The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-06-12

amazement and speeches. rage at hav-
ing read a woman so ill. it was not
more than once that Enoch Marrish
ever failed.
He did not come near Legs Croft for
| another day. But when he did. it was
so humbly and wofully that Patience
could not help forgiving him; and there
fore trying to make him feel that her
seeming ingratitude was not her fault,
but her misfortune. For though not
even Legs Croft, or life, or aught on
earth, was worth a breach of faitlI, and
| though she never doubted her father,
with his pride of blood and honesty,
would think the same, still she had been
made miserable and remorseful, and
there was none left on whom she could
lean. Her father needed himself all the
support she could give him; while
Enoch Marrish had ceased to be only
her friend, and he who is more than a
friend is none.
That his offer had amazed her is to
say little, indeed. 1t had alarmed her
| well-nigh as much as its preface. No
sign came of the threatened foreclosure;
but Enoch's courtship. after its now
understood fashion, still went on. In
stead of going off in. huff. he doubled
his attentions to her slightest wishes,
guessing them unspoken, and his care
of the farm. 1t was miserable. He was
either, elderly and uncouth as he was,
too true lover to treat harshly, or else
one of those stupid lovers who can not
understand, much less take, a NO"
If she could only be sure he had given
| her up it would have been some COM
fort. But somehow he never allowed
her to feel sure of this, although she
hoped it now and then. She knew a
| good deal of his nature by this time,
and something for nothing was not his
way. His constant service reminded her
of the service of Jacob for Rachel. If
he really cared for her SO much, she
ought to be, at least. grateful; and yet
she dared not show gratitude. out of
dread that he should take the least
sign for more, and ask her again.
| But, late one afternoon, just before
harvest. when Enoch was about the
cows, the blacksmith's lad came with a
letter which had no doubt deeply ex-
ercised the minds of the shop and forge;
/
looking letter. such as had never been
sees in those parts before, with big
red seal, and frank in the corner. 1t
was addressed to her father. As
Patience took it from the lad. and saw
its look, it misgave her that this might
be the foreclosure-the cloud which had
been hanging over their heads for so
long without bursting that it seemed
like to blow by. What is there about
letters that we can tell by their touch
whether what they have to say is good
or ill? Patience knew that this had
brought i'll news, and what could it be
| but the summons TO surrender house
and farm?
What shall l do?" asked she.
Enoch looked at the letter; and, truth
to tell, it puzzled him too. But, as he
had his own reasons for knowing that
it has nothing to do with his own mort.
gage. he did not catch the drift of her
mind. and so failed to use it. at
doesn't look to me of much Odds" said
he. "Most like about taxes. Letters
like that mostly are"
She could not bring herself to think
| it only about taxes. But meanwhile
her father, whose pay-room, where he
sat great deal, overlooked the gate,
had seen the blacksmith boy come up,
and came into the dairy to see what he
had been bringing. Patience watched
him anxiously as he broke the seal: he
seemed impatient, she thought, but to
her momentary relief, not alarmed.
But little was she prepared for what
followed.
He dropped the letter and reeled
heavily against the wall. ''Oh, Dick,
Dick, my boy Dick! I've killed my own
boyr'
Patience ran 10 his side in terror,
just in time to keep him from falling
too heavily to the ground. Enocn
picked up the letter, and his heart posi-
lively beat within him; for once in his
life he felt something like JOY.
Sergeant Richard Blackthorn, of such
a regiment had been killed in Spain!
And Enoch Marrish, and none but he,
knew that Sergeant Richard Blackthorn
was his rival, Stephen Harlow. With
out being Il murderer in act, he had
reaped all the fruits of murder. A mere
lie became a triiie when put in COM
pan ison with the greater sin. His con-
science, for he kept one, thawed and
glowed. He blessed the French with
all his heart and soul.
But 1t was not for him to say even the
smallest o. words Just then. He laid the
letter on the table among the cream
pans and crept away quietly, leaving
the father and daughter to themselves,
| nd tod h,f
next step should be.
He could not explain that Richard
Blackthorn, reported dead, was not
Richard Blackthorn, but Stephen Har-
low. That could not possibly be made
clear, even with the help of thousand
lies, without risking betrayal of how the
names had come to be mixed-and he
was too wise 2 man to tell needless
| lie. Besides, what harm would come
of leaving things as they seemed? Dick
Blackthorn was no good to anybody,
dead or alive; so let him bc dead IL
the pToyerbial turning up of the bad
penny, since Providence had put 1t that
way. And yet he must rot deprive
himself of the advantages of the actual
death of Stephen Harlow. So he
thought. and thought, and at last made
up his mind.
1t was a fortunate thing for his idea
that it rendered needful another short
absence from home; for absence,
though not noticed at such a time,
| looked, when it came to be remem-
bered. like sympathy with sorrow too
deep and delicate to intrude. He took
| himself off, therefore, by the up coach
from Manchester, even though the ex-
penses of his pursuit were beginning to
swell the wrong side of his account.