She was shown into the room Mr. Redmain called his study, which communicated by a dressing-room with his bedroom. He was seated, evidently waiting for her. "Ah, Miss Marston!" he said; "I have a piece of good news for you--so good that I thought I should like to give it you myself." "You are very kind, sir," Mary answered. "There!" he went on, holding out what she saw at once was the lost ring. "I am so glad!" she said, and took it in her hand. "Where was it found?" "There's the point!" he returned. "That is just why I sent for you! Can you suggest any explanation of the fact that it was found, after all, in a corner of my wife's jewel-box? Who searched the box last?" "I do not know, sir." "Did you search it?" "No, sir. I offered to help Mrs. Redmain to look for the ring, but she said it was no use. Who found it, sir?" "I will tell you who found it, if you will tell me who put it there." "I don't know what you mean, sir. It must have been there all the time." "That's the point again! Mrs. Redmain swears it was not, and could not have been, there when she looked for it. It is not like a small thing, you see. There is something mysterious about it." He looked hard at Mary. Now, Mary had very much admired the ring, as any one must who had an eye for stones; and had often looked at it--into the heart of it--almost loving it; and while they were talking now, she kept gazing at it. When Mr. Redmain ended, she stood silent. In her silence, her attention concentrated itself upon the sapphire. She stood long, looking closely at it, moving it about a little, and changing the direction of the light; and, while her gaze was on the ring, Mr. Redmain's gaze was on her, watching her with equal attention. At last, with a sigh, as if she waked from a reverie, she laid the ring on the table. But Mr. Redmain still stared in her face. "Now what is it you've got in your head?" he said at last. "I have been watching you think for three minutes and a half, I do believe. Come, out with it!" "Hardly _think_, sir," answered Mary. "I was only plaguing myself between my recollection of the stone and the actual look of it. It is so annoying to find what seemed a clear recollection prove a deceitful one! It may appear a presumptuous thing to say, but my recollection seems of a finer color." While she spoke, she had again taken the ring, and was looking at it. Mr. Redmain snatched it from her hand. "The devil!" he cried. "You haven't the face to hint that the stone has been changed?" Mary laughed. "Such a thing never came into my head, sir; but now that you have put it there, I could almost believe it." "Go along with you!" he cried, casting at her a strange look which she could not understand, and the same moment pulling the bell hard. That done, he began to examine the ring intently, as Mary had been doing, and did not speak a word. Mewks came. "Show Miss Marston out," said his master; "and tell my coachman to bring the hansom round directly."