If this was so - and what other theory
would better or even so well account for her peculiar behavior both
then and afterward? The hour usually given by brides to dress and
gladsome expectation was with her one of farewell to past hopes and
an unfortunate, if not passionate, attachment. No wonder that she
wished to be alone. No wonder that interruption angered her.
Perhaps it had found her on her knees. Perhaps - Here I felt
myself seized by a strong and sudden excitement. I remembered the
filings I had gathered up from the small stand by the window, filings
which had glittered and which must have been of gold. What was the
conclusion? In this last hour of her maiden life she had sought to
rid herself of some article of jewelry which she found it undesirable
to carry into her new life. What article of jewelry? In
consideration of the circumstances and the hour, I could think of
but one. A ring! the symbol of some old attachment.
The slight abrasion at the base of her third finger, which had been
looked upon as the result of too rough and speedy a withdrawing of
the wedding-ring on the evening of her death, was much more likely
to have been occasioned by the reopening of some little wound made
two weeks before by the file. If Durbin and the rest had taken into
account these filings, they must have come to very much the same
conclusion; but either they had overlooked them in their search
about the place, or, having noted them, regarded them as a clue
leading nowhere.
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