othal ring ever
seen in the country.

"The lover vowed it was 'Kismet' that he should marry Miss Cunningham,
and swore to return and claim her, by slipping such a ring on her
finger, exactly twelve months from the day he was sent away.

"He had the most extraordinary adventures in search of a fortune, always
ending in failure, until the last month of the appointed time. He was in
India, working in the diamond mines, when one day he found this very
stone.

"He sailed at once for England, had the ring made, and the words you see
engraved inside. As he had said, he arrived on the very day appointed,
but only to find the girl coming out from church after her marriage with
another man. He threw the ring at her feet, and flung himself away; but
at her death it was sent back to him again, and though he never married,
he gave it to his brother's bride on her wedding-day. Since then it has
remained in the Wildred family."

I could have laughed aloud at this sentimental tale invented by the man
(whom I now believed had somehow contrived to steal the jewel) to
account for the commonplace words it would have been difficult to erase.
Had I laughed, however, my laughter would have been bitter indeed,
ending in an even increased desire to save from him and his trickery the
girl I loved.

It is needless to say that I did not laugh, but something of what was in
my mind must have been visible on my face, for Karine, as she finished
her story, looked up at me searchingly. "What are you hiding from me,
Mr. Stanton?" she anxiously questioned. "It is about the ring--and if
you are my friend, as you say, you will not keep it a secret from me."

"It _is_ about the ring, Miss Cunningham," I replied impulsively.
"I can't tell you all, for the facts have hardly yet grouped themselves
in my own brain. But if they have such bearing upon your happiness as I
have some reason to think, you shall know them as soon as I can make
them clear to you. Will you trust me meanwhile--will you try to remember
that I am striving to collect facts which may help to release you from
the necessity for an unworthy marriage? Never for one moment since I saw
you last have I let slip the hope of saving you from what you confessed
must be a blighted future. Now, I may be mistaken, but I believe that I
begin to see my way!"

She looked at the ring, which I had returned to her, with startled,
dilating eyes. "Something connected with _this_!" she murmured.

"Yes. I