ere all waving and cheering, I glanced at my wrist
and found it was not there. Then, utterly forgetting that I had not put
it on, I thought it had gone into the sea. It was only this morning
that, opening what I supposed was the empty box, I saw it. Here it is."

I never saw such gorgeous jewels.

"Madame," said I, "I am glad you thought you lost it, for I have gained
something better than all these."

"You are a good man," said she, and then she paid me liberally for my
services. When this business had been finished, she asked:

"Are you married?" I answered that I was not.

"Is there any one you intend to marry?"

"Yes," said I.

"What is her name?" she asked.

"Sarah Jane McElroy."

"Wait a minute," said she, and she retired into another room. Presently
she returned and handed me a little box.

"Give this to your ladylove," said she; "when she looks at it, she will
never forget that you are a brave man."

When Sarah Jane opened the box, there was a little pin with a diamond
head, and she gave a scream of delight. But I saw no reason for jumping
or crying out, for after having seen the Signora's bracelet, this stone
seemed like a pea in a bushel of potatoes.

"I don't need anything," she said, "to remind me that you are a brave
man. I am going to buy furniture with it."

I laughed, and remarked that "every little helps."

When I sit, with my wife by my side, before the fire in our comfortable
home, and consider that the parlor carpet, and the furniture and the
pictures, and the hall and stair carpet, and all the dining-room
furniture, with the china and the glass and the linen, and all the
kitchen utensils, and two bedroom suits on the second story, both
hardwood, and all the furniture and fittings of a very pleasant room for
a single man, the third story front, were bought with the pin that the
signora gave to Sarah Jane, I am filled with profound respect for things
that glitter. And when I look on the other side of the fire and see Jim
smoking his pipe just as happy as anybody, then I say to myself that, if
there are people who think that this story is too much out of the
common, I wish they would step in here and talk to Jim about it. There
is a fire in his eyes when he tells you how glad he is that it was the
shark instead of him, that is very convincing.

A LION AND A LIONESS

BY JOAQUIN MILLER.

CHAPTER I.

I doubt if you will find either profit or pleasure in reading this
i