d to be a meek and quiet body, deeply
religious, something of a Quakeress, so she wore them but seldom. It
was upon the occasion of a ball to be given in honor of Freeman's
twenty-first birthday that the question of what jewels his mother
should wear came up, and the strong-box in which they were kept was
opened. Only the settings remained.

"When the clamor quieted and sane questions began to be asked,
suspicion fastened upon Richard Hynds. His affairs were chaotic, his
needs imperative and desperate. He had been heard to ask his mother
if she intended wearing what he called 'the Hynds fortune' at
Freeman's ball. He knew, of course, where they were kept--in the
anteroom of his mother's apartment. It was not only possible but
easy for him to gain access to them.

"Let us consider the case without prejudice: Here is a young man--a
gambler, a wastrel--with pressing debts, and clamoring creditors
threatening what might be considered dishonor. Within reach of this
young man's hand are certain very valuable properties which he might
even consider his own, since they would in time descend to him. His
mother's resources are exhausted, his father's heart steeled against
further advancements. Cause and effect, you see--debts: missing
jewels.

"The case not only formed two factions in public opinion; it split
the Hynds family itself. His two sisters, and his cousin Jessamine,
raised in this house, believed him guilty. His mother and his wife
believed in his innocence and refused to hear a word against him.
These two things only did Richard Hynds salvage in that utter wreck
and catastrophe--his mother's faith and his wife's love.

"He lost his father's. This was a man, who, under his pleasant
exterior of a landed gentleman, was rigid and inflexible. He had
already borne a great deal, remember; but this was disgrace, an
indelible stain upon a stainless name. Therefore this father, who
was at the same time a just and good man, disinherited his favorite
child and eldest son. House, slaves, lands, money, the great
position of the head of a powerful family, came to Freeman Hynds,
my late client's father, born five years later than his brother, on
the twentieth day of September, 1785--a long time ago! a long time
ago!

"Richard was disgraced, and a beggar. And it seemed that the rod
that had lain in pickle for the Hyndses for their pride, was brought
forth to scourge them all. For Richard, desperate, distracted,
careless of what