Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 12, 2025
"So, Faith, you have kept the heart?" said he, at length. "Yes," said she, blushing deeply; then, more gayly, "And what else have you brought me from beyond the sea?" "Faith," replied Ralph Cranfield, uttering the fated words by an uncontrollable impulse, "I have brought you nothing but a heavy heart. May I rest its weight on you?"
During this harangue, Cranfield gazed fixedly at the speaker, as if he beheld something mysterious and unearthly in his pompous little figure, and as if the Squire had worn the flowing robes of an ancient sage, instead of a square-skirted coat, flapped waistcoat, velvet breeches, and silk stockings.
"To Sir Francis Bacon, on the same subject." "To Leigh, Chief Justice, on his promotion." "To Cranfield, Lord Treasurer, on the same occasion." "Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile." Ps. xxxii. 2.
Cranfield, who presided over the Court of Wards, had quarrelled fiercely with the Chancery, where he said there was "neither Law, Equity, nor Conscience," and pressed the inquiry, partly, it may be, to screen his own Court, which was found fault with by the lawyers. Some scandalous abuses were brought to light in the Chancery.
"This token, which I have worn so long," said Faith, laying her tremulous finger on the Heart, "is the assurance that you may!" "Faith! Faith!" cried Cranfield, clasping her in his arms, "you have interpreted my wild and weary dream!" Yes, the wild dreamer was awake at last. To find the mysterious treasure, he was to till the earth around his mother's dwelling, and reap its products!
Retrenchment began at the King's kitchen and the tables of his servants; an effort was made, not unsuccessfully, to extend it wider, under the direction of Lionel Cranfield, a self-made man of business from the city; but with such a Court the task was an impossible one.
As Cranfield walked down the street of the village, the level sunbeams threw his shadow far before him; and he fancied that, as his shadow walked among distant objects, so had there been a presentiment stalking in advance of him throughout his life.
Nor was his wonder without sufficient cause; for the flourish of the Squire's staff, marvellous to relate, had described precisely the signal in the air which was to ratify the message of the prophetic Sage, whom Cranfield had sought around the world. "And what," inquired Ralph Cranfield, with a tremor in his voice, "what may this office be, which is to equal me with kings and potentates?"
As they approached along the pathway Ralph Cranfield sat in an oaken elbow-chair half unconsciously gazing at the three visitors and enveloping their homely figures in the misty romance that pervaded his mental world. "Here," thought he, smiling at the conceit "here come three elderly personages, and the first of the three is a venerable sage with a staff.
"No less than instructor of our village school," answered Squire Hawkwood; "the office being now vacant by the loath of the venerable Master Whitaker, after a fifty years' incumbency." "I will consider of your proposal," replied Ralph Cranfield, hurriedly, "and will make known my decision within three days." After a few more words, the village dignitary and his companions took their leave.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking