Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-20

N oAOhENlING reap and Helen'S
II heart stood still! Numbly she
n stared at her bare finger. Her
engagement ring! It was gone!
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
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 I'D a spool
# thread, her glance had fallen on the
ger where always sparkled her en-
raEement ring.
Snatching a newspaper, she rreu,
hingly emptied on It the connects q,
he work basket. Feverishly she 9kes
among the spools and buttons. For one
brief second she thought she saw the.
flash Of the diamond-but it was only
a rhinestone buckle.
Maggie-Maggie- Maggier' 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 stolidiy
when did you have it last, ma'am?"
'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 |
..t9'
ing to Think.
a.. ~ stared at her blankly. When |
81. seen it last? She could not |
thin Did she have il 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 1t off to wash her |
hands It had never been off her |
finger since Warren placed 1t 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 |
not seem thinner and she had not been
conscious that the ring was loose.
ct 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 it up this morning.
Empty It now! TIN only take minute.
Maggie brought the carpet sweeper /
and they emptied it out on a paper.
with a long penci 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 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 it 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 il
be a forebodng 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 il