"I do believe it, my friend," she replied; "but I believe also that you misinterpret this gift altogether, if it is a gift. Princess Agatha knows better than you or I that friendship is not to be bought with money and jewels. But she probably feels, as you and I do, that when friendly hearts unite to aid one another, esteem and sympathy increase in proportion to the zeal which each one displays. In many cases a ring is a pledge of friendship, not payment for service rendered; for you have rendered the princess a service by protecting us, that is certain; although I do not know how it comes about, her cause is bound up with ours, and our enemies are hers. If you reflect on what I have told you, you will realize that this ring has a sentimental value in the princess's eyes, not a material value, as you say; for it is a trinket not especially valuable in itself." "You told me that it came to her from her mother, did you not?" said Magnani, deeply moved. "And you yourself noticed that she always wore it! If I were in your place, and were sure that that ring had been given to me, I would never part with it. I would not wear it on my finger, where it would attract too much attention from envious creatures, but on my heart, where it would be like a blessed relic." "In that case, my dear Mila," said Magnani, touched by the extreme delicacy with which the girl tried to allay the bitterness of his heart, and to make him accept her rival's gift with pleasure, "in that case, take this ring back to her, and if she really meant to give it to me, if she insists upon my keeping it, I will keep it." "And you will wear it on your heart as I told you?" asked Mila, looking him through and through with courageous but anxious eyes. "Remember," she added, vehemently, "that it is the pledge of a patron saint; that the woman whom you love, whoever she may be, cannot deserve that you should sacrifice it to her, and that it would be far better to throw it into the sea than to profane it by an act of ingratitude!" Magnani was dazzled by the flame that flashed from Mila's great black eyes. Did she guess the truth? Perhaps! but if she simply relied upon Magnani's gratitude for the woman who had saved his mother, she was no less noble and generous in seeking to procure for him the pleasure of believing in that good fairy's friendship. He began to feel infected by the chaste and deep-rooted ardor which she carried concealed in her heart, and that proud and passionate heart revealed itself against its will, amid its efforts to subdue itself or to keep quiet. An impulsive outburst of gratitude and tenderness brought Magnani to his knees at the girl's feet.