"Dear Miss Wright," the letter began.
"I thought I would write to you and tell you something about the great thing you have done for our family. You can't know what you have done for us – what you have done for one old woman – so I must tell you. For you have done a miraculous thing. I once thought it was only the fountain of youth that could make someone feel so young again.
"You won't mind, Miss Wright, if I start at the beginning? I want to tell you something about my grandmother. It's her ring you have found. She is Virginia Helena Murray, or once was. She has been Virginia Helena Gray for many years now, far longer than she ever was anything else. Grand is a tiny, silvery-haired old bird of a lady. She stoops when she walks and her sight is almost gone. Which is why I am writing to you in her stead, you see.
"Grand is almost ninety years old, and she is grand, which is why we call her that. You wrote to me in your letter the story of Hester Gray and her garden – but you needn't have. Grand told me the story of Hester Gray when I was nothing more than a boy. My grandmother and Hester Gray – Hester Gray, nee Hester Murray – were sisters.
"Grand visited her sister only once after she married Jordan Gray. As luck would have it, Jordan Gray had a cousin named Robert Gray who was visiting at the same time. Of course he and Grand fell in love right away – how could they not? It wouldn't be half as good a story if they hadn't fallen instantly in love. By the first day, they loved each other – by the end of the week they were engaged – and the day before Grand was to go back to Boston Robert Gray presented her with a lovely emerald ring.
"Yes – the one you found! Grand remembers she had never seen anything so beautiful. She wore it so proudly for twenty-four hours – and then promptly lost it. She never knew where until now, but she remembers that the day she lost it she planted a white rose-bush in Aunt Hester's garden. Remembers it well! Grand has a mind like a steel trap.
"You might suppose that she and Robert Gray never saw one another again, or some such tragedy, but they did, and they were married, and they moved back to Boston together, where our family still lives. Grand and Robert Gray found every happiness in life. But they never found the ring. Robert Gray – my esteemed Grandfather Grey – bought Grand a lovely diamond to make up for it but she never forgot her lost diamond and Grandfather Grey teased her from time to time over it.
"Grand told us about her 'Lost Emerald,' from the time we were old enough to hear and it has grown to have a hint of family lore about it. We never expected it would ever turn up. We thought perhaps Grand had even exaggerated her story for its own sake. But of course she wasn't, and it is every bit as lovely as she said, especially now that it is where it belongs, on her hand – and now that Grandfather Grey has died and left her behind.
"You see, Miss Wright – one of the last things he said to her before he went was, 'Ginny,' – that's what he called her – 'I've given to you my heart, darling.' Then old Grandfather shook with laughter, 'And I'm glad you haven't treated it as you did my first ring!'
"He didn't mean any harm, you see – it was a great joke between them. But Grand always did feel badly and now that she has it back she feels young again – like the girl she was when he first put it on her finger.
"She says now, as I write this, to tell you that you are a dear, darling girl for giving her back her lost youth. I tend to agree. She is happier of heart and more sparkling of eye that I can remember since Grandfather's passing. Miss Wright – whomever you are, thank you. And thank you for loving Aunt Hester's garden. I have never seen it but I hold a soft spot for Hester and her husband Jordan, probably because they called me after him. I am, you see,
Your true friend,
JORDAN GRAY
"P.S. Grandmother says again – "You dear, darling girl!'"
