"I had almost forgotten these!"
Taking the gems off her fingers one by one, she laid them on the table before him. Her wedding ring still remained on her finger. That she hesitated to remove. She looked from the ring to her husband and made a movement as if about to remove it. Stafford, in his distress, made a supplicating gesture.
"Don't do that!" he cried
"Why not?" she replied coldly. "Since it's to be forever, why not?"
Taking off the wedding ring she placed it on the table with the others and left the room, closing the door behind her.
After she had gone Stafford went to the table, picked up the ring and softly read the inscription to himself:
"'From Robert to Virginia, with eternal love!' Eternal love!" he echoed bitterly to himself. "What irony!"
Slipping the ring into his pocket he stood for a time as if in deep thought. Then going to the telephone, he quickly unhooked the receiver.
"Hello! Give me Madison, 74. Hurry! Hurry! Is this Burley's Detective Agency? Is Mr. Burley there? Oh, is that you, Burley? This is Robert Stafford. I want the best man you have to meet me at my office in half an hour. Yes—your very best. What? No, no! I don't want him to watch anyone; I want him to protect someone. In half an hour, remember."
Replacing the telephone on the desk, he remained seated, and drawing from his pocket the wedding ring he gazed at it murmuring to himself: