The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-04-25
ROBIN Y Rec.

Hark! there it was again, that strange
melody floating over the silent sea and
as thistledown. 1t was one of the old songs
Of the country, perhaps sung by some fish
erman as he walked homeward through the
Autumn twilight with his empty creel or
his back and money in his pocket. The
ginger was invisible, but the words were
these: " .s
~Red 'op-knots and ribbons of green tbou'l
wear .r. ~.
If, sweet little Betsy, with me thou'It pair,
Robin the King. Robin the King r1dian.'
The prevailing stiffness made it difficult
to say whether the words came from far OIL
near. The breeze was too slight to stir the
bracken, and the peat-smoke hung in mo-
tionless wreaths over the cottage chimneys
In the glen, and the clouds of tiny butter.
fies that had fitted over the gorse and
heather during the daytime had mysteri.
ously vanished at sunset. The COMES were
awake, no doubt, but they prudently kept
out OF sight. The curlews were asleep
among the turnips, the gray plover were
away on the hillside, and down wonder
among the cliffs the gulls and cannes and
guiliemots were standing in long white
rows.
But if the solemn night was voiceless. il
had a wonder nj charm of its own, though
the m Ion wa yet to emerge like some
gilded dragon.fy from its slumbers beneath
freshness of the sea and he perfume of the
moorland flowers; the sky was a deep I'M
dappl d blue, to which the countless stars
Pickering IN its dome impaired a vas ness
UNNECESSARILY greater than that of the sun
lit day; Immediately overhead lay YIN
Rad Mooar Rec Ghorree, the GreaJ Road
by which King Orry brought his yellow
bearded Norsemen to the coast of Man;
ami at its northern extremity q pinkish
glow was now advancing and now reced-
ing, afraid of invading the realm of mig 1t,
yet unwilling to leave scene of so much
beauty. Away 10 the south, beyond a
great sweep of tranquil water, broken
only by the spear-po.nts of the ars, a
dense mist was winding around tue bavs
and hsadlandS, and as ii drew aside Tor
moment there came from its midst the
bright fash OF lighthouse; but elsewhere
the atmosphere was so clear that the rocks
stood out in boli relief, their shadows as
sumins all manner Of antaStic shapes.
In the hack ground the hills cut INTO the
blue sky like a COW of enormous sharks
teeth, and after sweep ng past fields of
corn and clover, with many a cozy little
homestead nesting among the trees, they
at last a rived at this wild SPOT where
gorse and heather ami biacken tumbIed
into a deep glen, and then spread out on
either hand into a sheet OF god and brown
and purple, studded with an occasional
boulder, as If to prevent the wind blowing
it away. A couple of hundred wards fur
Their down the moorlani termina ed sud-
denly in perpendicular wall of schist that
dropped into the sea many hundred feet
below, bat parted in the center as il it had
been Cleft with a nigh Ratchet. A ew
that he'd, whitewashed cottages crouched
upon the sides OF the glen, TOR the wind
sometimes blew such shrill blast down
tia, narrow channel that II was necessary
to take advantage of the little shelter to be
found here. In the ferny depths there
was gliSten of silver, and keen ear
might have detected the babble of tue
brook as it hurried seward.
Except for the invisible singer, the whole
world seemed to be asieep, and the airs
looked down upon an unbroken solitude.
Presently the voice went on:
Red top-knots and ribbons of black thourt
wear;
I'll make thee Queen of the May, 1 swear,
Robin the king, Robin the king ridlan."
The words had scarcely died away when
two figures mounted the steep side of the
glen and slowly made their way toward
the cliffs. The one was a tall, handsome,
well-ureSsed man with brown b, arE tue
oSner a woman, young and teautiTul. He
wa the first to break the silence.
Elsie, Ive been MISUNDERSTANDING very
serIuul.- OF asking YOU to marry me-"
Me marry you!" She had stopped sud
denly to stare at him, her dark eyes brim-
brown checks, which were partly shaded
by long, back hair, flowing around her
snapely shoulders, and her hands zciasped
IN front of her. Sanding there in the
midst of the heather, she looked like q
startled lawn. Me marry you, Mr.. Ora.
ham," size repeated, eIghIng out the
words one by one as If to get at their
meaning that way.
You shouldn't say Me marry youv"
he said with slight shiver. ''You should
say, Il marry YOU And it would be nicer
il YOU were to substitute Robin for Mr.
Graham, which has an abominably formal
sound between such great friends of quite
two months standing. Thus corrected the
sentence runs, Il marry you, Robiny to
" nich Robin replies, Why no1""
1t is doubtful whether she fully appre-
ciated t-iiS singular mixture of teach ng
and wooing; indeed, 1t is doubtful whether
she .ven understood il.
'''Tis only poor fisher girl 1 am" she
answered, land TITS you that are grand
gentleman. with money and lands and
houses. so the neighbors tell me. Oh, but
It would be a. strange thing for,me TO marry
you, Mr.. Graham"
Woman-l Ike, she glanced from his fine
clothes to her own humble garb-a coarse
gray dress OF home-spun wool, a blue
shawl crossed over her breast and fastened
at her waist, aud a kind of sun-bonnet. In
this respect he dis arity between them
was suffic emily obvious, though it would
have been hard to match the girls graceful
figure or beautiful face
- am not act ng III haste to repent at
leisure" said Robin Graaaui, with deliD-
Grafton. 'Some arguments may be used
against our marriage, / Admit; but as they
ali spring from an accident-the accident
of blr h-they can be easily brushed aside.
And then, Elsie, the sacrifice won't be al
together on my side. Oh, no, you'll have
SO nethin- to give up, too. You see, rve
thought the matter well oyer.n 1
He paused and looked at her, as IL he had
asked her a question: but she was too as
tonished to speak; this wonderful thing
that he W shed her to marry him, quite
stupefied her. So he went on:
s.Fine ladies are al very well for q time,
but man gets tired of them-tired of their
fine feathers, and their fine speeches, and
their fine ways. Thai sort of thing is tag
ing ia the showroom, but inexpressibly
wearisome in the house. There's not an
ounce of sincerity in a ton of such stuff.
No. there is nothing like quiet. domestic