The Forrest City times., 1894-06-29
FORREST CITY, ARK, FRIDAY AFTERNOON JUNE 2s. 1894
his eyes which she had never seen be-

 fore.
 Yes" said he. calmly; ''I knew you had lost 1t. know Ao,o you lost it. know to whom you have given it.
 Essie stood dumb before the cruel emphasis of his words.
 ''I was at the sugar camp an hour ago" said he. Some one told me you had gone there, and l was going to bring you home. And saw your ring on Leonidas Strikers watch-guard. Wasn't that rather soon to transfer your last lovers gift to your old swain? Would it not have been better taste of him to display your pledge little less publiely2"
 Jack. JackT' pleaded Essie, holding up her hands. as if every word were a blow.
 ''I need detain you no longer. he said, as he bowed frigidly and touched the neck of his horse with his whip lash. and the next minute he was gone.
 Poor Essie dragged herself back to the house. the tears freezing on her cheek and her heart colder still. Was she the victim of entertainment? What did all this mean?
 Tea was over at last, but Esther Elm ford did not know whether she had eaten hot biscuit or cold. nasty pud- ding. She had listened. with d vague, unmeaning smile. to Mrs. Norris pro- longed account of little Tommys last siege of diphtheria and Miss Adel- githa's proposed visit to New York. It was almost as if brain and nerve were benumbed. when JessaInine Strikers clear. sweet voice struck across the current of her hopeless apathy and she found herself in a con fidential corner of the best bedroom upstairs, with Jessamine eagerly haranguing her.
 The strangest thing!" cried Jessa- mine. He found it in the maple sugar kettle Alice had made some flannel cakes. and he dipped out dip perful of the hot sirup for us to eat with it, and Leon came within one of swallowing the ring. Whose is it?' said be- Why, Essie Elnford's, of course. said I. Didn't 1 zee the sparkle of it when she took off her mittcn to unfasten the lid of the bas- ket that held Uncle Peter's crullers? And it must have slipped off her finger. said he, when she went to stir the sugar in the kettle. So he hung it on his watch-chain for safekeeping until we came home, and here it is.
 Esther murmured word or two of thanks.
 Il was very careless" said she.
 But even after Jessamine was gone, she sat staring at the pretty trinket which had so nearly been boiled down into maple sugar. What was the use thing?
 Esther! Esther' her father called up the narrow wooden stairway. Heres Mir. Jefferson wants to speak to youH'
 How strangely all these things seemed to succeed one another, like the dim lapses of dream. She knew not how. but she was standing, with Jacks arm around her. her troubled eyes looking up into his
 My own darling" he whispered, ''can you ever forgive me for being such a brute? I have just seen that SLFlkeF tcitoW. hc hot Such d Ddu lot. after all, and everything is ex- plained. Sweetheart, say that you forgive me! 1 never shall forgive my self
 And all the horrid nightmare feeling was over. and the engagement was secret no longer, and poor little Esther Elmford was happy again.
 s'But 1 don { think" said she, that I shall ever want to taste maple sugar again. Not just yet, at all events!"- Amy Randolph. in N. Y. Ledger.
 Engrossed.