HomeMy WebLinkAboutLucknow Sentinel, 1891-10-02, Page 6P
4
lying sea of heads below "X h,�etvo b. een
' bion ht u to other aaoompliishments a ,}
1 l 1r^ is . .i b
,! ■. i4/, ` � ;d�inaic, : ne murmured ; and--wns.-
" And scrubbingandeweeping,. and wash-
ing and ironing, and churnm and bread-
4` ]3ut--oh, Barely he would never have making, and cleaning dirty Pots and
home. back to take the property of a mar- kettles," said Patty, with eborate dip-
,, p
c�ered `brother ; exclaimed Elizabeth, in. ttinctness,..
•
a;shocked voxes. •
1 " 1104 -ha I" . chuckled' . Mr,., Snit h.:. e" I
". $in brother was not murdered," Mr. should like to see you' cleaning pots and
uo thought kettles t Cinderella after -12 o'eloek, eh ?"
Yelverton replied. Many people t1g . t! e ... .
so, of enurse people have a way of think- 4 " Yes," said she r " you have "expressed
t�; egactly,--After .12 .o'rl�or.k-w,hat.larlie._.its.
it now ?-after 12 o'clock, er it may be a
little later, I shall be Cinderella again. I
afraid. 'net my uncle's family never sus- shall take off my glass seers and go back
^ pected him of such a crime. The thing was to my kitchen." And she had an impulse.
not legally proved, one way or the other. t to rise and run round the gallery to• beg
Elizabeth to get permission tor their return.
to their own lodgings after the Dell ; only
Elizabeth seemed to;be enjoyin ,,her tete-a-
te fe eo much that she had not the heart to
Y
"dYst'tixrii lsel•�,`. 3.�luofrslh, '�iniiae'c1�==ifj;4��t �,-k= '
• -...
;.ng til"8`tvof�&t'iri icTrese*cases;�at-fremmalice,
• but because it is more interesting -and a
--- -;• tradition to that effect sundaes
There were strong indications in the position
' of the gun which lay by his; side, and in the
general appearance of the spot where he
eeeef, a � tx
elver
� r X
a n h �!� •p ck
4: }
ton, accidentally shot 1i1Ii lee f ; `twist was
the opinion of the. coroner's :jury and the
, eonviction of the family. But poor.Kings-
• cote evidently assumed that he would be ac-
• cured -of Murder. Perhaps -it is 'very pos-
sible -some. rough -tempered action of his
might havecaused the catastrophe, and his.
remorse has had the same effect as fear
.
____p TOmntanQ him to efface himself,
yway, no ogle vi'fCo��rtgieaic
thin".capable of doing his,brother a lnisehief -
`` His innocence- a was, indeed, -
proved
proved by the fact that he married thelady
who had been at the bottom of the trouble
-by nq fault of hers, poor soul !--after. he
escaped to London ; and, wherever he went
to: he took her. with him. She disappeared
a few'days after he did, • and was lost as
completely, from that time. The record
and circumstances of.., their marriage were
discovered ; and that was alL Ile would
a not have 'married her -she woald not
• have married him=had he been a mur-
derer." •
" Do you think not ?" said Elizabeth.
" That is always assumed as a matter of
•course, in books -that murder and -and
• other disgraces are irrevocable barriers be-
' £ween'Those-wbo rove eacn other, -when-they-
tliseover them. . But I do not understand
why. ` With such. an awful misery to bear,
they. would want ail r that their love could
give thorn so much morenot less:"'
CHAPTER XXV.
OCT IN THE'�COLD.
