The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-03-19

her cheeks. brow. and bosom famed q
fair crimson as she said, Father, you
cannot despise Captain Grayson more
than do. Moreover, you may ten basn
French, if you like, that ne Still cares
for such regards as can give MN, ne Is
at liberty to tell me so.
It seemed to her at that moment that
she would die sooner than I'VE w1tn the
possibility existing of ever listening
again to such words as those her father
had spoken of Capt. Grayson-
Now Basil French congratulated h1m-
self that the game was won, and ne only
wished to hasten the wedding, for he
was tired of his goody part, and OF dull,
stupid Rockport. Genie's money would
take them abroad in good style. he
didn't fiatter himself at all that Genie
loved him-indeed. she had honestly
told him that she had consented to
marry him for her fathers sake-but he
didn't know whether it wasn't almost as
well. A woman who loves Is always ex-
acting, he thought, and little apt to be
sharp at spying out occasions for leal-
ousy. On the whole, Basil was very
well satisfied.
Why is it that so often a criminal,
after having laid some admirably and
carefully concocted plot and carried it
out almost to the end, at the very last
does something absurdly rash and fool
ish2 Basil French bethought himself
that he must furnish an engagement
ring and then he remembered his little
speech to himself in the garden. He
unlocked a box, and took the ring
from it.
IS It must have cost pretty sum, he
said. 81 cannot afford such one in the
present reduced state of my funds,
He examined it carefully. There was
no mark by which it could be identified,
and Basil French decided to give Genie
Lawton the ring Capt. Grayson had
given her.
When he presented it to Genie, a
sudden pallor came over her face.
Where did you get that ring?" she
gasped.
Are you faint, Genie 2" said Basil,
anxiously, and with the most innocent
air possible.
90 No, no, she said but where did
you get that rings"
ssI ordered it from Emmanuel's, in
London" he said. g What is there
about it that affects you SO 2"
She looked keenly at him !; but his eyes
unhinchingly met her own, and there was
upon his face only a puzzled, anxious
expression. It must be only cruel CO.
incidence, the similarity of the two rings
but how could she wear it, to be con-
slant reminder of that which she prayed
and strove to forget?
! But she must, she thought, YEARLY,
for least of all could she bear any ques-
tioning that touched ever SO unwittingly
| upon this subject SO painful to her heart.
| ST am not quite well tonight, / think,
Basil, she said, extending her hand for
him to place the ring uponit. 81 fancied
| that I had seen a ring like this before
1t is very beautiful - forcing herself to
look at it and speak naturally.
| The moment Basil French had given
Virginia Lawton the ring, he repented it,
and inwardly cursed himself for fool
| for doing it. He went home uneasy and
i'll at ease and, taking up the evening
paper, the first thing his eyes fell upon
was not at all calculated to dispel these
| feelings. It was the ship list, headed by
| the arrival, at Bristol, of the Ariel, Capt.
! Grayson.
s'Hang iti'' said Basil s"who knows
if I don't go where he is, but he'll be
coming here, and that won't do just now.
/ No, no am 50 anxious to see my deal
|. friend, that cannot wait day ere see
| ing him at Bristol. Depend upon it I'll
stick closer than a brother to him while
I ne y On SA1OT0 ILLS b1L10s
I When Genie Lawton escaped to her
own room, after her trying interview
| with Basil, she tore the ring from hel
/ finger and threw it upon her table. II
seemed to burn her hand like fame.
evil nothing allow me to forget that
man % she said. IS I will hide it, lose
/ it anything rather than wear perpetual
reminder of him. .
Then q sense of the strangeness of the
two rings being SO alike struck her, and
she took up the ring, and examined il
closely. 1t was a perfect fac sSnaite,
| she thought. She opened a drawer to
put it in a box. A small microscope, 6
favorite toy of hers, caught her eye III
the drawer. She remembered that she
had looked at the first ring through this,
and an impulse rose within her to looh
at this in the same way. Why, there il
was, that very little flaw in the same
stone, q flaw too small for the naked eye
She trembIed like a leaf, for she knew
that she held in her hand, not the fax
ssnsiLe of Grayson's ring, but the ring
itself
At this moment a servant tapped a
the door, and said that her father was
waiting for her to read the evening
paper to him. She had no time to thinl
or wonder now. She must go down Al
once, for her father didn't like waiting
for anything now.
The ship news was always the frs
thing that Mr.. IIawton desired read ani
here again fate thrust memory befort
4 her as she read, Bristol-shil
Ariel, Grayson."
i Well, she read on, parliamentary and
A general news, anything, everything bu
It all might have been SO much Greek O.
Hebrew, so far as the words conveyed
any sense to her for, though her mint
was not left free enough to conjectur'
hoaO the ring came to be the Same, sh,
was repeating over and over in her mind
g It Is the same.
Before the paper was finished, Basi
; French came in again.
ssI am called to Bristol, suddenly" /" h
said g and as the train goes early to
morrow, must say good-by this even
, ing"
Genie did not follow him to the door +
| say farewell, as lovers have a fashion O
doing when others are present.
| :. Good-by," she said, simply, givin,
him her hand, coldly, he fancied and
az she did so, he noticed that the rim
was not on her finger.
} This worried him little.
I $ BY heaven he thought, s. what
fool / was to give her that ringl mus