Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/375

Rh "He says a gift to us both! What kind of a ring is that—let me see it!" he commanded.

"Here it is!"

"It's a single diamond—why, it's an engagement ring, of course!" he cried incautiously, as he grasped both it and the hand which held it. "And he's had the—the brass to scratch our initials in it!"

"Hush!" the girl warned. "Put it away!"

"I won't—unless I may put it on you!"

"Quickly, then!" she whispered. "Quickly!"

And quickly—very quickly indeed, the young American moved. But before he could well do more than slip the little band of stolen gold upon her finger and conceal it and her hand with it under his own, the captain had turned again and come to the young people. He cleared his throat nervously. But as he saw them better, his embarrassment melted quickly away into a smile.

"Your friends who came down to meet you," he said, glancing out his window overlooking the decks, "have evidently become 345