“Thank you; but I never go out to parties.”

“But bad precedents must not guide you any longer.  If you persist in staying at home, I shall not enjoy the evening, for in every dance I shall fancy my vis-a-vis your spectre, with an exercise in one hand and a Hebrew grammar in the other.  A propos!  Mr. Hammond told me to say that he would not expect you to-day, but would meet you to-night at Mrs. Inge’s.  You need not trouble yourself to decline, for I shall arrange matters with Mrs. Murray.  In honor of my birthday will you not give me a sprig of something sweet from your basket?”

They sat down on the steps of the dining-room, and Edna selected some delicate oxalis cups and nutmeg geranium leaves, which she tied up, and handed to her companion.

Fastening them in the button-hole of his coat, he drew a small box from his pocket, and said: 

“I noticed last week, when Mr. Hammond was explaining the Basilidian tenets, you manifested some curiosity concerning their amulets and mythical stones.  Many years ago, while an uncle of mine was missionary in Arabia, he saved the life of a son of a wealthy sheik, and received from him, in token of his gratitude, a curious ring, which tradition said once belonged to a caliph, and had been found near the ruins of Chilminar.  The ring was bequeathed to me. and is probably the best authenticated antique in this country.  Presto! we are in Bagdad! in the blessed reign—­

  ’... in the golden prime
   Of good Haroun Alraschid!’

I am versed in neither Cufic nor Neskhi lore, but the characters engraved on this ring are said to belong to the former dialect, and to mean ‘Peace be with thee,’ which is, and I believe has been, from time immemorial, the national salutation of the Arabs.”

He unwound the cotton that enveloped the gem, and held it before Edna’s eyes.

A broad band of dusky, tarnished gold was surmounted by a large crescent-shaped emerald, set with beautiful pearls, and underneath the Arabic inscription was engraved a ram’s head, bearing on one horn a small crescent, on the other a star.

As Edna bent forward to examine it Mr. Leigh continued:  “I do not quite comprehend the symbolism of the ram’s head and the star; the crescent is clear enough.”

“I think I can guess the meaning.”  Edna’s eyes kindled.

“Tell me your conjecture; my own does not satisfy me, as the Arabic love of mutton is the only solution at which I have arrived.”

“Oh, Mr. Leigh! look at it and think a moment.”

“Well, I have looked at it and thought a great deal, and I tell you mutton-broth sherbet is the only idea suggested to my mind.  You need not look so shocked, for, when cooled with the snows of Caucasus, I am told it makes a beverage fit for Greek gods.”

“Think of the second chapter of St. Luke.”

He pondered a moment, and answered, gravely:  “I am sorry to say that I do not remember that particular chapter well enough to appreciate your clew.”