The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-04-09

| Ouc INOu1HI lOT HllHScII anu INO 1OA
| others, shortened the way to lunches
ter, the county town. 1t was dull
place enough, except on Thursday,
which was market-day. To-day, how
ever, was Tuesday-the normally dull
( est dav in all the seven. It was there
/ fore with some surprise that, As he
went along Westgate street towards
/ the Cross. lie came upon the tail of a
! little crowd, mostly of boys and girls
from the back alleys, but with others
among them hurrying in the same di-
rection as he, and shouting, while the
corners were blocked up by knots Of
women, and the tradesmen were. by
one consent. standing at their doors.
Whats up to-day" Stephen asked
one of these.
.'Oh, It's only the soldiers. answered
the man. "A regiment on the march
bound for foreign service against old
Boney, hear say. | wish, for my part,
they'd gone another road; the red
coats do a sight more harm than good,
unless they stay for month that 5
another pair of shoes. Do you want
| anything in my line. this fine day?
Hark-there they gor'
As the shop-keeper spoke, flies and
drums far down the street shrilled and
ratified into the The British Gren-
adiers.'' Stephen could see the glitter
inc points of the bayonets; and the
ragged tail of the march broke out into
a cheer.
Poor fellowsr' thought he. ..And
men among them with Patiences of
their own, no doubt; it makes one
ashamed to be happy when one thinks
of war. And might have had to beat
drum or carry a muSket myself if 1t
hadn't been for old Tom BlackthOrn.
To think that | should have been able
to pay him back for half he's done it
seems like a dream. But for the better
half; no. that's beyond paying" He
stepped into the best matchmaker and
icweler' in the town. . | want a gold
ring quite plain" said he, with more
of Shvnoss than man of mark in Mill
port ought to have felt when condo
scending to make purchase in dead
alive Manchester.
But the man did not smile What
ever he might have felt once on his
own account, he had become callous to
such things: even plain gold rings were
only in the way of trade. so he pulled
out a drawerful. large and small, real
gold and sham, thick and thin.
Stephen had already, with his meas
Uring tape, marked upon his own little
finger the point where the right ring
should 90 to fit the finger it was made for.
| Having chosen the thickest and the best,
he was about to order it to be engraved
on its inner surface with the posy he
had chosen, when his eve was caught
bv another, which he had rejected for
being, perhaps, half shade less thick
than the other. and which happened to
to be already engraved.
He took it up to read, and he started
to see the words
lore UiH find ont the ,Cay."
There was. of course, nothing won
derfu to find any common posy on any
common ring. But it so singularly (as
he fancied) leaped with his own thoughts
as he had come along the road, that the
finger of Fate seemed to be pointing out
the one ring in the world for the finger
of Patience Elackthorn. The very
words he had thought Of-the words OF
her own very song; and as it were
writing themselves for him, without
going through the cold-blooded process
of being engraved. 1t was as though
his own thoughts had flown before him
to the shop, and had stamped them
selves, fresh from his heart, upon the
ring. Lovers are always finding such
adventures, and always thinking them
peculiar to themselves.
- will take this" said he. The
ieweler, who seemed a taciturn fellow,
nodded, as if bridegroOm's fancies
were matters of course, and the pur-
chase was made.
L" 1t was really a very wonderful
thing" thought Stephen. 1T seems
too strange to believe finding ring
with Just those very words. I'm glad
there must be something out of the
common in this ring; just as there :
something out of the common in the
whole story. | shouldn't have believed
such story if I'd been told. Still,
though. when one comes to think of 1t,
it isn't likely Patience Blackthorn
would be married with common
ring"
That was the whole of Stephen bust
ness in Manchester that day. Having
had some cold meat and a glass of ale,
for his walk had made him hungry, he
set off to return to Leys Croft by the
same road he had come, tut h. had
not reached the fifth milestone when it
occurred to him that, as he was taking
Il holiday from his holiday. ne might a.
well 90 home by way of the church
where he was to be married. Of course
he had seen the church of his native
village many hundred times before;
but then it had been only a common
steeple, now it was to become sacred
building indeed.
To get to Legs Croft by way of the
church one had to leave the road, rs /
have said, the fifth stone from the town,
and follow path that led through some
open fields to the top of some low hills,
whence on one side one cOulG
see the lazy smoke and the minister
tower of Manchester, and broad river
beyond: on the other, the network Of
low, wooded slopes and narrow valleys
in which were hidden Leys Croft and
Welstead, and many another ancient
farm! His back turned 10 the minister
and river, Stephen looked toward the
woods and pastures, all in their gold
and green, and smiling as if the land
scape were alive and Tapped in the ut
most luxury of peace and yerdure. The
chimneys and the turmoil of Miilport
had broken his familiarity with the
view, and he was able to regard
the scenes in which he had been
born and bred. and had learned
to love, with travelled eyes. 1t
seemed impossible with sucn a