"Whether or not we can do anything to call off the search. . .I have
found a dangerous weakness in our story, and the one physical detail I
overlooked. I cannot hope Lord Purceville did not notice." She lifted
Mary's hand before her, and slowly she understood.
The ring
.
Such a bitter irony: the very symbol of life and enduring love, of the
common purpose that bound them together. . .might work to the undoing
of them all.
For at that same moment the Lord Purceville sat alone in his study,
pondering many things, not least among them that slender band of
silver, set with a single diamond.
The contradiction to the facade of innocence which the widow had tried
to plant in his mind was obvious. Why did the girl wear a wedding
ring, while the woman did not? Who, and where, was the man who had
given it to her? And what string had Stephen pulled, perhaps
inadvertently, to bring them here? For though in his hard way he loved
his son, he was not blind to his shortcomings. It was unlikely that
Stephen had, of his own devices, unearthed and exploited some weakness
which he himself had missed.
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