The Opelousas courier., 1900-08-04
The Matter of a n

Miss Harrington took q step back
ward, and with o little bow said:
81 lelieye REMARKED earlier in this
interview, DR.. Henderson, that my
only purpose in sending for you was
to restore to you your property"
At this curt dismissal the doctor
rose quickly to his feet, coloring
slightly.
81 am going" he said. but he made
no move in that direction. Instead
he leaned both hands on the edge of
the table and stared fixedly across it
at Miss Harrington. His brow was
puckered up in deep wrinkles, but
whether he was thinking of the girl
or the ring cannot be said with GER
tainty.
ST am going" he repeated, "but-
but I don't understand it. / was
angry this morning, I admit, and acted
foolishly-" he paused to mutter to
himself in q kind of wonder, "Lord,
what an awful ass I must have been
to let this girl get away when / had
her"-"but when you handed me my
ring it gave me a shock, made me real
ize then, as I had not before, what
we wero doing. Had I not felt that
it vas too late / would then and there
have retracted and apologized for
every hasty-"
"1ou are pleading, then, I am to
understand" she broke in, cuttingly,
'the eve shock as your excuse for
forgetting the ring, that it so be-
numbed. paralyzed your senses that
You failed to think of it at all until I
showed it to you a moment ago"
"No," he continued, stubbornly, "I
am not prepared to admit that I forgot
it. I remember so well-am SO abso-
lutely certain that Itook it home"
"Dr. Henderson," Her voice in
dicated impotence, scorn, indigua-
ton, evaporation and perhaps several
other strong emotions. "Dr. Hender-
son, this would be amusing, ridiculous,
were it not SO insulting. I found the
ring on the table, SO you cannot pos
sibly have taken it with you. I think
we might as we'll make an end of this
interview"
When she commenced speaking the
doctor had stopped. But he had not
been listening; he had been thinking.
Now he went on slowly, as though
she had not interrupted him:
81 took it home, straight home-I
laid it on the table while / filed and
lighted my pipe-I had it in my hand
for almost an hour while I was smok-
ing and thinking"-he was impressive
lylaying off to her with his finger each
link OF his chain of retrospection-"I
then locked it in a small safe I have in
my bedroom. When I started here
this evening"-his face broke into a
triumphant smile-"I put it in my
left hand lower vest pocket, and here
she is" and sure enough he pulled
out a ring.
He picked up the other, and, hold
ing them together, carefully compared
Them They were exactly alike in
every particular, size, shape, setting,
brilliancy, and in both we're engraved
letters, "A. Nm. H."
He passed them across to Miss Har.
rington, whose turn it now was to
show establishment.
ST don't understand it." she
faltered.
"Nor J." said DR.. Henderson, stern
ly. "You seem to have a plurality of
engagement rings to keep a stock on
hand, as it were"
The girl flushed.
"Of course you know that I never
Lad but one engagement ring" she
said.
She al STOPPING to defend herself,
SO the doctor went on the more se-
verely.
"Indeedl Yet here are two. I can
not undertake to say how many more
you may have with your initials III.
NJ in them. I suppose that even
your shall we say assurance will
lily permit you to say that I was
the Niver of both. The rather un-
usual Acircumstance of two of your
iancesAaving the same initials has
the cnuse of your mis-
Ssry natural n under the
circumatoaces. / do not know who
the ot]Fer- shall I say lucky?-fellow
-Oh9 a. H. might be Alb Higgin-
"Mr. Higginson's name is Talbot.
yousvery we'll know the girl put
in.
"Hum-well-maybe it is. I don't
care. Il doesn't make any difference
who the other fellow is-or are. The
fact remains that you had other en-
gagement rings at the same time You
had mine. Why yon chose to add in
suit to injury by trying to make out
that I was the faithless n / cannot
imagine. Such brazen--"
DIR. Henderson, your conduct is
insuherable. ! will hear your insults
longer
Can You deny what I have said?''
"Of our ! can, and do. I know
nothing Of this other ring You have
brought. Il has your initials. "A. H.
in it, too, remember. How am [ to
know that it is not one you intended
for some other girl who happens to
have my initials? Probably you were
on your way to 9 her when you got
mynote."
just here the library door opened,
and Miss Harrington's younger
brother Gus appeared. Gus was q