a brooch upon her bosom. The material was the ordinary white quartz, and he recollected having himself shaped it out of one of those Indian arrowheads which are so often found in the ancient haunts of the red men. It was precisely on the pattern of that worn by the visionary maid. When Cranfield departed on his shadowy search, he had bestowed this brooch, in a gold setting, as a parting gift to Faith Egerton.
“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?”
“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; instead of warlike command or regal or religious sway, he was to rule over the village children; and now the visionary maid had faded from his fancy, and in her place he saw the playmate of his childhood.
Would all who cherish such wild wishes but look around them, they would oftenest find their sphere of duty, of prosperity and happiness, within those precincts and in that station where Providence itself has cast their lot. Happy they who read the riddle without a weary world-search or a lifetime spent in vain!
The Whole History of Grandfather’s Chair (1840)
Grandfather’s Chair: Part I. 1620-1692
Chapter I. Grandfather and the Children and the Chair
Chapter II. The Puritans and the Lady Arbella
Chapter V. The Government of New England
Chapter VI. The Pine-tree Shillings
Chapter VII. The Quakers and the Indians
Chapter VIII. The Indian Bible
Chapter IX. England and New England
Chapter X. The Sunken Treasure
Chapter XI. What the Chair Had Known
Appendix to Grandfather’s Chair: Part I
Grandfather’s Chair: Part II. 1692-1763
Chapter I. The Chair in the Firelight
Chapter III. The Old-fashioned School
Chapter V. The Rejected Blessing
Chapter VI. Pomps and Vanities
Chapter VII. The Provincial Muster
Chapter VIII. The Old French War and the Acadian Exiles
Chapter IX. The End of the War
Appendix to Grandfather’s Chair: Part II
Grandfather’s Chair: Part III. 1763-1803
Chapter III. The Hutchinson Mob
Chapter IV. The British Troops in Boston
Chapter V. The Boston Massacre
Chapter VI. A Collection of Portraits
Chapter VII. The Tea Party and Lexington
