"I need it, sir, true; but not blood money, for I could not look upon it in any other way."
The sergeant bowed, gave a hasty glance about the rooms, and said to Will:
"Come and see me, my boy, and should you need a friend at any time call on me," and the sergeant followed his men and their prisoner, after bowing politely to Mrs. Raymond.
As the door closed behind the officer, Mrs. Raymond sprang toward her son, and throwing her arms about him, she cried earnestly:
"Oh, Willie, my noble boy, you have saved me more than you can ever know, for poor as I am I would not take a fortune for this ring," and she held up a solid gold band before his eyes; but it was not her wedding ring.
[CHAPTER VII.—The Lost Gold Piece.]
EVERAL months have passed away since the daring attempt of the escaped convict to rob Mrs. Raymond in her humble home, and a change has come that has brought gloom upon the mother and her two children.
It may have been the shock she had, when threatened by the intruder, that caused her to break down and take to her bed ill; but certain it is that she was forced to give up her work, she said for a day or two, and keep her children home from school.