84/97 There was some attempt to prove at the inquest that the ring had been found on the body of--the unfortunate man. But you tell me it was not so ?" "I can swear it." "Good God--the traitor!" She took a hurried step forward, turned to the window, and then came back to Cass with a voice broken with emotion. "I have told you I could trust you. That ring was mine!" She stopped, and then went on hurriedly. "Years ago I gave it to a man who deceived and wronged me; a man whose life since then has been a shame and disgrace to all who knew him; a man who, once a gentleman, sank so low as to become the associate of thieves and ruffians; sank so low, that when he died, by violence--a traitor even to them--his own confederates shrunk from him, and left him to fill a nameless grave. |