"Got the license--yes?
Complied with all the formalities?
Of course, of course.

Where's the ring?
You've _not_ forgotten the ring ?" Curtis and Hermione looked at each other in blank dismay; even Marcelle's aplomb yielded under this unforeseen strain, and her agitation showed itself in a gasping murmur: "Oh dear! What shall we do now ?" Mr.Hughes positively chortled over their discomfiture.

He limped to a secretaire, and opened a drawer.
"See what it is to have a long experience in these affairs," he cried.
"Do you fancy you are the first couple who failed to provide a ring?
Ah me! When I was quite a boy in the cloth I learnt the necessity of keeping rings in stock, so a jeweler friend of mind replenishes my store, and, when I sell one, I apply a small profit to a favorite charity of mine.

The wearing of a wedding ring has no legal significance, but it is a fine old custom, and should be preserved.
Among the Romans the ring was a pledge, _pignus_, that the betrothal contract would be fulfilled.

Pliny tells us that the ring, or circle, was of iron, but the ladies speedily determined that it should be of gold, and the Church went a step farther in recognizing it as a symbol of matrimony.