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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLucknow Sentinel, 1891-10-30, Page 6• • RS ealittet001h her olitstretched hand and held 'itee • " Qite4-bye—if it must be so," he said. 4, Yon are really going away by the next „oxen te 91-08*" Ana net coming back again ?" e " know." he fetid, " y6u are rich, and a great lady now. I can only wish with all ,..my 'tort for your happiness -1 cannot hepe that1 044 ever be privileged to contribute , eltO.14,4140,- tet. out of et 444We hileti ?attV1 She left her right hand in his, and with the other put lieFhinakerchief to her eyes. " Why should you be out of it ?" she sob - .6.4 Your father is not out of it. it is wha hese; deeerted us—we• should net 1hare deserted thought you threw ma over that day on tho racecourse, and I have only tried to keep,my place." ees., But I have told. you I never meant " Yes, thank God ! Whatever happens, 1 shallm have this day to reerciber—that Yeteeeitme to me voluntarily to tell the that • you had never been unworthy of yourself. • - Attie have asked me to forgive you, but it is Ithat want to be forgiven—for selting yoi thiuking that money and g andeur ' and fine clothes could. chenge eeeu.,' heer4411—at(reehtheaegireTrh; Odd 'Pa:Ctiy., who had broken down aletgether, et.' • „. , • , and was making no secret of her tears. In • font, they were past making a secret of. aim had determined to have no tender sen- tiMent when she sought this interview, but nhe found herself powerless to resist the Pathos of the situation. To be part ing from ete e- Pesel-Brion—end. it- seemed--as-if-it-were- •' teeny going to be a parting—was to heart- , breaking to bear as she would have liked to hear it. "When you were poor," he said, hurried along by a very strong current of emotions • of various kinds, "when you lived here on Ofeeltheneide oL. the wall—if you had. corae • e to me—if you had spoken to me, and treated me like thirthen—" She drew her hand from his grasp, and e tried to collect herself. " Hush—we must .nob go on talking," she said with a flurried ir ; " you must not keep me here now." " No, I will not keep you—I will not 'take advantage of. you now," he replied, "thongli lam- horribly` tempted. But if it had been as it used to be—if we were both poor alike, as we were then—if you were Patty King instead of Miss Yelverton—I would not let you out of this room without telling me something more. Oh, why did • , ;ybu come at all ?" he burst out, in a sudden • rage of passion, quivering - all over as he •Peeked at her with the desire to seize her and kiss her and satisfy his starving heart• . /g You have been hard to me always—from first to last—but this is the very cruellest •thing you.have ever done. To come nere aid drive me wild like this, and then go t, and leave me as if I were Mrs. McIntyre or the landlord you were paying off next door. 'I Wonder what.you think I am inade of ? I • have stood everything—I have stood all your snubs, and slights, and hard usage of s me—I have been humbe and patient as I s never was to anybody who treated me so in •my life before—but that doesn't mean that t - I am made of wood or stone. There are t limits to one's powers of endurance, and, I though I have borne so mueln I can't bear this. I tell you fairly it is trying me too far.". He stood at the table fluttering, his s papers with a hand as unsteady as that of a drunkard, and glaring at her, not t straight into her eyes—which, in- deed, -were cast abjectly ou the 1,0 floor—but all over her pretty, forlorn I a figure, shrinking and cowering before him. t " You are kind enough to everybody I e he went on ; " you might at leastIp 4, "4. 1 1peeition to entrap the young heiress for the sake of her thirty thousand pounds. Things did not lee smoothly with Patty, as they had done with her oifiter. Elizabeth herself was a rock of shelter and a storehouse of coneola- tion from the moment that the Ear came up to the dismantled room where she and her husband were haying a lovers' tetesa-te of their own, and • she saw that the toe misunderstanding was at an end ; but n one else eecept Mrs. APIntyre (who, po woman) was held of, no account), too kindly to the alliance so unexpectedly pro, posed. Quite the contrary, in fact. M Yelverton, notwithstanding hie late e periences, had no sympathy whatever fo the young fellow who had flattered him b icillowinghis example. -Thephilanthropie with all his full-blown modern radicalism was also nman_ eflong