Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-19


stared at her bare finger. Her
engagement ring! 1t was gonel
She clutched 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
wing had been.
Dazed and tremulous, Helen felt about
her dress, shook her skirts and looked
blindly around
She had been Strengthening the work
: basket, and as she wound up a spool
OF thread, her glance had fallen on the
finger where always sparkled her en-
gagement ring.
cistchinS a newspaper. she trem-
5lingly 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-but it was only
rhinestone buckle.
'Maggte-Maggie- Maggie!" she
called. Come here a moment Oh,
I've lost my ring" excitedly. my dia-
mond ring! Come help me lookl"
Helen was already turning up the
rugs and searching about the room.
But Maggie, who was not of an excit-
able nature, asked stolidiy.
When did you have it last, ma am %
"Oh, l 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.
IL
had she seen it last? She could not
think. Did she have 1t that morning?
Last night? She must have had it
or she would have missed it 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 It had never been of 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.
81 can't look any more now, ma'am,
I'll have to see about dinner. II it's
here-you1l find IT. I'll look good to-
morrow when I sweep"
"Oh. the carpet sweeper, Maggie!
Maybe you swept 1t up this morning
Empty it now! tn only take a minute. "
Maggie brought the carpet sweeper
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 a drug store
end 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 Superstitious.
In many ways Helen was very super
stitious, and besides the heartbreaking
loss of the ring, there was also the
dread that it was a bad omen. Could it
be 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 1t