The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1906-06-22

advises you to take loose grocery store
them with lighter heart and a 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 q last God-speed. Many had
brought some parting token by which
he should remember them. There was
Brother Bartholomew with a crucifix
Of rare carved ivory, and Brother
Luke with a white-backed psalter
adorned with golden bees, and Brother
Francis with the Staying of the limo
cents" most daintily set forth upon
vellum. All these were duly packed
away deep in the travellers scrip, and
above them old pippln-faced Brother
Athanasius had placed q parcel of
simnel bread and rammel cheese, with
a small flask of the famous blue-sealed
! Abbey wine. So, amid handshakings
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 well,
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 a choking throat.
1t is not, however, in the nature of
things that 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 whistline |
IS 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 little from the road. with
two fambeaux blazing on either side
of the door as a welcome to the trav-
eller. From one window there thrust
forth long pole with a bunch OF
greenery tied to the end OF tia sign
that LIQUOR was to be SOL within. AS
Alleyne walked up to it he perceived
that II was rudely fashioned out OF
beams of wood, with twinkling hts
all over where the glow from v hin
shone through the ks. 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 a horse
stood tethered, the rudy glow beating
strongly upon his brown head and pa
tient eyes, while his body stood back
In the shadow.
Alieyne stood still in the roadway for
a few minutes. rejecting upon what
he should do. 1t was, he knew, only a
few miles further to Minstead. where
his brother dwelt. On the other hand,
he had never seen this brother since
childhood, and the reports which had
come 10 his ears concerning him were
seldom to his advantage. BY all ac-
counts he was hard and bitter mani
It might be an evil start to come fSI
his door so late and claim the shelterl
Il hts roof Better TO sleep here at
hts inn. and then travel on TO Min
ltead In the morning. If his brother
would take him IN, well and good. He
would bide with him for a time and
10 what he might to serve him. If, on
he other hand. he should have Lard
ned his heart against him. he could
MY go on his way and do the best he
night BY hig skill as craftsman and
scrivener. At the end OF a YER he
you'd be free TO return TO the cloIsters.
or such had been his fathers request.
/ monkish upbringfng, one year I'M
he world after the age Of twenty. and
hen free selection one way or the
sher--st was a strange course which
ad been marked out for him. Such
s II was, however, he had no ehoices
ut to follow IT, and II he were 70
egfn BY making a friend of his
rother, he had best walt until morn
X before he knocked az his dwelling.
The rude plank door OF the Inn was
1nTs Out as AieyHe aPDfOdSuc1 ~
here came from within such a gust Of
Jugh laughter and cs1tter Of tongues
lat he stood irresolute upon the
1reshoId. eunmoning courage. how
yer. and rejecting that It was pub
c dwelling. IN which he had as much I
eht as any other man. ne pushed 1t
BEN and stepped into the common
sTo D. Cosfirpe9 Eesl Eestl