seal-ring with which Philip had sealed his letters to her, and, lying next to it, his gold watch!  There was something almost human in the way the ring and watch spoke to her from the past—­in the way they appealed to her to rescue them from the surroundings to which they had been abandoned.  She did not know what she meant to do with them nor how she could return them to Philip; but there was no question of doubt in her manner as she swept with a rush into the shop.  There was no attempt, either, at bargaining in the way in which she pointed out to the young woman behind the counter the particular ring and watch she wanted.  They had not been left as collateral, the young woman said; they had been sold outright.

“Then any one can buy them?” Helen asked, eagerly.  “They are for sale to the public—­to any one?”

The young woman made note of the customer’s eagerness, but with an unmoved countenance.

“Yes, miss, they are for sale.  The ring is four pounds and the watch twenty-five.”

“Twenty-nine pounds!” Helen gasped.

That was more money than she had in the world, but the fact did not distress her, for she had a true artistic disregard for ready money, and the absence of it had never disturbed her.  But now it assumed a sudden and alarming value.  She had ten pounds in her purse and ten pounds at her studio—­these were just enough to pay for a quarter’s rent and the rates, and there was a hat and cloak in Bond Street which she certainly must have.  Her only assets consisted of the possibility that some one might soon order a miniature, and to her mind that was sufficient.  Some one always had ordered a miniature, and there was no reasonable doubt but that some one would do it again.  For a moment she questioned if it would not be sufficient if she bought the ring and allowed the watch to remain.  But she recognized that the ring meant more to her than the watch, while the latter, as an old heirloom which had been passed down to him from a great-grandfather, meant more to Philip.  It was for Philip she was doing this, she reminded herself.  She stood holding his possessions, one in each hand, and looking at the young woman blankly.  She had no doubt in her mind that at least part of the money he had received for them had paid for the flowers he had sent to her in Scotland.  The certainty of this left her no choice.  She laid the ring and watch down and pulled the only ring she possessed from her own finger.  It was a gift from Lady Gower.  She had no doubt that it was of great value.

“Can you lend me some money on that?” she asked.  It was the first time she had conducted a business transaction of this nature, and she felt as though she were engaging in a burglary.

“We don’t lend money, miss,” the girl said, “we buy outright.  I can give you twenty-eight shillings for this,” she added.

“Twenty-eight shillings!” Helen gasped.  “Why, it is worth—­oh, ever so much more than that!”