The record-union., 1894-05-19

u,
grandest enthusiasm, -four weeks more
like this, and we'll sail for home second
cabin at leastp'
An hour later the brother and sister had
entered the open ancient church, for bit
OF quiet and rest. He had knocked OFT
at noon fer a tramp to Maidstone, to in
ouire for any letters which might have
been forwarded from Cheyne Row; and
faithful Hetty, occasionally involved with
bolivar" now unduly fractious from
his long enforced idleness, was busy pre-
pairing the evening meal.
The two had stolen into the organ loft.
Mercy, lowering over the organ keys,
hummed the refrain OF some familiar
ballad, now and then fitfully took the
sustained notes of some classic aria, or
again filled the dim old edifice with the
grander measures of some stately psalm;
while Pelham, tired and half doing i'll
the slumberous place, sat beside her, nod
ding at the quaint architecture the SOM
ber carvings. the tarnished brasses, or
the recumbent ef1igies upon the shadowy
tombs.
'.Their bones are all about US, Merce."
"Bones! Whose bones? You've scared
all the music out of me, George"
"Why, the Dunstans, of course. There"
pointing to tablet in the wall, lis 'Sa-
cred to the Memory of one. That huge
brass lust in front of the chancel COM
memorates another. And if Beatrice
| Dunstan was so years of age and done in
marble the likeness couldn't be more
perfect one than that ef1igy just beneath
us here"
| Mercy sprang down beside him. They
were now so intent upon the inscriptions
that they failed to hear voices IN the old
stone south porch.
II never heard but one voice like that.
and I'll never hear another," said a mans
voice solemnly. A woman answered him
very tenderly;
poor Mercy! How dreadful it is that we
| cannot reach them with our letters and
kilograms"
"What's that? Listen moment"
.'Hi say, Hetty, gal, w'ere's th' guver-
nor? 'Ere's letters an tellygrammers
nuff ter turn lis 'ead."
'In tn horgin loft, Ike, dear. Strike
me lucky, but hits 'eavenly moosic they
are maxim. Easy does it, Ike. but tell
| Miss Pelham as teas ready to a turn
With bound Ike was within the porch.
but a quick, strong hand detained him
and trembling voice demanded
"What-whaJ Miss Pelham is this to
whom you are going with these letters ?"
"Gor bli me, man, th' hempress, t be
suren'
And the-the 'guvernor' ?"
"W'y. 'er brother-Mister George
Pepam; nor less nor marks, if Hi 'ad
my bloomin' way. Say, gently now, by
We peggin' it fair an friendly :"
ION my honor. yes And this lady,
my sister, too"
''Strike me lucky, then, we're hall a
houtin', pickin' 'ops together; up at tn
'AllD
up at the Hall ?-George and Mercy
Pelham hop picking in the fields of our
| demesue? This is terrible ?''
| The latter was lost upon Ike, who was
| Fastening to the organ left. The two in
the porch followed him quickly and
softly, and in moment more they were
! beside the coster who, hat in hand, stood
near his friends, respectfully waiting
until Mercy had finished speaking.
"Wretchedly poor as we are and as we
may always be, would give years of
my Lille, George, to be able to make Harry
and Beatrice Dunstan sometime under
stand how much we loved them ~
! Two little hysterical screams broke
upon the silence of the ancient church.
| A mighty scramble followed. Then there
was an impetuous conmingling of arms
and hands and lips. SomehoH the wrig-
Cling mass of protestation, embraces, ex-
| plantations and caresses worked its whirl-
wind way to the little organ where, Mercy
| Pelham with her brown, sore fingers on
the keys and with George and Harry and
| Beatrice crowding endearingly about her,
united voices and reunited hearts awoke
! the slumbering echoes of ancient Ayles-
| ford Church with Praise God From
| Whom all Blessings Flow" as had never
| been heard in Kent from that blessed
eventide to the dimmest of old Saxon
times.
| That night the four hop-pickers of the
''singin' bin" were housed at Dunstan
Hail, with ecstatic Ike, Hetty and their
| donkey Bolivar, for the first time in their
/ lives beneath the turrets and battlements
of a real "pallus"; but the brother aud
sister Pelham were not half so joyous
over the glad reunion and the one letter
which told them that their fortune was
still almost wholly intact. as they were
then and ever after proud of a certain
''tally- book'' in which was set down in