The Southern herald., 1902-01-31

to wonder what Edith thought of the
sudden Irritation that made all us men
SO weary. Maybe the girls didn't no.
hee 1t, or maybe they didn't let on, for
they all saw that CorinnewaS a winner
from Winnerville.
The last thing Iremember at the
theater was Humphreys showing
Corinne the beautiful ring that he
had given to Edith as a guerdon of
their troth. 1t was a peach and no
mistake. think they called itamar-
quise, at any rate its setting was an
oblong opal, trimmed with diamonds,
but the popularity of it, and | think
Its chief beauty, was the green glory
Of the two emeralds set at the far ends
Of the oblong. Corinne looked at it
and then at Humphreys in that awful
way these women with velvet ewes
have and said; I'D say yes myself to
a ring likethat.' Then she laughedin
that limpid, eoddling way a certain
class Of women have and Humphreys
he was forward imp-slipped the
ring on her plump, white finger to
see how it looked Edith's mother
was with us, chaperoning the party,
but nobody except me seemed to have
any evil thoughts, and Ieyen suspect
ed myself,
"We got back to the house without
more thrilling than small
talk, and after a nice little supper, at
which, l thought, Humphreys and
the creole kept up a pretty steady ex-
change of rather tropical compli-
mentS, We all went into the music
room for a song. / think there were
eight besides Edith's mother in the
party, all nice young people of the
very best families in Cincinnati, and
all old friends except Humphreys and
the New Orleans cousin. She fitted
in all right, at least with the men, but
Humphreys just couldn't help fig
uring him out as an interloper, a mis-
fit, what you might call cheap
skate
"Now for the ugly part oft. Some
body asked Edith to sing a ballad,
and of course We all insisted She sat
down to the piano, fingered the key:
a moment, took off the beautiful mar
quisc ring, laid it on the top of the
instrument, and began to play and
sing. | think she played four or five
things before We would let her stop
She was an exquisite pianiste and one
of those amiable girls who loved tC
give pleasure without being coaxed
She didn't require any notes, and a;
she played we wandered about the big
room or sat still to enjoy the effect
| / noticed that some of the girl;
couldn't resist picking up the ring
They were all envious Of it, andifFm
not mistaken Humphreys stood fol
quite awhile near the piano. AT any
rate, it was during the music that
got my only chance to whisper tC
Corinne Forgeron. That's what
makes me think Humphreys mus
have been by the piano.
"When Edith got through playing
and looked for her ring it was gone
She laughed at first and called on III
to quit joking but when We hac
lighted all the lights and crawled al
over the floor and lifted everything
movable, poor Edith began to pout
and, well, you can imagine how W.
felt. No servant had entered thu
room. The top Of the piano wa
closed, it was an upright one, and VT
moved the instrument four times il
the vain search. The men looked
sheepishly at one another. The girl
looked mystifed and scared. Onl.
Humphreys kept up his front. No
body wanted to 60 first and every
body knew it was time to 60. |, TO
one, was convinced that there was
thief in the company, and natural.
1 suspected it was Edith's fiance
whom | hated cordially. Finally, il
a burst of long suppressed anger,
suggested that the men should retir
10 the parlor and search one another
That made the girls angry and Edit
began to cry. At last we all retired
feeling like a lot of whipped ours, al
but Humphreys. He had the impu
dence to keep reassuring lis, said tina
M doubt the ring would turn up
and so forth, till felt like choking
him. Then he said something topoo
Edith about her 'carelessness, and
upon my word, if Fannie ziegle
wasn't hanging to my arm I'd hav
smashed him one then and there. !
"But we all went home then, and
TO tell the truth, l thought perhap
Humphreys was sufficiently punished
when | heard about a week later tha
no and Edith had quarreled and tha