tal was almost black, and the stones lustreless and dull. I
rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, and it glowed afterwards like
a spark, in the dark hollow of my hand. The metal-work was in the form
of a double ring, but it had been bent and twisted out of its original
shape.

"'You must bear in mind,' said I, 'that the Royal party made head in
England even after the death of the King, and that when they at last
fled they probably left many of their most precious possessions buried
behind them, with the intention of returning for them in more peaceful
times.'

"'My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent Cavalier, and the
right-hand man of Charles II. in his wanderings,' said my friend.

"'Ah, indeed!' I answered. 'Well, now, I think that really should give
us the last link that we wanted. I must congratulate you on coming into
the possession, though in rather a tragic manner, of a relic which is of
great intrinsic value, but of even greater importance as an historical
curiosity.'

"'What is it, then?' he gasped in astonishment.

"'It is nothing less than the ancient crown of the Kings of England.'

"'The crown!'

"'Precisely. Consider what the Ritual says. How does it run? "Whose was
it?" "His who is gone." That was after the execution of Charles. Then,
"Who shall have it?" "He who will come." That was Charles II., whose
advent was already foreseen. There can I think be no doubt that this
battered and shapeless diadem once encircled the brows of the Royal
Stuarts.'

"'And how came it in the pond?'

"'Ah, that is a question which will take some time to answer,' and with
that I sketched out to him the whole long chain of surmise and of proof
which I had constructed. The twilight had closed in and the moon was
shining brightly in the sky before my narrative was finished.

"'And how was it, then, that Charles did not get his crown when he
returned?' asked Musgrave, pushing back the relic into its linen bag.

"'Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall
probably never be able to clear up. It is likely that the Musgrave who
held the secret died in the interval, and by some oversight left this
guide to his descendant without explaining the meaning of it. From that
day to this it has been handed down from father to son, until at last it
came within reach of a man who tore its secret out of it and lost his
life in the venture.'

"And that's the story of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson.