A Ring of Rubies

by L. T. Meade

As I walked to the station, leaning on my father's arm, I keptsaying to myself, "Rosamund, you are a detestable, double-minded,deceitful girl. You must do penance for this. You must be punished byyourself--by the better part of yourself, Rosamund Lindley. Some day,Rosamund, you will have to confess your real motives to your father.You must let him know what a low, double sort of a creature he has gotfor a daughter."

  George did not speak at all during our journey up to town, but my fatherwas quite chatty and confidential with me. He even confided some fears,much to my surprise, which he entertained with regard to my dearmother's health.

  "Your mother ought never to spend her winters in England," he said."She has always been fragile; she grows more fragile every year; sheought to winter abroad--in the Riviera, or some other dry and shelteredplace."

  He spoke quite kindly, with real anxiety in his voice. I never lovedhim so well. We parted the best of friends at Paddington, and I wentoff to Mr Gray's office, secured my bag of keys, and before ten o'clockthat day found myself once again in Cousin Geoffrey's house, with manylong hours before me to spend as I thought fit. I went up to theoctagon room, and spent the whole of that long day arranging and sortingthose dreary bundles of keys. I had made up my mind that I would notcommence my task of examination until each key fitted each lock. I wasfirmly convinced that if I did not use method I should effect nothing.I was aware that the task before me was one of great difficulty. Iwould not add to it by any irregularity with regard to my method ofsearch. Methodical work is always more or less successful, and as theday wore on I fitted key after key into the locks they were meant toopen. My spirits rose as my work proceeded, and I felt almost sure thatI might commence my search in good earnest to-morrow.

  The light was beginning to fade, and I was thinking of putting mynicely-sorted keys away and retiring from my hard day's work, when Iheard steps on the deserted stairs, the murmur of voices--severalvoices, one of them high and sweet, the others low and deep in tone,evidently proceeding from men's throats.

  The sounds approached nearer and nearer, and a moment afterwards thedoor of the octagon room was opened, and Drake, accompanied by threepeople, entered. In this dark room, which, with all its beauty, neveradmitted the uninterrupted light of day, it was difficult for me atfirst to recognise the people who so suddenly invaded my solitude. Butthe clear, high voice was familiar, and when an eager figure ran acrossthe room, and two hands clasped mine, and a fervent kiss was implantedon my somewhat dusty forehead, I did not need to look again to be quitesure that Lady Ursula Redmayne stood before me.

  "Here I am, Rosamund. Whether welcome or not, I am here once more.Ursula, the impetuous, comes to visit Rosamund, the mysterious. Now, mydear, what are you doing? and have you no word of greeting for me, yourreal friend, and for your cousin, for he is your cousin, RupertValentine? Have you no word of affectionate greeting, Rosamund?"

  I stammered and blushed. I was not very glad to see Lady UrsulaRedmayne. At this moment her presence confused me. I avoided lookingat Captain Valentine, and wondered quickly what he must think of mypresent very remarkable occupation.

  "How do you do?" I said, not returning her kiss, but trying hard toseem pleased; "how do you do, Captain Valentine? I won't shake handswith you because my hands are very, very dirty."

  "And why are they dirty, Rose?" asked Lady Ursula, her merry eyestwinkling. "A lady should never have dirty hands. Oh, fie! Rose; I amshocked at you. I will only forgive you on one condition--that you tellme what you are doing here."

  "Nothing wrong," I replied; "but Mr Gray knows. You had better ask MrGray."

  "Don't worry her, Ursula," said Captain Valentine. "Miss Lindley has aperfect right to employ her time as she pleases. You remember, MissLindley, the last time I had the pleasure of meeting you, how weestablished a sort of cousinship. I believe we are undoubtedly cousins.May I therefore have the pleasure of introducing to you anotherrelative--my brother Tom?"

  Mr Tom Valentine now came forward. He was a little shorter than hisbrother, broader set, with a good-humoured and kind face.

  (Forgive me, Tom, if at that moment I saw nothing more in your face.)

  He shook hands with me kindly, said a word or two about being glad tomeet a relative, and then began to examine the curious room for himselfwith much interest.