dese.ent and grea connections, and some subtle instinct of rat and habit rose up in opposition to the claim what, in yourjudgment, it would be beat to do." "In my judgment,then, it would be best," said Elizabeth, after a WO ultpryal given up to the enjoyment of a wordless tete-a-tete, " to let Patty and Paul be together a little before they part. For this reason—that they will' be together, whether they are let to or not. Isn't it preferable to making con - g cessions before they are ignominiously ex - o torted from you'? And. if Patty has much or longer to bear seeing her toyer, asshethinks, k humiliated and insulted, by being ignored - as her lover in this house, she will go to the r. other extreme—she will go away from us to x- him—by way of making up to hint for it, It ✓ is like what you say of the mouldering, y poverty -bred anarchy in your European a: national ides—that if- -you don't find es vent- , for the eccumuleting electricity generating t. in the humaaseweeseehow do. you put it ?— e it is no use to try to draw it off after the s storin has burst." of an obscure. press writer to enter hi distinguished - family. It was on thing for a Yelverton man t marry a humbly -circumstanced woman ae he had hieneelfeltentetneeparA .0. tilitith'itiattieirilung for -8-,.humbly-circum steamed man to aspire to the hand of Yelverton woman, and that yeoman ric and beautiful, his own ward and sister. H was not aware of this strong sentiment, bu believed his objections arose from a prope solicitude. for Patty's welfare. Paul had been rude and impertinent, wanting i — . - 'rneeeetetteeetesieeeeseee-he conditioned, sulky temper ; he lived an irregular life, from hand to mouth.; he had no. money ; he bad no reputable friends. Therefore, when Paul (with some defiance of mien, as one who knew that it was a merely formal courtesy) requested the con- sent of the head ofthe house to his union with the lady of his choice, the head of the was very high and mighty, and —Patty and Elizabeth being out of the wey, shut up together to kiss in com- fort in one of the little bedrooms at the back —made some very plain statements of his views to the ineligible suitor, which fanned the vital spark in-thatyoung man's - ardent spirit to a white heat of wrath. By -and -bye r. Yelverton modified those views, like the just and large -hearted student of humanity that he was, and was brought to see that a men can do no more for a woman than love her, be he wleo he may, and that a woman, whether queen or peasant, millionaire or pauperreannever give- more than value -foe that. " value received." And by -and -bye Paul learned to respect his brother -in law for a man whose manhood was his own, and to trust his motives absolutely, even when ho did not underetand his actions. But just at first things were unpleasant: Mrs. Duff -Scott, when they got home, re- ceived the blow with a stern fortitude that was almost worse than Mr. Yelverton's prompt resistance, and much worse than the mild but equally decided opposition of that punctilious old gentleman at Sea -view Villa, who, by -and -bye, used all his influence to keep the 'tide apart whom he would have given his heart's blood to see united, out of a fastidious sense of what he conceived to be his social and professional duty. Between them all they nearly drove the two high- pirited victims into further following the example of the head of the house—the mminent danger of which became apparent o Patty's confidante Elizabeth, who gave heeler -warning of it to her husband. This atter pair, who had themselves carried 'natters with such a very -high hand, were ar from desiring that Paul and Patty hould make assignations at the Exhi- bithin with a view to circumventing heir adversaries by as clandestine or other- wise untimely marriage (such divergence of pinion with respect to one's own affairs nd ether people's being very common in his world, the gentle reader may observe, yen in the case of the most high-minded eople). " Kingscote," said Elizabeth, when one ight , she sat brushing her hair before the ooking-glass • and he, till in his evening dress, lounged in an ar -chair by the dress- ing -table, talking to her, "Kingscote, I am afraid you are too hard on Patty—you and the Duff-Scotts—keeping her from Paul still, though she has but three days left, and I don't believe she will stand it." " My dear, we are not hard upon her, are we ? It is for her sake. If we can tide over these few days and get her away all right, a year or two of absence, and