The daily Alaskan., 1915-02-18
A DIAMOND
 RING
Copyright. 1874. by Associated Lit-
 erary Press
By M QUAD

information would have heen received as a base canard 4 bachelor of that age, who has drirted about with all sorts of people aud bumped up against all sorts of adventures. is pretty sure to have had aII rumance knocked out of him
 On certain Tuesday l took train at Elmer Junction for London. and as there were but few passengers l. had a commandment to myself. had been busy with newspaper for halt an hour when l noticed a small package lying under the opposite seat found it a plain pasteboard box and was pre- pared to find specimen of free chew ing gum or a 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 tue purest water. and On the inside were the In itials "B r." The ring WAS double hoop of goid and had probably been made to order. It was lying closely in the box, and the hoX had once contain ed steel pens. argued that it must have been some careless person who Sarried a valuable ring in that fashion.
 am only fairly honest man. My first idea was to keep the ring to my own profit. but l remembered that ] was known 10 the railway porter and that the property w'"hI be traced to me.
 If not strictly honest ! an prudent and Iheurlor, @lye Ir ihe id"n e' converting me ring l womd hold II for reward however Halt Hn hour
 ater felt .u~iur> sensation stealing over me hr.un Ia feel sentimental began to connect that dear little ring
 with drar little hinud hairpd bIne ayed girl guI uI and kicked myself | three times and ..HIi"d myself foot. ,ut the rupIir" dll uut % rwaS To ny nStoniShmeut and mdiguuri"n l | 'Hnnd II growing stronger and before knew il the grip ot rUnanre had got ne by the neck
 1 WAS man uf leisure. thOugh nad | no great amount Of money to my cred | fl 1 would hunt ur tEr owner nt that | ring. and If all thingS went wei | would marry her For a week l watch ed all the newspapers. but the ring 1 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 1 therefore went 10 the
 expense of advertising in five different
 nNnnH- ring nim" UteI' "t6tfnd on d f6h;
 road train and asked the loser to cor
 respond.
 Inside of three days l received about
 l50 letters in reply. The l5O writers
 were fakers and liars. and the true
 loser had not answered me. l was a 1 bit nettled at this neglect on her part l advertised again This time [ ask
 cd "B r" to communicate with me ID
 case she had lost anything There
 were just lO7 "B P answers. out among them | selected one which ap- peared to bP genuine This B F."
 had lost double hoop diamond rnS | containing five stones IL had been lost on q railroad train and was q l birthday gift from a dead mother |
 was asked tu call at the chambers Of | a certain solicitor to have the rIng fur ther identified 1 was on hand at the appointed hour So wnS a stern faced and aggressive looking nnu>rhOlder. to- gether with slick uuEInG villain
 whom had once spotted Tor dcteC- tive and young woman whose hair was red instead Of blond The ring was speedily identified by thp stern faced man and rcd headed girr "B. P" was Bertha Perkins. and her fa- ther and her maid were before me. Perkins was d country squire. and on the night previous to my finding the ing his daughters jewels had been stolen The hoop ring was part ot the Dluudrr.
 Of courSc | was ready to hand over the ring Eut il waSr't 10 stop there The red hpatled maid WAS sure she recognized me HS the man wNO was GuuGimG alUnt lhr grounds few hours before the robbery and that villain uf | detective Was only too giad to snap ihp handruTs ou my wrists and hurry me off 10 lHlI
 It took mo three days to prove my self reSpertablr and 10 establish an aiihi. They had to give me my liberty. but Il WAS grud.iuyiy done and the de;e, tive sad he'd have au eye nD me Nl! the rrs; vf my days The rumanre had departed wEru was lorkcd up r'ame Out of iail determined tu secure rpTaratinn Old PGrkinS had helped the rcd headed girl rn rnurludp that | was the ruhhrr and | went down 10 niS country seat to receive an ubjeGt apology or pull his uuSe. He uuf only refused an apology. but threatened to kick mr oH lhr grounds. and the red headed girl declared had q east 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 be clear. I'd mp wanted to lud out about 'B r" herself Was she the blond Iaired. blue eyed girl of my dreams. md was she worthy of my love? l T