Sabine Baring-Gould

“ To give the matter a colour which will justify it to the public, I propose that each of us, you and myself, should contribute an equal sum of money, say seven hundred and fifty pounds, towards the purchase of a set of diamonds, which we will regard as having belonged to our great grandmother, and we will contest the right to this set, which each will refuse to see divided, and he who obtains by award of the court the set of jewels, he also by mutual consent shall have the stockings. ”

“ The Holroyd estates had been alienated and broken up; the Holroyd family portraits had been dispersed, but Miss Holroyd’s purple stockings remained a hundred years after she had worn them, very little the worse for wear, for they had been so choice and beautiful that she had only worn them on grand occasions, and as after she married Joe Heckmondwyke no grandeur came about, she wore them no more. ”

“ I am loth to bring the matter into court because the public, which knows nothing about the importance and value of the articles under dispute, might choose to laugh at us for contesting the proprietorship of a something to which the vulgar mind attaches no value. ”

“ May I have—I asked and he sent them, what was that but a gift?”
“Yes,” said Philip to himself,” I can with clear conscience swear that the diamonds, I mean the stockings were only lent to Hezekiah by my father. I have found the note in which my brother asked for them. Father never destroyed any letters. In that note, Hezekiah wrote ‘Dear Gov., may I have those valuables of my great-grandmother’s? Bessie’s sister Louisa is with us, and would like to see them.’ Distinctly he asked only for a temporary loan. Bessie’s sister Louisa was there, and desired to see them. ”

“ Let the valuables, diamonds and stockings be made over by both of you, father and uncle, to Penelope Lætitia. She will be the representative of the family, and she is the only one likely to wear the diamonds. ”

“ A pair constitutes a complete and perfect article. Neither Philip nor I would allow of this separation into individual stockings. They must go together and so constitute a pair. If neither will hear of the separation, then such an arrangement as you propose is inadmissible.”
A few days after this Hezekiah received the following letter from his brother—
“It is quite impossible for the matter of the stockings to remain unsettled. I cannot sit down composedly to acquiescence in your retention of what by right of seniority belongs to me. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1924, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 98 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”