold one, I do you the justice to
believe, you, in common with some of
the simpler of your sex, would have
much preferred. But you were fond of
the pretty things, and you often stepped
to look at them in Sigismund's window.
And, Leopoldine, Sigismund often looked
at you, and as he looked (though he
didn't,know it) he was getting himself
ready to be cooked; and though you
didn't know it, you were to be cook.
But how were the two to be brought
together ? Week after week Sigismund
thought that surely the beautiful Jewess
-for he could see plainly enough to
what faith shelbelonged--would come in
and, at any rate, ask the price of something, as many a one did, who did not
want to buy at all. But she contented
herself with simply looking in.
At last, one day, she appeared with a
young female friend; and the two stood
looking along time at a new bracelet which
Sigismund had hung up in a conspicuous
position. It was labelled "An Amulet;"
and the curiosity of the young girls was
evidently aroused about it.
Now was Sigismund's chance. There
were two of them; so there could be no
harm in asking them in, just in the way
"0 happy love ! when love like this is found I of business. Accordingly, the jeweller
O heartfelt raptures ! bliss beyond compare I came to the door, and asked them "if
I've paced much this weary mortal round,
they would not walk in."
And sage experience bids me this declare"We have no money to buy," said
If heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare,
the girls.
One cordial in this melancholy vale,
" Oh, no matter, you need not buy,
'Tis when a youthful modest pair
you need only look. I'll show you anyIn other's arms breathe out the tender tale
Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the
thing I have, without your buying."
evening gale."
" Well, we are curious," said Miriam
Alas ! there are no milk-white thorns Levy, "to know what that bracelet or
in London streets ; and the evening gale amulet is; perhaps it would not take
is often somewhat dubious as to scent; you too long to tell us about it, and we
but you shall not be disappointed, good shall be very much obliged. Come in,
reader; the streets may be prosy, but the Leopoldine, we have more than half an
love, the poetry, is coming all the same.
hour to spare." So in the two young
Leopoldine Gratz, are all your people people went; and the jeweller took the
fond of precious stones ? More or less, amulet out of the window.
they are. And, Leopoldine, so are you.
"
This jewel," said Sigismund, "is
You do not love them in order that they not to be sold, it is an order; there is no
not do-warming.
Heat came forth
from them as it did not from diamond,
ruby, emerald, and pearl. "The fire
does it," said the young man, spreading
his hands before the glowing coals; " it
is the transformer, and I bask in its heat.
What are flashes, what are gleams, what
are sparkles, what are any of them without heat ? "
Sigismund, my friend, Sigismund!
Those who love heat are often burnt at
the fire. Is it well, Sigismund, even to
be singed ? Is it well to boil over, even a
little ? Beware, Sigismund! Baked, or
fried, or boiled, or broiled, or subjected
too much to the action of heat, thou
mayest come away badly from the fire.
But Sigismund did not give heed to any
such voices; and, lamentable as it is to
have to record such fatuity, he actually
did wish to be baked, or to be fried, or to be
boiled, or broiled, or something of the kind.
Well, all these were only premonitory
symptoms of what was coming on.
" Coming events," as we are told, "cast
their shadows before them." There is
some cooking, you may depend upon it,
always before him who desires to be
cooked; and there is the cook too.
Sigismund's cook was in existence,
and the fates were about to bring her
to Sigismund himself.
I suppose, good reader, you are now
off to look at the moon and woodland
glades, to poor Burns's milkwhite thorn
that scents the evening gale.

THE VANISHING OPAL.
The girls had now to go; but not beprice, you will have observed, on it, as on
most of the other things. Every stone fore the jeweller told them that, if they
in it is sacred to a particular month; they would honour him by looking in another
are called zodiac stones; and they are set day, and he [hoped soon, he would show
together, so as to be sure to have the one them another string of stones-a "curiosity
in connection with, or corresponding to, that he had bought a little while beforethe particular sign or month of the year. and which, if he could not get a customer
The first you see is a garnet, a jacynth, for in certain quarters, he would break up.
We often become what we wish to be;
that is for January, or the sign Aquarius ;
and the next is an amethyst, that is for and so was it with Sigismund, the
February, or the sign of Pisces-a very jeweller. Unknown to himself, when he
good sign for that month, for it is always felt the insufficiency of the precious
so wet, here anyhow. There is the stones to bring any light or warmth into
bloodstone that goes to Aries the ram, or his heart, he wished for, or felt that
the month of March; and here is this he wanted, something that would-he
blue stone, the sapphire, for April, it wanted to be in love; or, if you like to
belongs to the sign Taurus, the bull. I put it in another form, he wanted to love
don't quite like that, for a bull is a and be loved. Hitherto, no opportunity
rushing beast; and one never thinks of had come to him; it had come now.
him except as getting up a tree or some- And so, when in due time Leopoldine
thing of that sort from his horns; and the Gratz and her friend turned up again to
see the jeweller's curiosity, he was in a
sapphire is a calm and heavenly-looking
stone, blue like the sky above; it used very fitting state to look upon Leopoldine
to be said that it helped to make people as a very precious stone indeed. Yes, as
sleep.* May has the agate, and June better than any precious stone; for he had
the emerald, and July the onyx, and had some days in which to become the vicAugust the cornelian, and September the tim of his imagination; and imagination
will do a great deal in a very short time when
chrysolite, and October the aquamarine,
and November the topaz, and last, not a single lady or gentleman is concerned.
least, December, the ruby.
Well, the jeweller showed Leopoldine
"'
This is for an old lady who I suppose and her friend the curiosity, which was a
bracelet of stones. " Now guess what
does a bit of conjuring with herself;
perhaps she finds out by some of these these are," said he. So the girls guessed
stones how she is going to be, for some one thing and another; and then, with
folk believe that if gems become dull infinite scorn, the jeweller told them
they foretell illness or danger; and if they what it was. " It belongs to the Chrislook colourless, then you must prepare tians," said he; "to the people of
Here are the twelve
for the worst. But," added.the jeweller the Nazarene.
gallantly, " there's nothing bad coming Apostles, as they are called. You see the
to any of us; perhaps there's something name of each engraved at the back.
very good, for I don't think I ever saw 'Peter' is on this jasper, and ' Andrew'
these stones look so bright as since you on this sapphire, and 'James' on this
have looked into them." Sigismund did chalcedony. There, read them. for yournot think of saying "that "perhaps the self; and look at that last one-there is
ladies had left the reflection of their eyes 'Matthias' on that amethyst. A pity
in them," he was only now being trussed they did not put a bloodstone in there,
for the fire-nay, he was only being and, call it Judas. Ha," said the jeweller
caught, and his feathers were not even with bitterest scrn, " he was the best of
plucked; by-and-by, when he had been them, for he put an end to the Nazarene."
partly cooked, and was twisting merrily
" True !" said Leopoldine Gratz's comround upon the spit, he would probably panion; but Leopoldine herself did not
have said this, and a great deal more.
say anything, but she winced at thejewel* Sir John Mandeville, in describing the
ler's remark. Leopoldine was of a gentle
frame of Prester John's bed, says that it was of
disposition; perhaps she winced at the
fine sapphires ;blended with gold to make him
Her religion taught her
word "blood."
sleep well.

