Show cohe czi 7 icy ly aa aa synopsis at a private view of the chatworth chatsworth Chat worth per bonal estate to be sold at auction the H chatsworth chatworth Chat t worth rt h ring mysteriously disappears harry r r yoc cressy essy who was present describes t tl 18 a rin ring to his fiancee ilora I 1 lera gilsey and sato her a aberon eron mrs clara britton as be ing like k 6 a heathen god with mith a beautiful eapp ire set in the head ii 1 lora lore d ers an unfamiliar mood in harry espe dally when the ring la is dl discussed she attends ladles ladies night at the club and meets mr berr an engi engl it comes out tl at the missing ringi has been known as the crew idol its disappearance re re calls Is the ceplo ts Is of parrell farrell wand an g I 1 h t thief hief I 1 lora has a fancy that the t harry and kerr are concerned in the mystery kerr tells flora that he has met harry ere but cannot place him A reward of 0 la Is offered tor for the cretu n of the ring harry admits to flora that he dislikes kerr tl TI ey make an ap to select an engagement ring CHAPTER VI continued in the middle of 0 the block sunk a little back from the fronts of the others the goldsmith goldsmiths s shop showed a single filmed window and the pale glow through it proclaimed that the worker in metals preferred another light to the sun s the threshold was worn to a hollow that surprised the foot and the interior into which it led them gloomed so suddenly around them after the broad sunlight that it was nas a moment before they made out the little man behind the counter sit ting hunched up on a high stool hullo joe said harry in the same voice that hailed his friends on the street corners but the goldsmith only nodded like a nodding mandarin ae as if without looking up he took them in and sensed their errand he wore a round blue chinese cap drawn over his crown a pair of strange goggles like a mask over his eyes and his little body seemed to poise as lightly on his high stool as a wisp as it if there were no more flesh in it than in his long dry fingers that so mar ly manipulated the metal save for that glitter of gold on his glass plate and the grin of a lighted brazier all mas a dark discolored and cluttered cher over everything ever everl thing was spread a dim ness of age like duit it enveloped the little man behind the coulter counter not with the frailness that belongs to human age but with that weathered polished har hardness dues which time brings to antiques of wood and metal in deed he appeared so like a carved idol in a curio shop that flora was a little tittle startled to find that he was look ing at her harry she murmured to cressy who was stirring the contents ol 01 a box with a disdainful forefinger this little man gives me the shivers f old joe harry smiled indulgent ly he ile s a queer customer been quite a figurehead in chinatown for 20 ears sa joe heap bad and with the back of his hand he flicked the tray aw away ay from him the little man undoubted his knees and descended the stool he ile stood hi east high behind the counter he ile di copped a lackluster lack luster eye to the box velly nice he murmured with vague falling inflection oh rotten harry laughed at him you no liked iso no no like you got something else something nice iso no it was like a door closed in the face of their hope that falling inflection that blank of vacuity that settled over his face andvig whole drooping figure he seemed to be only mutely awaiting their departure to climb back again on his high stool but hatry still leaned on the counter and grinned ingratiatingly oh joe you good flen you got something pretty maybee the curtain of vacuity parted just a crack let through a gleam of intense intelligence maybe the gold smith chuckled deeply as it if harry had unwittingly perpetrated some joke some particularly clever conjurer s trick he ile sidled out behind the coun ter past the grinning brazier and shuffled into the back of the shop where he opened a door flora mora had expected a cupboard but the vista it gave upon was a long black incredibly narrow passage that stretched away into gloom with all the suggestion of distance of a road going over a horizon down this the goldsmith went with his straw slip pers clapping on his heels until his small figure merged in the gloom and presently disappeared altogether and only the faint flipper flap of his slip pers came back growing more and more distant to them and finally dy ing into silence in the stillness that followed while they waited they could hear each other breathe then came the flipper flap of the goldsmith goldsmiths s slippers returning the sound snapped their tension and har ry laughed lord knows how far he went to get it across the streeta flora mon on dered 44 or under it and it won C 1 be worth two bits when it gets here he ile peered at the little man coming to ward them down the passage flapping and shuffling and carrying held be tore fore him in both hands a square deep little box it was a worn nondescript box that he set down before them but the jealous way be he had carried it had sug treasure and flora lean leaner 4 aug C A A 0 quo erly forward as he raised the cover half expecting the blaze of a jewel case she saw at first only dull shanks of metal tumbled one upon the other but after a moments peering be