"He may have done so. He is said to have been the inventor of runes, you know."
As Idris turned the ring around in his hand his eye became attracted by a broad, black stain on the inner perimeter.
"What is this dark mark?"
His mother hesitated ere replying:—
"It is perhaps a blood-stain."
"Why isn't it red like blood?"
"A blood-stain soon turns black. I have said that this was an altar-ring. Let me tell you what is meant by that. You know if you go into La Chapelle des Pêcheurs you will see upon the altar a—what, Idie?"
"A crucifix," was the prompt reply.
"Well, if you had gone into any temple of the Northmen—and their temples were often nothing more than a circle of tall stones in the depth of a forest—you would have seen on their altar a large silver ring. And just as Catholics nowadays kiss a crucifix and swear to speak the truth, so in old Norse times men employed a ring for the same purpose. Before they took the oath the ring was dipped in the blood of the sacrifice. Then if a man broke his word it was believed that the god to whom the sacrifice had been offered would most surely punish him."