all the ew interests that she will find in Europe nd her changed position, will probably ure her of her fancy for a fellow who is ot good enou her" " I know Patty," she said, laying her hair rush on her knee and looking with solemn arnestness into her husband's rough-hewn ut impressive face—a face that seemed to er to contain every element of noble man- ood, and thatwould have been weakenedand poiled by mere superficial beauty -a-" I know atty, Kingscote, better than anyone knows er except herself. She'is like a little briar ose--sweet and tender if you are gentle nd sympathetic with her, but certain to rick if you handle her roughly. And so rong in the stem—so tough and strong— at, rye cannot root berent-or twiet herany. ay that she doesn't feelnaterally inclined to ow—not if you use all your power to make er." '" Poor little Patty !" he' Said smiling That is 'a very pathetic image of her. ut I don't like to fiure in your parable as e blind genius of rate fore—a horny - ended hedger and ditcher with a smock ock and bill -hook. Tam quite tapable of eling the beauty,e and understanding the oral qualities of eh wild rose—at least, I ought I was. Perhaps am mistaken ' ell me what you would do, if you were in y place ?" Elizabeth slipped from her chair and down pon her knees beside him, with her long air and her dressing -gown flowing about er, and laid her head where it was glad of ley 'excuse to be laid—a locality at this oment indicated by the polished and uh- elding surface of hiastarched shirt front. You know I never likened you to' a hedger d ditcher," she said fondly. " No one is wise and thoughtful and far-sighted as ou. It is only that you don't know Patty uite yet—you will do soon—and what ight be the perfect management of such a sis in another g' affairs is . y no succeed with her—just simply and only r the reason that she is a little peculiar, d you have not yet had. time to learn lat." " It is time that I should learn," he said ting her into a restful position and Retti- g himself for a comfortable talk. " Tell e what you think and know yourself, and " Elizabeth," said her husband, reproach - o " that is worse than being called a. o hedger and ditcher." " Well, you know what I mean." - tongue, my dear. Do you want me to go a and call -on Mr. Paul Brion and telt him that h we have thought better of it -V' e " Not exactly that But if you could t persuade Mrs. Duff -Scott to be nice about ✓ it—no one can be more enchantingly nice than she, when she likes, but when she n doesn't like she is enough to drive a man— show ichlie common humanity th me. I am • ' not a coxcomb, I hoe, but I know you n can't have helped knowing what I have felt t 1 for you—no woman can help knowing when a Mall cares for her, though he never says a word about it. A dog who loves you will get some consideration for it, but you are having no consideration for me. I hope I am not rude—I'm afraid I am forgetting my manners, Miss Patty—but a man can't think of mannerh When he is driven out of his Senses. Forgive me, I am speaking -to you too roughly. It was kind of you to come • and tell me what you have told me—I am not ungrateful for that—but it was a cruel a kindness. Why didn't you send me a note c —a little, cold, formal note ? or why did n you not send Mrs. Yelverton to explain things ? That would have done just as well. b You have paid me a great honor,I know ; e but I can't look at it like that. ter`all, I b was making up my mind to lose you, and I h thought I could have borne it, and got on , h somehow; and got something out of life in 1 spite of it. Bat -now how can I bear it ?— a Batty bowed like a reed to this unex- how can I bear it now ? " pected storm, which, never e ess, thrilleda her with wild elation and rapture, through I and through. She had no sense of either pride or shame ; she never for a moment re- th th had not note, sent t Mrs. Yelverton in her place. But what she she said and what she did I will leave to the reader to conjecture. There has been too much love -making in these pages of late. Tableau. We will ring the curtain down. B or th work was done, wondering what was hap- th penuag atMrs. n yre s, untilher fr husband came to tell her that it was past 6 fe o'clock, and time to go hoine to dress for dinner. " The child can't Possibly be with th him,"said Mr. Yelverton, rather severely. T " She must be gossiping with thelandlady." m "I think I will go and fetch her," said , Elizabeth. But as she was putting on her ,,, bonnet, Patty