That prayer rolled back the cloud's dark face, and showed its silver lining. The load was gone from Robin's heart, and he could rest in peace.
Jonathan's master did not forget to thank his faithful servitor for all the trouble he had taken in discovering the theft. But the ring was still to be redeemed. Would Jonathan go to the pawn-shop and fetch it back?
To this, he willingly consented.
"It will be best for me to go," said he. "They are a rough lot down in that part of the town."
Accordingly, the following morning, he trudged off upon his errand, and slowly threaded his way with his trusty staff through long close streets, every turn of which he knew well.
At last he stood before a house, above whose doorway swung the familiar sign of the three gilt balls. Jonathan had to wait ten minutes before he could be attended to, as the shop was rather full, even at this early hour.
"What a history some of those things could tell!" thought he, as he stood and surveyed the various articles hanging one above another without reference to sort or kind. Those little petticoats and shoes! Where were the poor helpless children who once had worn them? Alas! Perhaps hungry and barefoot, because the huge public-house at the corner had tempted fathers and mothers to rob their little ones for the sake of that cursed drink. A small hungry-eyed girl, with a tattered pinafore and no frock, who held on by her mother's dirty gown, glanced up at the kindly old man, as if the smile she found on his good-natured face was something new in her experience.
At length there was a movement and shuffling of feet towards the door. Jonathan's turn to be served had come. Several of the rough customers eyed him askance as they passed out. His honest respectable face looked as if it had no business in such a place. A sullen-visaged woman scowled suspiciously when he made known his errand by presenting the ticket. Some low-muttered words passed between her and the rascally-looking man who held out his hand to receive the money. The pearl ring was in Jonathan's possession; and he clutched it nervously, lest by any mischance it should slip through his big fingers before he had restored it to its rightful owner.
Robin met Jonathan as he went to his work, and the old man noticed that the lad looked into his face with glad fearless eyes. The guilty shame was no longer there. Ah! How happy Robin felt as he ran along the road after that morning greeting! The birds' merry matin song made true music in his ear, for he was in tune with it now. The hardest work would be light to-day.
But it was some time before the shadow of that dark experience left the boy's heart. In his calm review of the past, each wrong step showed clear before him; he could see how pride had been his stumbling-block, because he had been "wise in his own eyes." How easy he had thought it was to be a Christian!