HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1888-6-21, Page 2THE THREAD OF L
SUNS/UNE AND S
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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,