She thought with anguish of her lost lover’s cruel plight, exiled from his ancestral home and believing her false, perhaps cursing her very memory for the trick she had seemingly played on him in marrying Harold Castello. “Oh, that is the most cruel blow of all, for Cecil to believe me false and hate my memory!” she cried, and involuntarily flung out her white hand with a gesture of despair. The opal ring threw out a hundred changeful, shifting lights, and she suddenly recalled the words Cecil had uttered when he placed it on her hand: “Let me put this little ring on your finger, precious. It is an opal, and is gifted with the power to show whether lovers keep their faith. If false, the gem will grow dull and lifeless, its brightness all gone; but if true, it will glow with the fiery hues of the furnace. Wear it always, my darling, and let it be the test of my love till the happy day that unites us forever.” The beautiful jewel, glowing with its rich prismatic hues, put new faith into the heart of the poor, unhappy girl. “He loves me still, I know it by my ring,” she cried, tenderly kissing the gem. “He loves me still, in spite of all they have done to turn his heart against me. Oh, Cecil, could I but escape from my prison, I would fly to you, and you would find some means to break these cruel fetters and set me free from Harold Castello.” She began to turn over in her mind wild schemes for escaping from the prison in which Harold Castello had sworn to keep her till she became reconciled to her fate. She knew well that she would have no help from the outside world, since Amber had made every one believe she was gone of her own free will to be a rich man’s bride. Within this house she was surrounded by the minions of Harold Castello, who were paid to keep her a prisoner. She had not a dollar of her own to bribe them with, and no jewels of any value save Cecil’s ring. With this she could not part. To God alone must she look for help in this dark and fateful hour. Dismissing her dark and evil mood, Violet fell on her knees by the white velvet couch, and with clasped hands and earnest, upraised eyes, prayed Heaven to aid her in this darkest hour of her young life, to look with pity on her terrible strait and deliver her safely from the power of the man she hated and feared. Then she prayed for her dear lost lover, that God would comfort him in his distress, and open up some way to save Bonnycastle from falling into the hands of her cruel grandfather. She knew that the old man had done that cruel thing to punish Cecil for loving her, and she lamented bitterly that through her such harm had come to her darling. A little comforted by her earnest prayer and the hope that God in His infinite mercy would answer it kindly, Violet rose from her knees and began to pace up and down the room, trying to form some plan of escape. She was interrupted by the entrance of Suzanne with a tray of delicious refreshments.