came upstairs, smiling h and preening her feathers, so to speak— . h bringing Paul with her. a CHAPTER XLVII. • A PAIR FIELD AND NO FAVOR. yi When Mrs. Duff -Scott came to hear of an all th4s, she was terribly vexed with Patty. so Indeed, no one dared to tell her the whole truth, and to this day she does not know that the engagement was made in the aoting in bachelor's satins -room, whither . Patty had sought him because he would not seek her. to She thinks the pair met at No. 6, under the fo lex and injudicioue ' chaperonage of an Elizabeth ; and, in the first blush of her a disappointment and indignation, she was firmly convinced, though too well bred to express her conviction, that the son had m taken advantage of the father's privileged m et • • 4* And Patty will never stand it—She will not hold out—she will not go -away leaving things as they are now. We could not expect it of her:" " Well ? And how should Mrs. Duff - Scott show herself nice to Mr. Brion ?" " She might treat him 'as—as she did you, Kingscote, when you were waetieg_ pier " But she approved of me, you see. She doesn't approve of him." "You are both gentlemen, anyhow— though he is poor. I would have been the more tender and considerate to him, because he is poor. He is not too poor for Patty— nor would he have been if she had no for- tune herself. As it is, there is abundance. And, Kingscote, though I don't mean for a moment to disparage you—" " I should hope not, Elizabeth." " Still I can'tlielp thinking that to have brains as he has is to be essentially a rich and distinguished man. And to be a writer for a high-class -newspaper, which -you-- say yourself is the greatest and best educator in the world—to spend himself in making other men see what is right and useful—in spreading light and knowledge that no money could pay for, and all the time effac- ing himself, and taking no reward of honor or credit for it—surely that must be the noblest profession, and one that should make a man anybody's equal—even yours, my love !" She lifted herself up to make this elo- quent appeal and droppedback on his shoul- der sgain and wound /her arm about his s neck and his bent head with tender depre- cation. He was deeply touched and stirred, and did not speak for a moment. Then he said gruffly, '1 shall go and see him in the morning, Elizabeth. Tell me what I shrill s say, to hint, my dear." Say," said Elizabeth, " that you would rather not have a fixed engagement at first, s in order that Patty may be unhampered h during the time she is away—in order that v she may be free to make other matrimonial s arrangements when she gets into the great a world, if she likes—but that you will leave that to him. Tell him that if love is not to r be kept faithful without vows and g promises, it is not love nor h worth keeping—but I daresay he knows that. Tell him that, except for being t obliged to' go to England just now on the family affairs, Patty is free to do exactly as g she likes—which she is by law, you know, u for she ib over three-and-twenty—and that t we will be happy' to see her happy, what- a ever way she chooses. And then let him t come here and see her. Ask Mrs. Duff- w Scott to be nice and kind, and to give him an invitation—she will do anything for you —and then treat them both as if they were engaged for just this little time until we leave. It will comfort them so much, poor things ! It"Will put them on their honor. It will draw off the electricity, you know, and prevent catastrophes. Arid it will make not the slightest difference in the final issue. But,. oh 1" she added impulsively, " you don't want mo to tell you what to do, you are so much wiser than I am." " I told you we should give and take," he responded; " I told you we shouldteach and lead each other—sometinaes I and Biome - times you. That. is what we are doing already—it is as it should be. I shall gond see Paul Brion in the morning. Confound him !" he added, as he got up out of his chair to go to his dressing -room. And so it came to pass that the young press writenhaewly risen from his bed, and meditating desperate things over his coffee and' cutlet, received a friendler embassy ew " It is not fair," he replied. " But that eir , is not your fault, nor mine. We are not he ! going to keep it all to oureelvee, you and I can 1 with hcauoye aaf kingaa, har ppgertedintoat er- was no better than she should be fhaelirs in wkelivea I ar —which is our title to be great folks, Ireloelieve. We are going to let other er- people have