1319. A BRIDE IN ULTIMATE. 

The Black Cat, May 1903. Short story. 

*  On the border between France and Spain. 

*  The American desperately wants to cross the border into Spain, in order, he claims, to follow the man who has stolen his wife. The border guard is sympathetic, but cannot permit him to proceed without a suitable passport. 

*  Then the train returns from Spain. There has been an accident, and the thief was killed. The American takes a ring from the dead man and shows it to the guard. Inside a diamond is a beautiful woman clad in Greek costume. The American explains: He and his wife had been preparing for a tableau. She was supposed to emerge from a gigantic crystal, but a bolt of lightning struck her and the crystal, resulting in a diamond with the wife compressed in it. But the American drops the ring, shattering the diamond, like a Prince Rupert's drop. The American exclaims, "Now dead!" and commits suicide. 

*  Imaginative.