— It's a regard ring, — said Dr. Petrie. — Acrostic jewelry was quite the rage in the early Victorian era. The names of the stones are meant to spell out a word. A ruby, emerald, and garnet, for instance, would be the first three letters in the word regard. This ring is something you'd give as a token of affection. —

— Are these actually precious stones? —

— Oh, no. They're probably just colored glass. The ring isn't engraved— it's just a mass-produced piece of jewelry. —

— Would there be burial records? —

— I doubt it. This appears to be something of an irregular interment. There's no gravestone, no coffin fragments. She was simply wrapped in a piece of hide and covered up. A rather unceremonious burial, if she was a loved one. —

— Maybe she was poor. —

— But why choose this particular location? There was never a cemetery here, at least not according to historical maps. Your house is about a hundred thirty years old, am I right? —

— It was built in 1880. —

— Regard rings were out of fashion by the 1840s. —

— What was here before 1840? — Julia asked.

— I believe this was part of a country estate, owned by a prominent Bostonian family. Most of this would have been open pasture. Farmland. —

Julia looked up the slope, where butterflies skimmed across blossoms of Queen Anne's lace and flowering vetch. She tried to picture her yard as it once must have been. An open field, sloping down to the tree-shaded stream, with grazing sheep meandering through the grass. A place where only animals would wander. A place where a grave would quickly be forgotten.

Vicky stared down at the bones with a look of distaste. — Is this— one body? —

— A complete skeleton, — Petrie said. — She was buried deep enough to be protected from scavenger damage. On this slope, the soil's quite well drained. Plus, judging by the fragments of leather, it looks like she was wrapped in some kind of animal hide, and the leaching tannins are something of a preservative. —