Miss Denis had meanwhile been looking out of the stern windows on the now moonlit water, the tall bulrushes, and the wooded shores; and here in a few moments she was joined by her fellow-explorer, who was examining something in his hand.
"See what I have found!" he said. "When I was hammering the old boarding just now, a plank fell away, and this thing rolled out. I believe," wiping it in his handkerchief as he spoke, and tendering it for her inspection, "that it is a woman's ring."
"A ring! so it is," returned Helen; "and it looks like gold."
"Oh, yes! it's gold right enough, I fancy, and must have belonged to one of the passengers of this ship."
"I wonder who wore it last," turning it over. "I wish it could speak and tell us its history, and how many years it is since it was lost."
"It was a woman's ring; you see it would only just fit my little finger," observed Mr. Lisle, putting it on as he spoke; "now try it on yours." Helen slipped it on—it fitted perfectly.
"It is an old posy or betrothal ring,—at any rate it resembles one that my mother used to wear!"
"Helen and Mr. Lisle! what are you doing?" screamed Mrs. Creery. "You are chattering away there, and not helping me one bit." She was standing on the ladder exactly as they had left her. "You have never searched in the cabins! He may be shut up in one of them; try those opposite, Helen! Do you hear me?"
Thus recalled to their duty, Mr. Lisle now undertook to inspect one side of the saloon, and his companion the other. All the compartments that Helen had examined were empty so far,—but she came at last to one—with a closed door!
"Take care! it may be Blue Beard's closet," suggested Mr. Lisle facetiously, as he looked in and out of cabins in his own neighbourhood.