The Romance of Jedediah Jedediah was not a name that savoured of romance . His last name was Crane , which is little better . And it would be no use to call this story `` Mattie Adams 's Romance '' because Mattie Adams is not a romantic name either . But names have really nothing to do with romance . The most exciting and tragic affair I ever knew was between a man named Silas Putdammer and a woman named Kezia Cullen -- which has nothing to do with the present story . Jedediah , to all outward seeming , did not appear to be any more romantic than his name . He looked distinctly commonplace as he rode comfortably along the winding country road that was dreaming in the haze and sunshine of a midsummer afternoon . He was perched on the seat of a bright red pedlar 's wagon , above and behind a dusty , ambling , red pony of that peculiar gait and appearance pertaining to the ponies of country pedlars -- a certain placid , unhasting leanness , as of a nag that has encountered troubles of his own and has lived them down by sheer patience and staying power . From the bright red wagon proceeded a certain metallic rumbling and clinking as it bowled along , and two or three nests of tin pans on its flat rope-encircled top flashed back the light so dazzlingly that Jedediah seemed the beaming sun of a little planetary system all his own . A new broom sticking up aggressively at each of the four corners gave the wagon a resemblance to a triumphal chariot . Jedediah himself had not been in the tin-peddling business long enough to acquire the apologetic , out-at-elbows appearance which distinguishes a tin pedlar from other kinds of pedlars . In fact , this was his maiden venture in this line ; hence he still looked plump and self-respecting . He had a round red face under his plug hat , twinkling blue eyes , and a little pursed-up mouth , the shape of which was partly due to nature and partly to much whistling . Jedediah 's pudgy body was clothed in a suit of large , light checks , and he wore a bright pink necktie and an amethyst pin . Will I still be believed when I assert that , in spite of all this , Jedediah was full of , and bubbling over with , romance ? Romance cares not for appearances and apparently delights in contradictions . The homely shambling man you pass unnoticed on the street may have , tucked away in his past , a story more exciting and thrilling than anything you have ever read in fiction . So it was , in a measure , with Jedediah ; poor , unknown to fame , afflicted with a double chin and bald spot , reduced to driving a tin-wagon for a living , he yet had his romance and he was still romantic . As Jedediah rode through Amberley he looked about him with interest . He knew it well , although it was fifteen years since he had seen it .
He had been born and brought up in Amberley ; he had left it XXXXX the age of twenty-five to make his fortune .
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