s26

THE VANISHING OPAL.

that the blood was the life thereof; per- pot on a shelf. Turn me up, good friend,
haps she thought of what blood it was, I am Crown-Derby still, blue-marked
for she believed the Nazarene to have though cracked; look at the mark, and
been a good man. She was sorry her not the crack. Think of the tea I have
people had killed Him; she would not brewed, though I can brew no more;
have hurt a hair of His head herself. think of the gossips T have assisted at,
She had a Testament at home; it was though no one wants me now. Never
hidden in her little room, and she often mind, dear old creature, we have both had
read it ; and she wondered whether if she our day, and we are both, so to speak, howhad lived in those old times she would ever cracked, genuine Crown-Derby still.
have been glad to have sat at His feet at
Some roasts are soon done, and some
Bethany; or to have attended Him with take a long time to do; a good deal demuch service; or to have broken an pends upon the fire. Imagine to yourself
alabaster box of ointment, very precious, a chicken full of enthusiasm to be done,
and to have anointed Him. If she had and itself helping the spit to go round and
stood beside the cross, could she have round, it won't take long in the cooking,
gone very early in the morning, while it will it ? I suppose in this case the fire
was yet dark, to the tomb ? She did not was good and the fowl was willing, for the
believe in Him. She did not understand jeweller began to look over his rings to see
anything of what St. Paul said of Him; which would be the best for an engagement
but her common woman's heart went out one; and he also put away a few other
to Him ; and sometimes she felt as though, things out of his stock, which he thought
beyond the foreground of this, there was would become Leopoldine very much. But
some long perspective which she could then, there was old Isaac to be taken into
not penetrate, but she always thought it account. Papas often have to count for
was a way of sunshine and shadow, with something, even on the man's side; and
this papa was of particular importance,
a great light at the end.
Well, to come back to the jeweller and because, in point of fact and law, he was
his gems, the young girls came oftener the real owner of all the jeweller's stock ;
and oftener; and now and again Leopoldine moreover, he was the possessor of those
came with an older person-in fact, the special stones, of which his son was the
aunt with whom she lived, for she was an natural heir, and above all, of the precious,
orphan girl-and between ourselves, good the noble opal which would doubtless
reader, the poor old soul was brought come to him, though when it should so
there that the jeweller might be inspected do, he felt he should not know what to
with a view to eventualities, the possi- do with it, at least, in the way of sale, if,
bility of which began to shadow them- indeed, he dared sell it at all.
selves forth in Leopoldine's breast. The
"So thou art bent on marriage, my
old lady was brought to look at this, and son," said old Isaac Coloman to his son,
that, only three or four times; the fact when the latter visited him to knvw his
was (though one rather shrinks from mind on the subject. "I have lived very
dwelling on it) she was not wanted one well without thy mother for many years,
bit for herself, indeed (though I don't like why canst thou not live by thyself ? True !
to say it), she was rather in the way than I have my precious, my noble one to keep
otherwise. As she expressed a favourable me company, but thou hast plenty of gems
opinion of the jeweller, and had invited too, though none like that."
him to her house to tea (this, owing to her
Then Sigismund told his father all
happy apprehension of a suggestion offered about Leopoldine's charms, and how she
to her by her niece), she was not brought had a little dower of her own, which he
out in the cold any more. Dear old would throw into the business, a stroke of
creature, why should she be? We all of generalship which helped to gain the day.
us find ourselves in life obliged to just
"I see, my son," said the old Jew,
" serve a turn." Happy are we if we can "that thou art sick even unto death.
make ourselves contented with looking After all, why shouldst thou be better
ornamental, like an old cracked china tea- than Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, thy

THE VANISHING OPAL.