  "But what are you doing here?" said the irrepressible Lady Ursula; "andoh! Rupert, do look at these keys. Fancy our methodical Rose arrangingthese keys in bunches, and labelling them. Oh! what a model of neatnessyou are, Rose! What a housewife you would make!"

  "Don't worry her, Ursula," said Captain Valentine again. Then he added,turning to me: "The fact is, my brother Tom and I are very muchinterested in this old house. Tom is my eldest brother, Miss Lindley.He is a great traveller--a sort of lion in his way. You must get him atsome propitious moment to tell you all about his many adventures. Hehas met the savages face to face. He has been through the heart ofdarkest Africa. He has fought with wild beasts. Oh, yes! Tom, youneed not blush."

  "Who would suppose you could blush, Tom?" said his future sister-in-law,patting him familiarly on his shoulder. "I should imagine that swarthyskin of yours too dark to show a blush."

  "I hate making myself out a hero," said Tom Valentine in his gruffvoice. "Do stop chaffing, Rupert, and let us tell Miss Lindley why wehave come here."

  "Curiosity," said Captain Valentine; "curiosity has brought us. I toldTom last night about Cousin Geoffrey Rutherford's death, and about thecurious will he had made. Tom and I spent many happy months in this oldhouse; long, long, long ago, Miss Lindley. I told Tom last night thestory of your ruby ring. Altogether I excited his curiosity to anenormous extent; and he said he himself would like to have a search forthe missing document. May I ask you a blunt question, Miss Lindley?Are you looking for it now?"

  I hesitated for a moment. I felt my face turning white; then raising myeyes, I said, steadily, "I am."

  As I uttered these words I encountered the direct and full gaze of mynew cousin, the bearded and bronzed traveller, Tom Valentine. If everthere were honest eyes in the world they dwelt in Tom's rather plainface. They looked straight into mine as I uttered these words, and Iread approval in their glance.

  "Yes, I am looking for the will," I said, encouraged by the glance Tomhad given me.

  "I may never find it; but I am not without a clue. Look here!" Iadded, suddenly, "I will confide in you all. Two of you are cousins,the other is, I am sure, my true friend. Look at my ruby ring." I heldup my hand--my dirty hand. I pulled the ring off my third finger. "Youknow the secret of the ring," I said to Rupert Valentine. "Open itcarefully; let it show its secret chamber. You thought that secretchamber revealed nothing; that it was empty and without its secret. Youwere mistaken. Look again, but carefully--very carefully."

  I was so excited that I absolutely forgot that I was addressing my wordsto three comparative strangers. I gave the ring back to CaptainValentine.

  "Be very, very careful," I repeated.

  He looked at me gravely, took the ring over to the light, motioned tohis brother to follow him, and touched the spring. The central rubyrevolved out of its place, the serpents' heads opened wide their doors,and the little chamber inside the ring was once more visible.

  "Raise that white paper," I said; "there is writing under it."

  "Rosamund, you shake all over," said Lady Ursula.

  I flashed an impatient glance at her.

  "Can you wonder?" I said. "Yes, perhaps you can. It is impossible foryou to understand. If you wanted money as badly as I do, and saw thebare possibility of getting it, you too would shake--you would find itimpossible to control your emotion."

  Again Tom Valentine's eyes met mine. Now they were less approving.Their glance expressed a sense of being puzzled, of being disappointed.

  Meanwhile, Captain Valentine, lifting the tiny portion of paper, wastrying to decipher the very minute writing on the other side.

 
"You cannot read that with the naked eye," I remarked. "Has any onehere got a magnifying glass?"

  "I have," said my cousin Tom.

  He took a tiny little lens, exquisitely mounted, out of his pocket, andhanded it gravely to his brother. Captain Valentine applied the lens tohis eye, looked at the ring, and uttered an exclamation.

  "Look in the Chamber of Myths," he read aloud.

  "`Look in the Chamber of Myths!' What does this mean? I always thoughtGeoffrey Rutherford was off his head. Dear Miss Lindley, are youallowing wild words of this sort to guide you?"

