Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-20
4 ELCKENING leap and HeIen's
4 heart stood still! Numbly she
stared at her bare finger Her

~ nedTl STOOD Stlu! Numbly she
stared at her bare finger. Her
engagement ringl II was gonel
She cluUched at the finger as though
hoping her eyes had tricked her and
that she would feel it there. But there
was only the faint depression where the
ring had been
Dazed and tremulous, Helen felt about
her dress, shook her skirts and looked
hlindly around.
She had been Strengthening the work
basket and as she wound up spool
Of thread, her glance had fallen on the
finger where always sparkIed her en-
gagement ring
-iatchiTS a newspaper. she trem-
biingly emptied on it the contents Of
the work basket Feverishly she looked
among the spools and buttons. For one
brief second she thought she saw the
flash of the diamond-buJ it was only
rhinestone buckle.
aggie-Oh. Maggie." she
called. Come here a moment Oh,
I've lost my ring" excitedly, my dia-
mond ring! Come help me look"
Helen was already turning up the
rugs and searching about the room
But Maggie, who was not Of an excit-
able nature. asked stolidly.
When did you have il last, ma am 90
~'Oh, just missed It now-just this
moment" turning up the same corner
Of the same rug for the third time.
But when d you remember seeing it
last?'
Trying to Think.
Helen stared at her blankly. When
had she seen it last? She could not
think. Did she have it that morning?
Last night? She must have had it
or she would have missed II before this
For the next hour they both searched.
Of one thing Helen was certain-that
she had not left it on some washstand,
for she never took it off to wash her
hands. 1t had never been off her
finger since Warren placed it there
four years ago.
Yet IT seemed almost incredible that
It could have slipped off. She had
known that she was thinner, the scales
when last she weighed showed that
III, when her usual weight was 100.
But would only three pounds less make
any difference in her fingers? They did
not seem thinner and she had not been
conscious that the ring was loose.
Il can't look any more now, ma am,
I'll have to see about dinner. If it's
here-you'H find IT, I'll look good to-
morrow when I sweep
"Oh, the carpet sweeper, Maggie!
Maybe you swept 1t up this morning.
Empty il nowl tn only take a minute.
and they emptied it out on a paper.
With a long pencil Helen gingerly
turned over the mass of dust matted
with hairs, threads and pins.
Folding up the trash in the paper Mag
gle hurried out to the kitchen. But
Helen kept on looking-it must be
somewhere in the house. She had not
been out at all to-day Yesterday after
noon she had made a dinner call on Mrs.
Thurston, had stopped at drug store
and at the cleaners, but she had not
had her gloves off once.
The day before she had been shopping.
but her mind refused to concede that she
could have lost it so long ago. She felt
certain that 1t had been on her finger at
breakfast
very SupersCltlous.
In many ways Helen was very super
stitous, and besides the heartbreaking
loss Of the ring, there was also the
dread that 1t was a bad omen. Could it
be a foreboding of some trouble between
Warren and her? Oh she must find it
she MUST find it,
Not until time to dress for dinner did
she stop her search. And even as she
dressed she would dart off every few
minutes as some new place to look oc-
Cured to her.
She could not tell Warren-at least
not tonight. Surely she would find it