21

forefathers ? Yet also, remember Job.
B]ut let us see, let us see! "
Then Isaac Coloman took a large circle
of rock crystal, almost like a diamond
itself, so colourless, so bright. This he
fixed in a frame not unlike that of a
looking-glass, so that the crystal could be
eas;ly moved.
The old Jew had kept his precious opal
to himself ever since he got possession of
it; even his son Sigismund knew very
little about it, and as to the use he made

of beauty." Then Coloman fixed a thread
of silk to a hook in the ceiling, and opened
a little window, through which streamed
in the rays of a brilliant sun. Next
with great ceremony, and almost with a
kind of reverence, he produced the precious
opal from its hiding-place, and fixed it
securely to the end of the hanging silk.
It was never known what the old Jew
said, but he whispered to the stone just
as if it could hear, and then said to his
son, " Thou seest that that crystal focuses

of it, he was quite a stranger. He looked
on therefore with curiosity, and not alltogether with comfort at what was taking
place. Was his father a necromancer,
condemned by their law ? Had the opal
a familiar spirit, and would there be some
Vitch of Endor-like scene again? What
was he about to hear or see ?
" Fear not, my son," said the old man,
"thou shalt hear no voice; and whatsoever colour thou scest, it will be a vision

the light from heaven, and thou seest that
the focus is at the end of this silken
thread. Now, this precious opal will go
forth in search of truth, and it will tell
thee whether this marriage, if it be undertaken, will be for thy good or not. Thou
must sit with closed eyes at the other
side from the crystal, the rays from the
sun will fall direct upon the gem when it
is at rest, then when I tell thee to open
thine eyes, mark well the colQr thouirst

2a

THE VANISHING OPAL.

seest, and, according to that, we will that thou wilt find in the wife thou art
settle how this matter is to be."
about to take what is just and true. She
As soon as Sigismund was placed in will not deceive thee, she will be what a
position, his father swung the gem gently wife ought to be, and that is saying much,
to and fro, like the pendulum of a clock, my son. But I need not tell thee about
and then left it to itself. Gradually its this, only I would that thou hadst seen
oscillations became less and less, until at some yellow.
Art thou sure, my son,
last, just as he was getting somewhat that thou didst not see it, just a little
impatient, the young man heard a quick, shade-a little tinge? Well, it was in
sharp word, "Look," and he opened his eyes the stone, at any rate; that is a comfort;
and fixed them upon the stone. Ablue blaze and perhaps thou wilt see it another
of fire met his eye, blue as the heavens, time.
Now go thy way, I may not
gainsay what the gem hath said; and
bright as the sun in those heavens.
" What seest thou, my son?" cried I am expecting some one here on business
out the old man, in evident agitation. for whom I must prepare ;" and so, Sigi
mund was dismissed, happy in the thought
" Speak! Quick !"
"Blue - only blue--blue like the that there was no obstacle between hia
heavens above; like the heavens, with the and his love.
sun setting them ablaze."
"Good, my son, good," said the old
CHAPTER III.
man, as he sank down exhausted from excitement, ''the gem hath been gracious ISAAC CorLOMN's son having taken his
unto thee, thou mayest marry, and that departure, the old man proceeded to conwhen thou wilt. But" said the young sult the opal on his own account.
"Be favourable to me, precious of my
man's father, sidling up to him, "didst
thou not see some yellow, my son ? I heart," said he; "be gracious unto one
would that thou hadst seen some yellow, who crowns thee the gem of all gems in
my son ; yellow belongs to our race; when his heart, and who loves thee with a love
there is no yellow, it seems as though the passing the love of women. Tell me
what will ease my troubled mind, show
interpretation would lead to some breach
in ourrace. Butthatmust pass; whatis, is, me a token for good; yetwhatever thou
and cannot be forced or changed ; we must sayest, I will not gainsay; for my sake,
not inquire twice, for that would savour far be it for me to wish that thou shouldest
of discontent, or doubt. I did it once, lie."
Then the old man this time spun the
my son, and the gem became clouded, and
told me naught---thou hast seen blue. stone round and round, until the shortenHladst thou seen yellow, it would have ing silk at last untwisted, and the gem,
been gold; hadst thou seen red, it would turning the other way, descended towards
have been danger; in either case thou the bright spot made by the crystal again.
couldest not have married this maiden. The opal at last rested, and the old man,
Thoi must have married some one like whose eyes had been shut at the moment
Miriam Levvy, who, though she halteth on the stone gave any indications of stopping,
both her feet, and hath a glass eye, and is gave a quick, momentary, but searching
favoured not in the region of the nose, hath glance at the gem. Then he gave a deep
£50,000, if thou hadst seen yellow; or not groan, and smote three times upon his
'Even so, as it did when I
have married at all, if thou hadst seen red. breast.
The first would have been money, the parted with Ben Ezra, so does it now.
Thou showest me, 0 precious gem, thy
second danger.
flaming red. If warning is the right
'The yellow tint will tell of gold,'
thing, I accept it as thy goodness to me
my son--Thou hast seen no green,
'The green of that which grows not old.' in giving me warning; if danger be
nigh, thou mayest not be able to avert
But thou hast seen blueit; thou dost what in thee lies, thou tellest
'Prize above all its heavenly hue,
It guides to what is just and true.'
me of it. I fear for myself, 0 precious,
I dare put no interpretation on it but this, 0 noble one; and for myself, because of

