Page 176 - Fairbrass

tribute of love sent by his earliest friends,
the now sorrowful sister Poplars.

* * *

It was not very late in the evening* of
that -short day before a pale moon lit up the

sombre darkness of the old church and the
clustering gravestones, and shone upon the

figure of a young man who was reverently
placing a simple little cross of flowers over

the spot where Fairbrass lay. It was his old
friend, his sister’s lover. Poor fellow !

This was to be his last night in the country
he loved so wdl, and where his hopes had

at one time run so higdi. Determined to
seek new fortune in a far-off land, he even

now carried with him the passport that would
cause him on the morrow to travel far from

all his old associations—from everything that

had wound itself round his heart. He had
purposely kept away from the funeral that
morning ; but he had tenderly loved Fair­

brass, and could not leave without giving