I'r
Paul Brion, meanwhile, plodded on in his
old groove, which no longer fitted • him as
it/used to do, and vexed the soul of his be-
nevolent landlady with the unprecedented
shortness of his tennper, . Bhe_tlidiet_ know
how to take him, she said, ;he was that can-
tankerous and "contrary ;" but she tri-
umphantly recognized the result that she
had all along expected would follow a long
course of turning night into day, and there-
.; fore was not surprised at the change in
'm" Your brain is overwrought " she
aid; soothingly, when one day' a com-
'• punctuous spirit moved him to apologize for
tile moroseness ; " your nervous system is
unstrung. You've been going on too long,
and you want a spell. • You just take a
holiday straight off, -and go right away, and
don't look at an ink -bottle for a month. It
will save you a . bra*fever, mark my
t Words." But Paul was' .consistent in. his
`perversity, and refused::to take good
advice.
The next day he want to the Exhibition
.again, and again he saw' Patty, with no
Smith, who stared et her in a puzzled and
embarrassed way. " You don't seem to
believe me," she said, with a defiant smile.
" Did you think I was a fine lady, litre all
these other people ?"
" I have always thought you the most
lovely -the most chareaing "
n cuss. Ise
e you don't understand
N
o s
Whereupon Patty proceeded to sketch
herself .and_ her . demotic circumstances in
what, had it been another person, would
have been a simply brutal manner. She
made herself out ter be a Cinderella indeed,
in her life and habits, a parasite, a a eyeo-
'phant, a jay in borrowed plumage=every,
thing that was sordid and " low," and
calculated to shock the sensibilities of a
" new rich " man ; making her- statement'
with calci energy and in the most terse
and expresaive terms. It was her,, penance,
and it• did, her good, It made"'her feel
that she 'was genuine in her worthiness,
vhich.. was the great' thing just;now ; and
it made 'her feel, also, than she was set
back in her proper place at Paul Brion's
side --or, rather, at his feet. It also
comforted -her, for-some-r-reason,-to.-beable,
as a matter of duty, to disgust Mr. Smith.,
But Mr. Smith,"though he was a new
rich" man,, and' not given to tele :people who
did not know it what he had been before he
got his money, was still a man, and a
shrewd man too. • And he was not at all
disggusted. Very far, indeed, from it. Thin
adnirable honesty, so rare in a young per-
son of her sex and charms -this touching
confidence in him as a lover and a gentle-
man -a -put the crowning grace to Patty's
attractions and made her'irresistible.
Which was not what she meant to do at all.
CHAPTER XXVII.
things are not always what they seem, and, shoulder, and there let herself loose from
as a matter of fact, the life historiea of a all restraint. " You know what is the
tie ..,o..,;r , just such i matter,"ehe sobbed ; "yon know as well
.,,rase ra ,..,,.,y at as are made up of 1 u
unheroic paasages.
OBAPTER NLXVAL
WRITE ).tE.as ONE wn0 LOVES- IBIS FELLOW
tIEN."
Presently- Mrs.. Duff-Scott,..euitably. en-
throned, and with her younger girls already
rried off by her husband. frown, her side,.
saw Mr. Yelverton approaching hers and
as I dwhat is the matter -that It is Paul
Brion who worries, me so and makes me so
utterly wretched."
" Paul Brion 1 He worry you, Patty -
he make you wretched ?"'
You have always beep delicate,and con-
eiderate, Elizabeth you • =have 'never- said
anything, -but I know you know all about
everythingis because ofhim.
and horror. a "In the' middle of the exhibi-
tipn--and a parliamentary crisis coining oa
-it would be quite im ssible 1
" I don't know -l_ don't know. I fancy
`impossible' is not a word you will find in
his dictionary," said the old gentleman en-
couragingly. "When he hears of our little
arrangements he'll want toy take a hand, as
b
e left
the Yankees say. He won't like to
saute--ne,, no,"
The polite old man looked as if-'he'were
e d it and how spoded I am, and how spoiled
scarcely .equal.. to. the weight of the honor
y 1 roach h ,
eoced at the • prospect of -securing lila hie I hate to and pleasure they conferred upon hili.' He
r cie a i n -tat of it -1 cant bear even ou.-to•.see _.that<..was_excessively ;happ-,y.p As the hours and
society for herself ani 'having the tedium of it -I ' -' y
the chaperon's inactivity relieved by sever I am fretting about him --but I can't help
I duvet 1 ods s went n,courtesyhisine sea more and -Hie-
]
-h so ou ate here ,'3 it 1 and .I know von understand. 1
into a famfiiar and paternal devotion than ..
