Mexico Missouri message., 1910-07-21

philosopher, she concluded that the
man was rs, three years older than
she at that moment, proper differ
ence in their ages for Her
face famed. She scarcely knew why,
and she turned to an inspection of the
rings.
The first was diamond, 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 little coat Of 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 a
sheer as one Of those letters of con-
yention, a wedding ring. It was a
heavier hoop of gold much engraved
within. She washed 1t in the stream
and rubbed it in the sand until she
could make It out. az. r. c." she
read, ito M. P. t." There was a date
after, September 10, 1869, and then
these cabalistic words, I'll. Cor. 2:15,"
which she presently OWNED to be a
reference to some text in the Bible,
At source from which to select the
'posy of a 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: 81 will
very gladly spend and be spent for
you; though the more abundantly /
love you, the less 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 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
~ the thought Of certain strange stor-
les she had read wherein men Of mar.
velous deductiye powers had brought
to solution problems which appeared
as impossible Of detection as this pre-.
sented 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. 1859, Perhaps within a
year afterward this John Revell Char.
mock, assuming him, as was likely, IA
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 Virginian, therefore. Say
he was born in 1871, 1t would make
him rs yea1D old, in accordance with
her first guess. The father and
mother, possibly ruined by the results
Of the civil war, mad embarked on
some vessel to seek 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 mus
have been i've or six years old, else
no would have died being deserted
Ths woman had. indeed. died. aud the