The luminous green poured from the heart of a large emerald, perfectly
cut and polished. It formed the centre of a flower, the petals of
which were cut out of some hard, dull green stone, with exquisite art.
As the girl stared, entirely fascinated by the sight, she became aware
that the whole lovely jewel represented a chrysanthemum blossom, of
which the emerald was the central glory. From this radiated the
regular petals of the blossom, layer upon layer in perfect circles,
until the outward round extended in delicate points to all quarters of
the compass like the corona of the sun. And as this wonderful object
lay on her open hand, Patricia felt still more strongly the waves of
invisible force which radiated therefrom. It was as if some glorious
power was welling up from the depths of the emerald to stream off from
every carved petal. It was no wonder that she stared half hypnotized
by the marvel. Suddenly even a stranger thing happened.
In a single moment, as it seemed, the force appeared to falter and
weaken; the light which she felt was around her died away, and the
darkness of the night closed in with uncomfortable swiftness. The
radiance vanished from the jewel, and with a rush all her fears came
back, as though some magic no longer kept them at bay. She felt no
sensation at all; in the carved chrysanthemum, she saw no glory, no
charm; it was simply a beautiful ornament and nothing more. Just as
she realized this with a murmur of dismay, someone suddenly leaped
lightly forward and snatched the jewel from her hand. Before she could
rise to her feet, the robber disappeared into the mist, running as
delicately and swiftly as a startled cat. The terrified girl was left
alone in the fog with the empty box.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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