THE VANISHING OPAL.
thee; would that I had wandered a seeming beggar about the streets of London,
when first I came to this place, rather than
have taken thee under Ben Ezra's roof,
and let thee fall under his accursed eyes.
May thy beard, Ben T]zra, dry up to the
very roots-yea, I would that thou
wouldest dry up thyself, from the crown
of the head to the foot. And what is
this thou sayest," said Coloman, reading
a letter he took up, " thou hast, contrary
to all expectation, found the last matching stone to thy opal necklace, and thou
art coming to me concerning the purchase
of my opal for a pendant to the same.
Thou remindest me that I am under oath
to give it to thee, and, child of ill-luck,
here thou art," said the old man, as there
came a knocking at the door. It was indeed Ben Ezra's staff that was making
the noise; and a few moments more saw
him seated in Isaac Coloman's room.
Isaac had taken the precautions to put
away the crystal and the gem; so Ben
Ezra lost the advantage of a text readyrade for his discourse.
"Sit thee down, brother," said the
visitor, " and gladden thine eyes with the
opal that comes next to thy precious
gem," and the Jew drew one of such
eses, as we have already described, from
his breast. It contained the necklace
pow perfect, the match gem had indeed
been obtained. "And now, brother, to
complete this matchless necklace-destined after many years' delay for a
crowned head--I have come to thee to
Provide what is yet lacking-a pendant,
such as is worthy of the necklace itself.
I make no secret of it, thou and thou only
canst supply this stone; and thou shalt
have thy price. This is a case of what
they call love, and love is the best pay
there is. He who gets these gems to give
them away must pay for them, and that
he knows well ;-and poor fool !-he will
get some kisses for them and think that he
has been well paid. Now, Coloman, thy
price ? "
"Iwillnotpart with the gem," saidIsaac.
" Didst not thou put thine hand under
my thigh, and swear," said the visitor"but thou art turning white, thou art
ill! Thou must think of it again, and I
will call another time," and Ben Ezra-

23

who was afraid of Coloman's having a fit,
and not knowing what to do with him if
he had, took a hasty leave. " Whiat if
he should have a fit," said Ben Ezra to
himself, "and die upon the floor. I
might be taken up for murder; coming
with intent to rob, and then staying to
murder. The necklace has had to wait
long; it will not harm it to wait yet a
little longer."
When Ben Ezra returned home, he
found waiting for him the man from
whom he had bought the long-wanted
match opal. He was an ill-looking man,
with a couple of deep gashes in his face;
but he had brought Ben Ezra the stone he
had wanted; and that was enough for him.
" And where thinkest thou that I have
been ? " said the Jew.
" Grubbing somewhere iii the slime and
dirt, I suppose," answered the ill-looking
man gruffly; " trying to get money somewhere."
"Nay, friend," said Ben Ezra, who
wished to keep on the best of terms with
the stranger, for he had yet some smaller,
but very precious, opals to dispose of:
"Nay; but getting an opal, or trying to
get one, that will beat even thine."
"It cannot be found," said the man •

gruffly.
" Nay; but it can, and I know where
to find it, and I mean it to be a pendant
to the necklace now complete."
" There is but one opal in the world,"
said the man, " that I know of, that can
answer your description; and there is
one-would that I could draw something
across the throat of the man to whom I
sold it-for it once was mine. It was
not so much its size-though that too
was excellent-but it was its fire; nay,
talk not of its fire, but of its fires.
Where I got it is naught to you, and
you need not ask about it; and why I
sold it, and sold it for what at the
moment I could get, is naught to you
either. I know not where it now is,
or where the man to whom I sold it.
Would that I could see the stone again
for the love of it; and would that I
could see him again, to transact further
business with him," and the ill-looking man
made an ugly gesture about the throat.
" I can tell thee his name, perhaps,"

24

THE VANISHING OPAL.

said Ben Ezra, " but I will not tell thee
where he lives; or thou mayest perhaps
be a shedder of blood, and lose thine own
life. Is his name Coloman-Isaac Colo'
man-and comes he from Hungary ? "
"The same," said the stranger excitedly. "Would that I could meet with
him-at any rate with his throat. I have
cursed him ever since I let him have that
stone; but I tell you, friend, you will
never get it. from him-not for money,
not for anything that man can name.
But try, and if you succeed-look here
Ben Ezra, I will give you this opal as
a present;" and the man grinned from
ear to ear. "This I will promise on
my part; and look! this is not an
every-day stone; and you-you must
promise on your part that, if the stone
is not in your possession within a month
from this, you will follow out my
wishes about that stone, on the faith that
you run no risk, and are not subjected to
any loss ; except, indeed, your not being
able to get that stone, which I tell you
no living man will ever get out of Iaaac
Coloman's hands. A month! Work at
him for a month, and then I come again.
Ben Ezra did work hard for a month, he
worked very hard. But the end of the
month found him where he was at the beginning, he not only could not get the opal
itself, but he could not even get a sight of it.
And now appeared again upon the scene
that ugly-looking man. " Well, let me
see Isaac Coloman's opal," said he to Ben
Ezra. " No, you have not got it, you need
not tell me this and that about it; I knew
you would not. But what you could not do,
I can do for you; and, more than that, I
can give that opal a lustre even beyond
what it already has, but you must be
patient. You must tell Coloman that you
have abandoned the idea of having a pendant to your necklace ; you must tell him
that it is complete without it; that even a
crowned head could not afford to pay what
he justly demands for it. You and he must
be the closest of friends, and then you must
tell him that you have found out that there
is'a way ofincreasing the power of the opal's
colours, and that on his paying you such a
sum as you choose to name you will give
him the charm.
I will give you that
charm; and he, being no longer obliged to

