The Bracelet

Out of habit, Helena glanced down into the gutter. Whether she was making sure that she didn’t stub her toe on the curb, or that her skirts didn’t trail in the mud, or hoping that there might be a few pennies that some passerby had dropped and wouldn’t mind her taking, she no longer remembered: it was habit. However, it was, as she stepped off the trolley, she glanced down into the mud and saw, to her delight, a gleam of some metal object. She did not instantly grab it—she was too proud to let the trolley-man see her desperation—but stooped to retrieve it the moment the vehicle moved away. The object that came out of the mud astonished Helena so much that she nearly dropped it straight back into the mire: for it was not a dime or quarter: it was a bracelet. Helena looked at it closely as she stepped into the sidewalk, and with her blue, cold fingers brushed away some of the filth. Again she nearly dropped it, for there was no mistaking the glimmer of gold chain. Looking around, to make sure that no one had seen her, Helena quickly shoved the bracelet into the pocket of her rain-soaked overcoat and hurried down the street to her apartment on the third floor of Mrs. Manther's Boardinghouse.

“Where have you been?” snapped Delilah as Helena opened the rusty-hinged door. “You should have been here at least an hour ago.”

“I had to stay late to help the Jones boy again,” Helena sighed as she placed her books and papers which needed to be corrected on the table.

“This is the fourth week in a row that I’ve had to make dinner on Friday—your night to cook by our agreement!” Delilah turned and shook her finger at the younger woman. “Really, Helena Grueble, if you weren’t my stepsister, I would throw you out!”

“Oh! No, Delilah! Please!” Helena begged, clutching onto the chair back. “I won’t stay late again, just please–“

“Stop blubbering, you fool,” the other snapped.

Helena did, instantly.

“Now go hang up your things and we’ll eat,” Delilah ordered, her blue eyes as icy as her tone.

The dinner was a silent one, as it always was. And afterwards, Helena washed the dishes alone, while the other got dressed in her Parisian dress (Delilah longed to go to Paris) for a night out.

Why does it always seem to be this way? Helena asked herself, brushing a strand of dark hair out of her eyes. Delilah always going out, and spending the money I earned on her dates. Why? Is it just because she is older than I, if only by five years, and feels it’s her right? But why does she despise me so? I have never done her any wrong. Oh, why? Oh, why did mother and Mr. Shornim have to get into that train accident? Why did my loving brother Jim have to die so helplessly in the mud of Flanders?

She was still thinking of this as she sat down and began correcting her pupils' grammar papers. Helena was young to be teaching school—she had only finished it herself the year before—but she looked older than she was. Her deep brown eyes sparkled with confidence when she stood up at the blackboard. But when she left the school, she was no longer confident Miss Grueble, but timid, poor, orphaned Helena Grueble: alone in her struggle against the world.

Now, as Helena was putting an X on Leo Jones' sentence ‘The big brown dog didn’t bite nobody.’, her pencil broke. Remembering that she had a small pocketknife in her coat with which she could sharpen the pencil, she went to the hook and stuck her hand in the right pocket. She felt the knife, and right next to it... the bracelet! Curiosity got the best of her, and she took the mud-clogged object to the sink and let the water spill over it. The treasure that appeared from that sad clump of dirt made Helena’s breath catch.

The bracelet looked to be solid gold and was molded in the shapes of leaves and flowers. But what flowers! Some had a center of a diamond, with ruby petals. Others had opals cut to look like lilies, with slim leaves of emeralds.

I wish I could keep it for my very own, she thought, but I should really bring it to the police. It looks very old, and whoever lost it must want it back.

So engrossed was she in gazing at the treasure that she did not even notice Delilah come up behind her until the elder's slim, smooth hands reached and snatched the bracelet.

“Where did you get this?” the woman demanded.

“Delilah Shornim!” Helena cried trying to grab the bracelet from her stepsister’s hand. “Please give it back to me!”

“So you have been holding back money from me,” Delilah snapped, turning to admire the treasure. She smiled as she clipped it onto her wrist.

“Delilah! Please!”

But Delilah paid no heed to her, and quickly slipped on her coat.

“Delilah!”

Delilah turned her icy eyes towards Helena, and said, “Get back to your correcting, Helena Grueble. I am the head of this family, and I will not let you show me up.”

With that she turned and slammed the door.

Helena sunk down in her chair and laid her head down in her hands. Sobs shook her frail shoulders.

That is why she hates me, Helena thought. She thinks I am more beautiful than she.

For a long time she sat like this, her papers forgotten, until finally she decided to step outside to get a breath of fresh air. She opened the door and started down the rickety stairs. But as she reached the second floor landing, something in the dusty corner caught her eye. Could it be… It was! It was the bracelet! Carefully, Helena picked it up and noticed that the latch was broken.

That must be how it was lost in the first place, she thought.

