"The girl's mad!" exclaimed the other. "He never gave me a ring in all his life! I wouldn't have taken it, if he'd asked me ever so. Mr. Tweddle indeed!" "Why do you say that?" said Matilda. "He has not got it himself, and your sister said he gave it to you, and--and I saw it with my own eyes on your hand!" "Oh, _dear_ me!" said Ada, petulantly, holding out her hand, "look there--is that it?--is this? Well, these are all that I have, whether you believe me or not; one belonged to my poor mother, and the other was a present, only last Friday, from the gentleman that's their head traveller, next door, and is going to be my husband. Is it likely that I should be wearing any other now?--ask yourself!" "You wouldn't wish to deceive me, I hope," said Matilda; "and oh, Miss Parkinson, you might be open with me, for I'm so very miserable! I don't know what to think. Tell me just this: did you--wasn't it you who came last night to Miss Tweddle's?" "No!" returned Ada, impatiently--"no, as many times as you please! And if Bella likes to say I did, she may; and she always was a mischief-making thing! How could I, when I didn't know there was any Miss Tweddle to come to? And what do you suppose I should go running about after Mr. Tweddle for? I wonder you're not ashamed to say such things!" "But," faltered Matilda, "you did go to those gardens with him, didn't you? And--and I know he gave the ring to somebody!" Ada began to laugh. "You're quite correct, Miss Collum," she said; "so he did. Don't you want to know who he gave it to?" "Yes," said Matilda, "and you will tell me. I have a right to be told. I was engaged to him, and the ring was given to him for me--not for any one else. You _will_ tell me, Miss Parkinson, I am sure you will?" "Well," said Ada, still laughing, "I'll tell you this much--she's a foreign lady, very stiff and stuck-up and cold. She's got it, if any one has. I saw him put it on myself!" "Tell me her name, if you know it." "I see you won't be easy till you know all about it. Her name's Afriddity, or Froddity, or something outlandish like that. She lives at Rosherwich, a good deal in the open air, and--there, don't be ridiculous--it's only a _statue_! There's a pretty thing to be jealous of!" "Only a statue!" echoed Matilda. "Oh! Heaven be with us both, if--if that was It!" Certain sentences in the letter she had returned came to her mind with a new and dreadful significance. The appearance of the visitor last night--Leander's terror--all seemed to point to some unsuspected mystery. "It can't be--no, it can't! Miss Parkinson, you were there: tell me all that happened, quick! You don't know what may depend on it!" "What! not satisfied even now?" cried Ada. "_Well_, Miss Collum, talk about jealousy! But, there, I'll tell you all I know myself." And she gave the whole account of the episode with the statue, so far as she knew it, even to the conversation which led to the production of the ring.