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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1888-6-21, Page 2THE THREAD OF L SUNS/UNE AND S F 3 CHAPTER Vt.—W=11 Lew? ing like chalk downs, but matted teeth, Hugh found the day amens the sendhilis er under foot with a tussocky network of Amply delightful, He had said with truth spurges and sioldauella coovolvulns. fa the he loved all fnnoexnt pleasures, for his was tiny comber, aud valleys in between one of those sunny man -sided :cathed° nae- where tall reedlike gransea mule a sort ' of petty imitation jungle, you could sit �uHt'e4,i;a, spite of i�ugaler2yin Liageofpessi- slo;an unobserved under the lo e€ so mismaadaadnesa uhatthrowtbemselveiwtth some ,. ardour into every Simple country delight, n° a ie range of n'otutta as, and take your and find deep enaoymentintrees and flowers ea in an enchanted garden, like sultans and waves, and acener'y, in the scent of new- and sultanee of the elretlen 11'r Fats, with. mown hay and the gong of birds, and in eo- out risk of intrusion. The sea tumbled in ci. t intereouraewithbesutffnl ,omen. itTar- beach : the ron iver rau oe side n the otherou the on'g white ren pelf had readily enough fallen in with - luwedge - 1ugh'a plan for their day's ontieg ; for at a in the belt of blown nandhilla; and wedged first glance he hal been greatly taken with between the two, in a long line, the barrier Hegh'a pretty nonan, the dark -eyed Garcon. ridge of miniature wolda stretched away for g-rl, His poreeeelon of the ad-Turele gave he southerrn horizon. nag perspective towards lu:in for the nionreat a title to respea t, Cora n- 1t was a 1 tut eating yacht's a yacht, however tiny. Sa he took R place to lie and dream and make love in for them all up together fn the yawl to the foot of the eandhills ; and while Mrs. 3leysey and the Ririe were unpacking the hampers and. getting lunch ready on the white elopes et the drifted sums,. he sat dawn by the ehere acid eketehed a little bit of the river foreground that exactly Suited hie own pecu- liar style --•an blot of ams, rising low #'roan the bed of the sluggish stream, crowned with purple eea.azter and white dowered • awnrvygresa, and backed by it slimy bed of ever, As Hugh sat there idly with F'.sie by his aide under the lee of the dunes, he wondered the Squire could ever Lave had the bad taste to obj-ce to the generous east wind which bed overwhelmed lite Miserable utilitarian welt-suamlt pastures with this gsaaint little fairyland of tiny ttuelta aud Lrlliputien valleys, For hut own pert, Hugh was duly grateful to that unconscious atmospberie landacapo gardener for hie ad- mirable additions to the flat Suffolk eeenery; tidal ooze, that shone with a u:iog rays et theetorouted e! korum ar ettverortret h d tu hie gold and aritneen iii the broad flood of the - e . at reflected ssuulight. ghee in the nun, .and. talk of ;poetry and love Elsie wan very happy. too, in her way ; with Flare. for bad abe not Hugh all the time by her .11t the end of an Maur, however, he roused aide, sadwee elle not wearing the ardent /:tinsel€ sturdily. Lifer "Yethe philoaoplatr, vernea oho had received front him by poet is not all beer and skittle, ; nor is it all stove ai sfrueng�iaaide her dress, pre ssed ' ya tins lima, iaagainstatour.wiI " rays dthe ag her heart, and rising andf 1! '6(.4ees,frem C'aZimeclitru. It's all verywell, with every pulse and,flutter of hosl boom Ta him, the boodicrlitemau, they a; odd moments, to sport with Amaryitie in were a mere matter of ocean and potion the shade, er with the tangles of Nemras and lotien anal dstvotion, strsinz together on hair -for a reasonable period. But if slender thread of pretty conceit; but to taary1•ha Inas no money of her awn, or if Gere in the innocent ecstasy of a drat great b uses, tba wino man =nuvet aw:.rids eeaitiau t love, they iiieant more than words could . 