a share. But jizet for it, little de while we'll be selfish, Elizabeth; it's a luxury up we don't indulge in often. sic So he led her into the beautiful house, r- after giving her a: solemn kiss upon the 'matrons fervently interested in her n condition, and pouring out upon her th several experiences of European life, in t form of intormation and advice for her o giiidaece, e"Play us something, dear Miss Yelv ton," fetid a lady sitting by. " Let us he Deff.Seott. yo:u,,.ryIlvnteeav?en,l,ty touch once more." that only she could hear. h ' ,quired in a careless tone, speaking low, "1 don't think I can," said Patty, fait and began to turn over some loose mu in-law essayed to help her • he saw an ,agony of suspense and expectation ah was in. that lay about on the piano. Her brothe such &reply to suefila demand. She got ingly—the first time se had ever ma "Yea "—breathlessly--" I think so." ' "You know where I have been ?" he i 7to take an. invitation, from Mr • " I had a pleasant talk. I am very gla I went. He is coming to dine here t night." "Is he ?" as" Jai ieite lectual young men, who don't give them selves any airs about it," she said to no- body in particular, when she strolled back to the drawing -room with her three girls ; " and one does so very seldom meet with them !" She throw herself into a low chair; snatched :up a fan, and began to fan herself vigorously. The discovery that a pre „ea-an:ease seseena., eetenetaseeeeetnntereanseacaee cultured man of the world impressed her strongly ; she thought of him as a new son - for herself, crever, enterprising, active - minded as she was—a man to be governed, perhaps, in a motherly., way, and to be proud of whether he let himself be governed or not—danced tantalizingly through her _kreines She_felteitnecessanyeto. put a very strong check upon herself -to keep her from being foolish. She tecaped that danger, however. A high sense of duty to Patty held her back from foolishness. Still she could not help being kind to the young couple while she had the opportunity ; turning her head when they strolled into the conservatory after the men came in from the dining -room and otherwise shutting her eyes to theft'. joint proceedings. And they had a peace- ful and sad and happy time, by her graci- ous favor, for two days and a half—until the mail ship carried one of them to Eng- land, and left the other behind. CHAPTEB, at threshold :and passing through the great e hall, she was taken to a vast nut charming bedroom that had been newly,fitted up for n- her on the ground floor, and' thence to an so adjoining sitting -room, looking out upon a. Bloody lawn -ea 'houtelyezosy tittleroma that he had himself arraneed. for her private use, a. -and which- no-bne waSita be idlowed. to have the reesofrheetehlehereateseeptehet She was placedhla deep arm -chair, beside d a hearth whereon burned the first. wood o- fire that she had seen since she left Australia — billets of elm -wood split from the batts of dead and I .Ete.Peti hialettethetkethlieed-theit ehiehn - the Yelverton acre—with her feet on a rug of Tasrnanian opossum skin, and a bouquet of golden wattle blossoms (procured with as much difficulty in England as the lilies of the valley had been in Australia) on a table beside her, scenting the room with its sweet and familiar fragrance. And here tea was brought in—a dainty little nondescript meal, SO YELVERTON. Patty went " home," and stayed there for two years ; but it was never home to her, though all her friends and connections, save one, were with her—because that one was absent. She saw " the great Alps and the Doge's palace," and all the beauty and glory of that great world that she had so ardently dreamed of and, longed for ; travel- ing in comfort and luxury, and enjoying her - elf thoroughly all the while. She was presented at Court---" Miss- Yelverton, by her sister, Mrs. Kingscote Yelverton "— and held a distinguished place in the Court Journal and in the gossip of London ociety for the better part of two seasons. She.was taught to know that she was a beauty, if she had never known it before ; he was made to understand the value of a igh social position and the inestimable ad- antage of large means (and she did under - tend it peifectly, being a young person bundantly gifted with common sense) ; and he was offered these good things for the est of her life, and a coronet into the bar- ain. Nevertheless, she chose-te abide by er first choice and to remain faithful to her penniless press writer under all