nd unlocked a drawer. Within was a carved
box which when opened showed a massive golden circlet.

"Dad wore it," said Bettina, "on his little finger, but his hands were
fat. Anthony's fingers are slim, and he can fit it on the third finger.
If he can't get it on the third finger, he shan't wear it."

Diana stared at her in surprise. "Why not?"

"Because it would remind me of Dad," said Bettina, "and I hated Dad."

Here was a new phase of a nature which Diana had judged gentle and
yielding.

"But, my dear," she protested, "surely he was your father."

"He broke mother's heart," said Bettina, obstinately; "he loved so many
times, and there's only one love that is worth while, and people who
can go from one person to another aren't worth thinking about."

It was the judgment of a child ignorant of life, but so aptly did her
condemnation fit in with Sophie's words of the night before, that Diana
drew a sharp breath. "Perhaps he was only mistaken," she said; "perhaps
he didn't understand until it was too late what he had lost."

"He should have understood. I don't want to be harsh--he was my father,
and I wouldn't talk this way to every one. But suppose Anthony treated
me the way my father treated mother. Suppose he told me he loved me, and
then--some day, I found that he cared--for some one else. What would you
think of him then--what would you think of Anthony?"

As she brought her argument to a triumphant close, Diana put up her
white-gloved hands as if to ward off a blow, then she said, a little
breathlessly, "Don't let Anthony wear the ring--not yet----"

Bettina, unconscious of the emotion she had roused, put the ring back in
the box.

"I don't believe I shall," she said, thoughtfully; "there's an old
superstition that a ring worn by an inconstant person carries
inconstancy with it--and while I don't believe it--it would make me
uncomfortable."

"It would--indeed," was Diana's fervent confirmation.

She was still shivering with the shock of the girlish outburst.

"She loves him," she said to herself in dismay. "She really loves him."

She rose and laid her hand on Bettina's shoulder. "Forget to be unhappy
while you are with me, Betty, dear. You are going to be very gay--and,
oh, so very, very young----" She bent and kissed her. "And now, I want
you to do two things for me;--first, you must call me Diana--and second,
you must believe that I am really your friend. If I ever do anything to
make you doubt,