The Ruby Tear by Suzy McKee Charnas

dim. Alone and still wearing his duffle coat (the heat had only been turned on for his visit), he read eagerly.
    The original account, faded ink on stained paper to be touched only by white-gloved hands, had been somewhat modernized on typing paper as crisp and clean as if no one had ever handled it since.
    “Testimony of Stephen Leigh Griffin, of the Griffins originating in the village of Hale’s Hay in Wessex, England.
    “I, Stephen Griffin, wish to put forward here my account of what has been told to me by my father, George Griffin, in the days before his strange and lamented death. We are men of the New World now, but a devilish history links us to the land of our origin, a tale passed from father to eldest son, and with it always a sad and early death, despite outward prosperity in our family’s undertakings.
    “My father said to me that the fortune of the Griffins began in the ninth century, when Griffin was the name of hereditary bailiffs for a nobleman, the Earl of Banford in Wessex. By thrift, good service to their lords and by the grace of God, their fortunes waxed. Yet the bailiff Stephen Griffin was hated by the villains whose interests he crossed in pursuance of his duty to his lord.
    “He was much reviled behind his back and sometimes to his face, including a public cursing by one Alice Riggs, thought to be a witch. She prophesized that one of his family would bring home to the Griffin household a blood red bane that would follow the Griffin men down the generations, until there would come an heir of this house who would unloose his grip and lay bare his breast letting his treasures lie as open for the taking as the petty treasures of the Earl’s people had been open to being taxed away by the bailiff in the performance of his duty.
    “It was said even then that the Griffin men were hard men in a hard time. The third bailiff chose not to share his worldly goods between his two sons, reserving nearly everything to the elder son, Simon. A small portion only was bequeathed to the younger, Adam, to outfit him for soldiering so he might go win riches of his own.
    “At his father’s death Adam Griffin went abroad, fighting where he was hired in foreign wars, no word being heard of him sometimes for years together. Meanwhile his brother Simon prospered and became himself a wealthy small-holder as well as the new Earl’s fourth bailiff of that family, and thus he established his line.
    “And then Adam Griffin came home from the lands of the Germans and eastern barbarians bringing with him a great red ruby as big as a walnut that was a wonder to see, and also a fair haired woman that he married. She never said one word in a known language that anyone could puzzle out in all the days she lived in Griffin Hall.
    “Of the red jewel Adam said he had it from a nobleman who promised him gold and a fine warhorse for his services, but then tried instead to kill him when payment came due. Adam Griffin took what payment was owing for the many battles and skirmishes he had fought in this lordling’s service, the ruby being part of that payment. He also brought away the young woman named Magdalene, who had been a ward in the foreign lord’s household, safe from the pillage and upheavals of that country due to wars and the absence of laws of either man or God. She had no other family or protector left there.
    “Before long, word of the ruby reached the Earl himself, some say because Simon could not bear his brother having it if he could not have it himself. So the Earl demanded to see the famous gem, and when Adam would not show it the Earl of Banford had him thrown into a dungeon and there he died.
    “Simon Griffin was also taken before the Earl in the same matter, but he said that Adam’s foreign wife had stolen the ruby and run away. A search was made, neither she nor the stone was found. The Earl never forgave Simon Griffin for the loss of the ruby, and years later falsely accused him of embezzling tax moneys and