tempta- ions. She passed through the fire f beery trying ordeal that the in- enuity of Mrs. Duff -Scott could devise ; her npledged constancyunderwent the severest ests that, in the case of a girl of her tastes nd Character, it could possibly be -subjected o; and at the end of a year and a half, hen the owner of the coronet above- mentioned raised the question of her matri- monial prospects, she announced to him, and subsequently to her family, that they had been irrevocably settled long ago; that, she was entirely unchanged in her senti- ments and relations towards Paul Brion; and that she intended, moreover, if they had no objection, to return to Australia to marry him. Young, and strong, and rich, with no troubles to speak of and the' keenest appe- tites to see andlearn, they had as good a time as pleasure -seeking mortals can hope for • in this world ; the memories of it, tenderly stored up to the smallest detail, will be a joy for ever to of them. On their retuento England they took up their abode in the London house, and for some weeks they revelled delightedly in balls, drums, garden parties, concerts and so on, under the supervision , and generalship of Mrs. Duff -Scott ; and they also made acquaintance with the widely -ramify- ing Whitechapel institutions Earl in from the great powers that had taken up th arms against him. Mr. Yelverton was the w bearer of despatches from his sovereign, h ,Mrse DeffeSopets, in, the, ehape of a wackiest, lit note of invitation to dinner, whichaeafier a long discussion of the situation with her ciavoy—Mr. Paul Brion permitted himself to accept politely. The interview between the two men was productive of a strong sense of relief and satisfaction on both sides, d summer Elizabeth and her husband ent to Yelverton, which in •their /absence ad been prepared for "the family " to y egehte neighboring comatry home. an severe cottages had been rented and fitted up for the waifs and tetrays, where they have been made as comfortable as before, and were still under the eye of their protector; and the ancestral furniture that had been removed for their convenience d its oWn safety was put back in its place, d bright (no, not bright—Mrs. Duff -Scott it ad it brought about the cessation of all an open hostilities. • an undertook the task of fitting them up—but. eminently artistic and charming) rooms were newly,decorated and made ready for, Elizabeth's occupation. CHAPTER XLVIII. • PROBATION. Mr. Yelverton did not return home feign his mission until Mrs. Duff -Scott's farewell kettle -drum was in full blast. He found he the two drawing -rooms filled with a fash- an ionable crowd ; and the hum of Sprightly convereation, the tinkle of teaspoons, the su rustle of crisp draperies, the all-pervading th clamor of soft feminine voices, raised in of staccato exclamations and laughter, were as such that he did not see his way to getting tr a word in edgeways. Round each of the cu Yelverton sisters the press of bland and ch attentive visitors was noticeably great. ; m Mr. Yelverton looked round, and dropped io into a chairnear the door, to talk to a in group of ladies with whom he had friendly • be retations until he could find an opportunity re o ejoin his family. The hostess was dis- to sing tea, with Nelly's assistatice—Nelly th be ng herself attended by Mr. Westmore- we nd, who dogged her footsteps with patient d abject assiduity—other men straying al amongst the crowd with the precious he h tl fragile cups and saucers in their di ha ds. Elizabeth was surrounded by young co She went there early in June—she and r husband alone, leaving Mrs. Duff -Scott d the girls in , London. What an old house ! ' She had seen ch in pictures—in the little prints at adorned old-fashioned pocket -books her motherhi time—but the reality, in the case of the Continental palaces, anscended all her dreams. White smoke rled up to the sky from the fluted imney-stacks ; the diamond -paned case- ents—little sections of the enormous mull- ned windows—were set wide to the even - g breezes and sunshine; on the steps fore the porch a group of servants, s ectful but not obsequious, stood ready eceive their new inistress, and to efface emselves as soon as they had made her lcome. " It is more than my share," she said, most oppressed by all these evidences of r prosperity, and thinking of her mother's rent lot. " It doesn't lieem fair, Kings- te. f 'Myrtle street, save its comfortable inform- ality; and the servant was dismissed, and the husband waited upon