The daily Alaskan., 1914-12-02
A DIAMOND RING
By M QUAD
Copyright. 1914 by Associated Lit-
 erary Press

as base canard A bachelor of that age, who has dTiftcd about with all sorts of people and bumped up against all sorts of adventures, Is pretty sure to have had all romance knocked out of him
 On certain Tuesday l took train at Elmer Junction for London, and as there were but few passengers l had .cUmpartment to myself had been busy with a newspaper for half an hour when | noticed a small package lying under the opposite seat. l found 1t plain pasteboGrd box and was pre- pared to find specimen of free chew ing gum ora new brand of troches in' side, It was something different, how ever. It was a lady's diamond ring, made up of five stones of the purest water, and on the inside were the in- itials-"B P." The ring was a double hoop of gold and had probably been made 10 order. It was lying closely in the box. and the hox had once contain ed steel pens. argued that 1t must have been some careless person who carrled a valuable ring in that fashion.
 am only fairly honest man. My
 Irst idea was to keep the ring to my own profit. but remembered that I was known to the railway porter and that the property might be traced to me.
 If not strictly honest I am prudent. and ] rhp-arora gave up the idea of cOnvCrt!ug :nr rirg. would hold 1t for a rewgrd however. Half an hour ! later [ felt a curious sensation stealing over me. began to feel sentimental. ]. began to couurct that dear little ring with a dear uttIe blond haired, blue 1 eyed rlr [ got up and kicked myself three times and called myself fool, but the feeling did not go away. To my aStoH=hmeut and indignation 1 found it growing stronger. and before i I knew it the grip of romance had got me by the recE
 Was man of leisure. though had no great amount of money to my cred 1t. I would hunt up the owner Of that ring. and je a' things went well l | would marry her For week l watch red all the newspapers but the ring was not advertised. This seemed to l prove Co me thnt the owner was either 1 rich and indifferent to her loss or that for some reason the loss had not yet been discovered Romance made me anxious, and | therefore went to the expense of advertising in five different papers. | simply stated that a dia- mond ring had been found on a rail. ! road train and asked the loser to cor respond. .
 Inside of three days received about l5O letters in reply. The l50 writers o,a4ra -tnlsnrS and liars, and the true l loser had not answered me. WAS H bit nettled at this neglect en her part. | l advertised again This time ask ed "B r." to communicate with me tn case sue had lost anything. There were just IUT "B. P" answers, but among them selected one which ap- peared to De genuine. This "B. P" had lost a double hoop diamond ring containing live stones. It had been lost on a railroad train and was & birthday gift from a dead mother. was asked to cul at the chambers of 2 certain solicitor to have the ring fur thpr identified. was on hand at the aDp8utsd hour So was stern faced and u-@rrsSiye looking householder, to- gethcr with a slick looking villain whom and once spotted for detec- tive ard young woman whose hair was red Instead of blond. The ring was speedily identified by the stern Ifaced man and red headed girl "B. r" was Rrrtha Perkins, and her ia ther and her maid were before me. Pcr,iu, Was country squire, and on the nigh, previous to my finding the ~iHc his daughters jewels had been st0.ru The hoop ring was part of the EpIundGt
 Of-sourse | was ready to band over tso s!ng. but it wasn't to stop there. The red headed maid was sure she recognized noe ns thp man who was ..huugiug about the grounds few hours ..before the robbery. and that villain of a detective wus oTiy too glad to snap the hand.uffS gu mv wrists and hurry me oH to iHW
 It roak me three days to prove my self respectable and to establish an 'Ealibg. They had to give me my liberty, But it. was crud-iNgIy done, and the detective said he'd have an eye on me lat. the rest rg ur days The romance had departed when l was locked up. l came out of j"U determined to secure reDalaIoG old Perkins had helped the rrd headrd girl to conclude that 1 WAS tue robber, and I went down to his rDmtry seat to receive an abject IapUlu9y or pull his nose. He not only refused 4u apology. but threatened to kick urr rr the grounds. and the red headed girl declared I had cast in |. my left eye. and by that cast she would swear me in any court as 6 man who would not stop at murder. IThe~v was one more thing to be clear led rn wanted to find out about T g '" herself Was she the blond ...aaa nIuc. eyed girl of my dreams, ind w1s she worthy of my love? nal not long to wait. 1 was walking from thc country seat to the village when q dogcart knocked me down and