"You are satisfied that we know nothing about the bag or the bracelet, I
hope?" asked Foster anxiously on Bradly's return.
"Perfectly," was the reply; "I haven't a doubt about it; but there's
something behind as none of us has got at yet, but it'll come in the
Lord's own time. Wherever the bag and bracelet are, they'll turn up
some day, I'm certain of that; and it'll be just at the right moment.
And so we must be patient and look about us.--But what was it, Kate, you
said was dropped along with the Bible?"
"It was this ring," replied Mrs Foster, at the same time placing a
small gold ring with a ruby in the centre on the table. The three
examined it by turns. There were no letters or marks engraved anywhere
on it.
"And this was dropped by the same hand which dropped the Bible?" asked
Bradly.
"Yes; it rolled along the floor, and may have fallen either off the
finger of the person who put her hand in at the window, or from between
the leaves of the Bible."
"And have you mentioned about this ring to any one?"
"No, not even to my husband. I'm sure William will forgive me. It was
just this way: I put it into my pocket at the time, and afterwards into
a secret drawer in my desk, fearing it might bring one or both of us
into trouble. When this happy change came, and both William and I began
to care about the Bible, I told him how I came by the book, but thought
I would wait before I said anything about the ring; perhaps something
would come to clear up the mystery, and it would be time enough to
produce the ring when some one came forward to claim it; but no one has
done so yet."
"And you have no suspicion at all who it belongs to, or who dropped it?"
"No, none whatever."
"Well," continued Bradly, "I don't think it fell out of the leaves of
the Bible, as not a word is said about it in John Hollands' letter. I'm
of opinion as it slipped off accidentally from the hand of the woman as
she was dropping the Bible; and since it's clear she didn't want it to
be known who she was, if she knows where she lost her ring she won't
want to come and claim it."
"And do you think," asked Foster, "that she is some one living in
Crossbourne or the neighbourhood?"
"Pretty certain," replied Thomas. "There's been some roguery or
trickery about it altogether. The bag was in Crossbourne on the 23rd of
last December, and your wife got the Bible that same evening. I'm
firmly persuaded there's been some hoax about it all, and I believe bag
and bracelet and all's in the town, if we only knew how to find 'em
without making the matter public. If we could only get at the owner of
the ring without making a noise, we might find a clue as would lead us
to where the bag is."
"I'm much of your mind," said Foster. "I fancy that some one of poor
Jim Barnes's drunken mates has been playing a trick off on him by
watching him into the Railway Inn, and running off with the bag just to
vex him; and then, when he found what was in the bag, he would hide all
away except the Bible, for fear of getting into a scrape. But can
anything be done about the ring?"
"I'll tell you what we'll do if you'll let me have it for a while," said
Bradly, with a twinkle in his eye. "I'll get our Betsy to wear it in
the mill to-morrow. You'll see there'll something come out of it, as
sure as my name's Thomas Bradly."
Accordingly, next morning Betsy Bradly appeared at the mill with the
ring on her little finger--a circumstance which soon drew attention,
which was expressed first in looks and then in whispers, much to the
quiet amusement and satisfaction of the wearer. No questions, however,
were asked till the dinner hour, and then a small knot of the hands,
principally of the females, gathered round her. These were some of her
personal friends and acquaintances; for her character stood too high in
the place for any of the less respectable sort to venture to intrude
themselves upon her.
"Well, Betsy," cried one, "you've got a pretty keepsake there; let's
have a look at it."
The other's only reply was to take off the ring and offer it for
inspection. As it was passed from hand to hand, various exclamations
were uttered: "Eh, it's a bonny stone!"--"I never seed the like in all
my born days!"--"It's fit for the Queen's crown!"--"Where did you get
it, Betsy?"--"Her young man gave it her, of course!"--"Nay, you're wrong
there," said another; "he's got more sense than to spend his brass on
such things as that,--he's saving it up for a new clock and a
dresser!"--"Come, Betsy, where did you get it?"
