The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-11-28
The Shamrock Ring.
F'rom Household Words. In Four Parts,
PART ".

| paused by the Queens statue. with u
background Of close cut ancient hedge, IL
| foreground of now empty fiower-beds; tn
| wind-ruffled Round Pond. no longer bear
| ing its toy fleet of sksffs, in front
Miss Perc.val,'' he said, earnestly, lie
me say word or two now. You mus
have known-you must have seen-thst
am-.nterest-in you. / have tried harder
perhaps, than you can understand, to keel
back any undue expression of that-inter
est-until you became used TO seeing me
until could introduce my
He paused abruptly, for Helen's eye:
were suddenly lifted TO his face
What was he going to- say? And why
did that foolish heart of hers beat so fast
Introduce whom? His wife. of course. Hs
could mean no one else. He was-,nterest
ed-in her. Yes, naturally, because of Erik
Ssanham. He knew the ring; and-what
more likely than that he had seen hei
| photograph at the time of poor Eric'S
! death? Oh. of course, she saw ii all, quite
clearly. He was interested in her; that
was all, for Eric SIanham's sake. October
| airs blew chill and piercing through the
| bare elm boughs in the Broad Walk; the
| Round Pond looked gray and sullen. like
some Dead Sea of joy and hope. Yes, she
| thought. summer Is over and gone"
'If you will permit me 10 know your ad-
Dress he continued, watching her curl
| ously, 81 should Ike my sister TO call upon
YOU"
A stray sunbeam checkered the gravel
walk, and tipped with molten silver the
| dancing little waves on the pond. Was
summer quite-quite overT'
''Your s;ster?" she asked, with an elo-
! quently blushing face, which again showed
| more of her heart than she knew; and,
4 e-r. Kxu1x-s
| isfied.
Yes" he replied, my sister-the dear
| est, most motherly old creature in the
world. She is my senior by few years,
! and though 1 never knew my mother, 1
/ have never missed her love, for Esther
! has fully and generously supplied its
place. You will consent, viii you not?" he
| added, anXiously.
/ Helen was silent, not from unwiliingness
| to speak, but from want of ready words.
I'VE live at Turnham Green,'' he went
| on, in a simple, matter-of-fact way. Il
don't mean artistic Bedford Park, but the
real old Turnham Green, and not in a
Nineteenth century Queen Anne structure,
but real old Georgian house"
1T must be very nice" she responded
lamely.
81 was born there he went on. so was
where, keeps the dear old place together
during all my wanderings."
Have you been far"
81 have seen most big countries. I met
poor Eric Stanham in Australia. Since then
1 have been in the two Americas, New
Zealand, India, China. and so forth.
came home in May"
For good. 1 hope?"
81 hope SO. We shall see. / am a city
man now, in the tea interest. We have
connections in Ceylon, and 1 might go out
but that depends
Again pause. The Broad Walk, empty
thereabout, stretched right and left Wild
duck circled over the Round Pond and few
screaming across the chestnut avenue to-
wards the Serpentine. Helen looked with
seeming interest at the sculptured features
OF her sovereign lady. John Moorland look
ed with real interest at her.
Miss Percival-Helen-I know your
name from Eric. should like to stay at
home-for good, as you say. Shall L? May
I?'
How can I know?' she asked, with a
very poor feint of dignified reproof.
II think he whispered, taking her hand
suddenly, and with masterful tenderness,
Il think You know, Helen. Come-shall
Esther call?''
'If-you-like.'
"And the address,"
Helen Percival spent Christmas at Turn
ham Green in the course of a long visit;
for said Miss Moreland, she could not too
soon get used to the house over which she
was coming to reign in the following May.
Encouraged and surrounded by love so
new and precious to her. Helen soon felt
at home, and was early introduced to the
xA1f faan
Mrs. PIosser, the cook. she recognized her
lady of the dolman, who showed much
pleasure al the meeting.
An said Miss Morland later, at their
tete-a-tete lunch, "Prosser is delighted
with you. 1 well remember her story OF
your kindness in the train. She had been
away for a weeks holiday. and came homo
full of il. She thought it was so conde-
scending of you, being, as she put II, a
frst-class lady, into whose compartment
she was hurried at the last minute"
1T was such little thing" murmured
Helen, rather consciously.
'It is a coincidence, though, your meet
ing again here. is ii not?''
THE coincidence is stranger than you
think" said Helen, with momentary con-
fusion.
"Ah, how?" inquired Miss Morland
Helen, bushing as rosily as II the figure
six in her age had more connection with
numeral one than numeral three. II tried
to uDfasten the knot for her. but 1t was
difficult. and I had to take of my gloves
to do Il. When l came to put them on,
after she was gone, one was missing II
must have caught in her dress as she |
brushed out She is rather stout, isn't |
she?''
Rather, retorted Miss Morland. well, |
my dear?"
Then of course had to do without the /
left-hand glove. and your brother saw |
That you were not married. OF course !
knew he had been anxious to find out"
mo, no"' cried poor ashamed Helen. az i
didn't mean that at all. / meant that ne /
saw the ring I wore, and knew Il again, I
as -"
'Oh. yes, I remember that" replied Miss
Norland. coolly. but 1t was not so much 1
the presence Of that ring as the absence /
OF another that gave Jack such great sat
Of course. II simplified matters
by letting him know who yeu are. But
II Is odd that the ice should have been bro
ken al first through our old cook
Il might never have known you-o-
him." said Helen softly, but for losing my
glove that morning.
les, you would my dear. Jacks mind
was made up about you He meant 20 bring
me with him one day to scrape acquaint-
ance with you somehow"
But l was not going tha, way any
more"
What Of that2 He would have found
you cut, especially with me 10 help him. |
Il vas O mere matter ot time and patience
in which latter quality we both excel The
fact of his seeing the r.Hg On yoG- hand