and the little bride, keeping one flower from
her wedding bouquet, placed the rest in the dead man's hands. She kissed
him softly on his forehead, whispering through her tears. "For the ones
at home who loved you," and stood watching as six men carried him away
to the tiny cemetery under the trees. on a hill.
Vesper services were over and the weary minister and his congregation
had gone before Duncan found courage to open and read his letter. His
elder brother, heir to the title and great houses and landed estates of
his family, had been killed in the hunting field and he, being next in
line, was to come home to succeed to the position.
He, William - Duncan - Claibourne - Earl of - but no, his family name
had never been told in California.
Portions of the services he had heard that day drifted through his mind:
"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he
shall not enter therein. * * * We do sign him with the sign of the cross
in token hereafter that he shall manfully fight against the sin, the
world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldier unto his
life's end.
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