"You'll never guess, so it's no use axing," said Betsy, laughing. "It
ain't mine; but it'll be mine till its proper owner comes and claims
it."
"Oh, you picked it up as you was coming to the mill!"
"Ah yes!" cried another; "like enough it's been dropped by the vicar's
lady, or by some one as has been staying at the vicarage!"
"You're wrong there," replied Betsy; "I didn't find it, and nobody's
lost it exactly."
"Well, I never!" cried several, and then there was a general move
towards their different homes.
Betsy continued wearing the ring for the next day or two, and always
dexterously parried any attempt to find out how she came by it. Odd
stories began to fly about on the subject, and work-people from other
mills came to have a look at the ring, Betsy being always ready to
gratify any respectable person with a sight of it. But still she
persisted in refusing to tell how it had come into her possession. At
last, one afternoon, just as the mills were loosing, one of the railway
clerks came up to her, and said,--
"Are you looking out for an owner to that ring you're wearing? I've
been told something of the sort."
"I ain't been exactly looking out," was the reply; "but I shall be quite
ready to give it up when I'm sure it's the right owner as wants it."
"Well, I've a shrewd guess I know whose it is," said the young man.
"Indeed! And who may that be?"
"Oh, never mind just now; but, please, let me look at the ring."
She took it from her finger and handed it to him. He examined it
carefully, and then nodding his head, with a smile on his lips, said,
"I'll be bound I've had this ring in my hands before."
"It's yours, then?"
"Nay, it's not mine. But do you particularly want to know whose it is?"
"Yes, I do; or, rather, my father does, for the simple truth is, it's
father as has got me to wear it; and if you can find out the proper
owner, he'll be obliged to you."
"Just so. If you don't mind, then, lending me the ring, I'll soon find
out if I'm right; and I'll bring it back to your father to-morrow night,
and tell him all about it."
To this Betsy immediately assented, and the clerk went away with the
ring in his charge. The following evening he and Thomas Bradly were
closeted together in the "Surgery."
"So," said Thomas, "you can tell me, I understand, who is the owner of
this ring you've just returned to me."
"I think I can," replied the other; "indeed, I feel pretty sure that I
can, though, strangely enough, the owner won't own to it."
"How's that?"
"I can't say, I'm sure, but so it is."
"Well, be so good as to tell me what you know about it."
"I will. You know the Green Dragon,--perhaps I ought to say, you know
where it is. I wish I knew as little of the inside of it as you do; it
would be better for me, though I'm no drunkard, as you are aware. But,
however, I go now and then into the tap-room of the Green Dragon to get
a glass of ale, as it's near my lodgings. Mrs Philips, she's the
landlady, you know. Well, she's a bit of a fine lady, and so is her
daughter. Her mother had her sent to a boarding-school, and she has got
rather high notions in consequence. But she and I are very good
friends, and she often tells me about her school-days. Among other
things, she has been very fond of talking about the way in which the
other young ladies and herself used to be bosom friends; and one
afternoon, when I was with her and her mother alone in the parlour, she
took a ring off her finger, and asked me to look at it, and if I didn't
admire it. And she said that one of her schoolfellows, whose parents
were very wealthy, had given it to her as a birthday present a short
time before she left school. The ring was the very image of the one
your daughter Betsy lent me."--So saying, he took it up from the table,
on which Thomas Bradly had placed it, and held it up to the light.--"I
could almost swear to the ring," he continued, "for I've had Miss
Philips's ring in my hands many a time. She's very proud of her rings,
and likes to talk about them; and I had noticed that she used to wear
this ring with the ruby in it over one or two others, and that it
slipped off and on very easily. And I used often to ask her to show it
me, partly to please her, and partly for a bit of fun. Well, now, it's
curious enough, I've missed that ring off her finger for several weeks
past. I couldn't help noticing that it was gone, for she always took
care that I should see it when she had it on. I asked her some time
back what had become of it; but she looked confused, and made some sort
