Year: 1868

lCONTlNUED.l


"On the day before the funeral, went
for the third and last time to finish my
work. AsI went through the Hall, the
study-door was pushed partly open, and a
little child peeped out. 1 caught sight OF
the darkened room, and the squire sit
ting by the fire with his head resting on
his hand, but he turned quickly, and
called the little lad, and the door was
shut to again. 1 can remember, as
though it were yesterday, the rosy little
face peering out at me, and the dull muf-
fled sound of my own tread as I went
up through the silent house to the room
where the body lay. 1t was a large
and lofty room; and all the furniture
now in it, the great carved bedstead, the
chairs, yes, and the windows too, were
hung with white, and folds of white mus
lin had been thrown over the tall mirrors
Everything was white except where the
coffin stood in the middle of the room
and even there some lilies and white
roses had been scattered There she
lay as had placed her the day before
the lady who used to come smiling into
our houses, and who had never met us
without a kindly word. Death had not
changed her, much, and her still face
looked as calm and peaceful as if she
had been sleeping. : The housekeepei
had come up, and stood watching while
l softly swept aside the flower blossoms
and set about my work. Presently, il
was needfil that / should move one O.
the hands which were crossed upon hel
breast, and as lifted it, I saw glitter
ing onaher little finger of the other HAND
a diamond ring. 1t had been hidden til
then, but / saw itsnow plainly enough
a splendid ring, with two sparkling dia
monds, and an emerald in the middle
looked up in wonder at the hopsekeper
and shenodded sadly. Yes; itwasa fancy
of my mistress's. The squire gave hel
I that ring the day they were married
and she has worn it ever since. She al
ways said she would have, it buried with
her when she died. ~ 1T was not on he1
hand yesterday,'I Observed No; the
squire brought it up last night, and put
it ON her finger his own SELF 1T is a
a beautiful ring;' and 1 bent down to
look at it more closely. Yes; it's worth
a small fortune, as I've often heard my
lady say. Mrs Winter made no reply.
But L must go now.iI Shall you belong
about it, Morris?n Not very long, and
i hastily took up one of my tools. r, i
will send Glare up to give you any helE
you may want,' she said, and went
away. Rd aiE7Q5A p 80 sfljc 5aJ % aig37'
%"But when she was gone,iii I stopped
down again for third long stare at that
ring Then / moved step or two
back, and stood playing idly with the
Hammer in my hand. 1t seemed to havs
bewitched me- l forgot everything til
Iheard step coming along the passage
and 1 had only just begun my work wher
Glare came in. 1t was done. The nails
were, screwed home, the sweet face wa.
hiddeniunder the coffin lid, and 1. was
walking fast across the park in the COO
evening twilight. 1 began to whistle a:
Istrode along. to wonder whether my
mother would have waited supper fo1
me-; but in the midst of my wonder, my
thoughts. wandered off to something
quite different, something didn't want
to think Of just then q so / looked up al
the green oaks, and tried to guess Al
their value but the next mo
ment came the recollection that the
noblest of. those big trees, with its huge
girthof trunk, and its wide-spreadins
branches, was worth nothing compared
to-well-to a certain bright stone
which seemed to be still sparkling be
fore my eyes. had been reared hon
estly, if ever lad had, and thief would
have been nigh as bad name to me as
murderer; but, yet, somehow, couldn'
for the life of me get that ring out of my
head. 1 thought of it being buried il
the ground, doing no one any good, ant
of what might do were it mine to sell
My mother shouldn't pinch and fret her
self any longer to make both ends meet
my father shouldn't sigh as he saw
the loads of wood going past our doc
to the carpenters at Hilbury and Mar
garet-Margaret and 1 would be as hap
py as the day was long, married and set
tied in the dear old house. But bah


What rubbish all this was, when tn,
ring would be in the squire's vault to
morrow night, and we were like to be OF
the parish before many months were
over our heads. When I had come tt
this, had come also to the stile leading
into the fir-wood. / would not give my
self time for any more such fancies; Sc
put my best foot formost, and soon was
clear of the wood, and tramping along
the raised path that led to my father.
door. aea Ilaz. f.
I 1.-The old people were very low thai
night, for they felt the mistress S loss al
the more for their own troubles. 'They
sayit was quite sudden, Phil, my father
said, as he cut the cheese and passed my
mug of beer. Mr.. Stark, the butler
was down in the village this afternoon
and he said she had only been ill fol-
three days, and no one thought of dan
ger till an hour or two before she died
The squire would have sent off then fol-
some grand doctor, but just as the groom
was starting, she died, all in a minute
as it were. She isn't much changed, is
she, Phill my mother asked. 1 didn't
half like talking about her, but l made
shift to answer pretty quietly: No, moi
bit. Except for her being so white
and still, you'd scarcely know she was
dead; but I'm just tired out, so L think
I'll be off to bed,' and 1 left them to-
gether and climbed up the steep staircase
to my attic.


p Il aoas tired enough, but I couldn't
sleep. Even when l did dose off a
few minutes, it was only into confused
dream, in which always saw that ring.
NowI was digging for it madly in a huge
heap of shavings; now was in church
with Margaret, and the parson would not
read the marriage-service for us till put
the ring on her finger; and now I was
buried nressed down in the stiff earth