San Ramon Valley High School - Kernel Yearbook (Danville, CA)

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9 W Wwe shall be delighted,N across the back and hand- ed it to the waiting messenger boy. , It is not our habit to be punctual but that day our curiosity prompted our punctuality. I, was, however, not fully prepared for the shock I received. The man who met us, although younger than I, seemed years older. His eyes, sunken in their sockets seemed to speak of loneliness and failure to succeed, and I actually found myself pitying him. But when with a sneering laugh, he explained to my wife that we had been at school together, the hatred for him I had experienced in those far away days, again surged up within me and flowed through every vein. The mere formalities over, the conversation shifted to other subjects. He had heard about us and our wanderings a good many times and had been looking forward to meeting us. It was not until we had nearly finished dessert that he spoke of his reason for calling us. A few months before, while traveling he had picked up a very fine hobby specimen and he had been eager to show it to some one who would app- reciate so beautiful a thing. We sat back easily lulled by the monotony of his voice, absorbing his personality which seemed to sap vibrancy from the jewels which he described. . As we drained our coffee cups he hastily arose to return shortly with a golden box about six in- ches square, set with rubies, emeralds, and several large diamonds. If we had suffered from any leth- argy before, we were certainly alert now. It was magnificent. We had commented upon it for some moments, when I chanced to glance upward to the mantel above the fireplace at the timepiece. There, reflected, in the glass of the dial, I was startled to see the smooth, dark face of a man. For some reason I could not locate the position of the face within the room, and with no explanation, rose hastily from my chair. I slowly circled that room and as I reached the window I felt a little draft from behind the heavy, velvet drapes. I suddenly drew aside those drapes, to see the window, which open- ed out on to a balcony slowly closing. There was no one there! By this time the other occupants of thc room were thoroughly aroused.

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F7 ' .7 REVENGE g We had been together at Harvard but had ex- perienced no companionship there. In fact, we had been enemies almost from the first day, Hall was in those days, a small, thin, nervous type of man, who, with his associates, perfectly epitomized the English dandy. Perhaps it was that fact which in- stilled in me the contempt of him. Behind him were years of well-bred English ancestors each of whom had, as time wore on and family wealth accumulated, found it entirely unnecessary to expend his physical and mental energies in the accumulation of money, and this petted namby- pamby was the result. This alone was enough to sanction extreme disgust but the fact that he had a yellow streak justified actual hatred. He was always very clever in concealing his weakness and the ordinary person not coming in actual daily contact with him would never have suspected it. He was an unmistakeable cheat. Belonging to an old crowd, I was in a position to injure him socially, and at every possible opp- ortunity could not resist the temptation to do sox Thus within several months we became bitter en- emies. As the years dragged onward and that brief interval of Harvard days became more deeply en- meshed in the long ago, I had heard from time to time the tales of success and woe concerning my former school-mates, and occasionally someone would mention Hall's name. After years of playing the shiftless man about town, practically devoid of cares and responsibilities, he had now settled down to the gratification of his hobby of collect- ing precious jewels! In the fall of 1928 we returned from Egypt and were busily engaged in adjusting ourselves to running water at anytime of day or night, efficient hotel service, and digestible food, when Hall's card reached us. Uwill you and your wife lunch with me tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., at my Have hotel? Will engage private dining room. something that may interest you.N Thoroughly sur- prised, I carried it to my wife, and together we commented on it. Assured that it must be some- thing of extreme importance I hastily scribbled, f ,4-4

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J .VY Yi My alarm, however, was unappreciated for Hall said, WHad you noticed the bronze statue before the window over there? It is Cand he named a famous heroj a very life-like statue. It has a fear provoking trick of reflecting itself in the face of that mantel clock if the drapes blow back. Several months later with unconcern we read of Hall's death in the obituary column of the London Times. Our unconcern soon turned to be- wilderment because within a short time we were requested to be present at the reading of his will. At this reading the fact came that the deceased had been a very ill man for the past year and had known for four months that the end was very near. His physician verified this statement and delivered a lengthy discourse as to the nature of his ailment The discovery was also made that we were the heirs to the golden box. My wife was delighted with it and valued it above any of our other unique poss- essions, seeming to connect some good luck charms with our inheritance of the box. My only concern was an eternal, WWhy?H ' ' So it was five months later when we talked of touring Africa she insisted on taking it with us. She would listen to no arguments. She had made up her mind and nothing could ever change it. My wife is like that.--So the box went with us. In our attempt to get as far away from civil- ization as possible we procured a miserable native hut within the boundaries of the jungle. The neces sary articles were packed in on the backs of natives, and within a month or so, we were comfortable es- tablished, Cespecially for Africab. Our househald equipment consisted of two cots, two soap boxes, two sauce pans, a skillet, a comb, a staff of five big black natives and one golden box. From the very first we had trouble with the servants. No sooner had we unpacked and arranged our few possessions than the first staff deserted, with the exception of one, and he, too, seemed to be uneasy. He seemed more intelligent than the others and spoke a few words of English. He was a great favorite with my wife who called him Stipo. He seemed to fit unquestionably at the head of each new staff of servants. After repeated disruptions in our household by constant change of servants, Alice took it