sell to you, will not object to let his opal
lie for a while in a crystal bottle sealed
with his own seal, and left in his own
possession; the water in it will be opal
life-the secret of opal fire. I can bide my
time, you go and try ; one thing I promise
you, the precious opal of Czernowitza shall
leave the possession of Isaac Coloman."
The Hungarian departed, and Ben Ezra
faithfully carried out his instructions.
When Isaac Coloman found that Ben
Ezra was no longer on the tack of purchasing the opal, that, in fact, he had
abandoned the idea, he became nearer
friends with him, and allowed him with
comparative freedom to see and even
handle the stone.
As soon as friendly relations and confidence were thoroughly established, Ben
Ezra arrived one day following a letter
which he had previously sent, telling
Coloman that he had something to tell
him full of wonder, and full of profit too.
" Isaac," said Ben Ezra, " thou didst
never expect to live to see such a happy
day as this will be for thee, and for thy
priceless gem. Know that I have been
long experimenting upon opals to increase
their brightness, but until now have failed;
but a scholar, one of our people, has met
with something in a very ancient book
written by one Theophrastus, a friend and
disciple of one Aristotle, who may have
been a Christian for aught I know or care,
and that put me on the scent; and I have
raised the value of many of my stones full
fifty per cent. What will thy opal be ?
It will be like forked lightning, like
twenty dying dolphins, like the sunrise
and the sunset; it will be green as the
grass, blue as the sky; it will shame the
sheen of silver and gold; it will mock the
diamond, the ruby, and the pearl. I
should like before my bones are gathered
to my fathers to see such a sight as thy
gem will be when it hath been dipped in
this elixir of life."
Isaac Coloman listened open-mouthed
to all that Ben Ezra told him. " I knew
not," said he, " that aught could add to
the beauty of this gem; but can no harm
happen to it ?"
"Love I not it, even as thou dost ? "
said Ben Ezra reproachfully.
" Thou
shalt see that which will make it

THE VANISHING OPAL.

the wonder of the world ; it is naught save
water with the light of heaven imprisoned
in it by means of crystals, and there is a
certain prayer to be used, which I will tell
thee after we have seen thy gem blazing
like a thousand sunsets and sunrises to
boot; and then thou canst treat every opal
thou gettest, and make it of double price."

25

into it, and be allowed to remain in the
dark for fourteen days, " so long," said he,
" tell Coloman it will take to absorb finer
shades, and to intensify the fiercer fires;
then, at the end of fourteen days, let him
take out the gem, he will scarcely dare
hold it in his hand owing to those fires."
With great reverence did Isaac Coloman

As Ben Ezra had formally renounced receive the cry stal, and with great solemany desire to possess the opal himself, and nity did he produce the gem, and with many
had absolved Isaac Coloman from his oath, expressions of affection did he commit it to
the latter had no suspicion of any kind, the little vessel, sealing down the stopper
and a day was settled when the gem was with his own signet, and depositing it
in a dark recess which he had made for it
to be plunged in the elixir of opal life.
Ben Ezra received from the Hungarian by taking out one of the bricks from the
a wide-mouthed crystal cup, with a stopper wall. It was of the essence of the operaclosely fitting thereto, with directions tion that no light should reach the crystal
that the opal should be gently dropped while it was going on, and during that

THE VANISHING OPAL.
Ben Ezra, with many curses, for the
fortnight Isaac Coloman never left the
opal had now slipped from his hand for
room.
At last the day 'came when he was ever, spent much time and money in ento see the gem, the darling of his soul, a deavouring to track the man, but without
thousand times more lovely than before. effect. He was never heard of more.;
All the preceding night he had tossed to There was a man somewhat answering thi
and fro upon his bed; he was almost description guillotined in France for murdazzled with the visions of light which der committed in a jewel robbery, andBen
Ezra comforted himself much with the
had flashed across his eyes.
The sun rose bright that auspicious thought that it might possibly be he.
There are opals in the world which
morning. The gem would catch its light,
would concentrate it, would shame it; are made of somewhat softer and more
light would dwell in it without the sun precious than silica (flint), of which,
at all. " Oh, glory of all gems! and thou after all, the most precious opal is comart mine, thou art mine ! " said Coloman, posed-soft opals, whisperers of light,
as he removed the brick with a trembling whose transitions from beauty to beauty
are so imperceptible, yet so real, that
hand, and held the crystal to the light.
THE OPAL WAS GONE!
their grace and power are but as one,
Naught remained but a small, a very small and of these was Leopoldine Gratz.
Leopoldine married Sigismund in due
dark spot. The spirit of the opal had fled !
Was that indeed its corpse? Or was it the time after his father's death. The days
demon that had destroyedthe precious gem ? of mourning Sigismund cut as short as
The crystal fell from Coloman's hand possible; and then was comforted (if
and smashed upon the floor, and Coloman comforting he needed) for the old man's
himself followed it. He was struck with death by the newness of married life.
Sigismund was a Jew, a bitter Jew,
an apoplectic fit; and the life which would
have been of little use to him without the but Leopoldine, who also was a Jewess,
almost worshipped gem, quickly passed could never see why her people should
have killed the Nazarene, Who had done
away.
The Hungarian had had his revenge. no one any harm, and Who had done
What even the blowpipe, concentrating on everyone good. Much did Leopoldine
one spot the heat of terrible fire, could not love to read of Him :oftentimes she
do, a solution of caustic potash had done; thought that, had she lived in His times,
with a fire which could not be seen it had she would have belonged to Him. Much
devoured the opal's life. It had lent no she wondered whether she would have
His feet with ointment,
colour to the liquid which it impregnated ; anointed
it destroyed its victim almost in the garb: and wiped them with the hair of her
head-carrying away herself, by the
of an angel of light.
The corpse of Coloman and the vanished very law and necessity of the act, some
gem are an epitome of the history of too of the perfume she had spent on Him.
Many a time did she almost talk with
many human lives.
The world has many opals; it has many Him, making her lone room like that
lone well at Sychar; and be He what He
corpses too !
said He was or not, she believed that
Thus died Isaac Coloman; but he left were it all to be done over again,
other folk in the world behind him. The and were she there she would try to
Hungarian was not dead; nor was Ben fetch His body away, and would stand
Ezra, his brother Jew; nor was Sigismund, weeping outside His tomb. Whoever
He mWs, whatever He was, He was lovenor was Leopoldine.
to be loved.
As to the Hungarian, Ben Ezra saw him able,
The term " Nazarene " was one of reno more. The man knew only too well
that the opal must perish; and he knew proach; and by this name He was never
also that that would mean life-long misery known in Leopoldine's mind. With her
to Isaac Coloman, his foe. He did noi it was as the prophet says it was, " not
diy nor nnight, though
her evening
know. that it would mean death.