-took ail kinds of iuue ride shapce - wed 1.e
felt more and more at a loss to ex ess ade-
quately the tender solicitude and refound
satisfaction inspired in his good old heart
by the sojourn of such charming guests d
a
became
his gates.To Patty he
t 2
I�i.J� n•., S Si
ik'� 4� r.... r
�y gg�� ��i., �cy��'}.6�.r.:' +C.N.u1.....,� .fi � aJ`.,�og I yn ,c
G��G�i,rlY�'� �i�,+W����-=4k1z- 7...':W4)L %L.�V. aa�.:w_..!'8':1`Z`Y..:i�C::'
wondered at, seeing how susceptible he was
and how lavishly she exercised her fascina-
tions upon him. She walked to his office
with him in the morning ; she walked to
meet him ,when he came hastening back in
the afternoon ; she read the newspaper
(containing Paul's peerless articles) to him
in the evening, and mixed his modest glees
short, she made him .understand what it
was to have a charming and devoted daugh-
ter, though she had no design in doing se-
mi
e-no motive but to gratify her affection for
Paul in the only way open to her. So the
old gentleman was very happy -and so were
ble conversation.
spy apclaiwed esti.
were things quite out
" So they are," he
with her and Elizabeth impartially, without
a glance at the latter, " But I consider • it
a duty to investigate the customs of the
11
u, "a tboaght bull have hndl jest one good cry." she concluded,
your line.' with a fresh and violent burst of., tears,
said, shaking handsperhaps I shall get on better."
Elizabeth stared at the wall over her sis-
ter's head in dumb amazement, evidently
not
desery
in th
e credit
it for perspicacity
Yt isL-cr <A �d.tnrr. ooumen,"hesaid
ate about it." slowlyy, do you really inean-
" H=m-that's not saying much. You " No,",said• Patty,, ``• ho will never think
don't. mean to tell me, '1, see's, Talking • of I was sa disgusting as tp think that ' of him,
the country' -look at Elizabeth's bouquet. But it is as bad as if he did. That at•least
Did you think we could.raise lilies of the 'was a great, outrageous, downright .wrong,
valley like those ?" ' - worth fighting about, and not the pitiful
He bent his head slightly to smell them. shabby thing that it appears to him.
" I heard that they, did grow hereabouts," • CHAPTER. XXX.
l L• Ti,:
SLIGHTED. .
for a moment over the fragrant flowers tiat
she held between them, while Mrs. Duff-
Scbtt detailed the negligent circumstances
.of their presentation, which left it a matter
of doubt ;where they came from and for
whom they were intended.
"I want to find Mr. Smith," said she;.
{L T fancy Le ears -ve ,s ;.,forme niton ,,
" I don't think so," said Mr. Yelverton ;
"he was showing me a lily of the valley in
his button -hole just novo as a great rarity in
these parts."
Then it flashed across Mrs. Duff -Scott
that Paul Brion night have been the donor,
and she said no more.
" Let us go and practise," he said, and
straightway they passed down the room,
threading a crowd once' more, and went
Some hours earlier on the same evening,
Eleanor, dressing for dinner and the ball
Scotts -house, felt that
she, at Mrs. Duff
in her spacious bedroom
' at she, at any -rate; was
arming .herself for, conquest, .
Elizabeth came in to lace up her bodice -
Elizabeth, whose own soft eyes were shin-
ing, and who walked across the floor with
an elastic step, trailing her long robes be-
hind her ; and. Eleanor vented upon. her
some ,of the'fancies which we:n', iieethffig in
hersmall head. " Don't we look like
brides ?" she said, nodding at their reflec-
tions in the glass,.
