He was to roam around the world till he should meet a beautiful woman , wearing on her bosom a jewel in the shape of a heart ; whether of pearl , or ruby , or emerald , or carbuncle , or a changeful opal , or perhaps a priceless diamond , Ralph Cranfield little cared , so long as it were a heart of one peculiar shape . On encountering this lovely stranger , he was bound to address her thus : `` Maiden , I have brought you a heavy heart . May I rest its weight on you ? '' And if she were his fated bride , -- if their kindred souls were destined to form a union here below , which all eternity should only bind more closely , -- she would reply , with her finger on the heart-shaped jewel , `` This token , which I have worn so long , is the assurance that you may ! '' And , secondly , Ralph Cranfield had a firm belief that there was a mighty treasure hidden somewhere in the earth , of which the burial-place would be revealed to none but him . When his feet should press upon the mysterious spot , there would be a hand before him , pointing downward , -- whether carved of marble , or hewn in gigantic dimensions on the side of a rocky precipice , or perchance a hand of flame in empty air , he could not tell ; but , at least , he would discern a hand , the forefinger pointing downward , and beneath it the Latin word EFFODE , -- Dig ! And digging thereabouts , the gold in coin or ingots , the precious stones , or of whatever else the treasure might consist , would be certain to reward his toil . The third and last of the miraculous events in the life of this high-destined man was to be the attainment of extensive influence and sway over his fellow-creatures . Whether he were to be a king , and founder of an hereditary throne , or the victorious leader of a people contending for their freedom , or the apostle of a purified and regenerated faith , was left for futurity to show . As messengers of the sign , by which Ralph Cranfield might recognize the summons , three venerable men were to claim audience of him . The chief among them , a dignified and majestic person , arrayed , it may be supposed , in the flowing garments of an ancient sage , would be the bearer of a wand , or prophet 's rod . With this wand , or rod , or staff , the venerable sage would trace a certain figure in the air , and then proceed to make known his heaven-instructed message ; which , if obeyed , must lead to glorious results . With this proud fate before him , in the flush of his imaginative youth , Ralph Cranfield had set forth to seek the maid , the treasure , and the venerable sage , with his gift of extended empire . And had he found them ? Alas ! it was not with the aspect of a triumphant man , who had achieved a nobler destiny than all his fellows , but rather with the gloom of one struggling against peculiar and continual adversity , that he now passed homeward to his mother 's cottage . He had come back , but only for a time , to lay aside the pilgrim 's staff , trusting that his weary manhood would regain somewhat of the elasticity of youth , in the spot where his threefold fate had been foreshown him . There had been few changes in the village ; for it was not one of those thriving places where a year 's prosperity makes more than the havoc of a century 's decay ; but like a gray hair in a young man 's head , an antiquated little town , full of old maids , and aged elms , and moss-grown dwellings . Few seemed to be the changes here . The drooping elms , indeed , had a more majestic spread ; the weather-blackened houses were adorned with a denser thatch of verdant moss ; and doubtless there were a few more gravestones in the burial-ground , inscribed with names that had once been familiar in the village street .
Yet , summing up all the mischief that ten years had wrought , it seemed scarcely more than if Ralph XXXXX had gone forth that very morning , and dreamed a daydream till the twilight , and then turned back again .
Cranfield EFFODE burial-place carbuncle futurity opal ruby thatch third year