tween them she caught gleams ol 01 veritable light her fingers went in to retrieve a hoop of heavy sih fiher er in the midst of which was sunk a flawed flamed topaz she admired a moment the play of light over the imperfection but this chinese she ob ejected ejected turning her surprise on harry lotsof lots of emarena cm aren t these men glean everywhere she heard him dreamily she was wishing as she turned over the turn tum ble of damaged jewels that things so pretty might have been perfect to find a perfect thing in this place would be too extraordinary to hope for yet taking up the next and the next she found herself wishing it might be this one this cracked in taglio no 1 then this blue one say the setting spoke nothing tor for it it was a plain thin round hoop of palpable brass and the battered thing seemed almost too feeble to hold the solitary stone but the stone she looked it full in the eye the big blaz ing blue eye of it she held it to the light she felt harry move behind her she knew he couldn coulden t but be looking at it for how by all that was marvelous had she tor for a moment doubted it down to its very heart which was near to black it was clear fire and outward towards the facets struck flaming hyacinth hues with zigzag white cross cros lights slights that dazzled and mesmerized harry she breathed without tak rg her gaze from the thing in her hand do look at this she felt him lean closer then with noth an abrupt let lets s see it he took it from her held it to the light laid it on his palm looked sharply across the counter at the shopkeeper then back at the ring with a long scrutiny his face too had a flush of excite ment Is it good flora faltered A sapphire he said and taking her third finger by the tip he slid on the thin circle of metal she breathed high looking down at the stone aith mith eyes absorbed in the blue fire it was too beautiful the feeling it brought her was too sharp for pure pleasure it vas mas dimly like fear yet instinctively she shut her hand about the ring she murmured out her wonder how in the world did such a thing come here oh not so strange harry answer ed sailors now and then pick up a thing of whose value they have no idea get hard up and pawn it still without any idea these chaps and his bold hold hand indicated the er take in anything that Is any thing worth their while and wait and wait and wait until they see just the moment and turn it to account it might be because harrys eyes were so taken with the jenel jewel that his tongue ran recklessly he had spoken low but flora sent an anxious glance to be sure the shopkeeper hadn haan t oer over heard she had meant only to glance but she found herself staring into eyes that stared back from the other side ot of the counter that wide scrutiny filled her whole vision for an I 1 instant she saw noth ing but the dance of pupils then with a we gasp she clutched at her companion companions s arm oh harry his glance came quickly round to her why what s the matter she murmured that chinaman has blue eyes he looked at her with good natured wonder why flora haven t you blue on the brain I 1 believe he has though he added as he peered across the counter at the shopkeeper whose gaze now fluttered under narrowed lids but why in the world should blue eyes scare youa his look returned ind to floras face she co lid ild not explain her reason of fear to him she only whispered back but he is awful oh I 1 guess not harry grinned and turned his back to the counter only part white makes him a little sharper at a bargain but in spite of hia his off handedness offhandedness flora caw he vas as alert touched with excitement do you like it mora he said do you want it if it is the most beautiful thing I 1 ever saw but she could not put it to him why she shrank from it that feeling which had touched her at the first had a little expanded the sense of the sapphire sapphires s sinister charm she faltered out as much as she could ex plain its it s too much for me oh 1 I guess not he said again and with that he seemed to make an end of her hesitation she let him draw the ring off her hand with a min aled feeling of reluctance and relief she saw him turn briskly to the shopkeeper now joe how much you want that much she heard as she turned away with a fear lest it might and a hope that it would be too much for him she lingered away to the door through whose upper glazed half she saw the street swarming and sunny picked out with streamers of red and squares of green the murmur of traffic outside was faint to her ears he murmur of the two voices talking ton on inside the shop grew fainter she looked behind her and jill 14 Z f 7 it was hers she did not bel be eve it saw them now in the back of 0 the shop close by the grinning brazier the light of it showed what would have been otherwise dark it showed her harry straddling hands in pock ets hat thrust back a silhouette as hard as if cast in cold metal the as hect of him thus was strange not aj alite ite unlike himself but giving her the feeling that she had never known hoy how much harry smoothed over whatever they were arguing about she found it hard to go on standing thus with her back to it and for so long while her expectancy tightened and lier her unreasonable idea that she did not want the ring more and more took hold of her