" Or bridesmaids," said Elizabeth.
happier result than before. She was stand- "Brides wear silks and satins mostly, I
___ jag amongst the carriages with Mr. Smith-,Ibbelieve!
,
popularly believed to have been for yea'The evening passed on. MrsePuff Scott
• on the look -out fqr a pretty, young second settled herself in the particular one of'• the
,,e wife -whoa was , pointing ,`out , .to ; her I series of boudoirs under the gallery that
the ;charms .of a seductive little' 'lady's ; struck her as having a commanding pros -
phaeton, painted lake and lined with claret; I pest._- The Governor came, the band played,
' with a little "dickey" for a groom beh;nd ; J the guests danced, and, promenaded, and
no doubt tempting her, with ' the i danced, again ; and Mr. Westmoreland was
idea of driving such v _ a one of ' nowhere:<, to be seen. ,Eleanor was beset
her own some day. This was 1,with'otliet partners, anthought it well to
even molts bitter to Paul than the former 1 punish him by letting them forestall him as
., encounter. He cbuid bear with Mr:. West= 1 they would ; and, provisionally, she captiv-
moreland,• whose youth entitled him to place ! ated a couple of naval officers by her profl-
himself somewhat on an equality with her, ! cieney in foreign languages, and made•'vari-
• ' and whom; moreover, his . rival (as he ' ons • men happy by her graceful and gay
thought himself) secretly regarded as. be -I demeanor. , By -and -bye, however,, she came
• •heath contempt , but this grey -bearded tacrosr her recreant admirer -as she . was
widower, whose defunct wife might alanost bound toy do some time. • He was leaning
have been her -,grandmothers Paul felt he against caviller, his dull eyes roving over
could not bear,,in any sort; of conjunctionthecrowd before him, evidently lookigg for
with his ,maiden queen, : who, though in ;.'some one. She thought he was looking, for
Ch' dire,.diagraee,, was his fiueen always. hes '
CHAPTER .XXVI.'Well? she said, archly, pausing before
' him, on'the arm if an: Exhibition Commis -
WHAT PAIIL COULD .NOT KNOW. sloven, with whom she was about to plungge
' It was a pit)that Paul Brion, tooking at into the intricacies -6f .the dancers. MI r.
sta.
Patty's charming figure in the gaslight, Westmoreland looked at her with a rt
could not have looked • into her heart. and in momentary confusion.
'Nor was he the only one who misread her... �` Oh-er," he stammered hurriedly,
superficial as ect that night. Mrs. Duff f '`•here you .are ! Where have, ,you been
ort, the most isceruing ofwomen hiding yourself all the evenmi 1'" Then
es saved
upstairs to the gallery, which was ' a Elizabeth looked ether sueattox, who had
primeval forest in its solitude at this corn
paratively early hour, " There is no treason , again risen'and was walking about the room.
„ The girl's eyes were full of solemn thought.
,ti,.,-. .,,.>rT. t.•,ay:...„
" My dear," ' she said, in desperation,
" whatever you do, you must not begin' to
ask questions of that sort. We can never
find out the answers, and it leads to endless
trouble. God's ways are not as our ways -
we are not in the secrets of His providence.
It is for us to trust Him to know what is, they. „ , _^ �•!^. i .. o few
you
best.If you admit one doubt, Elizabeth, •' Lets see,- he paid one . a ng, - f .-
you will see that everything will go. Thou- days after their arrival ; "�uppose you
sands are finding out that now -a -days, to have been to the caves too o en to care to
their bitter cost. Indeed, I don't know
what we are coining to -the `general over-
throw,' I suppose. I hope I, at any rate,
shall not live to see it. What would -life be
worth to us -any of us, even the best off -
if we lost our. faith in God and our hope of
immortality ? Just try to imagine it for a
moment."
why you should dance if you don't like it,
he remarked ,- " we can sit here and look
on." Then, when she was comfortably
settled in her cushions under the fern trees,
he leaned forward and touched her bouquet
with a gesture that was significant of the
unacknowledged but well -understood inti-
macy between them. " I am so glad I was
able to get them for you," he said ; " I patty," she said, when her sister,
wanted you to know what they were really'
like=when you told`rne' how much you war 1y_ w_elcoming_her return, exclaimed at
mother had loved them." ,. her pale face and weary air, end -made her.