  "There is method in this madness," I returned, "for this is the Chamberof Myths."

  "This room, this lovely room?" exclaimed Lady Ursula.

  "Yes; it was one of Cousin Geoffrey's fancies to name each room in hishouse. This was called by him the `Chamber of Myths'--why, I cannottell you. The fact I can verify. Go to the door and look."

  I brought them all to the door of the room, pushed aside the slidingpanel, and showed the name in white letters on a dark ground.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

  VANITY.

  I returned home late that night, but by this time my people wereaccustomed to my eccentricities. My father and mother made no commentwhen I came in looking tired and yet excited. Even George was silent.He evidently thought it useless to continue to torment me. I scarcelyslept at all that night. I had fitted all the keys into their locks,and to-morrow my search would begin.

  Lady Ursula Redmayne, Captain Valentine, and his brother had allarranged to come and see me on the morrow in the Chamber of Myths.

  "We will none of us disturb your search," Lady Ursula had said, "but theresult we must--we really must know."

  I could not forbid them to come, for the Valentines were also CousinGeoffrey's relations; but I was sorry. The secret had been in a measureconfided to me alone, and I had an unreasonable feeling of jealousy insharing it with any one.

  I was early at Cousin Geoffrey's house the following day, and everythingbeing arranged now according to the most approved method, I began mysearch without a moment's delay. Oh! the pathos of the task. Oh! thestrange, dreary, undefined sense of loneliness which came over me as oneby one I opened those drawers, and looked into the secrets of the deadman's life. The drawers of the different cabinets in the Chamber ofMyths were filled, not with rubbish, but with strange, foreigncuriosities. A sweet scent came from them which brought me a waft ofanother and richer world. Sandal-wood and spices, old-fashioned silks,gorgeous brocades, boxes full of exquisite dyes, shawls from Cashmere,coloured beads from Japan, piles of embroidery, Indian muslins of thesoftest and finest texture, all lay neatly folded and put away in thedrawers of the cabinets in the Chamber of Myths.

  Were these things myths? Were they myths in the life of a man who hadgone down to his grave leaving the world no whit better for hispresence? He had hoarded his wealth instead of using it. He, living inthe richest of homes, had yet been practically homeless; he, with a longrent-roll and a heavy banker's account, had yet been poorest of thepoor. He had never known children to love him or a wife to render hisexistence beautiful. On his tombstone only one word could bewritten--_Vanity_.

  I felt all these thoughts. They coursed through my brain as I openedthe sacred drawers where the delicate riches from Eastern lands laytreasured up. No clue had I yet obtained to guide me in my search--nopapers, no memoranda of any sort. The Eastern perfume began presentlyto intoxicate me--it seemed to get into my head, to put a light into myeyes and a flush of roses on my cheeks. I felt under a spell. I shouldnot have been the least surprised if Cousin Geoffrey himself had openedthe door of the Chamber of Myths and come up to my side and asked mewhat I did opening coffins. For in one sense these closed drawers werecoffins. They held, I made no doubt, many buried hopes.

  At one o'clock the rattling of gay, light laughter was heard on thestairs, and Lady Ursula, accompanied by my two relatives--for by thesenames I was pleased to designate the Valentines--entered.

  "We have brought lunch," said Lady Ursula; "a delicious basketful--containing all kinds of good things. Rupert must open it. Well,Rosamund, what rosy cheeks! Have you found the will?"

  "No," I said. "Please, Lady Ursula--"

  "Well, what does this most pleading of pleases mean?"

  "We are not going to lunch in this room," I said.

  "Why not? It is a charming room to lunch in. Oh, what a love of acloth! I must open it. See the delicacy of this ground, and thesefairy stitches, and that embroidery. We will spread it over the centreQueen Anne table, and put our lunch on it."

  "You will not," I said. "The cloth does not belong to us. We have noright to desecrate it."

  "Desecrate! Honour, you mean, Rosamund. Oh! Rupert, Rupert,"continued Lady Ursula, turning to her future husband, "I do pray andtrust that you will be discovered to be Cousin Geoffrey's heir. Iabsolutely pine for that cloth. I long for it as intensely as I used tolong for Rosamund's ruby ring."

