Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-12-29


vention. a wedding ring. 1t was a
heavier hoop of gold much engraved
Within She washed 1t in the stream
and rubbed 1t in TIE sand until she
could make it out. -. R. c. shs
read, TO NJ. p T." There was date
after, September 10, 1868, and then
these cabalistic Words, III Cor. l2: Is, !"
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 it
until she found the place: Il will
very gladly spend and be spent for
you; though the more abundantly I
love you, the less be loved" The
beauty of the phrase caught her fancy.
She read with a 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 in
her own white hand she embodied its
tradition in personality and the wom-
an who had been SO loved stood be-
fore her. Her eyes fell again upon
the man and the dream was broken.
She pieced together now all that
she had of him, smiling as she did so
at the thought Of certain strange stor-
les she had read wherein men of mar
velous deductive powers had brought
to solution problems which appeared
as impossible of detection as this pre.
scented to her.
John Revell Charnock, evidently the
father of the man of the island, had
married one M P. T. on the 10th of
September. 1869. Perhaps within a
year afterward this John Revell Char
mock, assuming him, as was likely, to
have borne his fathers name, was
born. The best English stock in the
colony were Massachusetts and vir.
ginia. The stern piece of the boat
borne the name OF a Virginia river and
OF a Virginia town. The man before
her was a yirginian, therefore. Say
he was born@ins 1871, it would make
him IS years old, in accordance with
her first guess, The father and
mother, possibly: ruined by the results
of the civil war, had embarked on
some vessel to seek a fortune in new
land. Something had happened to
the ship and the woman, the little boy
and the dog had landed in some way
upon these shores alone after some
horrible voyage. perhaps like that she
had passed through. The boy must
have been i've or six years old, else
he would have died being deserted.
The woman had, indeed, died, and the
dog with her, and left the lad alone.
Alone he had heefl: for score OF
years on that islants What @atchful
Providence? .a.;i. Stop! She be-
lieved in no Proyidence. What strange
mysterious fate kept him from the
fate of the other two. had preserved
him alone Z. for her?
So she woee a history out of her
treasure trove fol. sffis man, history
which at least satisfied her and which
the more she reasoned about it and
the more she tested it, seemed abso-
lutely adequate and entirely correct.
Well, she had opportunity now and
she was glad. She faced the future
calmly, recognizing her chance and
her work and set about with syste.
matte method, order and persistence
to teach this man what it was to be
human being. to give him, as rapidly
as she might communicate it and as
he might receive 1t, all the learning
she possessed, to compensate him with
no further delay for those 25 years of
silence.
Was it for this she had been trained
and educated at great cost of time
and money and effort? That she being
a woman should give it all to this
one man without money and without
price?