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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1888-7-19, Page 2TilE THREAD OF .LIE OR, SUNSHINE AND SRADE. OhfAhrEll, X, —Sunemano rs• pee, The day leeti been AA eventful one for Hugh Meeebeger ; the meet eireethal in pregneet of hie whole history, As loeg he lived, he veuld uever possibly for.gee it. It was Mcleod A crideal turniog-point for three eeperete lives—hie owe, end Edeleht and Winifred etleyeeyei, For„ aa Itugli had welted -diet morainge st:ek hand awl orchie bbritteehele, down be voee-embow- ered lane in the Seabee shineeds with Wini- fred, he hest askee the frightened, blushing girl, in simple and ateaightforward lamgu. age, witheut any preliminary, to hem:nse toe wife. ilia by iish was faerty beeked at leet, he thought now t. tie need for daintily eying hie cetell any lorrxer s it was bat a quti eson, as thInge stead's, of reel Anti of lauding -feet. Tine fatber and mother, those imaertaut mtemeories, were pretty sefe their way taoiie bed yowled them both by unoletresivemethods., with dex- tgress plammete eldieue ingeity, end had geughd their. prefeendest deptbe epieiou with telerablenecumey, as.to eettle- merits aral other ante-ruptial preeentraese 0 marriage. For whet ie theme ofcetehe ing ke4reAS VOW Own red, if yew heir- eefe perenem open wheee testamentely dis- peeitien he the lee% lessee her eutire niew het ihlue reed, dewed; leek eeleauce with ONeS of obvtene aletaveur upon your proem- preteueioue ae their future sou -in-law ? Hugh hieefieger awe keee eneuede gyrate - magi in hie 'to MAC quite eure et mitting hewn f to dueh•ebet cartridge, Iftt - For at; yet Wm hereelf saspected n Wee emilident he "mew growed maw ; - " theme It wall best Ifuet the lit die e bald two And 4 Intatfit ASSUrAnCt4 " — °. watered, ane ei few in and well-ehosen weed; eemineuti We eat, he band, aud. heert to Whilfreel hieyeefte favourable ettentiere 1 . tlille feorsethepepaded. aujaptiatnodokkihsseerdbLer4 gullibeitslynokee e a erether. Elsie let it lie inher Own with - remonstrance. They rOBe and walked ia lovers guise along the hat* together. 1 Hes hoot sanle within Idea at the hideous teak he had nexe to perforni—uothius lees than to break peer blisieas her t for her. If ooly he could halm eheilled out of it .iele., feud of him, nuileniehly fond of hint anal he waTa anYhc'ar But 411'11111V 'was iml"s4' had. perhapi from tune to time, by avert acts, withal* encoaraged the eliaplay of her fondness. gratified his vanity and aie sense of hi$ own. power over women to do so; he could melte ;hem love him—few man, more eaelly—end he liked to exercise that deagerotis faculty on every suitable object that flitted acmes his changeful horizee. The leen with a mere passion, for maklug emiqueete afforde serioue menace to the wericlai liappiness ; hut the man with an ienate gift ter calkieg forth wherever he goes all the deepest said trueet in- atiaCtS 44 A awe:emelt netuze, le—when he abuses hie power—the meat deadly, terrible, and erne,- ereature heettne in our age to eivillecti humanity. And yet he is not elwaye deliberately cruel ;sometimes, aa la Hugh Maesingeee cage, be Almost be - neves himeelf to be good and immeent He heel werned Winifred to whisper noth- fog for the preeent to Elele alfout ehie en- gegetneet ef ehetre. Etsie WAS WS Cousin, he eald—ble ouly relatien—eed he would dearly like to te 1 her the secret of bie bear himself privete, Re wculd tee leer that enlog and break eheleeWei to bar. "Wbv break it 1° Winlir4 Weed in doubt, all unceneeleua And Hugh, A etraege 41113. premed amile playieg eiwaelly etotit the eorame of bite thin lips. bad miewered with guiteleee eleerity ef tipeeely " Beeewee Etelehilike 4 ulster to rne, you 'ham, Wilda feed ; toed eteters alweye to genie exteet ideexptmzed befeee irrevocealy cone- t°14't t'" ba" tde4 b1.4/4r4 rP141.47' Aiwa suspeet melon. That was a ear- 41a4peint in hie eeeyssolog praetical ophy pini - d life. He ewer went heig.way to went trouble. TM Winifred had oceeptet him, wby worry poor dear Ehle'a gentle lit- tle seal with whet; was, after all, A mere re- mote chance, a contingeut peseibility I lie would firat melee (pike sure, by actual trial where he stood with Winifred ; tent then then, like a thunderbolt, from a (deer Shy, be might let the whole truth buret in foll fOrCO at eine tepee neer 1MSOly Ehtlee devoted, head. Meeiewitile, with