ve_ to come up
for the week end with me this--"

"I _will_!" I reached forward eagerly and insisted on shaking hands. By
Jove, what luck!

And Billings looked regularly overcome. All he could do was just shake
his head and pump my arm. Why, dash it, this seemed to affect him more
even than giving in about the ruby. It was the first time I had ever
accepted his invitation, you know.

"Tell you what, old chap," he said, as soon as he could speak. "I'm
going to tell you what to do with that other stone. You save that for
_her_."

"Her!" By Jove, I was so startled I lost the grip on my monocle.
Billings nodded emphatically.

"Yes, sir--for _her_; she'll be along one of these days."

"By Jove, you know!" I was almost dizzy with a sudden idea. I fished out
the jewel and held it before my glass, squinting doubtfully at it. I
wondered if it was _good_ enough for "her."

"I say, Billings," I murmured thoughtfully. "Blondes or brunettes, you
know--which wear rubies?"

"Both!" He said it with a kind of jaw snap. "They wear anything in the
jewel line they can freeze on to."

"But which--"

"The worst? Blondes, my boy--blondes, every time; especially those going
around in black." Billings spoke gloomily. "Let me tell you, my boy--and
I _know_--don't you ever have anything to do with a blonde if she's in
_black_, especially black silk--hear?"

By Jove, his uplifted finger and fierce way of saying it gave me a
regular turn, you know. But then there was the ruby, and I was thinking
that--

"Perhaps the four of them in a bracelet," I muttered, "with something
else to help out. They _might_ do."

"They might," said Billings in a tone of coarse sarcasm. "They might do
for a queen!"

I flashed a quick look at him. "Just what _I_ was thinking," I answered
gently.

"Meantime," said Billings, yawning, "let's go to bed."

And just as I rang for Jenkins I suddenly was seized with a perfectly
ripping idea that checked a long yawn right in the middle and almost
broke my jaw. For I saw how I could do something handsome that would
even up with Billings in a way for the ruby he wouldn't take.

"Tell you what, old chap," I said, slapping him on the shoulder, "_you_
are going to have them to-night!"

"Have--have what?" burst from him. "Rubies? I tell you I won't take
another--"

"Rubies!" I ejaculated contemptuously. "Rubies nothing! Something
better--something worth while, dash it!"

I saw he would never guess it.

"Why