The true northerner., 1900-11-30

kWered before. AS none Of them could
describe the ring ! was no better cff
than before. Indeed ! was worse of.
A railway official wrote me that in
keeping an article OF value found ON
the line had made myself thief and
that he would lake great pleasure in
seeing me behind the bars.
i was now In love with the loser OF
that ring. Sentiment had a firm grip
on me, and | got all sorts of silly no.
tions into my head. | 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 | put her age at
IL without stopping to reflect that l
was probably as old a man as her IA
ther. A third crop of advertisements
went out. This time | called il hoop
ring. and l got 200 replies from losers
of hoop rings. In sending out the
fourth batch Of advertising l described
the ring with the exception of the ini-
tlals. The replies numbered over 400.
| 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 ringY'
"None of your business" | replied in
my anger at finding had been dogged.
But it is my business" he insisted.
Il don't exactly twig your lay, but III
have an eye on you for the next few
weeks and be prepared to make it hot
for you"
IF you want TO know who l am, go
TO Brown * Brown. solicitors"
I'll find out soon enough without
any help from them"
For half an hour after he had gone l
was too put out to feel much romance.
but as cooled off it came gently steal
Ing back, and l was more than ever de-
terminod to find my unknown love.
With that independence which should
characterize the actions of a fairly
honest man | advertised for the fourth
time. This time | asked "B. T." to
communicate with me in case she had
lost anything There were just 107 "B.
P.' answers, but among them l select
cd one which appeared to be genuine.
This "B. p" had lost a double hoop
diamond ring containing five stones.
1t had been lost on n railroad train and
was birthday gift from dead moth
er. | was asked to call at the cham
bers of a certain solicitor TO have the
ring further identified. There is moth
ing romantic about calling on a solici-
tor / had been in hopes TO be invited
to a Sloan square mansion or a grand
country seat and | was disappointed.
1t was quite possible, however, that
the blond haired heiress would be at
the solicitors and that all would be
well, and so | was on hand at the ap-
pointed hour. So was a stern faced
and aggressive looking householder. to-
gether with n slick looking villain
whom l at once spotted for a detective
and young woman whose hair was
red instead of blond. The ring was
speedily identified by the stern faced
man and red headed girl. 'B. T." was
Bertha Perkins. and her father and
her maid were before me- Perkins was
a country squire. and on the night pre-
yous 10 my finding the ring his daugh-
ter's Jewels had been stolen. The hoop
ring was part of the plunder
OF course | was ready TO hand over
the ring, but 1t wasn't to stop there.
That red headed maid was sure she
recognized me as the man who was
hanging about the grounds few hours
before the robbery. and that villain Of
detective was only too glad to snap
the handouts on my wrists and hurry
me off to jail. 1t took me three days to
prove myself a respectable character
and an alibi. They had TO give me my
liberty. but it was grudgingly done,
and the detective said he'd have an eye
on me all the rest Of my days. The
romance had departed when | was
locked up. | came out Of jail deter
mined on securing reparation. Old
Perkins had helped the red headed girl
to conclude that | was the robber and
| went down to his country seat to re-
ceye an abject apology or pull his
nose He not only refused an apology,
but threatened TO kick me off the
grounds. and the red headed girl de-
clarcd that | had cast in my left eye,
and by that cast she would swear to
me in any court as a man who would
not stop at murder. There was one
more thing to be cleared up. ! wanted
to find ont about "B. T." herself. Was
she the blond haired. blue eyed girl Of
my dreams. and was she worthy of my
love? ! had not long to wait. | was
walking from the country seat to the
village when n dOgcart knocked me
down and rolled me all over the road,
and the driver halted to call me a
tramp and threaten me with the Jaw.
The driver was "B. p" Her hair was
bleached her eyebrows colored and her
nose turned up. She had big mouth,
bad teeth and milky eyes, and when
she drove on she whistled like q man.
Courting In Cordova.
fu1,t