1 at .ant to so,1 1d adveutagea ; he mat quit peeeibly Titter. flue could ot thank hint for thein; her A artilli>e iu acerch of Phyllis or reject ride and delight went ton deep for that • Neale re in favour of Vera, that opulent and even were it other+vise, she lied no op- virgin, who bas Lauda and home, utegaus,,tea, portuuity. But once while they stood to- aud teaeurenty, stocks and ohms, and hi a. gather by the SOeindiag sea, with Winifred wardd in a cer y. Face to fare with aaeb bytheir aide, lochia: critically at the plc- ' a sa neC _ ,ttiy, Hug now found bit melf. fare Warren That lead altetaheil in butt' He was really grieved that the car trestan. outline, lino begun to color, olio bold an tea of the caro compelled him to tear him. - occasion to lot the poet know, by a. graceful self uuwrllrngly away from. Elms, ho wag so allusion, she bad received his little tribute thoroubhly inlaying himself in hie own pet of verso in safety. Aa the painter with a v►y ; Oat duty, duty duty before every- of dafuty strokes filled in the ;floating Ahem 1n The a avo at duty jumped up with irideaceut tints apon. tho sunlit ooze, she si My dear child." he exclaimed, Oman ntnrmured Aland, ae tf quoting front acme heathy at hie watch, a Reifwillreally never well-known poem : forgive me. I'm. euro it's time far us to set Rea Strands that faintly fleck and spot change to corners and cha Tae tawny flood the'tanks enfold; g partnere. Not, of A web of Tran purple, shot course, that I want to do it myself. For Through cloth et gohl. two people who are no! engaged, I think laugh looked up at hor appreciatively we've had a very snug little time of it here with a smile of recognition, They wore his together, Elele. But a barg�aain'e a bargain, own verses, out of the Ballade of the Char and Relt must be inwardly grinding his he had written and posted to her the night teeth at me.—Lot's go and meet them." before. " Mere faint Swinburnian echoes, Elsie rose more slowly and wiatfully. nothinz worth," ho murmured low in a de- "r I'm never ao happy Anywhere, Hugh,' ebo prooting aside; but he was none the lose said, with a lingering cadence, " as when nattered at the delioato attention, for ell you're with me." that, " And how clever of her, too," he "" And yet we are vo engaged," push thought to himself with a faint thrill, "to wont on in a meditative murmur-"" were have pieced them in so deftly with the gab- not engaged. ""We're only cousins 1 For pat of the picture 1 After all, she's a very merecouains, our couainly solicitude for one intelligent girl, Elsie 1 A man might go another's welfare is truly touching. If all farther aud fare worse—if it were not for families were only as united as ours, now 1 that negative quantity in dolts and stivors. interpreters of prophecy would not have far Warren Ralf looked up also with a quick to aeek for the date of the millennium, rilance at the dark -eyed girl. ""You're well, well, inetruotreas of youth, we must ght, Miss Challoner," he said, stealing a „lover's aide -look at the iridescent peacock' you,pe suggest hues upon the gleaming mud. "" It shines like opal. No precious atone on earth could be lovelier than that. few people have the eye to ace beauty in a fiat of tidal mud like the ono I'm painting; but cloth of gold and Tyrian purple are the only words one could possihly find to express in fit language the glow and glory of its exquisite coloring. If only I could put it on canvas now, as you've put it in words, even the Hangfn Committee of the Academy, I believe—hard-- hearted elieve—hard hearted monsters would scarcely be atony enough to dream of rejecting it." Elsie smiled. How every man reads things his own way, by the light of hie own personal interests ! }fuel had seen she was trying to thank him unobtrusively for hie copy of veraas ; Warren Itelf had only found in her apt quotation a passing criticism on his own little water -color. After lunch. the two seniors, the Squire and Mrs.. Meysey, • manifested the dis- tinct desire of middle age for a quiet digestion in the shade of the sandhtlle ; and the four younger folks, nothing loth to be free, wandered off in pairs atthoir. own sweet will along the bank of the river. High took Elsie for his companion at first, while Warren Reif had to put himself off for the time beiag with the blue-eyed Wini- fred. Now, Reif hated blue eyes. "" But we must arrange it like a set of Lancers," Hugh cried with a languid wave of his grace- ful heed ; "" at the end of the figure, set to corners and change partnere." Elsie might have felt half jealous for a moment at this equitable suggestion, if High hadn't added to her in a lower tone and with bis sweet- est gentle : ""I mustn't monopolise you all the afternoon, you know, Elsie; Relf must have' his innings too ; I can see by his face he's just dying to talk to you." look out for theao other young peoplo; and if T were experience " ra. rather, a great deal, talk with you, Hugh," Elsie murmured gently, looking down at the Banda with an apparently sud- den geological interest in their minute com- poeitioiL "I'm proud be hear it : so would I," Hugh answered gallantly, "But we mustn't be selfish. 