The central pane was blazoned with the armorial device of the Ravengars. The shield, supported on each side by a raven, in canting allusion to the family name, was charged in the centre with a silver circlet, a thin purple line forming the perimeter.
The runic ring!
Yes: there was its facsimile gleaming from the coloured glass, and seeming in the morning sunlight to sparkle with a new and mysterious significance. That this argent circle was intended to represent the Norse altar-ring Idris had not the shadow of a doubt: and for a moment he felt resentment both against Beatrice and Godfrey: for, familiar as they must be with this coat of arms—Beatrice herself, as a Ravengar, being entitled to assume it—they had made no allusion to it when he was telling them the story of the runic ring. It was singular, too, that he himself should have failed to notice this blazon in his previous visit to this chantry.
What was the reason for its figuring in the Ravengar shield?
Curious stories are often latent within armorial devices, as students of heraldry can testify. Was it possible that this ring had been adopted by the Ravengars of a past generation because it had been in some way connected with their history?
"Mademoiselle Rivière," said Idris, impulsively, thinking that she might be able to throw some light upon the matter, "can you tell me whether the Ravengars of past times had any historic reason for decorating their armorial shield with a silver ring?"
"There is an interesting legend to account for it," she said after a moment's hesitation, "which you will find in a curious old book entitled, 'Traditions of the House of Ravengar.'"
"You know the story, then? May I not learn it from you rather than from the book?"
"It is a story that will take a long time in the telling."
This, in Idris' opinion, was an excellent reason for hearing it. Lorelie found herself unable to resist his persuasive manner: so, sitting down, she proceeded to tell the story with a detail that showed how it had caught her own imagination.