and

THE VANISHING OPAL

time it came to pass that there was
light." Leopoldine could not briug herself to see all that He was, though she
did acknowledge that He was-oh, how
much! She knew Him in her mind as
"THE
ONE," let that mean what it
would, and all that it could.

True, he had the other stones whose
hiding-place he knew; and these, with
what he already had, were abundantly
enough for far more than comfort; but
we think not of what we have, but of
what we have not-not of what we have
spared, but of whatever we may have lost.

And had it not been for thinking of
this ONE, Leopoldine's life would have
after a while been ill to bear.
For Sigismund, her husband, became
gradually soured by the loss of the opal
on which his father had set such store,
and which he had counted upon inheri4e4 with it Pejed wg l
e

These are corrosives for the mind, the
heart, the man, and the Hungarian
seemed to have provided one not only for
the father, but also for the son.
As time went on, what had become of
the opal was the one question which
fretted the jeweller's spirit. The memory
efthet1 n
h~&u t'~ bahuo4
p-ef

28

THE VANISHING OPAL

cious to the son as the stone itself had
been to his father; but it was gone- gone.
Gradually the corrosive ate into the
young man's spirit, and soured him
in his business; and, worse than that,
soured him in his daily life.
The jeweller had in his wife a gem
more precious than many opals-a gem
whose voice, and look, and touch, and
way, had in them tendernesses softer
than any opal's light; but his heart was
not with what he had, but with what he
had not; and he believed himself to, be
absolutely poor, because he was not
relatively rich.
Had he not another little gem in
Maira, his only child-a little human
opal full of changing lights and fire.
But, they were naught, wife and child
could not cope with his heavy loss.
Sigismund the jeweller became morose-no husband to Leopoldine, no father to
Maira, a dweller amongst the tombs,
one bound to the lost, even as a criminal
was bound to a corpse of old. Sore were
the provocations which fell to poor
Leopoldine's lot almost every day, and
no human comforter could she anywhere
find. Her friend, the one who first
came with her to the jeweller's in her
early days, had herself married, and gone
to live far, far away; her old aunt had
gone on the far, far off way of all. Little
Maira was all that she had left. Could
she only have made him wholly her
friend, who was the Friend of friends,
the Friend that sticketh closer than a
brother, all might have been well.
There would have been the heavenly
compensations for the earthly losses.
But Leopoldine could only go thus farthat which was of earth had gone, and
that which was of heaven had not
come. The mighty compensation which
was also the mighty consolation, Leopoldine could touch, as it were, with her
fingers' ends, but could not grasp.
And graspings are what we need.
Wind-struck, wave-washed, our rock may
be, but it stands sure; the feebleness is in
our hand graspings, which are not fast.
Still in all, the One she had been
taught to call the Nazarene was her comfort. She felt, she could not say why,
was her friend, she felt He could not

74

say her "Nay."
Like the women of
old, she followed Him, only at present
not knowing all that He was, yet that
He was much to her. She was seeing as
through a glass, darkly. How many
such go on even to fceing face to face ?
And little Maira walked with her
mother hand in hand. They groped onward, the mother and the child, but ever
onward; for Leopoldine there was nothing
behind.
So time passed on and on, and
Leopoldine's hair became silver, and she
herself was like silver purified seven
times in the fire. There is One who sits
as a refiner of silver, and some lIe
purifies in quick-burning fires, and some
in slow, dross-consuming furnaces, the
heat of which is to be for many days.
As little Maira grew, she walked step
by step with her mother. The jeweller
held little communion with them. He
lived, and he meant to live, with his loss;
had he been one with them, he might
have been made partaker of their gain.
So things went on, until one day
Sigismund came to the room where
his wife and daughter were sitting, and
announced that there was to be a change
in the establishment, so far as was involved in the addition of another inmate.
"I have been robbed," said, the
jeweller, "of some precious stones; even
I have been deceived by the counterfeits
that have been put in their place. I
have nearly lost my character as an
honest man by wanting to sell them
myself, believing them to be true. This
must never be again. Therefore, I have
hired a young man, who is one of the best
gem-setters in the trade, and he is to
live here. He is to have a top room
fitted up for him as a workshop, his
meals are to be carried to him every day,
and no loose stone of any worth will
You women
leave my house again.
look after him when I am not looking
after him," and the jeweller pulled a key
out of his pocket, and, with a symbolic
motion thereof, let his wife and daughter
know that the young man was to locked
in. "He is a ChriP'Du dog," said the
Jew, " and therefore w need not trouble
ourselves about him
It was not long hore the expected
was a tall
new comer arrive4

much."

le

THE VANISHING OPAL.

