Alls For the Best | Page 8

I looked towards Miss Harvey, and as I did so, my eyes
received the sparkle of her gems.
"Brilliant as dew-drops in the morning sunbeams," I remarked.
"Only less brilliant," was my friend's response to this. "Only less
brilliant. Nothing holds the sunlight in its bosom so perfectly as a drop
of dew.--Next, the diamond. I am told that the pin, now flashing back
the light, as it rises and falls with the swell and subsidence of her
bosom, cost just one thousand dollars. The public, you know, are very
apt to find out the money-value of fine jewelry."
"Miss Harvey is beautiful," said I, "and could afford to depend less on
the foreign aid of ornament."
"If she had dazzled us with that splendid pin alone," returned my friend,
"we might never have been tempted to look beneath the jewel, far down
into the wearer's heart. But, diamond earrings, and a diamond bracelet,
added--we know their value to be just twelve hundred dollars; the
public is specially inquisitive--suggest some weakness or perversion of
feeling, and we become eagle-eyed. But for the blaze of light with
which Miss Harvey has surrounded herself, I, for one, should not have
been led to observe her closely. There is no object in nature which has
not its own peculiar signification; which does not correspond to some
quality, affection, or attribute of the mind. This is true of gems; and it is
but natural, that we should look for those qualities in the wearer of
them to which the gems correspond."
I admitted the proposition, and my friend went on.
"Gold is the most precious of all metals, and it must, therefore,
correspond to the most precious attribute, or quality of the mind. What
is that attribute?--and what is that quality?"
"Love," said I, after a pause, "Love is the most precious attribute of the
mind--goodness the highest quality."
"Then, it is no mere fancy to say that gold corresponds to love, or
goodness. It is pure, and ductile, and warm in color, like love; while
silver is harder, and white and shining, like truth. Gold and silver in

nature are, then, as goodness and truth in the human soul. In one we
find the riches of this world, in the other divine riches. And if gold and
silver correspond to precious things of the mind, so must brilliant
jewels. The diamond! How wonderful is its affection for light--taking
in the rays eagerly, dissolving them, and sending them forth again to
gladden the eyes in rich prismatic beauty! And to what mental quality
must the diamond correspond? As it loves the sun's rays, in which are
heat and light--must it not correspond to the affection of things good
and true?--heat being of love, and light of truth or wisdom? The wearer
of diamonds, then, should have in her heart the heavenly affection to
which they correspond. She should be loving and wise."
"It will not do to make an estimate in this way," said I. "The measure is
too exacting."
"I will admit that. But we cannot help thinking of the quality when we
look upon its sign. With a beautiful face, when first seen, do we not
always associate a beautiful soul? And when a lady adorns herself with
the most beautiful and costly things in nature, how can we help looking,
to see whether they correspond to things in her mind! For one, I cannot;
and so, almost involuntarily, I keep turning my eyes upon Miss Harvey,
and looking for signs of her quality."
"And how do you read the lady?" I inquired.
My friend shook his head.
"The observation is not favorable."
"Not favorable," he replied. "No, not favorable. She thinks of her
jewels--she is vain of them."
"The temptation is great," I said.
"The fact of so loading herself with costly jewels, is in itself indicative
of vanity--"
A third party joining us at this moment, we dropped the subject of Miss
Harvey. But, enough had been said to make me observe her closely
during the evening.
The opening line of Moore's charming lyric,
"Rich and rare were the gems she wore,"
kept chiming in my thoughts, whenever I glanced towards her, and saw
the glitter of her diamonds. Yet, past the gems my vision now went,
and I searched the fair girl's countenance for the sparkle of other and
richer jewels. Did I find them? We shall see.

"Helen," I heard a lady say to Miss Harvey, "is not that Mary
Gardiner?"
"I believe so," was her indifferent answer.
"Have you spoken to her this evening?"
"No, aunt."
"Why?"
"Mary Gardiner and I were never very congenial. We have not been
thrown together for some time; and now, I do not care to renew the
acquaintance."
I obtained a single glance