“Only less brilliant,” was my friend’s response to this.  “Only less brilliant.  Nothing holds the sunlight in its bosom so perfectly as a drop of dew.—­Next, the diamond.  I am told that the pin, now flashing back the light, as it rises and falls with the swell and subsidence of her bosom, cost just one thousand dollars.  The public, you know, are very apt to find out the money-value of fine jewelry.”

“Miss Harvey is beautiful,” said I, “and could afford to depend less on the foreign aid of ornament.”

“If she had dazzled us with that splendid pin alone,” returned my friend, “we might never have been tempted to look beneath the jewel, far down into the wearer’s heart.  But, diamond earrings, and a diamond bracelet, added—­we know their value to be just twelve hundred dollars; the public is specially inquisitive—­suggest some weakness or perversion of feeling, and we become eagle-eyed.  But for the blaze of light with which Miss Harvey has surrounded herself, I, for one, should not have been led to observe her closely.  There is no object in nature which has not its own peculiar signification; which does not correspond to some quality, affection, or attribute of the mind.  This is true of gems; and it is but natural, that we should look for those qualities in the wearer of them to which the gems correspond.”

I admitted the proposition, and my friend went on.

“Gold is the most precious of all metals, and it must, therefore, correspond to the most precious attribute, or quality of the mind.  What is that attribute?—­and what is that quality?”

“Love,” said I, after a pause, “Love is the most precious attribute of the mind—­goodness the highest quality.”

“Then, it is no mere fancy to say that gold corresponds to love, or goodness.  It is pure, and ductile, and warm in color, like love; while silver is harder, and white and shining, like truth.  Gold and silver in nature are, then, as goodness and truth in the human soul.  In one we find the riches of this world, in the other divine riches.  And if gold and silver correspond to precious things of the mind, so must brilliant jewels.  The diamond!  How wonderful is its affection for light—­taking in the rays eagerly, dissolving them, and sending them forth again to gladden the eyes in rich prismatic beauty!  And to what mental quality must the diamond correspond?  As it loves the sun’s rays, in which are heat and light—­must it not correspond to the affection of things good and true?—­heat being of love, and light of truth or wisdom?  The wearer of diamonds, then, should have in her heart the heavenly affection to which they correspond.  She should be loving and wise.”

“It will not do to make an estimate in this way,” said I.  “The measure is too exacting.”

“I will admit that.  But we cannot help thinking of the quality when we look upon its sign.  With a beautiful face, when first seen, do we not always associate a beautiful soul?  And when a lady adorns herself with the most beautiful and costly things in nature, how can we help looking, to see whether they correspond to things in her mind!  For one, I cannot; and so, almost involuntarily, I keep turning my eyes upon Miss Harvey, and looking for signs of her quality.”