“There is none,” he said smiling at her earnestness, and glancing at the silver ring he still toyed with, “no more than there is a gem beginning with ‘K.’ I expect the maker of this ring chose a word which contained that letter, and as he could not suggest a stone, engraved the word on the silver in this fashion. Strange that he had not more foresight.” “Let us see what the word is, Alan,” cried Marie much excited, “begin with the letter ‘K.’ That’s a start. Next is a piece of coral—that’s ‘C.’ “Then an opal standing for ‘O,’ another piece of coral——” “C,” said Marie anxiously, “an amethyst for ‘A,’ an emerald for ‘E’——” “And a pearl for ‘P.’ The word therefore reads K. C. O. C. A. E. P. And that, my dear, makes nonsense,” finished Fuller with disgust. “Spell it backwards,” suggested the girl, “we may as well try all ways.” Almost before she ended, Alan, following her advice, had arrived at the truth swiftly. “Peacock!” he shouted, “Marie, this ring was made by Simon Ferrier.” “But it isn’t of Indian workmanship,” she protested. “No; but Ferrier, although he learned from Indian jewellers, was an English workman first of all. Peacock”—he twirled the ring——“Darling, I really and truly believe that we have discovered the secret.” “Oh Alan! oh Alan!” the girl shrieked in her excitement and ran to the table quickly, “I see your meaning. We take these stones in the tail and—” “And read them as we have done those of the ring, making the first letter of each stone stand to spell the word. “Yes! yes! yes!” Marie clapped her hands. “But there is more than one word in that tail, Alan. Oh—perhaps it indicates the hiding-place?” “I’m sure it does,” cried Fuller, taking out a pencil. “Marie, read out the stones in order, beginning at the top, and I’ll set them down.” Almost too excited to speak, the girl did so with sparkling eyes, and the result when finished was as follows, with the three lines and the triangle of rubies, indicated plainly: triangle Sapphire, Turquoise, Pearl, Emerald, Turquoise, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, Opal, Onyx, Lapis lazuli. Ruby, Emerald, Diamond. Alan rapidly set down in order the first letter of each stone, and Marie, looking over his shoulder saw that they read thus:— “ST PETER’S POOL triangle RED” “Oh,” she cried with a grasp. “St. Peter’s Pool, the triangle, red,” murmured Alan, still perplexed, till the feminine intuition of the girl came to his aid. “It’s the well,” she cried, “St. Peter’s Well in St. Peter’s Dell, can’t you see. The jewels are hidden in some place marked with a red triangle. Oh I am sure of it, because the word is ‘red,’ and the stones of the triangle are rubies.” “By heaven, Marie! I believe you are right.” “Of course I am. Simon Ferrier came back to England to hide the jewels.”