" I. can't thank you," she replied. take the sofa that Eleanor had vacated,
" Da not," 'he said. " It is for me to "Patty, let us go away for afewweeks,shall
thank you for accepting them. I wish we ? I want a breath of fresh air, and to be
you could see' them in ,my garden at • m peace and quiet for a little, to think
Yelverton. There is a-(dafk corner • be-
tween two gables of the house where they " So do I," said Patty. • " So does
-make a perfect carpet in April." Nelly.• Let us write to Sam Dann to find
_ uslod in s"
She lifted those she held to her face, and g g 'CHAPTER XXXI.
sniffed luxuriously- • •
" Not much," she replied, gravely. " But
I was never afraid of losing faith in God."
When it was all - over, Elizabeth put on
her hat and walked back through the pat-
tering rain to Myrtle street, heavy-hearted
and heavy-footed, as if a weight of . twenty
yeara,had been laid on her since the morn -
S h t d me had ting yo ,
• a fixed belief that her girls, all of them, after apantie, Got , any dans
r thoroughly enjoyed their first ball for me ? x
orou en o e sir .
Butshe was wrong. She was mistaken " Saved, indeed !" she retorted, "What
about them all -and most of_ alla-abooran
Patty. •
And . after she found out that she
wanted Paul Brion, who was not there,
her gaity became an excited restlessness,
and her enjoyment of the pretty scene
around her changed to passionate^ discon-
tent. Why was he not there ? She curled
her lip in indignant scorn. Because he was
poor, and a worker for his bread, and there-
fore was not accounted the equal of Mr.
Westmoreland and Mr. Smith She was
too young and ardent toi take into
account the multitudes of other rea-
sons which entirely ,removed it from the
sphere of - social grievances ; like many
another woman, she Gould see only one side
of a subject at a time, and looked at that
through a telescope. It seemed to her a
deapicably'vulgar thing, and ai} indication,
of the atter rottenness of the whole fabric
of society, that a high-born man of ' distin-
guished attainments should by common con-
sent be neglected and despised (simply be-
cause he web not rich. That was how she
looked at it. And if Paul Brion had not
been thought• good enough for a select
assembly, why had she been invited ? , r
She had been dancing for some time
before the intercourse with Mr. Smith, that
so gratified Mrs. Duff -Scott, set in. The
portly widower found her fanning herself on
a sofa in the neighborhood of her chaperon,
for the moment unattended by cavaliers ;
and, approaching her with one of the fre-
eventlittle plates and spoons that were
handed about, invited her favor through the
medium of three colossal strawberries, veiled
in sugar and cream.
,r,.,“.4.14 so you clon'b care about dancing,"
�a -,P, "gun, with these
`hide fairy feet ! I wonder whythat is ? "
Tie
I am not used o it," acid
ot'net' and �loolcin -- sue lodge
g d° at the
CHAPTER XXIX. IN RETREAT.
PATTY .CONFESSES. " Is it possible • that we have only been
A little group of their male' attendants away for nine months?". murmured Eliza -
stood in the lobby, while Mrs. Duff Scott beth, as the little steamer worked its way
and -the. girls put on their wraps in the up to the well -remembered •jetty, and she
cloak -room: When the ladies reappeared, looked once more on surf and headland,
they fell into the order in which Paul, un- island rock and scattered township, lying
seen in the shadows of the street, saw them under the desolate moorlands along the
descend the steps to the pavement. shore. `, Doesn't it seem at least nine
"•'May I come and see you to -morrow years?"