1 hate selfishness. I'll sacrifice afyeelf by-and-by on the altar of fraternity to give Reif, a turn in due season. Mean- while, Elsie, let's be happy together while we can. Moments like these don't come to one : often in the course of a lifetime. They're as rare as rubies and as all good things. When they do come, I prize them far too much to think of wasting them in petty altercation." They strolled about among the undulat- ing dunes for an hour or more, talking in that vague emotional . way that young men and maidens naturally fall into when they walk together by the 'shore of the great deep, and each very much' pleased with the other's society, as usually happens under similar circumetanoes. The dunes wereindeed a . •,loveIy place for flirting in, as if made for —the purpose -high billowy hillocks of blown sand, all: white and firm, and .roll - tiny fay oll would .to mo the desirability of not coming upon them from behind too unexpectedly or abruptly. A fellow -feeling makes us wondrous kind. Reif is young, and the pretty pupil is by no means unattractive" "I'd trust Winifred as implicitly"— Elsie began, and broke off suddenly. " As you'd trust yourself,* Hugh put in, with a little quiet irony, completing her sen- tence. " No:donbt, no doubt; I can readily believe it. But even you and I—who are etaider and older, and merely cousins— wouldn't have cared to be disturbed too abruptly just now, you know, when we were pulling soldanellas to pieces in concert in the hollow down yonder. I shall climb to the top of the big eandhill there, and from hatapeoularmount —aaSatan remarks inPar- adi xe Regained—I shall spy from afar where Rolf has wandered off to with the immacu- late Winnifred.—Ah, there they are, over yonder by the beach,.looking for pebbles or something—I suppose amber. Let's go over to them, Elsie, and change partners. Com- mon politeness compels one, of course, to pay some attention to one's host's daughter." As they strolled away again, with a change of partners, back towards the spot where Mrs, Meysey was somewhat anxiously awaitine them, Hugh and Winifred turned their talk casually on Elsie's manifold charms and excellences. "She's a sweet, isn't she ?" Winifred cried to her new acquaintance in enthusiastic appreciation. " Did yon ever in your life meet anybody like her ?" No, never." Hugh answered with can- did praise. Candour was • always Hugh's special cue. " She's a dear, good girl, and I like her immensely. 'I'm proud of her too. The only inheritance I ever received from my family is my cousinship to Elsie ; and I duly prize it as my sole heirloom from fifty generations of penniless Massingers." " Then you're very fond of her, Mr. Mas - singer?" " Yes, very fond of her. When a man's only' got one relative in the world, he natur- ally values that unique possession far more than those who have a couple of dozen or so of all sexes and ages, assorted. Some peo- ple suffer from too much family ; my mis. fortune is that, being a naturally affection- ate man, I suffer from too little. It's the old case of the one ewe lamb ; Elsie is to me my brothers and my sisters, and my cousins and my aunts, all rolled into one, like the supers at the theatre." '` And are yon and she —" Winifred be- gan timidly. All girls are naturally ingnsi- tive on that important question. Hugh broke her off with a quick little laugh. " Oh, dear no, nothing of the sort," he answered hastily, in his jaunty way. " .We're not engaged, if that's what you mean, Miss Meysey ; nor at all kikely to be. Our ` affection, though profound, is of the brotherly and sisterly order only. It's much nicer so, of course. When people are engaged, they're always .looking forward with yearning end longing and other un- pleasent internal feelings, much enlarged upon in 311es 'Virginia Gabriel's songs, toa delusive future. When they're simply friends, or brothers and sinters, they can enjoy their friendship or their fraternity in the preseot tense, without forever gazing tt ahead with wistful eye* towards a distant Mad ever receding horizon." "" But why need it recede?:' Winifred ask- ed innocently. " Why need it recede ? Ah, there you pose me, Well, it needn't, of course, among the rich and the mighty. If people are swells, and amply pro- vided