purchase the materials she used in painting, and Fate, which uses
strange agents to work out its ends, so directed it that the
cabman stopped a few doors below this shop, and opposite one
where jewelry and other personal effects were bought and sold.
At any other time, or had she been in any other mood, what
followed might not have occurred, but Fate, in the person of the
cabman, arranged it so that the hour and the opportunity came
together.

There were some old mezzotints in the window of the loan shop, a
string of coins and medals, a row of new French posters; and far
down to the front a tray filled with gold and silver cigarette-
cases and watches and rings. It occurred to Helen, who was still
bent on making restitution for her neglect, that a cigarette-case
would be more appropriate for a man than flowers, and more
lasting. And she scanned the contents of the window with the
eye of one who now saw in everything only something which might
give Philip pleasure. The two objects of value in the tray upon
which her eyes first fell were the gold seal-ring with which
Philip had sealed his letters to her, and, lying next to it, his
gold watch! There was something almost human in the way the ring
and watch spoke to her from the past--in the way they appealed to
her to rescue them from the surroundings to which they had been
abandoned. She did not know what she meant to do with them nor
how she could return them to Philip; but there was no question of
doubt in her manner as she swept with a rush into the shop.
There was no attempt, either, at bargaining in the way in which
she pointed out to the young woman behind the counter the
particular ring and watch she wanted. They had not been left as
collateral, the young woman said; they had been sold outright.