Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1906-06-29

mislead you. Whenever one of them
advises you to take loose grocery store
then, with a lighter heart and stouter
courage that the young man turned
from the Abbot's room, while the lat
ter, following him to the stair-head,
finally commended him to the protec-
ton Of the holy Julian, patron Of trav-
ellers.
Underneath, in the porch Of the ABB
hey, the monks had gathered to give
him a last God-speed. Many had
brought some parting token by which
he should remember them. There was
Brother Bartholomew with a cruciflx
of rare carved ivory, and Brother
Luke with a white-backed psalter
adorned with golden bees, and Brother
Francis with the Staying Of the Inno-
cents" most daintily set forth upon
1 vellum All these were duly packed
away deep in the travellers scrip, and
above them old pippin-faced Brother
Athanaslus had placed a parcel Of
simnel bread and rammel cheese, with
a small flask Of the famous blue-sealed
Abbey wine. So, amid handshal5ings
and laughings and blessings, Alleyne
Edricson turned his back upon Beau
| lieu.
At the turn Of the road he stopped
and gazed back. There was the wide-
spread building which he knew so we'll,
the Abbot's house, the long church, the
cloisters with their line Of arches, all
bathed and mellowed in the evening
sun. There too was the broad sweep
of the river Exc, the old stone well,
| the canopied niche of the Virgin, and
| in the centre of II, the cluster Of
white-robed figures who waved their
hands to him. A sudden mist swan
up before the young mans eyes, and
he turned away upon his journey with
a heavy heart and choking throat
It is not, however, in the nature of
| things that a lad of twenty, with
young life glowing in his veins and all
the wide world before him, should
spend his first hours Of freedom in
mourning Of what he had left. Long
ere Alleyne was out Of sound of the
Beaulieu bells he was striding sturdily
along, swinging his staff and whistlins
as merrily as the birds in the thicket.
The road along which he travelled
was scarce as populous as most other
roads in the kingdom, and far less so
| than those which lie between the
larger towns. Yet from time to time
the boy met other wayfarers, and
more tnan once was overtaken by
strings of pack-mules and horsemen
journeying in the same direction as
himself.
The night had already fallen, and the
moon was shining between the riffs
Of ragged, drifting clouds, before AL
leyne Edricson, footsore and weary
from the unwonted exercise found
himself in front of the forest inn, which
stood upon the outskirts of Lyndhurst.
The building was long and low stand
ing back a little from the road, with
two flambeaux blazing on either side
Of the door as a welcome to the trav-
! eller. From one window there thrust
} forth a long pole with a bunch of
greenery tied to the end of tia sign
that liquor was to be sold within AS
Alleyne walked up to it he perceived
that 1t was rudely fashioned out of
beams of wood, with twinkling hts
all over where the glow from hin
shone through the chirks. The roof
was poor and matched; but in strange
contrast to it there ran all along under
: the caves a line Of wooden shields,
most gorgeously painted with chew
ron, bend, and satire and every
> heraldic device. By the door horse
1 stood tethered, the rudy glow beating
/ strongly upon his brown head and pa
tient eyes, while his body stood back
8 in the shadow.
r Alleyne stood still in the roadway for
a few minutes, rejecting upon what
he should do. It was, he knew, only a
4 few miles further to Minstead, where
8 his brother dwelt. On the other hand
i he had never seen this brother since
t childhood, and the reports which had
e come to his ears concerning him were
| A. aax oil
f counts he was hard and bitter man
+ It might be an evil start to come To
7 his door so late and claim the shelter
I Of his roof. Better to sleep here al
this inn, and then travel on to Min
9 stead in the morning. II his brother
n would take him in, we'll and good. He
t would bide with him for a time and
e do what he might to serve him. If, or
n the other hand, he shod aid have hard.
q ened his heart against him, he could
8 only go on his way and do the best hi
u might by his skill as a craftsman and
). | a scrivener. At the end OF year ht
|. would be free to return to the cloisters
n for such had been his fathers request
|. A monkish upbringing, one year II
the world after the age Of twenty, and
4 then a free selection one way or the
other-it was a strange course which
a had been marked out for him. Such
. as it was, however, he had no choice
2 but to follow it, and II he were tC
r begin by making a friend of his
e brother, he had best walt until morn
e ing before he knocked at his dwelling
h The rude plank door Of the Inn wal
Il ala. but as Alleyne approached Il
r there came from within such gust o.
( rough laughter and cater Of tongues
T that ne stood irresolute upon TIT
d threshold. Summoning courage, how
s ever, and rejecting that 1t was a pub
), lie dwelling, in which he had as mucl
e right as any other man, he pushed
g open and stepped into the common
) ~ GO Be Confinsfd Nest Wesk)