The next day the jeweller took hii
slight young man, some four-and-twenty
departure, and with him a couple of
years of age, with large somewhat
officers, who were supposed to be as good
dreamy eyes, and brown curling hair.
hIis fingers were like a woman's, they as sleuth hounds when once they were
were white and tapering, and seemed as put on the scent, and Paul Tarson found
though they were better fitted for hand- himself in some sense the prisoner of
ling gems than anything else. The Leopoldine and her daughter Maira.
True to their trust the women were;
rough work of life was not for them.
Paul Tarson ate at the Jew's table and but they were women still. If I am to
be shut up, let the key be in a woman's
lodged in the Jew's house, but at first he
He pocket, unless indeed, by some freak of
mixed little with its inmates.
seemed to find in a small book, which he nature, I suddenly turn into a woman
had generally in his pocket, as much com- myself. Should this by any chance take
panionship as he required. Had he made place, then, I content myself with sayingany advances the jeweller was prepared to "Let things take their ordinary course."
sit upon him immediately; and, had he ven- I don't think I should feel---" A female
tured one word on the subject of the Naza- warder preferred."
Such were the warders in whose keeprene, immediately to turn him out of doors.
But he was destined ere very long to ing Paul Tarson now was, and the comcome into somewhat closer connection mission to his turnkeys was, as they interpreted it, sufficiently wide to enable
with the mother and her child.
One day the jeweller came in with a them to ameliorate his condition, for
troubled countenance to the room where his amelioration it required in their eyes.
"lHe must often be very lonely up
wife and daughter were sitting. They were
there by himself all day," said Maira to
afraid that he hadmet with some greatloss.
" I have to leave this to-morrow," said her mother, "couldn't we do something
Sigismund. "I have to go to Paris, and to make it more cheerful for him ?" Oh,
from Paris I may have to go to Vienna, yes, women find out many ways of alleviaand from Vienna to St. Petersturg, and it tion when they want to alleviate, many
may be some weeks before I can return. holes and chinks through which to let in
I have scent of the stolen stones, and I sunbeams when they wish to shine.
must track them out if it be within the That was how flowers got into Paul
power of man to get hold of them again. Tarson's room, that was how fresh ones
For amongst them is a spinel which was came when the old ones withered; that
given to me to set, on account of which was how Maira played and sang in the
I have had to pay heavy damages, and room next him, where he could hear
have nearly lost my character to boot. through the wall; and, as time wore on,
This robbery has touched my credit in and the jeweller did not return, that was
the trade, and I have had winks and how Maira and her mother after a while
sat in the room where the long white
blinks for which I could have blackened
the eyes of the people from whom they fingers were twisting gold and gems into
came. But I could prove nothing, and beautiful form. And, by degrees,' Paul and
a man's word without proof is not thought Maira learned to sing, and to think toworth very much. And now about this gether-to sing, and to talk, and to think,
youth Paul Tarson. A man's wife and and to feel, and to hope, and to wish, and
child have the same interest as himself. to-how many more verbs, good reader,
He must go on with his work as usual do you want me to string together?
while I am away. All you women will Whatever verbs go to make up life active
have to do is to see that he is safe. As and meditative, I make you a present of
long as your eyes are upon him, or the key them all, and put them down to the
turned in the door, all will be well. The account of Paul Tarson and Maira.
But that which bound Maira to Paul
foreman will do the business downstairs. I
can trust him. You two keep a sharp eye was not only the things of the heart or
on Tarson, and "--said the jeweller signifi- of the head, there were deeper bonds
than thee.
ptl y-" woe betide you if you don't."

THE VANISHING OPAL.

And the chief bond lay in Paul's little
The absence of the jeweller
book.
seemed to have so far unbound the
handicraftsman that he sang now sometimes at his work. And that singing
Maira heard-it was of the One she and
her mother knew as the Nazarene-but
He was more than that to Paul, and his
songs of Him were of peace, and of
triumph, and of hope.
The songs and the subject of the songs
lured mother and daughter to the crafts-

God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious
corner-stone, a sure foundation. He that
believeth shall not make haste,' and from
that stone my Testament says, 'Other
foundation can no man lay than that is
laid, which is Jesus Christ.' It is in
Him I hope, it is because of Him I sing,
it is from Him I look to getting the
white stone by-and-by, and it is in His
city I hope to walk. That light," said
Paul with enthusiasm, " will be like unto

man's room, and there they saw what was
the craftsman's book. It was the story of
the Nazarene. "This book," said Paul,
"was all my mother had to leave me,
but in it is ' all '-my 'all.' I work, indeed, amongst precious stones, but here
is the story of the most precious of all
stones, You need not look to my Testsmeut o n it, it isin tyour w p
phet, IT~'
ereforo
b. th ~
d

a stone most precious, even like a jasper
stone, clear as crystal." "There," cried
the young man, his eyes lighting up with
something almost more than earthly fire,
" see whereof the foundations are made;
see whereof the gates are made; and see
who is the light, and who is the temple
there,"

th
1,1

Oo

weel

time passed on-day after
ati week"t8in

4

THE VANISHING OPAL.