  Lady Ursula's volatile spirits had a depressing effect on me. I wasdetermined, however, not to yield to her whims. We had no right tospoil Cousin Geoffrey's Chamber of Myths by dining in it.

  I took my friends down to the great drawing-room, and there we spreadour repast; truth to tell, we had a merry time. Afterwards we allreturned to the Chamber of Myths.

  "You alone have the right to continue the search, Miss Lindley," said mycousin Tom Valentine.

  "I think I had better go on with it," I said, steadily. "I have acertain plan marked out in my own mind, and if any one interfered withme now I should only feel puzzled."

  "You must certainly continue the search," said Captain Valentine.

  "And we will look at these loves of windows," said Lady Ursula.

  My three visitors--for in one sense I considered them my visitors--wentto the far end of the room and left me in comparative peace. With allmy heart I wished them away, but I had not the courage to desire them togo. I felt also that I had not the right.

  The search, however, was now becoming irksome. The Eastern treasures nolonger exercised a spell over me. I was anxious for the daylight towane--for the time to arrive when I might re-lock the drawers, andreturn the keys to Mr Gray.

  I had now completely examined five of the cabinets. I approached thesixth, which stood exactly under the window which contained therepresentation of Christ blessing the children. I opened the top drawerof this cabinet with a renewed sense of great weariness, of fatigue ofboth mind and body. The first thing I saw lying by itself in the littleshallow drawer was a thick envelope with my name on the cover--"MissRosamund Lindley." I seized it with trembling fingers. I felt suddenlycold and faint--my heart seemed to stop--my brain to reel. I knew thatmy search was ended.

  "What is the matter?" said Lady Ursula, coming up to me quickly.

  "Nothing," I replied, "except--except this--my search is over."

  I held up the thick packet to her. She half screamed, and called thetwo Valentines to look. "Read it, Rosamund, read it," she said. "Readthe contents of that letter quickly, dear Rosamund."

  "No," I answered, "I could not take in the words now, my head aches, myhands shake, I am tired--I am very, very tired. I must read the wordswritten to me inside this thick envelope when I am alone."

  "Oh, but that is too bad. We are consumed with curiosity. Won't youopen the envelope? Won't you read just a few words to satisfy us thatyou are really the heir."

  "I may be as little the heir as you, Lady Ursula. The packet with myname on the cover proves nothing. But I am agitated--perhaps it is withhope. I should be glad to be Cousin Geoffrey's heir, for I am tired ofgreat poverty. I am not a bit ashamed to say this; but I cannot readthe letter which either confirms or destroys my hopes in the presence ofany one else."

  Lady Ursula looked annoyed. Captain Valentine also plainly expressed asense of disappointment on his face, but my cousin Tom heartily approvedmy resolution.

  "You are right," he said; "w
e will all go away. You shall read yourletter in peace."

  "You need not go away," I said. "I am going myself. I will not readthis letter until I get home. Now I must lock these drawers and returnthe keys to Mr Gray."

  "And you will be sure to write at once and tell us the news, Rosamund,"said Lady Ursula.

  "Better still," exclaimed Captain Valentine, "let us meet hereto-morrow. Let Miss Lindley tell us the contents of Cousin Geoffrey'sletter in person."

  After a little consultation this plan was resolved upon. We four wereto meet in the Chamber of Myths at noon on the following day.

  After this I took my leave, ordered a hansom, and drove to Mr Gray's.

  He was in and disengaged. I entered his room without any delay. Themoment he saw my face he jumped up, seized my two hands, shook themheartily, and exclaimed--

  "You have succeeded, Miss Lindley. I know by your face that you havesucceeded."

  "I have found this," I answered, holding up the packet.

  "Yes, yes; in finding that you have found everything. What a reliefthis is to me. That eccentric clause of the will was the last straw totry the temper of any man. Now let me congratulate you. I do so mostheartily."

  "I don't know what for; this solid packet may mean nothing to me."

  "Oh! but it does."

  "You know its contents