of excuse which seemed odd to me at the time. But when I asked her
again, which was very soon after, she said she had put it by in her
jewel-case, for it was rather loose, and she was afraid of its getting
lost. But somehow or other I didn't quite believe what she said, so I
asked her once more, and she snapped me up so sharply that I found it
was best to ask no more questions about it. However, when I heard about
your daughter wearing a ring with a red stone in it, and that it was
looking out for an owner, it occurred to me at once that it might be
Lydia Philips's ring--that she had dropped it by accident, and didn't
like to own that she had lost it for some reason best known to herself,
and that she'd be only too glad to get it back again. So when your
daughter lent it me yesterday, I took it up in the evening; and getting
her by herself in the parlour, I pulled it out, and said, `See, Miss
Lyddy, what will you give me for finding _this_ for you?' I expected
thanks at the least; but to my great surprise she turned first very
pale, and then very red; and then, taking up the ring between her finger
and thumb as cautiously as if she was afraid it would bite or burn her,
she said--but I didn't believe her--`It ain't mine, and I don't want to
have anything to do with it.' I tried to make her change her opinion,
and told her I knew her ring as well as she knew it herself, that she
must have lost it, and that I was certain this was the very ring she had
showed me so often; but she only got angry, and flung the ring at me,
and told me to mind my own business. So I picked up the ring off the
floor, and slunk off like a dog with his tail between his legs, and I've
brought you back the ring. But it's the most mysterious thing to me. I
can't make it out a bit. I'm as sure now as I can be sure of anything
that it's the same ring I've often handled, and that it belongs to her.
Her own ring is gone from her finger, and that and this are as like as
two peas; but, for some reason or other, she won't have it to be hers,
so I must just leave matters as I found them."
"Thank you for your trouble," said Bradly, "and I'll keep the ring till
the real owner turns up; and meanwhile, my friend, just take my advice,
and keep as clear of the inside of the Green Dragon as you possibly
can."
When the railway clerk had left him, Thomas Bradly sat for some minutes
in deep thought, and then sought his sister. "Dear Jane," he said,
"there's just another step we're being guided; 'tain't a very broad one,
but I believe it's in the right direction." He then gave her an account
of what he had just heard from his visitor.
"And what do you make of his story, Thomas?" she asked. "Do you think
that the ring really belongs to Lydia Philips, and that she knows
anything about the bag?"
"Yes, Jane, I do; and I'll tell you why. I believe that she was the
person who dropped the Bible in at William Foster's window. Why she did
so, of course I can't say. But I believe the ring slipped off while she
was dropping the book, and now she's afraid to acknowledge the ring for
her own. You know the Bible and the bracelet were in the same bag; so,
as she knew about the Bible, it seems pretty certain she must have known
about the bracelet too. If she owns to the ring, of course it's as good
as owning as she was the person who dropped the Bible. She knows quite
well, you may be sure, that the ring fell into Foster's room, and that
it can only be Foster or his wife that's produced the ring, and she's
afraid of inquiries being set on foot which may trace the missing bag
and bracelet to her. So she's content to lose her ring, and persists in
saying it ain't hers; because if she owned to it, it would raise
suspicions that she or some of her people was concerned with making away
with or hiding away the bag and bracelet, and that might get the Green
Dragon a bad name, and spoil their custom, or even get her and her
family into worse trouble. That's just my opinion; there's foul play,
somewhere, and she knows something about it. The bag's in the place,
hid away somewhere, and she knows where, or she knows them as has had to
do with getting hold of it, and keeping it for their own purposes. So
we must watch and be patient. I feel convinced we're getting nearer and
nearer to the light. So let us leave it now in the Lord's hands, and be
satisfied for him to guide us step by step, one at a time. I haven't a
doubt we've traced the ring to its right owner, so we'll put it by for
the present, and it can come out and give its evidence when it's
wanted."