Let us now return for awhile to Octavia's home and notice an event that was destined to have an important bearing upon Octavia's post graduate life. A wealthy lady from the North came to the city with a letter of introduction from Miss Mildred to Simon. She was simply making a tour of the South, and Miss Mildred knowing that her friend would be in the city where she had spent ten years of her life, gave her this letter. Anything emanating from Miss Mildred was all right, in Simon's and his sister's estimation, and they gave the lady a cordial welcome, bidding her spend her time with them. She respectfully declined, but said that she would come around often while in the city. This lady had a costly diamond ring, valued at one thousand dollars, which she had taken from her finger one day while at Simon's residence. While in the sitting-room she had carelessly laid the ring on the dresser and forgot it until some time afterwards, when she could find it nowhere. All of the occupants of the house were questioned about it; search for it was made, but it could be found nowhere. It was clearly a case of theft. But who did it? was the question. Surely Miss Mildred would not give her a letter of introduction to a family any one of whom would steal a ring laid on a dresser. Yet she had lost it in their house, and as Simon was at his place of business suspicion at once pointed to Elsie as the thief. The lady put the case in a detective's hands to ferret out. Simon had a next door neighbor, a negro woman as black as the proverbial ace of spades, whom he had spotted as the real thief. She was frequently employed to do scouring and cleaning up in his house, and while she was not doing any work of that kind on the day the ring was stolen, she could easily have stealthily gone into the sitting-room and got it. This woman told several parties that she saw Elsie have a fine diamond ring. The detective found this out and questioned the woman, who confirmed the report. The detective at once suspicioned the woman and also that the woman said she would swear that she saw Elsie have on a fine diamond ring.