A sense of repulsion, nauseating, invincible, made a child of me.

I stood up and looked around wildly.

It was then for the first time I saw what my right foot had trodden into the sand.
I picked it up, and a little cry, unheard save by the sea-birds which circled about my head, broke from my lips.

It was a man's signet ring, thin and worn smooth with age.

It was quaintly shaped, and in the centre was set a small jet-black stone.