ex- traordtmery eleveriteee and Pre, be eoutle. mei to flieeerable. He sever made epee lov to Wittlfreel before Elsie ; en the e'en- rary, he kept the whole emelt comedy of iderelatioes with Wielfred se ekillully eon- cealed teem her iemieine eyee, that to the re bet nutineut E'lele never even dresemte r pretty nuell Ms A 'possible rival, or re. gardeu her la any other conceivable light 413U as the neereet of friende and the deareee ef sisters, Whenever Hugh &poke of Willi - feel lea Elele at ell, be epoke of her light] almost elightingly, as a nice little girl, her ebildiele way—though meeh too blue It was a greet Migrirae1 and be felt it an emit. He was noeitively throwing hew eelf away epee Wiulfred, If he had fol. lowed biz etvu ertide ittellnatioes alone, litre xemeetie eetweihoy, be weeld !Ave waited for ever aud ever for hie emirate Mei; Hob woe indeed the (Me ttASIOVO ot hie youth. rieltadedwaheloved, Ione and :be w4atd o1ev4ri love her. 'Twas pedal; to indulge overfeed& he theie per - atonal Iprefereeeme but after all It was very bearers; med Heel: eohnowledged regretfully in /dee= bee.xesileet be wee not eutirely raleed In thee reeset Awe the average level of Ileum weelteeze. Still, a male, howeverhumeumente. meat ret he governed Ity impale* alone. He meet 3utige deliberately, impereoually, disintereeted of laie own future_ , and must act for the beet in the hog run by.the light of hie own final endiudlinal lti-ow Winifred wae witheut doubt a very excfplioneland He hated himself; and he loved Elsie. Never till that moment del he knOW hew be loved her. This, would never do 1 Ile wae feelleg likee fool. He cruthed down the love sternlyin hie heart, wo, bean to talk i about edifferent eubjeota—the wind, the rLer, the eose-shovr at the vicatage. Bet his voIce trembled, betraying; bine atilt agaitiet hie will; awl he coal4 nOt refrein from atealieg sidelong looks at Elsie's dark eyes eew end again, ebeerving hew beeuti- ful she was, after all, in a ravened, expiate thlie of beauty. Winifred's blue eyes and light brown hair, Wielfrecra emelt mouth %Id moulded nose, Winifrerre inaiid einile and beehive blush, cheep as dirt in the mat- rimonial lottery. She bed but A dolldike Lowther Arcade etyle of prettleaso Maid! enly as elle looked, Dee twist more of her zweee„ one shade lighter in leer hair, end she would become stately beemeidertly. Bet etrorig end nowerful, eeeneet face, with lee sSrioUS live and ita lees; black eyehebes ite nrefeend -pathos awl its womanly digiatty, its very irregularitY and thultieeni of entline, pleaeed hire ten 03945444 times more than all you, aeby.aea_ ed Ineutiee of the Cenveational, etereetyned, beltreoua petterii. He looked at her len', AtVil Slated oftem Meet he really Weak her heart for her ? lest he could reetrale Viet unruly member, his Novae, oo toeger, Elele,° be cried, eyeing her hilt in A gO nine outburet efepee:44'4MM admire -gen, "1 never he my life mw any oue anywhere ontelmit mo beentifel and grAgoilll 44 yen ere I" Elsie amilede plheeedindle. "And yet," she murmared, wtth e haihmalieiouta team tone et irony, "we're not eogeged, gh, after all, pee remember," Her worde mem at the very '4701% Sat. they 'brought the hot bleed at 4 rusk into 111381fo cheele, "No," he weed coldly, with a saddeu re- Isien end a epeemodie effort; " wee engeeeetle—oor ever will be, Melo e turned Inntad ;meet tine with midden ,jicee in blank bewilderment, She no attely ; tut WAS eteeneteedslied ;ala 414 eltegether ro ta,kein hieweam ad elwaye muted to her ea per- ao eiroply obvioun thee ate eh were ASS3Zer or later to MUTT' oeo to bed alwaye merited Hugh% intact' Omit they were ane ea- rAISII 4 mere playful waralug much precipiteney ; ebe had al- it for granted, ett fully auel ly diet whenever 1113811 WAS eegh to previtle for e wife he would so plainly, wed carry out the fee d engagement between them—that ide teuldeu ereemencement of the met mike mint to her earelees time nothium w, when Hugh uttered those creel, ng, annihilating words, "Nor ever be, Mich" she contain% peesibly Woe heir reality at the firat blush, or ewe be her owe tweet that be really led'auythIng ea wicked, to merellees, to Murat, Nor ever svM be 1" She cried, increau- lone, "Why, Hugh, Ilugh,—I dou't un- deratand you." Hugh steeled his heart with a violent strain to Dower back in ono curt, killing eeatenee ; "1 mean it, Elsie ; I'm Ow to many Winifred." Eleic gazed baele at him in speechlese ter - prise. 