The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-11-22

also OF silver and filling the rotting
leather with sand she presently sank
1t in the lagoon.
Last of all she examined what she
had brought from the other shore of
the island the night before. The sill
yer was furnished, but by rubbing it in
the sand she soon frightened it. 1t
was heavily engraved and she had
no difficulty in making out the words:
John Revell Charnock-His Dog"
After that was a date July 22,
1870" John Revell Charnock then
would be Il years old, assuming that
this was he and that the dog had been
given him when he was born. 1t was
more probable, however, that he was
from three to five years old before
he became the owner of dog, which
would make him about 25.
The man before her looked younger
to her scrutiny than that Care and
trouble had passed him By. With
nothing to vex him he might have
been any age. He would probably
look Just as he was for 20 years or
more. Still fancifully adjusting ex-
ternal relations to internal relations,
which, after all, she realized was the
secret of life according to her favorite
philosopher, she concluded that the
man was %, three years older than
she at that moment, a proper differ
ence in their ages for Her
face famed. She scarcely knew why,
and she turned tC 6n inspection of the
rings.
The first was a diamond, a solitaire,
OF rare beauty, she judged. Although
she was not especially expert in such
matters, she deemed it must be of
great value. There was no inscrip-
ton Of any sort within the narrow
hoop of gold, although she searched
keenly the inner surface. The diamond
was curiously set. There was an ex-
quisite tracery of a little coat # arms
on either side of the setting, done in
miniature but with a skill to marvel
at, too small even for her brilliant
vision to decipher in detail.
The other she recognized with q
sheer as one Of those letters of con-
vention, a wedding ring. 1t was a
heavier hoop of gold much engraved
within. She washed it in the stream
and rubbed it in the sand until she
could make it out 81. r. c." she
read, ito M. P. T." There was date
after, September 10, 1859, and then
these cabalistic words, I'll Cor. 49, 15,"
which she presently OWNED to be a
reference to some text in the Bible
fit source from which to select the
"posy of ring" agreeable to those
who submit to such ancient follies as
the well-named bonds of matrimony.
She reached for the Bible and with
unfamiliar fingers searched through II
until she found the place: 81 will
very gladly spend and be spent for
you; though the more abundantly
love you, the less l be loved" The
beauty of the phrase caught her fancy
She read with strange new interest
the chapter in which these words
were shrined. The touch of human
passion came to her across the long
years and with the ring sparkling IL
her own white hand she embodied III
tradition in personality and the won
an who had been SO loved stood be
fore her. Her eyes fell again upor
the man and the dream was broken.
She pieced together now all tha
she had Of him, smiling as she did 81
at the thought Of certain strange stor
I les she had read wherein men of mar
velous deductive powers had brough
to solution problems which appeared
as impossible of detection as this pre-
scented to her.
John Revell Charnock, evidently tn,
father Of the man of the island, hat
married one M. p. T. on the 10th o
September, 1869. Perhaps within
| year afterward this John Revell Char
mock, assuming. him, as was likely, t,
have borne his fathers name, wa
born. The best English stock in tn
colony were Massachusetts and Vii
ginia. The stern piece of the boa
borne the name of Virginia river an,
of Virginia town. The man befor
her was a Virginian, therefore. Sa.
he was born in 1871, it would max
him 25 years old, in accordance wit
her first guess. The father an
mother, possibly ruined by the result
of the civil war, had embarked o
some vessel to seek fortune in neN
land. Something. had happened t
the ship and the woman, the little DO
and the dog had landed in some wa
upon these shores alone after som
horrible voyage, perhaps like that sh
lad passed through. The boy plus
have been five or six years old, els
he would have died being deserted
The woman had indeoa, dad, and tn
dog with her, and left the Lad alon'
Alone he had been for a score
years on that island. What watchfl
Providence? -. Stop! She b.
lieved in no Providence. What strans
mysterious fate kept him from tn
fate of the other two, had preserve
him alone for her?
So she wove history out of hi
, treasure trove for this man, histol
which at least satisfied her and whic
the more she reasoned about 1t an