for by their godfatheta and god- mothers at their baptism, or otherwise, they can marry at once; but the poor and the etrtggling—that's Elsie and me, you know, Miss Meyaey—the poor and the struggling geb engaged foolishly, and hope and hone for a humble cottage—the poetical cottage, all draped with roses and wild honeysuckle, and the well -attired woodbine—and toil and moil and labor exceedingly, and find the cottage receding, receding,- receding still, away off in the distance, while they plough them way through the hopeless yearn, jest as the Horizon recedes forever before you when you steer straight out for it in a boat at sea. The moral is—poor folk should not indulge in the luxury of hearts, and should wrap theinselves pp severely in their own intereety, till they're whelly and utterly eel - dab." "Aad aro you selfish, I wonder, Mr. Mas. singer'" "1 try to be, el course, from sa,ease of duty;' though l'in afraid 1 melte.a very poor band at it. I was baro with a, heart, and do what I will, I can't quite stifle thatirrepressiblenat. arid organ.—But I take it all out, I believe, in the end, in writiog vergae." " YOU ,out Elsie some verses this moria - leg." Winifred broke out in au artless way, as if alio were ;tweedy stating a *Outman feet of every -day experieuee. Hugh bad Herne difficulty in aappreaaing a start+, and in recovering hie composure so as to answer unconcernedly : Oh, she shoved them to you, thee, did alis?" Mow thoughtless of biro to have posted these peer rhytues. to Blate, when he might have known beforehand shut would conildo them at once to Miss Ileyeey'u rya pa. thetie ear lT "No, *be didn't allow theta to me," W iii• fred replied, inthe game careless, easy way as before. "I flaw them drop out of the envelope, theta all; and Elsie put them' away as soon as she caw they were verses; but I wan aura they were SSvara, beeeuse I knoll^ your hendwritiug—b;tsie'a ahown tate bite of your letter's sometimes." "I often geed copies of m little pieces to :!;lite before I print them," Hugh went on caeuelly, in hie meet outdid manner. " It may be vain of me, but I like her to aee them. She's a aplendid critic, Elsie; wee men often are she sometimes suggests to me most valuable alteration, , and modifi- cations in some of my verses.'* " Tell me these ones," Winifred asked abruptly, with alittle blob. It was a trying moment. 'SVhat wag llugh: to do 3 The verges he had actually net to Elsie wero all emotion and ilovotion, and hearts and darts, and fairest and thou wear - est, and °berms and arms': amorous and clamorous chimed together' like old friends in ono "tauze, and sorrow dispelled itself to. morrow with its usual cheerful punctuality in the next. To recite them to Winifred as they stood would be to retire at once from his half projected neige of the pretty little heireaa's heart and hand. For that decisive atop Hugh was not at present entirely prepared. Ho mustn't allow him- aolf to he, beaten by such n scholar's mate as. this. He cicered hie throat, and began boldly on another piece, ringing out his lines with .sonorous lilt –e net of silly, garrulous, childish verses he had writ ten long 'ince, but never published, about some merry sea -elves in an enchanted sub- marine fairy country: tinytay At the bottom lay Of vnurple bay Unruffled, On whose crystal floor The distant roar From the surf -bound shore Was mulatd. With his fairy wife He passed his lite Undimmed by et:ite Or quarrel; And the livelong day They would merrily play 'Through a labyrinth gay With coral. They loved to dwell In a pearly shell, And to deck their cell With amber; Or amid the caves That the ripplet laves And the beryl paves To clamber. He went on so, with his jigging versicles, line after line, as they walked along the firm white sand together, through several foolish sing -song stanzas; till at last, when he was more than half way through the meaningless little piece, a sudden thought pulled him up abruptly. He had chosen, pa he thought, the most innocent and non -com- mitting bit of utter trash in all his private poetical repertory ; but now, as he repeated it over to Winifred with easy intonation, swinging his stick to keep time as he went, he recollected all at once that the last rhymes flew off at a tangent to a very personal con- elusion—and what was worse, were addres- sed, too, not to Elsie, but very obviously to another lady 1 The end was somewhat after this wise : On a darting shrimp