She listened with breathless interest, her eyes growing wider and wider, and an expression of alarm coming to her pretty face.
"Oh, Frank!" she exclaimed, when he had finished; "I know this terrible man is dangerous! He will do you harm!" "Oh, I'm not afraid of that," declared the boy, lightly; "but I would give something to know what there is about this ring that makes him so desirous of possessing it." He held up the ring for her to examine.

It was an oddly twisted band of gold, looking like a writhing serpent.

It was set with a peculiar black stone that seemed quite as hard as a diamond, for all that there were numerous marks and scratches on its smooth surface.
"It is a horrid ugly old ring," declared Inza.

"Anybody must be crazy to offer fifty dollars for it." "Unless it bears some value that is not apparent to one who does not know its secret." "What value can it bear ?" "That is the mystery.

Still, from my mother's words, I am sure my father prized this ring highly.