his wife—helping her from the hal savoury dishes that she it did not know, no nare to ask, the name of —pouring the c , rie into the cup that for so many years had held her strongest betvera.ger dusting -the -sugar- over- her-straw— berries—all the time keeping her at rest in hersoftchair, with the sense of being athome and in peace and safety Mader his protection working like a delicious opiate on her tired nerves and brain. This was how they came to Yelverton. And then . one day Elizabeth coin planted of feeling unusually tired. The walks and drives came to an end, and the, sitting -room was left empty. There was a breathless hush all over the great house for a little while ; whispers and rustlings tq and fro ; and then a little cry —which, weak and small as it was, and shut in with double doors and curtains, somehow managed totmeke itself heard -from the attic to the basement—announced that a new generation of Yelvertons of Yelverton had come into the world. Mrs. Duff-Scottreturned home from a series of Beige '(,?entertainments, with that coronet of ty's capture on her mind, in the small hon of the morning following this eventful day ; and she found a telegram on her hall table, and learned, to her in- tense indignation that Elizabeth had dared to have a baby 'without her (Mrs. Duff - Scott) being there to assist at the all-im- portant ceremony. "It's just like him," she exclaimed to the much -excited sisters, who were ready to melt into tears over the good news. "It is just what I expected he would do when he took her oft by herself in that way. It is , the marriage overagain. Hewants to manage everything in his own fashion, and to have no interference from anybody. But this is really carrying independence too far. Supposing anything had gone wrong with Elizabeth ? . And how am 1 to know that her nurse is an efficient person ?—and that the poor dear infant will be properly looked after ?" " You may depend," said Patty, who did not grudge her sister her new happiness, but envied it,from the bottom of her honest woman's heart, " You may depend he has taken every care of that He is not a man to leave things to chance—at any rate, not where she is concerned." " Rubbish !" retorted the disappointed matron, who, though she had had no chil- dren f her own—perhaps because she, had had none—had looked forward to a vicarious participation in Elizabetli's experiences at this time with the strongest interest and eagerness ; "as if a man has any businesssto take upon him- self to meddle it all in such matters? It is not fair to Elizabeth. She has a right to have us with her. I gave way about the wedding, but here I must draw the line. • She is in her own house, and I shall go to her at once. Tell your maid to pack up, ' dears—we will start to -morrow." But they did not. They stayed in Lon- don, with what patience they could, subsist- ing on daily letters and telegrams, until the season there was over, and the baby at Yelverton was three weeks old. Then, though ' no explanations were made, they became aware that they would be no longer considered de trop by the baby's father, and rushed from the town to the country house with all possible haste. " You are a tyrant," said Mrs. Duff - Scott, when the master came forth to meet her. " always said so, and now I know " I was afraid she would get talking and about ther th here er. exerting herself too much if she ihmapderytouurbott ble " And you didn't think that we might possibly have a grain of sense, as we yoh, I?" didn't thing of anything," he said oolly, " xcep make sure of her safety as far as poeSible." yes, 1 know —laughing and brush- ing past him—" all you think of is to get your own way. Well, let us see the poor dear girl now we are here. I know how sh ntust have been pining to show het baby to her sisters all this while, when you wouldn't let her." (Po be continued.) ROBERT GEO. WATTS, M. A., M. D. M. R. C. S, of Albion House, Quadrant Road, Canonbnry, N., Lon n, Eng, writes: I cannot refrain fro testifying to the efficacy of St. Jacobs Oil n cases of chronic rheumatism, sciatica a neuralgia." Dow to neniain Tonne. Take frequent recreation. Keep free of intense excitements. Insist upon an abundance of regular sleep. Preserve the feelings and habits of youth. Keep a clear conseiened and lead a 'life void of offence. Yon have catarrh, and other remedies have failed, you—then give Nasal Balm a fair trial. There is no ease of catarrh it will not cure if the directions aro faithfully fol- lowed. • h.