Our quaint little imp With bridle of gimp Would gambol ; Or across the book Of a sea -horse black, As a gentleman's hack He'd amble. Of emerald green And sapphire's sheen He mane his queen A tier ; And the merry two Their whole lite through Were .as happy as you And I are. And then camethe seriously. ing bit : But if you nay You think this lay Of the tiny fay Too eillr, Let it have the praise My eye betrays To your own sweet gaze, My Lily. For a man he tries. And he toils and sighs To be very wise And Witty ; But a dear little dame Has enough of fame If she wins the name Of pretty. Lily Lily ! Oh, that decomposing, nn - fortunate, eompromisiag Lily 1 He had met her down le Warwickshire two season, since, at a country -house where they were both staying, and had fallen head over ears in love with her—then. Now, he only wiehed with all his heart and sous she and her fay, were at the bottom of the sea in a body together. Ior of course she was pen- nileis. if not, by this time she would no doubt have been Mrs. Massinger. Hugh lilassinger was a capitol actor ; but even he could hardly have ventured to pre- tend, with a grave face, that those Lily verses had ever been addressed to Elsie Chalioner. Everything depended upon his presence of mind and a bold resolves. He hesitated. for a moment at the " emerald g sapphire's 'sheen," seen. and sa hues and seemed as though he 'couldn't et di the next line. After a minute or twos pretended searching he recovered it feebly, and then he ,tumbled again over the end of the atanza. It's no use," he cried at last, as if angry with himself. "I should only murder them if I were to go on now. I've forgotten the real, The words ,escape me. And they're really not worth yourseriouely lieteuing to. "" 1 llko thein,'" Winifred said in her aqui- pie way."•They're so easy to understand eo melo>;lious and meaningless. I love verse that you don't have to puzzle aver. I can't bear Browning for that he's so impossible to make soy thin sensible out of. ,Bat I adore nilly little things like Ogee, than go in at ante ear aud +cut of the ether, acid really sound as if they meant aotuetbiug: 1 ehall oak .Elsie to tell sane the end of theca." Sere was indeed a, dilemma T Suppose she did, auud suppose Elute allowed her the real varees 1 At all hazards, he meet extrf- cyto hiruseif somehow from titin impeseible aituatiom, "I wish you wouldn't," ho said gently, is hi softest Mtel emelt peranasive voice, °i Else mightn't like yon to know I sent her ray verges -though there's nothiuit in it —girls ere ao sensitive sounoti Iles about thee° smatters.- -.But I'll tell you what I'll do, ff you'll kindly allow me; ,t'II write you. out the end of them when I get home to the inn, and bring them written out in fall, a' nice clear copy, the next time I have the pleasure of i -giving you." ("I eau, alter the lid somehow,") he thought to hire self with a, sudden inslsirat on, " aud time them up innocently one way or another with froth rhymes, So as to lave no apewiai apnlicebill- ty of any snort to auybody or anything utay. where iu particular `,l " Thank you," 'Winifred replied, with evident pleasure. "1 should tike that ever so mueh better. It'll be So Vies to have a poet's vereee written mut for cue's self in his awn handwriting." " You do me too much honor," Hughg answered with his meek little bow, " I don't pretend to be is poet at all;; :l'tu oily a versifier." They joined the old folks in time by the yawl. The Squire was Anxious to get back to hie garden now ---he foresaw rain in the sky to westward. Hughlaneed heatiiy at hie watch with a ssi h. ""Linnet bo Going back too," he cried,. It'a nearly five now ; we cant be ep at the village till abr. Post goes out sit snug, they say, and I hex* a hook to review be- fore post -time. It must positively reach town not later than to -morrow morning. And what's worse, I haven't yot ao touch as begun to dip into it." " But yon eau never read it and review it too in three hours 1" Winifred exclaimed. aghast. "Precisely so." Hugh answered, in his jaunty way, with a stilled yawn; "and therefore 1 propose to omit the reading as a very unnecessary and wastetul preliminary It niton prejudices one against a book to know what's in it. You approach a work you havoo't rear with a tided nnbiaeed byy preconceived impressions. Besides, thin is only athree volume novel; they're alt alike; it doesn't matter, You can say the plot ie crude and