The Riddle and the Ring; or, Won by Nerve — John Shaqi
The Riddle and the Ring; or, Won by NerveMacLaren, Gordon
General
The Riddle and the Ring; or, Won by Nerve
MacLaren, Gordon
Adventure stories; Detective and mystery stories; Dime novels; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
The glamour of that first real meal in weeks will linger long in the
memory of Barry Lawrence. He ordered lavishly, luxuriously, and yet
with the instinctive good taste which had characterized him in the days
when that sort of thing was a part of his regular life. And, as the
courses followed one another, he ate slowly, enjoying every mouthful,
reveling in the hum and buzz of conversation, the animated faces of the
people about him, and the plaintive murmur of violins playing the latest
popular airs.
It was during the progress of the meal that he suddenly solved the
problem of the evening clothes which had been troubling him. A dress
suit had always seemed to him the one thing it was impossible to get
ready-made, and for that reason he had refrained from looking at them in
the shop. A sudden remembrance came to him, of the suit which Tyson,
his tailor, up on Thirty-eighth Street, had been making for him when the
crash came. He had never shown up for the final fitting, and it was
just possible that the man had held the garments, awaiting some word
from him.
Having paid his bill and left the restaurant, Barry walked through to
Fifth Avenue and turned up that thoroughfare toward the tailor’s rooms.
One might have supposed he would have taken a stage or taxi, but no such
thought entered his head. Walking, when one is well fed and well
clothed, is a very different thing from the exhausting struggle of that
morning, when the cold seemed to freeze his very marrow.
He reveled in the warm comfort of his fur-lined coat and heavy deerskin
gloves. The passing crowd pleased him, and the very contents of the
shop windows interested him as they had never done when he had been
penniless. There were few things among the myriads displayed in such
tempting array which he could not step in and buy if he chose. The fact
that he did not choose made no difference whatever.
Past the brick façade of the Waldorf he walked briskly, glancing in at
the dining-room windows with a smile. He would dine there later. It
was a pleasant thought.
The tailor welcomed him heartily, gave the suit of evening clothes a
final fitting, and promised to have it completed and delivered at the
St. Albans by evening.
Presently Lawrence crossed the avenue, and purchased a handsome stick.
A little farther on he remembered the need of cuff links and studs. A
firm of famed goldsmiths was near at hand, and without hesitation Barry
entered.
As the tray of cuff links was lifted out and set on the glass case,
Lawrence naturally stripped off his gloves to examine the articles more
closely. He gave no thought to the fact that the serpent ring was still
on his finger, where he had placed it for safe-keeping, but he was
speedily reminded of its presence there by the behavior of the salesman.
The man could scarcely keep his eyes off it. He stared and stared,
fidgeted about, and stared again. Finally, unable to contain himself
longer, he spoke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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