Patience had begun to call him "poor Jeph," and thought he
must have been killed, but Stead had ascertained that the army had
not been disbanded, and believed him still to be employed.
At length, one market day, Mrs. Lightfoot told him, "There has been
one asking for you, Kenton, Seth Coleman, the loriner's son, that
went soldiering when your brother did. He landed last week from
Ireland with a wooden leg, and said he, 'Where shall I come to the
speech of one Steadfast Kenton? I have a greeting from his brother,
the peculiarly favoured,' or some such word, 'Jephthah Kenton, who
told me I should hear tidings of him from Mrs. Bakester Lightfoot, at
the sign of the "Wheatsheaf."' I told him where you abode, and he
said he knew as much from your brother, but he could not be tramping
out to Elmwood on a wooden leg. So says I 'I will send Steadfast
Kenton to you next market day.' You will find him at the sign at the
'Golden Bridle,' by the Wharf Stairs."
Stead had no sooner disposed of his wares than he went in search of
the loriner's shop, really one for horse furniture.
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