in
her surprise.

"It's true."

"Six hundred and fifty dollars for a little piece of gold and glass!"
ejaculated the old lady.

"Diamond, aunt, not glass."

"Well, it don't look a bit better'n glass, and I do say," proceeded
Deborah, with energy, "that it's a sin and a shame to pay so much
money for a ring. Why, it was more than half your year's salary,
Ferdinand."

"I agree with you, aunt; it would have been very foolish and wrong
for a young man on a small salary like mine to buy so expensive a
ring as this. I hope, Aunt Deborah, I have inherited too much of
your good sense to do that."

"Then where did you get it?" asked the old lady, moderating her tone.

"It was given to me."

"Given to you! Who would give you such a costly present?"

"A rich man whose life I once saved, Aunt Deborah."

"You don't say so, Ferdinand!" said Aunt Deborah, interested. "Tell
me all about it."

"So I will, aunt, though I don't often speak of it," said Ferdinand,
modestly. "It seems like boasting, you know, and I never like to do
that. But this is the way it happened.

"Now for a good tough lie!" said Ferdinand to himself, as the old
lady suspended her work, and bent forward with eager attention.

"You know, of course, that New York and Brooklyn are on opposite
sides of the river, and that people have to go across in ferry-boats."

"Yes, I've heard that, Ferdinand."

"I'm glad of that, because now you'll know that my story is correct.
Well, one summer I boarded over in Brooklyn--on the Heights--and used
to cross the ferry morning and night. It was the Wall street ferry,
and a great many bankers and rich merchants used to cross daily also.
One of these was a Mr. Clayton, a wholesale dry-goods merchant,
immensely rich, whom I knew by sight, though I had never spoken to
him. It was one Thursday morning--I remember even the day of the
week--when the boat was unusually full. Mr. Clayton was leaning
against the side-railing talking to a friend, when all at once the
railing gave way, and he fell backward into the water, which
immediately swallowed him up."

"Merciful man!" ejaculated Aunt Deborah, intensely interested. "Go
on, Ferdinand."

"Of course there was a scene of confusion and excitement," continued
Ferdinand, dramatically. 'Man overboard! Who will save him?' said
more than one. 'I will,' I exclaimed, and in an instant I had sprang
over the railing into the boiling current."

"Weren't you frightened