She ran to the one chest yet unopened, and flung away the silk covering. Here were the gems of the craftsman’s art. Stones of unparalleled color and size were in this chest; but their chief merit lay in their cunning settings, their consummate delicacy of workmanship. Here the art collector might find his El Dorado; in all the world such a collection could scarcely be found in one place. Here were shrines and temples, carved from single immense stones or pieces of jade; here was a woven thing of gold and silver, in which the warp and woof lay close as tapestry, portraying as no tapestry could portray it the fabled valley of “Sinbad,” in which the sands were gold, the sky silver, and the gems were gems indeed.

“Is this to thy mind?” Dolores cried, tossing to him a golden ball which by some