of, since his master would invariably insist on hearing
every step of the negotiation, and as unfailingly revenged upon his
envoy all the impertinences to which the treaty gave rise.

"Don't come back with any insolent balderdash about the stone being
false, or having a flaw in it Holditch values it at two hundred and
thirty pounds; and, if it wasn't a family ring, I'd have taken the
money. And, mind you, don't be talking about whose it is,--it 's a
gentleman waiting for his letters--"

"Sure I know," burst in Joe; "his remittances, that ought to be here
every day."

"Just so; and that merely requires a few Naps--"

"To pay his cigars--"

"There's no need of more explanation. Away with you; and tell Bruno
I 'll want a saddle-horse to-morrow, to be here at the door by two
o'clock."

Joe took his departure, and Mr. O'Shea was left to his own meditations.

It may seem a small cause for depression of spirits, but, in truth, it
was always a day of deep humiliation to Mr. O'Shea when his necessities
compelled him to separate himself from that cherished relic, his
great-grandmother's ring. It had been reserved in his family, as a
sort of charm, for generations; his grand-uncle Luke had married on the
strength of it; his own father had flashed it in the eyes of Bath and
Cheltenham, for many a winter, with great success; and he himself had
so significantly pointed out incorrect items in his hotel bills, with
the forefinger that bore it, that landlords had never pressed for
payment, but gone away heart-full of the man who owned such splendor.

It would be a curious subject to inquire how many men have owed their
distinction or success in life to some small adjunct, some adventitious
appendage of this kind; a horse, a picture, a rare bronze, a statue,
a curious manuscript, a fragment of old armor, have made their owners
famous, when they have had the craft to merge their identity in the more
absorbing interest of the wondrous treasure. And thus the man that
owns the winner of the Derby, a great cup carved by Cellini, or a
_chef-d'oeuvre_ of Claude or Turner, may repose upon the fame of
his possession, identified as he is with so much greatness. Oh! ye
possessors of show places, handsome wives, rare gardens, or costly gems,
in what borrowed bravery do ye meet the world! Not that in this happy
category Mr. O'Shea had his niche; no, he was only the owner of a
ring--a rose-amethyst ring--whose purity was perhaps not more abov