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244
THE STEALING

ing among the trees in the park, ſhe drew him aſide, and ſaid, ‘I have a boon to beg, ſir knight, which you muſt not refuſe: Tell me how you got poſſeſſion of the ring you wear on the little finger of your left hand. That ring was formerly mine.—I know not how or when I loſt it; and I long exceedingly to know how it came into your hands.’ ‘Noble lady,’ replied the artful adventurer, ‘I honourably gained the ring at a tilting match, from a valiant knight, whom I vanquiſhed in my own country; and who unhappily loſt his life on the occaſion. But how he came by it, whether it was the prize of war, purchaſed from a Jew, received as the recompence of knighthood, or inherited from his predeceſſors, I am not able to inform you.’ ‘What would you do,’ replied Zoe, ‘ſhould I demand it as my property?’ ‘It would ill become the gallantry of our knightly profeſſion to refuſe a lady’s requeſt.’——‘Yet I do not‘deſire