Morning ?" asked• Mr.•. Yelverton of Eliza- " Or ninety;" replied Patty. " I feel
beth, whom he especially escorted. • ' like a new generation. How exactly the
" Not -not to -morrow," , she replied. same everything is. ! Here they have all
` We shall be at Myrtle street, and we been going on as they always did. There is
never receive any visitors there." • Mrs. Dunn, dear old woman !-in the
" At Myrtle street 1" exclaimed • the identical gown that she had on the day we
major, . who also walked' beside her. went away."
Surely you are not ;going to run off to Reaching ' the crest of the • bluff,
Myrtle street to -morrow ?" and descending into the broken basin
" Weare going there now,": said she, "if -nor saucer, rather -in Which Seaview Villa
we can get in. Mrs. Duff -Scott knows." nestled, they uttered simultaneously an in -
But a full hour after their separation for dignant moan at the spectacle of Mrs.
the night, each.one was aswide awake as Hawkins' devastations. There was the
she had been all 'day. Elizabeth was kneel- bright paint, and 'the whitewash, and the
ing on the floor by herbedside, still half- iron roof, and' the fantastic trellis ; and
dressed -she had not changed her attitude there was not the ivy that had mantled the
for a long time, though the undulations of
her body showed how far from passive rest
she was -when Patty, clothed only in her
night-gown, crept in, making no noise with
her bare feet.
" Elizabeth," she wispered, 'laying her
hand oil her sister's shoulder,: " are you
asleep ?-or are you saying your. prayers ?"
Elizabeth, startled, lifted up her head and
disclosed to Patty's gaze°in the candle -light
a pale, and strained,' and' careworn face. " I
was saying my prayers," she replied, with a
dazed look. " Why are you out of bed, my
darling ? What is the matter ?"
" That is what I want to know," said
Patty, sitting down on the bed. " What is
the matter with tis all ? What has come to
us ? Nelly has been crying ever since I put
the light ou£=efie thougliti I coislehet-henr-
her, but she was mistaken -sobbing and
sniffing under the bedclothes, and blowing
her nose in that elaborately cautious way-"
Oh, poor, dear child 1" interrupted the
maternal elder sister, making a start
towards the door. • •
" No, don't go to her," said, Patty, put-
ting out her hand ; "leave her alone -she
is quiet now. Besides, you couldn't do her
any good; Do you know what she is fret-
ting about ? Because Mr. Westmoreland
has been neglecting her. Would you believe
it ? She is caring about it, after all -and
ext- -Wh don_', take tlieet-onble to
_ en -yon
come and ask for them !" -
" I am so engaged to -night", Miss
Eleanor—" , -
" I see you are. Never mind -I can get
on without you."She walked on -a. step,
and turned back. " Did you send' me a
pretty bouquet just now ?" she whispered,
touching his arm. " I think you did, and
it was so good of you, but there was some
mistake about it—" She checked • her-
self, seeing. a blank look fn his face, and
blushed violently. " Oh, it was not you 1"
she exclaimed, in a shocked voice, wishingi,
the ball -room floor would open and swallow
her up.we thought it was only fun. , She doesn't
" eally," he said, " I -I was very re- care about him, she couldn't 'do that---"
miss-I'mawfully' sorry." And he gave " We can't tell," interrupted Elizabeth.
