The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1914-11-05
A DIAMOND
RING
By M. QUAD
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1914, by Associated Lit
erary Press.

was possessed or the slightest spark
of romance at the age of forty-five the
information would have been received
as base canard. y bachelor of that
age. who has drifted about with all
sorts of people and bumped up against
all sorts of adventures. is pretty sure
to have had ali romance knocked out
of him.
On a certain Tuesday I took a train
at Elmer Junction for London. and as
there were but few passengers | had
compartment to myself. I had been
busy with a newspaper for half an
hour when l noticed a small package
lying under the opposite seat. found
it plain pasteboard box and was pre-
pared to find a specimen of free chew
ing gum or Il new brand of trocheS in
side. 1t was something different, how
ever. 1t 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 ricg was double
hoop of gold and had probably been
made to order. 1t was lying closely in
the box, and the box had once contain
ed steel pens. j argued that it must
have been some careless person who
carried valuable ring in that fashioa.
am only a fairly honest man. My
first idea was to keep the ring To my
own profit, but | remembered that q!
was known to the railway porter and
that the property might be traced to
me.
If not strictly honest l am prudent,
and | therefore gave up the idea of
converting the ring. l would hold it
for q reward. however Half an hour
kater l felt curious sensation stealing
over me. / began to feel sentimental.
I began to connect that dear little ring
with a dear little blond haired. blue
three times and called myself n fool.
but the feeling did not go away To
my establishment and indiSna ton
found it growing stronger, and before
l knew it the grip OF romance had got
me by the neck.
i was man of leisure, though had
| no great amount of money to my cred
! it. | would hunt up the owner OF that
ring. and il all things went we'll
would marry her. For week | watch
ed all the newspapers. but the ring
was not advertised. This seemed to
prove to me that the owner was either
| rich and Indifferent to her loss or that
| for some reason the loss had not yet
been discovered. Romance made me
| anxious, and | therefore Wen; 10 the
| expense of advertising in five different
| papers. | simply stated that dia-
| mond ring had been found on rail
| road train and asked the loser to cor
respond.
Inside of three days ! received about
| l50 letters in reply The ~" writer's
| Were takers ana liars. ami the true
| loser had not answered me ! was a
bit nettled at this neglect on her part.
| | advertised again This time ask
ed ''B. T." to communicate with ne in
| case she had lost anything. There
were just l0T Il. p" answers. but
amOnS them | selected one w!licG ap-
| peared 10 be genuine This IL. p
had lost IL double hoop diamond ring
| containing five stones 1t had been
lost on a railroad train and was 4
birthday gift from Il dead mother. 1
a certain solicitor to have the ring fur
ther identified. | was on hand at the
appointed hour. So was ii stern faced
and aggressive looking householder. TO-
| gether with slick looking villain
whom | had once spotted for detec-
tive and young woman whose hair
was red instead of blond The ring
was speedily identified by the stern
| faced man and red headed girl. h
| p" was Bertha Perkins. and her IA
| Their and her maid were before me.
| Perkins was country squire, ana on
the night previous to my finding the
ring his daughters jewels had been
stolen. The hoop ring WAS part OF the
plumber.
OF course I was ready TO hand over
the ring. but it wasn't to stop there.
The red headed maid was sure she
recognized me as the man who was
hanging about the grounds few hours
before the robbery. and that villain of
| Il detective was only too glad to snap
the handouts on my wrists and hurry
me off to Jail.
| Ii took me three days TO prove N.Y.
self respectable and to establish an
alibi. They had to give me my liberty.
but il was grud"ingly done. and the
detective said he'd have an eye on me
all the rest of my days. The rona nee
had departed when | was locked up.
came out Of jail determined to secUre
reparation Old Perkins had helped
the rcd headed girl to conclude that
was the robber. and I went Down 10
his country seat to receive an abject
apology or pull his nose. He not only
refused an apology. but threatened to
kick me off the grounds. and the red
headed girl declared | had cast in
my left eye. and by that cast she
would swear me in any court as a
MAN who would not stop at murder.
There was one more thing to he clear
ID up | wanted to find out about
.B. F." herself Was she the blond
haired. blue eyed girl of my dreams.
and was she worthy of my love: |
had not long to wait l was walking
from the country seat to the village
when a dogcart knocked me down and
rolled me all over the road. and the
driver halted to call me a tramp and
threaten me with the law. The driver
was Fl. p" Her hair was bleached.
her eyebrows colored and her nose
turned up She had a big mouth. bad
teeth and milky eyes. and when she