Page:Frank Stockton - Vizier of the two-horned Alexander.djvu/157

THE VIZIER OF ALEXANDER of commercial paper, legal deeds, and all titles to property."

"Thee might have put thy wealth into solid gold—great bars and lumps. Those would be available in any country and in any age, and they would n't have had any thing to do with thy identity," said his wife.

"It was always difficult for me to carry about or even conceal such golden treasures, but I have sometimes done it. However, as you are in such a hurry to hear about the jewels, I will let all other subjects drop. When I reached my lodgings in Rome, I opened the box, and found every thing perfect; the writing on the sheets of parchment was still black and perfectly legible, and the jewels looked just as they did when I put them into the box."

"I cannot imagine," interrupted Mrs. Crowder, "how thee remembered what they looked like after the lapse of three hundred years."

Mr. Crowder smiled. "You forget," he said, "that since I first reached the age of fifty-three there has been no radical change in me, physical or mental. My memory is