E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 31681-h.htm or 31681-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/31681/pg31681-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31681/31681-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See http://www.archive.org/details/handring00greeuoft Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). HAND AND RING by ANNA KATHARINE GREEN * * * * * BY THE SAME AUTHOR. =The Leavenworth Case.= A LAWYER'S STORY. 16mo, cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents; 4to, paper 20 =A Strange Disappearance.= 16mo, cloth, $1.00; paper 50 =The Sword of Damocles.= 16mo, cloth, $1.00; paper 50 =X. Y. Z.= A DETECTIVE STORY. 16mo, paper 25 =The Defence of the Bride, and other Poems.= Square, 8vo., flexible cloth 1 00 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK AND LONDON. * * * * * [Illustration: "'Look out,' cried the detective, 'or you will get yourself into trouble,' and he tightened his grip on the old creature's arm."--(Page 43.) (_Frontispiece_.)] HAND AND RING by ANNA KATHARINE GREEN Author of "The Leavenworth Case", "The Sword of Damocles", "The Defense of the Bride" Etc., Etc. "For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ." G. P. Putnam's Sons New York: 27 & 29 West 23d Street London: 25 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden 1883 Copyright by Anna Katharine Green 1883 Press of G. P. Putnam's Sons New York CONTENTS. _BOOK I._ THE GENTLEMAN FROM TOLEDO. CHAPTER PAGE I. A Startling Coincidence 1 II. An Appeal to Heaven 17 III. The Unfinished Letter 31 IV. Imogene 49 V. Horace Byrd 67 VI. The Skill of an Artist 85 VII. Miss Firman 95 VIII. The Thick-set Man 115 IX. Close Calculations 128 X. The Final Test 146 XI. Decision 162 _BOOK II._ THE WEAVING OF A WEB.