A Ring of Rubies. Meade L. T.

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СКАЧАТЬ We, of course, are completely out of it.”

      “I don’t know why we should be. You are one of the nearest relations.”

      “Well, dear, we are out of it, so that ends the matter.”

      My mother spoke with quite unwonted irritation.

      “It was a very curious will,” I said after a pause; “very eccentric.”

      “Geoffrey was always eccentric, Rose, I’ve told you so scores of times.”

      “I wish I knew who was the heir,” I repeated, getting up restlessly and standing by the fire. “Mother, have you any messages for me to do in town to-morrow?”

      “In town? Surely, Rosamund, you are not going up to London so soon again. You have got no money; how can you pay your fare?”

      “Yes, I have half-a-sovereign from my last allowance.”

      “Oh, but that is extravagance.”

      “I can’t help it, mother. I must go to a jeweller to ask him to value the ring. Oh, no, I shan’t sell it, but I cannot rest until I know its value.”

      My mother looked vexed, but she knew it was useless to argue with me when I had fully made up my mind.

      “I do not know what girls are made of in these days,” she remarked in a plaintive voice. “They are quite a different order of being from the girl of eighteen whom I used to know, when I was young. They are obstinate, and are quite sure to tell their elders every hour of the day that they know a great deal more about the ways and doings of life than they do, that they are quite capable of guiding their own actions.”

      “Mother, you are not angry?” I said suddenly. “Oh no, dear,” she replied at once.

      “I cannot help taking my own way, but I love you with all my heart,” I said irrelevantly. “I must take my ring to town and have it valued, but believe me, I shall do nothing really rash.”

      “I must trust you, Rose,” she said then. “You are a queer girl, but I have never known you do a really imprudent thing in your life, except on the rare occasion when you would force yourself on Cousin Geoffrey’s notice.”

      “Mother dear, was that rash? I have got my beautiful ruby ring.”

      My mother smiled and said no more. I left the room, knowing that she would make no opposition to my going to town on the following morning.

      When the day broke, I got up early, for I felt too restless to sleep. I wore my best dress when I came down to breakfast; and when my father and brothers were ready to start for London, I accompanied them.

      On the way up I noticed how ill Jack looked. He had a much nicer face than George, and I could have been fond of him had he ever shown the slightest desire to win my regard. But from his babyhood he was reserved and morose, and shared my father’s ideas with regard to women. Jack was serving his time to a solicitor in the City. At present he was earning no money, but the happy day when he could add to the family purse, and so relieve some of the dreadful burden of penury and scanty living, was not far distant. In two months’ time he was to earn sufficient to pay his weekly mite to the household exchequer.

      George, who was three years older than Jack, was doing quite comfortably as a clerk at Lloyd’s, and already spoke of taking a wife, and having a home of his own. I used to wonder what sort of a girl George would marry. I must frankly say I did not envy her her husband.

      This morning I found myself seated by Jack’s side in the railway carriage.

      “How is your headache?” I whispered to him.

      He looked round and favoured me with an almost glassy stare. He knew I spoke to him, but had not heard my question. I repeated it.

      “Oh, better, better,” he said hurriedly. “Don’t speak of it, there’s a good girl,” and he lay back against the cushions and closed his eyes.

      I felt sure at once it was not better, but it was like Jack to shut himself out from all sympathy.

      We got to Paddington in good time, and I once more found myself in an omnibus which would convey me to Regent Circus. Presently I got there. I had made all my plans beforehand. I was a curious mixture of the practical and romantic, and I thought it best not to rely entirely on myself in choosing the jeweller who would value my ring. I wanted to get at the real value, and a jeweller who naturally would suppose I wished him to be a purchaser, would think it his province to run the ring down. I knew a girl from our village, who was serving her time now to a dressmaker in Great Portland Street. The girl’s name was Susan Ford. She had often helped me to turn my dresses, and was a very sensible, matter-of-fact, honest sort of girl. I knew she would do anything for me, and as she had been over a year in London, she must have a tolerably wide experience to guide her.

      Regent Circus was only a few steps from Madame Leroy’s address. The house bore the customary brass plate on its door. I pulled the bell, and a boy in buttons answered my summons.

      “Is Susan Ford in?” I asked.

      The boy stared at me from head to foot, and made a supercilious and irrelevant reply.

      I saw at once that people who called to see the apprentices must not expect politeness from the buttons. Nevertheless I held my ground, and said firmly that I wished to see Susan Ford if she could be spared to speak to me.

      “I’ll take up your name, and inquire,” Buttons finally condescended to say.

      I said I was Miss Lindley, from Thorpdale. I was then requested to wait in the hall, where I sat and shivered for quite five minutes. At the end of that time Susan, jubilant with smiles, joined me.

      “Oh, Miss Rosamund, how kind of you! How very kind – I am delighted!”

      “Susan, I particularly want to ask your advice. Would it be possible for you to come out with me for a little?”

      “Oh, miss, I’d like to, awfully, but I’m afraid it’s against the rules. Still, it would be a treat to take a walk with you, miss, and Madame Leroy is very good-natured. I have a good mind to try if she’d spare me for an hour; we are not particularly full of orders just now.”

      “All right, Susan, do your best, for I really want your help,” I answered.

      Susan nodded and disappeared. In an incredibly short space of time she returned, wearing a very smart jacket and stylish hat. Oh, how dowdy I looked by her side!

      “I’m just given an hour, Miss Rosamund,” she said.

      The moment we got into the street I told her what I wanted.

      “I have got a curious old ring with me,” I said, “very old-fashioned; I want to find out what it really is worth. Do you know an honest jeweller who will tell me the truth, Susan?”

      Susan’s eyes sparkled.

      “There’s lots of jewellers in Oxford Street, miss,” she said.

      “I don’t wish to go to one of them. They will fancy I want to sell, and will run my ring down.”

      “Then,” proceeded Susan, “there are men, Jews, most of them, who lend ornaments to my missis, which she hires out to her ladies.”

      Susan’s СКАЧАТЬ