ill-conetruoted, the dialogue feeble, the descriptions vile, the situations borrowed, and the eharaoters all mere con- ventional pnppeta. The same review will do equally wellfor the whole stupid lot of them. I usually follow Syd- noy Smith's method in that matter : 1 cut a few pages at random, here and there, and then smell the paper -knife." "But is that jest 1" Elsie asked quietly, a alight shade coming over her earneatface, " My dear Mies Challoner," Warren Reif put in hastily, " have you known Messinger ao many years without finding out that he'a always a great deal better than he himself pretends to be? I know him well enough to feel quite confident he'll read every word of that novel through to -night, if he site up till four o'clock in the morning to do it; and he'll let the London people have,bheir review in time, if he telegraphs up every blessed word of it by special wire tomorrow morn- ing. His wickedness is always only his brag; his goodness he hides carefully under his own extremely capacious bushel.' The heiress of Whitestrand stroked her friend') hair with a sigh of relief. That sigh was bl *d. Girl though she was, she might clearly have seen with a woman's stinct that Elsie's flushed cheek and down. cast eyes belied to the utmost her spoken word. But *the did not see it, All preoc- capled aa abe wag with her own thoughts - and her own wishes, she never observed at all those mute: witnesses to Ride's leveler he handsome cousin. She was satisfnedut her heart with Hughand Eisie'e double verbal denial. She said so bereelt with a thrill is her own soul, as a girl will do in the first fall flush of her earliest p;salon Then I may love him if I like 1 I may make him love mei It wen's bit wrong to. Elsie for me to love him 1.' (eo ee t'JZiTe'i sp ) Browning, the poet, who is Q and looks only 40,y that London has, always been his favorite dwelling piece, Airs, Robert Louis Stevenson is several pont elder than her husband. She has a. daughter by a former busbend who is now a e. suceessfut artist in San Francisco, Edith Martineau, the "Liege of Harrier M. atrtinean,-has been elected a member of the Royal Sactety of Water t.olexiate. Her pictures allow premoutllced,;,salsa as well as hard work. Mien Linda Gilbert who has done so utuola toward prison reform, says thiet durlug liar fifteen years' experience as a philatathrop• est she ha found employment for 0,C004111, charged prisoners. Mr, Ifanzaen, a well know Norwegian athlete, is about to melte the attempt of erosa- lag the vasal snow Gelds of Crreenland an, snuw shoes, wealthy Dauinb merchant bar supplied matey .fof the unique enter - prim. Tho Rev. Carrie 3. Bartlett, who used to. he a Minaeapolia newspaper woman, has been for nearly two years the pastor of a Unitarian Church at Sioux Falls, Minn., and under her ministration the congregation Teas', steadily increased. The Veer reeently ordered that ell Emden ordcreand medals should reek sbeerefereimi deooratiaus, Haber Prederiek reepoudid by direetiug that the I'.usaiau (*1St, Uearge and the Auetrieu order of filaria Theresa ar to be worn before any Prorates civil order Oen. Boulanger goes to the barber ono a week, pave the artist 1Q francs, and gives. u francs to the aaasiztan , Se never spealts, and the barber, kriowiti ; his preference, dote. net presume to open a convernatiou. Tb shop fencer the Lettere. AToronto man, rummegingin a junk -shop, invested two dollars bat week 1u an old, dirty, and battered portrait of Reherb Burn', to discover ea eleaniug it that 11 was a painting from life by .Sootiand's famous artistBaeburn. We now valuedat$1Q,L00, mid is to be sent to Seethed. The Jwaa1al deo. Dt13 ei, commenting upon Mr. Smith's complaint in the English Parliament against the immense sale of Zclass works in Ragland, ass that there are plenty of good French hooka sent to England from France, but if the English prefer the bad ones, mare is the pity. Some of the doctors of the States are not trying overmuch to keep uwith the pro - greet of the age. Dr. I.. W. Fox of Phila- delphia, some time ago perforiued the deli- cate operation in aurgery of tranaplantingthe eornca of,a rabbits eye to a human eye, and the American Medical Mon's Association invited him to prepare a pier on the sub- ject to be read at their convention held last week in C lcoinnati. He accept, and werit West to the convention with a carefully prepared history of his work. But when be Fox offered in the convention