her to understand, to her profound con- " It is not for us to say. Perhaps she does,
demotion, that he had filly intended to poor child !" •
,send her a bouquet, -but had forgotten it in "bh; else couldn't," Patty scornfully in -
the rush of his many important engage- sisted. "'.Chat is quite impossible. No,
men's. • . p ' she has ,'got fond of this life that we are
She passed on to her lancers with a wan living now with Mrs. Duff -Scott -I have
smile, and presently, saw hint, under those seen it, how it has laid hold of her -and she
seductive fern trees upstairs, with the person would like to marry him so that she could
whom he had been looking for when she have it always. That is what she has come
accosted hitna 1"There's Westmoreland and to. Oh, Elizabeth, don't you wish we had
his old flame;" remarked her then partner, a gone to Europpe at the very first, and never
club-frequentin youth who knew all about come tci Melbourneget all-!" Here Patty
everybody. "e calls her the handsomest, herself broke down, and uttered a little
woman out -because she's got a lot of money, shaking, hysterical sob. " Everything
I suppose. All the Westmorelands are wor- seems to be going wrong with us here ! It
shippers of the,golden calf, father and son- does not look so, I knowbut at the bottom Why regular set of screws the old fellows were, ' of my heart I feel it. did we turn
and he's got the family eye to the main aside to waste and spoil ourselves like this,
chance. frust him ! I can't see anything instead of going on to the life that we had
in her ; can you ? She's as round as a tub, laid out -a real life, that we should never
and as swarthy as a gipsy. I like women " have had to be ashamed of i"
looking at his partner-" to be tall, and " Patty. dearest, there must be something
slender, and fair. That my stvyle."
the spatter with you," her motherly elder
This was how poor Eleanore pdeasuro•in sister cried, much distressed by this ahem--;
go again ?"
" No," said Elizabeth ; "we have never
been to the caves at all." -
" What -living within half -a -dozen miles
of them all your lives ! Well, I believe
there are many more like you. . If they had.
been fifty miles away, you would have gone
about once a twelvemonth.
",Mr._&ism ,_we were never in the
habit of going eight seeing. My father-- -
seldom left the house, and my mother only
when necessary ; and we had no one else to
take us."
" Then I'll take • you, and we will go to-
morrow. Mrs. Harris shall pack us a basket
for lunch, and we'll make a day of it. Dear,
dear, what a pity Paul - couldn't be here, to
go with us !"
The next morning, which was brilliantly
fine, brought the girls an anxiously -expected
letter from Mrs. Duff -Scot Sam Dunn,
dam for the•
along with a
silo was an occasional e
solitary house, delivered it
present of fresh fish, while Mr.
Brion was absent in 'the township,
negotiating for a buggy and hoses
for his expedition. The fairy godmother
had given but a grudging permission fel-this
villeggiatura of theirs, and they were- all
relieved to have her assurance that she was
not - seriously vexed with them. Her
envelope was inscribed to " Miss King," but
the long letter enclosed was addressed to
her " dearest children " collectively,
tenderly inquiring how they were getting
on and when they were coming back
pathetically describing her own solitude -so
unlike what it was before she knew the
comfort of their companionship -and detail-
ing various items of society news. Folded
in this, however, was the traditional lady's
postscript, scribbled- on a small half -sheet
and marked " private," which Elizabeth
took away to read by herself. She
wondered, with a little alarm, what serious
matter it was that required a confidential
postscript, and this was what she read :
t` I have been thinking over our talk- the
other day, dear.. Perhaps I spoke too
strongly. One is apt to make arbitrary
generalizations on the spur of the moment,
and to forget how, circumstances may alter
cases. There is another side to the question _.
(that should not be overlooked. The
believing wife or husband may be the
salvation of the other, and when the other
is honest and -earnest, though mistaken,
J there is the strongest .hope of this. It re -
eaves and the chimney stacks, nor the quires thinking of on all sides, my darling,
creepers that had fought so hard for exist and I fear I spoke without thinking enough.
ence, nor the squat veranda posts which I Consult your own heart -I am sure it will
they had bountifully embraced -nor any of • 'advise you well.
the features that had made old house dis- Elizabeth folded up the note, and put it
tinct and characteristic. into her pocket. Then -for she was alone
" Never mind," 'said Patty, who was the in her own little bed-room-she,sat down to
first to recover herself. " It looks very ! think of it ; to wonder what had reminded
smart and tidy. i daresay it wanted doing Mrs..Duff-Scott of their conversation the
up badly. After all, I'd sootier see it look • "other day," -what had induced her to
as unlike home as possible, now that it isn't temporize with the convictions 'which then
home." ' appeared se sincere and absolute. • But. she
MPS. Harris came out, and warmly wel- could make nothing of it. It was a • riddle
corned them in Mr. Brian's name. I without the key.
