Bertha said not one word, but she looked earnestly up in Rodolph's face, and then walked away as swiftly and silently as she came.

The duke could not help remarking the wild beauty of her pale and wasted face, and remained some moments gazing after her with a painful interest.

He removed the silk and found that it contained a ring garnished with a stone of rare value.

He started as his eye fell upon the trinket, for he remembered that years ago he had given it to the Lord of Hers.

How could it have come into Bertha's possession, was the question that naturally occurred to him; but the answer came not so readily as the question.