Rylands did not deem it prudent to tell her of his interview. The next
day she sent for the doctor, and it was deemed necessary for her to
keep her bed for a few days. Her husband was singularly attentive and
considerate during that time, and it was probable that Mrs. Rylands
seized that opportunity to tell him the secret she spoke of the night
before. Whatever it was,--for it was not generally known for a few
months later,--it seemed to draw them closer together, imparted a
protecting dignity to Joshua Rylands, which took the place of his
former selfish austerity, gave them a future to talk of confidentially,
hopefully, and sometimes foolishly, which took the place of their more
foolish past, and when the roll of calico came from the cross roads, it
contained also a quantity of fine linen, laces, small caps, and other
trifles, somewhat in contrast to the more homely materials ordered.
And when three months were past, the sitting-room was often lit up and
made cheerful, particularly on that supreme occasion when, with a great
deal of enthusiasm, all the women of the countryside flocked to see Mrs.
Rylands and her first baby. And a more considerate and devoted couple
than the father and mother they had never known.
THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE
In the early days of the Californian immigration, on the extremest point
of the sandy peninsula, where the bay of San Francisco debouches into
the Pacific, there stood a semaphore telegraph. Tossing its black arms
against the sky,--with its back to the Golden Gate and that vast expanse
of sea whose nearest shore was Japan,--it signified to another semaphore
further inland the "rigs" of incoming vessels, by certain uncouth signs,
which were again passed on to Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, where they
reappeared on a third semaphore, and read to the initiated "schooner,"
"brig" "ship," or "steamer." But all homesick San Francisco had learned
the last sign, and on certain days of the month every eye was turned to
welcome those gaunt arms widely extended at right angles, which meant
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