Patty got a dog's -eared novel of Mayne 1 Then she heard the sound of buggy
Reids from the book -case inher bedroom,and wheels, hurried steps on the veranda, and
turned over the pages Without reading them the voice of Mr. Brien calling her.
to look at the pencil marks - and thumb "My dear," said the old man when she
stains -rand -Eleanor dozed -and -fanned -here - went -out -to -him --speaking-in--some_hastev
self ; and Elizabeth sewed and thought. and agitation, " I have just metat the hotel
And then their host came home, riding up a friend of yours from Melbourne-aMr.
from the township on a fast and panting ,Yelverton. He came by the coach last
steed, quite • thrown off his balance by night. He says Mrs. Duff -Scott sent him
eniption. He was abject in his apologies up to see how you are getting on, and to
for having been deterred by cruel fate and 'report to her. He is going away again- to -
business from meeting them at the steamer morrow, and I did not like to put' ff our
and conductingthem in person to his house, trip, so I have asked him to join us. - 1 hope
and superfluous in expressionsof delight I have not done wrong "-looking anxiously
at the honor they had conferred on him. into her rapidly changing face-" I hope
"And how did you leave my boy ? " he you won't think that I have taken a liberty,
asked presently, when due inquiries after my dear."
their own health and welfare had been sates- . (To be Continued. -
fled. He spoke as if they and Paul had all 1
been living under one roof. "And when' is i
hecbming to See his old"father again?" 1 77ie Household Prize.
Patty, who was sitting beside her host- 13.5 Adelaide St. W. Toronto, Ont.e,
"in his pocket," Nelly declared -and was "Your reliable preparation, St. Jacobs Oil,
simply servile in her affectionate demonstra- has proved a benefit to me in more ways•
tions, undertook to describe Paul's condi- than one. I have used it for quinsy (out -
tion and circtlrnstances, and alio implied a ward application) with very beneficial re -
familiar knowledge of them which consider- milts, and for a case of rheumatism, where
ably; astonished her sisters. She also gave its action was swift and sites, and a perfect
the father a full history of the son's good cure was performed. I consider it a remedy
deeds in relation to themselves -described to he prized in every household." -Tiros.
how he had befriended them in this and PIBRDON, with Johnson & Brown. ]r-,
that emergency, and asserted warmly, and
with a grave face, that ' she didn't know f Rlghteouaindianatio
what they should have done withthit him. Mrs. Suburb -Why can't you come 'and
" That's right-tha, 's right !" said the do the washing as usual to -morrow ?
old man, laying her hand on his knee and Washerwoman (angrily) -'''Cause I got ter
patting it fondly. " I was sure he would- s(a to hum and mend th' childer's clothes
I knew you'd find out his worth when you ._that's why. It's yer own fault, too, that
came to know him. We must write to him ye can't get y'r waahin' done this week, and
to -morrow, and tell him you have arrived you've got to do it y'rself er go dirty."
safely. - He doesn't know,I have got you, " My fault ? how can it be ?"
eh? We must tell him. Perhaps we canWhat business had ve to go an' put a
induce him to take a little holiday himself barbed wire fence around y'r apple orchard
I am Sure it is high time }w had r,nr and 1 Eshr,uld like -ter know•?"
join na for a few days.. Whatalo you •.
her first ball was spoiled. I am aware that mal symptom.• "Ares you feeling ill? Dont 1 think ? 'Rev. Father Huntington, of New York*,
it looks a very poor and little episode, not frighten me like this. f Oh, I am mire he cant come away just preached' in St. George's Church, Kingston,
rthy of a chapter to itself ; - but then , The girl laid her head upon . her ,sisters now, protested Patty, pale with eagerness la.et evening.,
'e