He
jeweller, did not return home.
wrote, indeed, and his manager heard
from him even when his family did not.
That manager was an honest man, and
did not betray the great trust reposed in
him.
And now, Paul Tarson either wrought
in Leopoldine's sitting-room, at a little
bench which Maira had fitted up there, or
in his own room with Maira and her
Plenty of
mother as his companions.
beautiful work he did, but the most
beautiful was not on gold and gems, but
Many a time he
on human hearts.
thought'how precious it would be to win
Maira for himself, but how yet more precious to win her for another; and if, if he
himself might stand second to Him, how
great an honour that would be.
And not one, but two--Leopoldine too.
But Maira was the easiest to win, and
she was won. One morning she came
down radiant, like one of the gems that
Paul had to set that day. She had been
pale and anxious for many days, and
Paul Tarson feared that she was falling
ill, but now she was full of light. In
her long struggle during that dark night
her last doubt had passed away, and she
had found the pearl of great price.
But she was weak, she was ignorant.
Who would befriend her, and especially
when her father returned? She knew well
that she must be expelled from house and
home; she knew that she must go out a
pauper into the world. But she made up
her mind to endure all-the merchant
seeking goodly pearls had sold all to get
one-should she do less! Still, she was
only a woman-only a girl--and the
world was hard; and she had heard that
Could she ever face it
it was bad.
alone ?
Yes, if need be, she would! But
there was no need. When she went
through the temptation, and triumphed,
she did not know that; but she soon
found it out.
"i aira, you shall never want," said
Paul, as he spread out his ten white
fingers before her (if you are precise,
good reader, rather than be troubled with
you, I will say his eight white fingers
and his two white thumbs, and I will
throw in the palms of his hands gratis;, if-

you like). "Never, Maira, while these
fingers can do their cunning work. The
day that this home is taken from you,
another shall be open for you."
" Whose, Paul? " asked the girl, with
tears in her beautiful eyes."
"Mine, Maira, if you will have it;
and, if you will, with it, me ! "
The one daily fear which now haunted
the little household of the jeweller was
that of the master's home-coming again.
His letters to his wife were not written
with sugar and water; and he kept continually bewailing the loss of his father's
He believed that its
precious stone.
colours would have guided him in his
present search; but it was gone for ever.
Sigismund was heard of from Vienna and
St. Petersburg, and was on his way home;
and now the test would come.
But, instead of the jeweller, there
arrived another Jew, who brought the
manager a small parcel and a letter. The
parcel contained the missing stones, and,
above all, the spinel which had caused so
much trouble. But Sigismund himself
was not coming just yet. He had heard
of a choice opal, which at that time was
somewhere in his father's old country,
and he was off to Hungary in quest of it.
Who knew what he might find? There
might be twins amongst precious stones,
even as there were amongst mankind.
That was the last his family ever heard
from him, but not the last they ever heard
of him.
Some ten months afterwards a government official called, and, after putting
many questions to make sure that he was
dealing with the proper people, gave them
a document with an account of Sigismund's death, and told them what steps
to take for the recovery of his property.
It consisted of various precious stones,
and some money. There was an inventory
of the stones, and it was no small relief to
both Leopoldine and her daughter that
there was not a single opal among them.
This was accounted for by the belief that
his ideal as to the stone was so high, that
he would not have any but one that
came up in some measure, at least, to the
one that had gone.
The jeweller died without a will. He
was not in a fit state at the last to make

32

THE VANISHING

one, and so all the property came to his
wife and child. Not a penny would they
have had, if he had returned home.
And so it came to pass that Leopoldine
and Maira remained in the home in which
they had lived so many years. Paul
Tarson had no need to seek a new one for
IMaira, or one for himself at all.
What could be more suitable than that
he who loved precious stones so much,
and understood them so well, should
keep on a business which was flourishing
in the extreme.
And so the young man stayed where

smoking flax.
Thrice amid her hard
breathings she said, "lHe is---" They
bent their ears to her lips and heard her
murmur-" more than the Nazarene."
Gems there were both rich and rare in
Paul Tarson's cases-none admired them
more than himself-none took more
interest in dealing with them than himself-they made him richer and richer
every day, but on none of them were his
wife's heart, or his own heart, set. They
knew of what was brighter than the
sparkling gems amid which they lived,
which they possessed, and in that was
their wealth. The best of earth they
felt was insecure, and might slip from
their grasp, how and when they did not
know. Where their treasure was, there
also was their heart; and if ever there
came stealing over their souls too deep
content with aught of earth, they remembered how suddenly, how mysteriously,
all might go, even as went Isaac Coloman's
all with
" T VaIsHINa
OrA.."

he was.

And, at last, he closed Leopoldine's
eyes. Many were that noble woman's
struggles, but she never could bring
herself to take the final plunge, and make
an open confession of faith. She was an
unconfessing believer to the last; yet not
to the very last. Life's last breath was a
witness to the faith-it was not much,
but was it not enough ? Are not such
heard by the One who quencheth not the

4"1

Leuaga: Prixt.d by 1sa-r,

OPAL,

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(Gi

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P rringdmn R i'a

For Renovating and Beautifying Everything,
Perfectly NON-POISONOUS.

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COORSEQUST.

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FOR ART FURNITURE,
WICKER AND BASKET TABLES
CHAIRS, MILKING STOOLS,
HOT-WATER

CANS,

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&c.

All communications respecting Advertisements for these Novels should be addressed to Hart'Advertising Offices, 77 & x8, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C.

IFP

-- I_

-

This book is a preservation facsimile produced for
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
It is made in compliance with copyright law
and produced on acid-free archival
60# book weight paper
which meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper).
Preservation facsimile printing and binding
by
Northern Micrographics
Brookhaven Bindery
La Crosse, Wisconsin
2012