My grandmother was about 20 yrs old, she was living with her parents and had been courting w/ my grandfather, who was away at the time, undergoing the one-year state-required army service.
She was on a train on her way home when she was addressed by a sympathetic young man. He was witty and gallant and he was able persuade her to lend him her ruby promise-ring that she got from my grandfather..…my grandmother said he was so canny about it, it didn’t even seem strange to her that he wanted to try it on. After he slipped it on his finger, he of course wasn’t able to take it off. So they agreed that he would go home w/ her to see if they could somehow get it off there. No luck. He promised, that he would go to the goldsmith the next day to have it removed and that he would return the ring. My great-grandmother was so trusting that she even offered him to borrow my grandmother’s bicycle to get there. My G refused to do so, since she rode her bicycle to work every day. Good thing she didn’t, because the stranger never returned. Later she had a lot of explaining to do to my grandfather!...good thing they worked things out ;)!
Anyways, a year or two later, my GG was visiting a friend and when the friend was telling her about her daughter’s engagement, she was surprised to hear the name and description of the groom to be – the ring thief! So my GG told her about their stolen ring and that it had to be him. My GG made arrangements to be at her friends’ at his next visit. Sure enough it was him! At first he didn’t recognize her, but she reminded him of his crime. Of course, he no longer had the ring, but in a room full of many angry women, she was able to get him to pay up for it. He had a lot of explaining to do to his fiance...good thing she never married him!