The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-11-06
l cor A PECK or LETTERS.

made up of five stones of the purest
water, and on the inside were the ini-
tails ''B. p" The ring was double
hoop of gold and had probably been
made to order 1t was lying loosely in
the box, and the box had once contain
ed steel pens l argued that it must
have been some careless person who
carried valuable ring around in that
fashion and that it had been lost by
passenger who had left the train at the
junction.
l am only a fairly honest man. My
first idea was to keep the ring to my
own profit, but l remembered that
was known to the railway porter and
that the property might be traced to
me. If not strictly honest, am pru-
dent, and l therefore gave up the idea
of converting the ring. l would hold it
for a reward, however. That bauble
must have cost at least 5000 and was
perhaps valued beyond price as a gift
1 figured that l ought to get 500 out
of it, and l figured just what | would
do with that extra money. Half an
hour later I felt curious sensation
stealing over me. began to feel sen
timental. l began to connect that dear
little ring with dear little blond hair
ed, blue eyed girl. | got up and kicked
myself three times and called myself a
fool, but the feeling did not go away
To my establishment and Indignation |
found it growing stronger, and before
l knew 1t the grip of romance had got
me by the neck.
/ was a man Of leisure, though had
no great amount of money to my cred
it. l would hunt up the owner of that
ring, and If all things went well
would marry her. | settled on that
even as l kicked myself again. Com
mon sense told me that might better
fall in love with the old apple woman
at the Waterloo terminus, but when
romance takes hold common sense has
to let go. For a week watched all
the papers, but the ring was not adver-
tised. This seemed to- prove to me that
the loser was either rich and indiffer-
ent to her loss or that for some reason
the loss had not yet been discovered.
Romance made me anxious, and
therefore went to the expense of adver-
Using in five different papers. l sim
ply stated that diamond ring had
been found on a railroad train and ask
ed the loser to correspond.
Inside of three days received about
$50 letters in reply. They came from
all sorts of places and from all sorts OF
people The number of stones was
given all the way from one to ten, and
almost every railroad in the kingdom
was mentioned. The $50 writer's were
fakes and liars and the true loser had
not answered me. | was bit nettled
Mt this neglect on her part She was
not meeting my romance half way.
advertised q second time, and this time
| gave date and day and train. Again
l got peck of letters. and at least half
of them were from people who had an
sWered before. AS none OF Them could
describe the ring | was no better off
than before Indeed l was worse off.
A railway official wrote me that In
keeping an article of value found on
the line had made myself thief and
that he would take great pleasure in
seeing me behind the bars.
l was now in love with the loser of
that ring Sentiment had a firm grip
on me, and l got all sorts Of silly no
lions into my head. l must see the af-
fair to the end at whatever cost, and
the end must be my marriage with the
fair haired Beatrice. That was the
name gave her, and l put her age at
10 without stopping to reflect that
was probably as old a man as her ia
Their third crop of advertisements
went out. This time l called it hoop
ring, and i got 200 replies from losers
of hoop rings. In sending out the
fourth batch of advertising described
the ring with the exception of the ini-
tails. The replies numbered over 400.
l also got something beyond replies. A
detective followed me to my lodgings
and was insulting enough to ask:
Look here, old man, what sort Of a
game are you trying to play on the
public with that ring2
"None of your business" replied In
my anger at finding | had been logged.
"But 1t is my business" he insisted.
II don't exactly twig your lay, but III
have an eye on you for the next few
weeks and be prepared to make 1t hot
| for you"
IF you want to know who ! am, go
to Brown & Brown. solicitors"
"I'H find out soon enough without
any help from them"
For half an hour after he had gone |
was too put out to feel much romance.
! but as cooled off 1t came gently ste9l.