Hand and Ring

og

ddle, solve

ow

r for some other latent cause, traceable, perhaps, to some fact in his past history, and not to be inquired into by gossiping neighbors and so-called friends, he had resisted, e

wakening a light in the dim old place that melted his heart and ma

eloped, till in Sibley, at least, it became wellnigh a fact forgotten. Her beauty, as well as the imposing traits of her character, was the cause. There are some persons so gifted with natural force that, once brought in contact with them, you forget their antecedents, and, indeed, every thing but

and care which a little one invariably gives; and, secondly, because Imogene, from the very first, had been a noticeable child, who early attracted the attention of the neighbors, and led to many a substantial evidence of favor from them, as well as from the strangers who passed

ervalued. But she was not to be kept down by the force of any circumstances, whether favorable or otherwise. All the graces of manner and refinements of thought which properly belong to the station she had now attained, but which, in the long struggle after wealth, had escaped the hon

teel world and its fashions, she passed the next four years; but scarcely had she attained the age of fifteen,

e household of Mr. Orcutt. The aged sister who governed his home and attended to all its domestic details, hired her as a sort of assistant, rightly judging that the abl

, seeing, was pleased to disregard. She never sought to impose restraint upon the girl any more than she did upon her brother, when in the course of even

od had entered that hitherto undisturbed household? Nothing, if they had been all. But alas for her, and alas for him — they were not all! Mixed with the youth, beauty, and power was a something else not to be so readily understood — a something, too, which, without offering explanation to the fascinated mind that studied her, made the

s will into her unconscious keeping. She was so precisely what all other women he had known were not. At first so distant, so self-contained, so unapproac

his study and sit at his side, and read from his books, and the more dangerous time still, when he followed her into the

ht he had of her on her return from a visit to Buffalo, which he had insisted upon her making during the time of his greatest mental conflict, had assured him that this could never be; that he must be husband and she wife, or else their relations must entirely cease. Perhaps the look with which she met him had somethin

her temporary sojourn from his side, and whatever it meant of good or of ill, it taught him at least to be wary. At last, was it with premeditation or was it in some moment of uncontrollable impulse, he spoke; not with definite pleading, o

ee either him or his sister. Then she came down, blooming like a rose, but more distant, more quiet, and more inscrutable than ever. Pride, if pride she felt, was subdued under a gen

a distinct offer of

t her in a new light before his eyes, and raised a question, shocking as it was unexpected, as to whether this young girl, immured as he had believed her to

rested person in town, and yet there had certainly been something in her bearing upon the scene of tragedy, that suggested a personal interest in

t her own, but he had observed how, at the moment the dying woman had made that tell-tale exclamation of “Ring and Hand!” Miss Dare had looked down at the jewel she had thus appropriat

ttracted the attention of others, and one of those a detective, or that the walk home after his int

not tend to greatly allay his apprehensions, particularly as he observed sh

ached him, “what is the meanin

unnatural and strained express

to Buffalo

Buff

es

oing to leave the town — leave it su

e inquiry, conveyed but little of the serious emotio

o Buffalo — to-da

was set and

— my friends is not well.

d quickly to

upon it, and he made no off

I have had some conversation with you. Come with m

stracted gesture she

urmured. “I shall miss

etting every thing else in the torture of his unc

whim, seemed to strike her. Paling quickly, she for the first time looked at

t of your claims upon me. I will wait till to-morrow

her with a look whose severity was the fruit of his condition

e, “tell me why you de

veness, confronted him like that of a statue, but

a call elsewhere which must be attended to. I do not le

ears of his, this talk of Buffalo, and a call there, looked to him like the merest subterfug

ending, then

efaced by a glan

sponded at last. “I

ray of hope to his heart. Taking her hand i

. What is it? Will you not make me the confidant of your troubles? Tell me wh

ften, and her manner became e

ny thing to t

thing?” h

any t

doubt. That it had reference to and involved the crime of the morning, he was equally sure. But how was he to make her a

isk to the love that had now become the greatest necessity of his existence. But what way? With all his acumen and knowledge of the world, he could think of but one. He would ask her hand in marriage — aye, at this very moment — and from the tenor of her reply judge of the nature of her thoughts. For, looking in her face, he felt forced to acknowledge that whatever doubts he had ever cherished in reference to the characte

ept his addresses, he felt he might know, beyond doubt or cavil, that whatever womanish excitability may have moved her in her

that might follow his attempt, he drew her ge

gh it may not be wholly unexpected to you, yet I doubt if it would have left my lips to-

omething in her manner, notwithstanding, seemed to encourage him to proceed, and smothering his doubt

e, I lo

d not

you listen to my prayer, and make my

elf that it was all over, that his worst fears had been true, and that nothing but the sense of some impassable gulf between them could have made her recoil from him like this, she had dropped he

ome few minutes, and when she did, her

word, but it came at last —“would be an honor and a protection. I appreciate both. But I

lf. “Imogene,” he murmured, “my Imogene!” And scarcely heeded her when, in a burst of subdued agony, sh

if her mind was pure of aught that unfitted her to be his wife, there was yet much that

ich I feel it necessary to put to you before you go. It is in reference to the fearful crime which took place to-day. Why d

he looked at him with the set compos

d in a murder perpetrated on a person whose name

s not a spot for a young lady to be in, and any other woman

s on the door, bu

any thing strange or mysterious, I want to understand it. I

ll yourself see what an effect all this has had upon you. If Mrs. Clemmens is a stranger to you; if you know no more

her eye fell slightly, but her

I cannot forget such horrors in a moment.” And she ad

quiringly upon that hand. It was gloved, but to all appearance was

ing his eye with unshaken firmness, she

e in me to wish to make me his wife. But since your looks confess a curiosity in regard to this diamond, I will say that I was as much astonished as anybody to see it picked up from the floor at my feet. The last time I had seen it wa

t Mr. Orcutt, as I have before said, was certain that the ring was lying on the floor of the room where it was picked up, bef

ncredible as this appeared, without being in the possession of such knowledge as definitely connected it with this cri

y have governed your treatment of me and my suit to-night, they do not spring from any real or supposed interest in this crime, which ought from its nature to separate you and me. I ask,” he quickly added, as he saw her give a start of injured pride or irrepressible dismay, “not because I

e roused her to a sense of the critical position in whic

d not

oge

hea

ounded — his hand went li

to answer?” he

es

answer to be

was misery in their depths, but there was a h

r is No!”

her word, she gli

idow Clemmens had quietly breathed her last at midnight. The second, a hurried line from Mr. Ferris, advising him to make use of the

s, and I here state, upon my honor, that she is in possess

t B. O