“What have you got?”
“What do you say to this?” and Mr. Montgomery drew from his pocket the diamond ring, whose loss was so deeply felt by our hero.
“Is that genuine?” asked the lady.
“It's the real thing.”
“What a beauty! Where did you get it?”
“It was kindly presented me by a young man of the tender age of fifteen or thereabouts, who had no further use for it.”
“You did him out of it, that is. Tell me how you did it.”
Mr. Montgomery told the story. His wife listened with interest and appreciation.
“That was a smart operation, Tony,” she said.
“I should say it was, Maria.”