it if he did not want to sell it why not let it go the beau ticul thing she thought she would call harry and suggest it but no she hesitated she would give them a chance to finish it themselves she would count ten pigtails past the window first she turned and there they were mere yet they had not moved the shad ow of the gesticulating little china man danced like a bird on the wall and before him harry glowed imamov able but ruddy as it the hard metal whereof he was cast was slowly heat ing through the thought came to her then harry was iron the hard shade of his profile on the wall the stiff movement of his lips the for ward thrust of his head on his ders gave her another thought was harry also brutal what she expected of harry a vio lent act or a quick relaxation of his iron mood she had not time to consid er for the shopkeeper had moved he was jerking his head his thumb and finally his arm in the direction of the long dim fe such a pointed direction such a singular gesture as to startle her with its incongruity what had that to do with the price of the ring ringa and it if it had nothing to do with the price of the ring what had they been talking about her small scruple against knowing what was going on behind her was forgot ten indeed now she was oblivious of everything else she was taking it in with all her eyes when harry turned and looked at her and oddly enough she thought he looked as if be he wondered how she came there she saw him return to it blonn slowly ly then in a flash he met her brilliantly he came toward her out of the gloom holding the ring before him as if with the light of that and the flash of his smile he was anxious immediately to cover his deficit I 1 had the very devil of a time get ting it he said the little beggar didn dian t want to let me have it but there was a subsiding excitement in his face and a something in his man ner both triumphant and troubled which his explanation did not reason auly account for she hesitated quite sure its all right all righta the s adden edge in his voice made her look at him why it its s genuine if that s U nhat hat you mean it hadn haan t been quite but her mean ing was too vague to put into words a mere sensation of uneasiness she watched harry turn the ring over as it he were reluctant to let it go out ol 01 his hands and then looking at her che he thought his glance was a lit tie tle uncertain she thought he hesi best bated and when he finally slid the ring over her finger I 1 wouldn t wear it until it la is reset he said that setting isn t gold it s hardly decent yes she assented clara will laugh at us she won t it we don t show it to her until its fit to appear in fact I 1 would rather you wouldn t As it Is nw the thing represent my gift she felt this was harrys conven dional streak asserting itself but ei eten en she had to admit that an engage ment ring which was palpably not gold was rather out of the way may you d better keep it a day or two and look it over and make up your mind how you want it set and then well spring it on them he advised bui but now it was finally on her fin ger she did not want to think it would ever have to be taken off again CHAPTER VII A spell Is cast it was iv as hers she did not believe it it had been done too quickly it seemed to her she had hardly felt harry slip it on her finger before they had left the shop that she had hardly shaken off the musty atmosphere before harry had left her on the corn r 0 california and fowell powell streets left her alone with the ring she went over whole dramas im histories of chance and cir comstance cum stance woven about the ring aa as she walked up and down the long windy hills westward and homeward the blue bay on the one hand beaten gleen under the rising trade and the fog coming in before her with the experience of the morning and the exercise and the lively air her spirits were riding high from time to time she had the greatest longing to peep again at the sapphire but not until the bouse house door had closed after her did she dare draw off her glove and look it was still glorious what a pity she must take it off but even in the refuge of her own rooms the ring in circled flora with unease the light of it on her finger made her restless it gasn wasn t that she was apprehensive of it but she could not forget it she could hear the maid maarika moving about in the room beyond she slipped it off oft her finger on to the dressing table and it lay among her laces like a purple prism cast by some unearthly sun in a magic glass she had jewels ru bles een even the most precious but nothing that gave her this sense of in beauty of beauty so keen as to be disturbing she emptied her jewel casket in a glittering heap around it it shone out unquenched marrida was coming in and quickly flora swept the jewels and the sap chire back into the casket turned the key upon them and thrust it back in the tar far corner of the drawer she would give every one a great surprise when the ring was prop properly aly set she glanced nervously over her shoulder to see if marrida had noticed her action the russian ha hal I 1 been amov ing to and fro between the wardrobe and the dressing table with a droning thread of song all the while flora was vas being combed and laced and hooked her eyes were alertly on the dressing table |