the paper he had been invited to write, the other don - tors voted that " professional etiquette,' prohibited ata going into the minutes. Tho reason given for this remarkable anub was that it had been found that Dr. Fox had. berm guilty of submitting to an interview by a newspaper reporter on the aubjeot of hia wonderful operation. Hugh laughed. "As you knowme so mach better theta know myself, my dear boy," he replied easily, " there's nothing more to be said about it. I'm glad to receive so good a oharacter from a connoisseur in human na- ture, 1 really never knew before what an amiable and estimable member of society hid himself under my rugged and unpropos- seasing exterior." And as he said it, he drew himself up, and darting a laugh from the corner of those sad blackeyes, looked at the moment the handsomest and most utter- ly killing man in the county of Suffolk. When Elsie and Winifred went up to their own rooms that evening, the younger girl slipping into Eleie's bedroom for a mo- ment, took her friend's hands tenderly in her own, and looking long and eagerly into the other's eyes, said at last in a quick tone of unexpected discovery : "" Elsie, he's aw- fully nice looking and awfully clever, this Oxford cousin of yours. I' like him im- mensely." • Elsie brought bade her eyes from infinity with a sudden start. "I'm glad you do, dear," she .said, looking down at her kindly. "I wanted you to like him. I should be dreadfully disappointed, in fact, if you didn't. I'm exceedingly fond of Hugh, Winnie."compromis- Winifred paused for a second significant- • ly; then she asked point blank; "Elsie, are yon engaged to him?" " Engaged to him.!' My darling, what ever made you dream of such a thing ?— Engaged to Hugh 1 --engaged to Hugh Mas. singer 1 -Why, Winnie, you know he's my own cousin." " But you don't anawermy question plain- ly," Winifred persisted with. girlish deterrn• ination. " Are you engaged to him or are you note" Elsie, mindful of Hugh's frequent declar- ations, answered boldly (and not quite un- truthfully) ; "•No, I'm not, Winifred." A Washington Sensation. A lady well known in moiety created a sensation at a reception in Washington a few weeks ago by appearing in an armour of jewel. A two-hundreduwd-forty-thousand- dollar necklace encircled her throat. She wore a flair of earrings said not to be equalled in America. Her bodice was aper - feet masa of jewels. Her gems glittered in the gaslight like raindrops in the tun The design oi_ many of them was unique. One splendid spray represented a cluster of wild roses, five petals of each rose being five diamonds of similar size and shape. Another was a spray of fuchsias, formed of hundreds of small and large diamonds, about a dozen huge stars, and almost as many crescents. She also wore an open fan covered with dia- monds in her hair. Each side of the fan showed fifteen raised plaits, and the whole were studded with diamonds. beautifully matched in colour and size. The gems in the raised plaits wero larger than those which enriched the depressed ones, and stones upon the comb ranged in size from one to five carats each. $40,000 Lost. "I;Lost fortythousand dollars by:a periodi- cal attaof forty, ck nervous sink headache," said a Chicago capitalist to a correspondent, pointing across the street to a handsome corner lot. " That lot was sold for ten thousand dollars at public auction five years ago, and I intended to buy it, but was too sick with headache to atte,id the, male, and it isnow worth fifty thousand dollars." It he had known of Dr. Pierce's Purgative Pellets they would haveremoved the cane of hie headaches—biliousness—and he would have made the money. Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Purgative Pellets cure sick headache, bilious headaohe, dizziness, ;constipation, tindiges- tion, and bilious attacks ; 25 cents a vial, by. druggists: Small mantels of embroidered cashmere or sheer white muslin, will be fashionable this summer. :000 Reward. The former proprietor of Dr. Sage's Ca- tarrh Remedy, for years made a standing, public offer in all American newspapers of $500 reward for a case of catarrh •that he could not aura. The present proprietors have renewed this offer. All the drug- gists sell this Remedy, together with the " Douche," and all other appliances advised to be used in connection with it. No catarrh patient is longer able to say " I cannot be cured." You get $50D in case of failure,