A grim determination came into her eyes. She saw a way to get back, at least in a small way, at Delilah. Her stepsister would not get the bracelet. No. She would bring it to the police right then!

Soon Helena was walking through the crowded, wet streets. The courthouse clock struck eight o’clock as she walked up the steps of the police station. She hesitated, however, at the doors. What if the policeman accused her of stealing it? She shook her head and stepped into the entryway. She knew that she was innocent, and besides, prison could not be much worse than living with Delilah. Bravely, she marched towards the desk.

There was one person ahead of her: a well-dressed man with red hair and small round eyeglasses.

“I don’t care about your excuses!” the man was shouting at the desk sergeant, his face so flushed that it was nearly as red as his hair. “The thing is irreplaceable, I tell you! It belonged to my grandmother, and her grandmother before that! I'd pay twenty-thousand dollars to get it back!”

“Yes, Mr. Fulsworth,” the desk sergeant said calmly. “You were here yesterday and said the same thing. I have put a man on the case, but really, sir, we have no idea where to start! Your wife went all over the city, and to about a dozen different shops, before she realized it was gone—“

“I know! I know! Just find it!” the man yelled, then turned and stomped to a bench on the other side of the room.

The desk sergeant let out a sigh as he beckoned Helena to come forward.

“What can I do for you, ma'am?” he asked pleasantly, taking out a pencil and a small, black notebook.

“I found this in the gutter near my apartment,” she said quietly, as she took the bracelet from her pocket and dropped into the sergeant’s hand. “I just came here to give it to you, so that you can find who it belongs to.” She gave a quick smile, then turned and left.

The sergeant looked in amazement at the bracelet, then called to the well-dressed man, “Mr. Fulsworth! Come here!”

“What now, sergeant?” the red-haired man scowled. “More excuses?”

“No, sir,” the sergeant stammered. “Look!”

The round eyeglasses nearly leapt off of the gentleman’s face when he saw the bracelet.

“It can’t be!” he gasped as he picked it up to examine it closely. “Where did it come from?”

“That young woman just brought it in.” the sergeant said, pointing to the closing door.

“Hey!” the man yelled first towards then door, then at a nearby constable. “Bring back that lady who just walked out! I have business with her!”

The officer ran out into the street, and soon caught up with Helena.

“Excuse me, ma'am,” he said, taking her by the elbow. “I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me.”

Trembling, Helena went with the officer: back down the street, up the stairs, and through the doors, just in time to hear the desk sergeant say, “…but are you sure, Mr. Fulsworth? I mean—“

“I am a man who keeps his word, sir,” the gentleman answered in a dignified tone. “I meant what I said, and I believe it’s what this woman deserves.”

Helena was sure that she would collapse with fear. They thought she had stolen the bracelet, and now they were going to send her to jail!

“What is your name, miss?” the gentleman inquired as Helena came towards him.

“Grueble, sir,” she heard her own voice say. “Helena Grueble.”

“You say you found this bracelet?”

“Yes, sir. I did find it.”

“Well then,” smiled the man, reaching into his leather attaché. “I believe the reward money is yours.”

And with that, he passed her a thick envelope, and walked out of the station.

“Twenty-thousand dollars!?!” the desk sergeant whistled. “I’ll have to send one of the men home with you tonight, little lady.”

Helena was too surprised to say anything. All she could do was stare at the rows of crisp, new bills.

“That’s enough money,” the sergeant continued, “to travel all around the world… or to buy enough silk to make you the prettiest girl in all New York!”

“Prettiest girl in New York…” Helena murmured, and her thoughts instantly jumped to Delilah, and why her stepsister disliked her.

“Twenty-thousand dollars!” the sergeant muttered, turning back to his work. “I would have no idea what to do with it.”

A small light, a light of hope and love, kindled in Helena’s eyes. “I know what I’ll do with it!” she said.

It was nearly two o'clock when Delilah returned to the apartment after a long evening of dancing and drinks. She had missed the bracelet almost immediately, its disappearance had been the main topic of conversation between herself and her date.

However, she was caught completely by surprise when she opened the door to the apartment’s only bedroom, and found Helena’s side stripped of everything that belonged to her stepsister.

The fool! thought Delilah. Probably ran away. I don’t care though; she’s nothing to me.

She stopped as she noticed two envelopes on the dressing table. Quickly, she opened the first and read:

“ Delilah,

“I do not wish to be your enemy anymore.

“I brought the bracelet to the police, and its owner gave me a reward. I have taken some of the money and have gone west; you no longer have to worry about me showing you up.

“Take this gift from me, and know that I never wanted to cause you distress.

“Yours truly, Helena.”

Delilah hurriedly opened the second envelope, and as she did her heart melted and a cry of surprise left her lips. Tears streamed down her painted cheeks, dropping gently on the handful of $100 bills, among which lay a boat ticket to Paris.