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  THE
  SAPPHIRE SIGNET

[Illustration: "I had the _worst_ time puzzling this out!" she said]




                                  THE
                            SAPPHIRE SIGNET

                                  BY
                         AUGUSTA HUIELL SEAMAN
                Author of "The Boarded-Up House," etc.

                            ILLUSTRATED BY
                             C. M. RELYEA

                            [Illustration]

                               NEW YORK
                            THE CENTURY CO.
                                 1916




  Copyright, 1915, 1916, by
  THE CENTURY CO.

  _Published, September, 1916_




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE

      I THE HOUSE IN CHARLTON STREET                                   3

     II SOMETHING TURNS UP                                            16

    III THE DISCOVERY IN THE ATTIC                                    32

     IV A KEY TO THE MYSTERY                                          53

      V "THE LASS OF RICHMOND HILL"                                   65

     VI A SURPRISE                                                    79

    VII THE DISCOVERIES CORINNE MADE                                  91

   VIII BAFFLED!                                                     102

     IX INTRODUCING ALEXANDER                                        114

      X ALEXANDER TAKES HOLD                                         126

     XI ALEXANDER SPRINGS A SURPRISE                                 135

    XII THE MYSTERY UNRAVELS FURTHER                                 149

   XIII ALEXANDER ENGAGES IN SOME HISTORICAL
          RESEARCH                                                   162

    XIV A BELATED DISCOVERY AND A SOLEMN CONCLAVE                    179

     XV SARAH TAKES A HAND IN THE GAME                               192

    XVI THE SAPPHIRE SIGNET                                          209

   XVII IN WHICH SARAH CHANGES HER MIND                              228

  XVIII TWO SURPRISES                                                245

    XIX THE MISSING LINKS                                            255




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                    PAGE

  "I had the _worst_ time puzzling this out!" she said    _Frontispiece_

  "Corinne noticed that the bottom of the trunk seemed
      all wrong."                                                     37

  "He gazed hard at me as I stood on the lawn."                       71

  "Madame Mortier warned Alison that she wasn't to have
      any communication with the rebels."                            109

  "I poked around it, top, bottom, and sides."                       143

  "You must welcome the latest member of the Antiquarian
      Club, Miss President!"                                         205

  He began to tap the inside of the trunk all over, carefully,
      with the handle of his penknife                                223

  "For a minute or two she didn't answer."                           265




  THE SAPPHIRE SIGNET




  THE SAPPHIRE SIGNET
  OR
  "THE LASS OF RICHMOND HILL"




CHAPTER I

THE HOUSE IN CHARLTON STREET


It was five o'clock and a very dull, dark afternoon in Charlton
Street. One by one lights had twinkled out in all the little
two-story-and-dormer-windowed houses on the block,—in all but one.
The parlor windows of this house were still unlit, but behind the
flower-box in one of them a hand could be seen moving aside the white
curtains at frequent intervals and a dim face peering anxiously into
the dusk.

At ten minutes past five precisely, two trim girl-figures turned the
corner of Varick Street, hurried down the block, raced up the steps
of this same house, and waved frantically at the dark windows. An
answering wave saluted them from between the parted curtains. At the
same moment lights twinkled out from the windows, and a quick hand
pulled down the shades with a jerk, shutting out the dim street for the
night. But back of the drawn shades a small figure in an invalid-chair
held out welcoming arms to the girls who had just entered.

"My! How long you were! I thought you'd never get here to-day. And it's
been so dark and dismal all the afternoon, too!" The two girls, who
were plainly twins, knelt down, one on each side of the invalid-chair.

"We _were_ an age, I know, Margaret dear," began Bess, "but there was a
good reason. It's quite exciting,—all about the new girl!"

"Yes, you can never guess what, either!" echoed Jess, winding one of
Margaret's dark curls around her finger.

"Oh, tell me—quick!" The child's big, beautiful gray eyes fairly
sparkled with eagerness, and a faint flush tinted her delicate face.
"Is it that queer girl you told me about, who only came into the class
a few days ago?"

"That's the one,—but let's get our things off first and see if Sarah
made any cookies to-day. We're starving!"

A huge woman who had been moving about the room lighting gas-jets,
pulling down shades, and straightening the furniture, now broke into
the conversation: "Ye kin save yerselves the trouble! I ain't made no
cookies this day—an' me wid all that wash! What d' ye think I be?"

"Go 'long, Sarah!" laughed Bess. "You know there's probably a whole
jarful in the pantry, and we don't care whether you made them to-day or
a week ago. They're always dandy!"

Sarah gave a chuckle that shook her huge frame, and tucked a light
shawl lovingly about the knees of the girl in the chair.

"Ye'll have a hard time findin' any!" she warned, as the two ran off.
"Won't they, Margie, macushla?"

In five minutes the twins were back, each with a massive chunk of
chocolate layer-cake in her hand and a mouth full of the same.

"You told the truth, Sarah, for once! There weren't any cookies, but
this is heaps better!"

"If ye get any crumbs on me floor," threatened Sarah, ominously,
"ye'll have no more cake of any kind, the week out!" And she departed
downstairs in great (pretended) displeasure.

"Now for it! Tell me right away," demanded Margaret. "I'm _so_
impatient to hear!"

"Well," began Bess, in muffled tones, struggling to swallow a large
mouthful of cake, "you remember we told you about that nice girl who
came into our section three days ago, but who seemed so offish and
queer and quiet. She's always staring out of the window, as if she were
dreaming. And when she isn't studying, she's reading some book the
whole time. And she hardly ever talks to a soul. Jess and I thought
she must feel rather lonesome and strange. You know it is rather hard
to come into the first year of High School more than a month after
everything's started, and every one else has got acquainted, and try
to pick up! I think one must feel so awfully out of it!

"So Jess and I decided we'd ask her to eat lunch with us to-day. She
always eats by herself, and yesterday she didn't eat at all,—just read
a book the whole time! I went up to her at lunch-period and said—"

"What's her name?" interrupted Margaret.

"Corinne Cameron,—isn't it a dandy name? Corinne! It has such a
_distinguished_ sound!—Well, she was reading, as usual, and looked
up at me sort of dazed and far-away when I asked her if she'd care to
eat with us. But she seemed very glad to do it and came right over. We
had a very interesting talk, and she asked us right away to call her
'Corinne,' instead of 'Miss Cameron,' as they do in High School. She
said it made her feel about a hundred miles away from every one to be
called 'Miss.' So of course we asked her to call us 'Elisabeth' and
'Jessica.'"

"But why didn't you tell her just 'Bess' and 'Jess'?" interrupted
Margaret again. "That's so much more natural."

"Well, you see, 'Corinne' sounds so sort of distinguished and—and
dignified! And somehow our names don't. They just seem ordinary
and—and so like small children. And at least 'Elisabeth' and 'Jessica'
seem more—grown-up!"

"What does she look like?" questioned Margaret, going off on another
tack.

"Oh, she's, well, sort of distinguished-looking, too—like her name.
She's tall and slim and has very dark brown wavy hair, and big, dark
eyes, almost black, and the prettiest straight nose,—not a little
_snub_ like ours (I don't mean yours, Margaret! _That's_ all right!).
But she always acts as though her thoughts were about a thousand miles
away. She talked about books mostly, and asked us if we didn't just
_love_ to read. And when we said no, not so awfully, she seemed so
astonished. I said we'd rather play basket-ball, and she laughed and
said we couldn't play that _all_ the time, and what did we do with our
spare moments. I told her we didn't have many, because, at home here,
we were always