'A souvenir of Ellon!'
'Yes.'
'How came you to possess it?'
'When his effects were sold at Lahore, before his regiment marched again.'
'And this relic——'
'Is a ring with a girl's hair in it.'
'Thank you so much,' said she, with a quivering lip; 'but to deprive you——'
'Nay, nay, do not begin to speak thus. To whom should it belong but to you? And how strange is the chance that gives me an opportunity of presenting it!'
'I cannot decline it; but the girl—who can she have been? Poor Ellon, some secret is buried in his grave.'
'Soldiers' graves, I doubt not, hide many, and many a sad romance. I have generally worn it, curious to say, as my stock of jewellery is not very extensive.'