The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1913-06-12

afternoon to purchase some Of the
books which gave her the right to ask
questions by mail.
Once or twice since then she had con-
suited the oracle. and now she was
writing for advice as to the where
abouts Of the ring. 1t was well for her
faith that she was not present at the
answering of her question.
Two young men sat before table
in a cheap theatrical boarding house
when a messenger entered with a
package of letters to add to the pile
on the liable One of them caught the
thick blue envelope up.
"Here's another whole book to be an
swered," he laughed as he slit open
the cover. Twelve pages" he gasped
as he turned over the closely written
pages.
''She must want her moneys worth"
'What's the question: laughed the
other-'loye OF theft?"
Something about Il ring" chuckled
the first as he read the first para graph.
'Listen. AT several crises in my life,'
he read, "T have turned to you for adj
vice, and you have never failed ne.
Now, ii sore distress Of mind, l come
10 you for advice as to a ring which |
have reason to believe was stolen. l
VIII acquaint You with the facts in
the -
''Cut it, urged TIE other. "!lst use
the old standby, Your first suspicion
vas correct Ilat'I do as we'll as
anything.''
The render scribbied or the pad Of
paper before him and slipped it in the
return envelope. 4 couple of days lat
er Miss Celeste read the confirmation
OF her suspicion and bore it in triumph
to har brother.
John Noaiies came as close to swear
ing II a woman as he had ever done in
his life. but he checked his temper and
solcInnly warned her of the folly of
givinS Heed to the charlatans, but even
as lie spoke he knew that nothing
woud convince her of Vincent's innO-
cence save the finding Of the ring.
Gradually it became noised about
the town that the spirits had told Miss
Noaile; that Crawford was thief
Vincent had not been near the house
since that night, and his apparent
break verified the gossip. 1t began to
look ugly for his prospects when Miss
Noailes was moved to entertain a few
friends.
Elvia sat apart from the rest trying
to appear interested in the converse
ton while her thoughts We're with
Vincent when suddenly Miss Celeste
sat up in her chair.
THAT miserable kitten has brought
q homo in hn,.e'' eIn rriad as an irreg-
ular rattle on the hardwood floor broke
upon their ears "She is forever play
ing with bones"
Elvia sprang toward her aunt. The
kitten was one Vincent had given her
and for that reason disliked by Miss
Celeste. Just as they turned to the
heavy cabinet under which the kit
ten was playing Shah bounded out
from under the low setting cabinet in
pursuit of his plaything.
Elvia's startled cry scared him, and
he scampered off, abandoning his toy.
Elv1a pOunced upon it.
"Do YOU remember that Shah was
playing in here that night?" she cried.
"This is what he was playing with
She held up a jeweled circle. 1.-The
ring dropped on the floor, and the
sparkle Of the diamond attracted Shah.
AS long as he was on the rug we did
not hear him. He must have knocked
it under the cabinet. Nellie never
sweeps under there. Look. She
caught up a light cane and poked un-
der the cabinet The dirt she swept
| out showed that the ring could easily
have lain there since its loss.
Perhaps you will believe the Rays
| now" laughed John Noaiies, coming
| forward q guess I'll call up Vincent.
| .I'll call him. volunteered Elvia.
/ Il guess that you had better, GluSh
! ter" he laughed. ''You can promise
anything if lie will come over
Elyia's promise Must have been at
! tractiyc, fer Crawford borrowed an au
! tonobilc to come in. and after Miss
/ Celeste had humbled herself to al
aDoIogy John Noailes insisted that tila'
ring be the engagement one.