It is thus with me.

If I see an odd ring I cannot obtain, I feel as if I had been robbed of something that rightfully belongs to me." He paused a moment in his talk, but Frank walked straight onward, saying nothing.
"I have offered you a ridiculous price for that ring," continued the man.

"I cannot afford it, but my mind is set on having the ring.
Already I have spent a fortune in my collections, and the time has come when I cannot fling money freely to the winds.

Come now, young man, have a little sympathy with me, and sell me that ring." Under certain circumstances these words might have melted Frank, who was not a cold-blooded lad, by any means; but there was something in the stranger's villainous aspect and repulsive manner that had turned the boy against the man in black and caused him to remain obdurate.
"I told you at first that it was useless to offer me money for this ring," said the boy.

"I think you will begin to understand that I meant it." "At least, you will tell me how it came in your possession ?" Frank hesitated.