The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-07-04
thousand dollars, and / am engaged on

the rascals, old boy. Dreadful state of
things to exist in small city like this,
and the little man twisted uneasily III
his chair.
"Not so bad as you imagine. BE
calm, my friend the parties that robbed
the Clifton Bank will not be likely to
pay you visit very soon."
"Ah l hope your surmises are cor
rect, but pray tell me your reasons Tor
thinking as you do"
Certainly. In the first place the
bank robbery is the work of one man,
and he is not professional burglar. In
the second place that man cares more
for greenbacks than he does for gold or
naments and would not plumber your
place for all there is in it. In fact this
very same party owned diamond, but
threw it away rather than carry itaround
with him. 1t is very pretty, is 1t not ?"
and / held the stone up to him.
The jewelert took it, examinedit closely,
and returned it to me with the remark :
cit is, as you remark, very pretty
stone, and l might add, very valuable
for gem of its size. That is your clue,
presume ?"
eyes, the only clue 1 happen to pos
sess. Now then, l am anxious to find
the ring to which the stone belongs, and
you will please allow me to see the rings
that have been left here for resetting
since the robbery"
With pleasure. Excuse me one mo-
ment."
My friend disappeared. Returning,
n minute later, with number of rings
on tray, which ne placed on table
and began to examine the labels at
tached.
"Some of these rings have been in
oru possession number of days. All |!
here is one received this morning. Jan.
11-diamond setting-E Baker.
And he read the inscription.
took the ring from his hand and ex-
amined it. 1t was finely chased ring
of virgin gold, with the stone missing.
passed it to my friend.
"By Jove, Tracy, that is the very
ring you are in search of Now let me
see. And he went nearer to the light.
Yes, there can be no donbt about it.
The stone fits into the setting nicely,
and, now that / think of it, it is of the
same size and quality ordered.
What name did you say the party
gave ?"
"Baker--Emily Baker"
Emily Baker then it was lady ?"
81 presume so; at all events, she
looked and acted like one"
When is she to call for the ring?"
Tomorrow afternoon"
80 | 1TSt 600 bar whom oha cal1o onl
in order that L may play my cards to
better advantage, / shall enter your SER
vice as clerk. What do you say?
81 am perfectly willing, but take care
what you do, old boy; there may pos
sibly be some mistake"
"That is very true, and if such should
be the case, you may rest assured that l
shall discover it in time. Did / under
stand you to say that you had promised
to have the ring ready tomorrow after
noon 2"
"No, sir, / said nothing of the kind.
She said she would call for it tomorrow,
and L simply nodded assent.
Then lay the ring aside and leave
the rest to me. L shall call again to-
morrow; till then, adieu !" and l passed
into the street.
had thus far met with better success
than | had anticipated, and was nowise
elevated or thrown off my guard, for /
knew 1 had a general sharper to deal
with, whom it would be difficult to out
wit
During the day / visited several places
where "ye little game of faro" was in full
blast, and picked up several items of in
terest, all of which tendend to convince
me that / was now on the right scent.
Early next morning / repaired to my
friends establishment, and was assigned
position behind the counter, where, it
is needless to say, felt i'll at ease but
years of training and patient study had
enabled me to act almost any role to per-
lection, and it was not long before the
feeling of uneasiness wore off.
The day dragged slowly along, for
trade was not very brisk, and the sales
men had but little to do besides reading
the papers and yawning to each other
across the cases.
-Four o'clock Would the owner of
the ring ever come? L asked myself the
question hundred times, and was on
the point of doing so again when the
door slowly opened and heavily vailed
figure glided in, approached the counter,
and inquired in a somewhat hesitating
voice
els Mr.. - IMP"
"No, madam, he is not" replied.
Can do anything for you?"
81 dare say you can. / left ring in
charge of Mr.. -, for diamond set
ting, which was to be ready this after
noon. You will please let me have it,
together with the bill"
"What name ?" / inquired, bringing
out the tray containing the articles left
for repairs.
Emily Baker"
Emily Baker" unused, picking up
several rings and examining them. 1T
does not appear to be among these.
Ali recollect what has become of it, ~
and replaced the tray and took from
the glass case a small box, removed the
lid and exposed the ring to view.
/" Is that your ring, madam ?"
" 1t is. Why has it not been attend
ed to-"
"Simply because the original stone
has been recovered, and presuming that
you would prefer that to any other, we
have waited until we could hear from