'Going to matey Winifred 1" else echeed at bet vaguely, after a long reuse, a if the weirdo conveyed no meariug to her mind. "Going to merry Winifred ? Ta marry Winifred did you really and truly eay you were " gotug to inarzy Wini- fredi chellea ter on brIcdees berreeter ; yeur mesh- 1 --with a cart of diatent breed wad- lej Peet tleeea"t Sot auah abluou otinc cin j butterlah coltooli•eem epprobation, (limited lielresa everY dhY of the weeks you wholly raided and hoodwinked Elsie meg Ulm your slielevit It he let her filip by en dentinteritAl grounds, end welted for Elge—poor dear old Eiele—heeven ouly knew how long they might both hewn to wait for one euother—endperheps even then be finally diaeppointed. It wee afoolith dream on Eleieh pert ; for, te say the truth, he himself bra mover entertained it. The meet :merciful thiug to Wale herself would be to =tap it short now, once for all, before thinge went further, end let bateau(' few to face with naked bets ; ale how hideout reeked 1—let her know she newt either leo out another busload somewhere for hersa, or go on (tuning her own livelihood, in maid- en meditation fancy free, for the remainin term of her natural existence. Hugh caul never help cueing -up a subjcht, however uupleesant, even in hie own mind, -with a poetical tsg; it was A trick of manner his J learned the whole truth, refuse to merry soul had °Aught !tallith() wonted peroration hen f his °Mica' leaders in the first editorial Nonsense—nousonso. No came for alarm. to to hie real intentions. And when - over beer:Ike of lade to Winifred, he evoke of herjeetIngly, with a good-humored, un - ramming, brotherly affection that made th very notion of Inc ever centemplating mar. riege with her more simply ridiculous, She was to Wm indeed as the deeemed wifeht elder 15 in the eye of the law to the Brithti widower. With his my, off -hand Loudon Ovulates, he had bellisd awl deceived both these innocent, ample -minded, trotted we. men; and he awed face to hum MA' With a general eciaireisseetent whieh coult no long- er be delayed, but whose ultimate cense- quences might perhape prove fatal to all hie little domestic arrangements. Would Eleie in her anger eat Winifre.d against him? Would Winifred, justly in- digoaut at his conduct to Bleb, when site e • Re sat down, unnanunoCi, on the grass by the begin She seated herself by his sale, mechanically as it were, with her hand oa lifis arm, and looked straight in front of bet with 4 vacant stare at the envy water. It was growing dark. The shore was dark, end the sea, and the elver. Everything was dark and black and glowey armed She had nothing to live for. There was no Hahh and she had net killed herself. These two dim thoughts were the last she lteew asber eyes Wooed in the mettle.' cur- rent: there bad never been litigiZ and she had fallen in by accident. (Ta res coserreatere) her. She laid his hand one moment in her SL -t MONSTeltSs 'btu' with appealing pathos, yon den't mean own. " Hugh 1" 0/30 cried, turniug towards it Tem ; yen. will never Renee it Yinthei me 11.)31 that 1 You're ye -emelt still. ft. (Strange See, raSneeere, iugh, darling, yon .C.413 never meanett Her words beret lido tete Wein like 11- q04. fire I the. better malt within .hite groan ed. Awl faltered ; but he erelleed it down with AU iron keel. The demon of everlen ouly seyleg to try' and prove me. Tell Om/ gots Otho $`141$ yet akttotruee A. few yeers ego A gen Monster, coreem pondieg in eppencaece to the famed sea eerpent, es .efree described (which le net eeying tiLat ehe creentre was A SOrpSlat)4 was lien hy Cepa .Austin. Copper ,Aucl the held his eordicl geld. "My child," he lead, • offieere and crow et the (.-erleele Conti; with 4 feeder inflection In 114 INIAA AA he thee homed for Mellno. me, A &aeries -roe seid it. "we meet =aerate -end, .orte another, eett 4.4tele of thernee.mr epRgAredin the . do serionely intend to merry MI mitred Argus. On Sept. 11, at 1O A. ht, the third Minieey." Whyr eeaeor of the British steemthip Ne$tOrs 44 There was a terrible depth of suppressed then in the hfeleeee Streite, Announced* arneetuess in thee ebara alert Tay, wrung shoal. Surprieed to 4nd 4 ShOal in anClA ant of her by anguish, as of a woman who well -hewn track, Capt. Webeter evetehed aelcs the reason ef her death -warrant, the oblent And fond thatis was in motien. If gab Mansinger Answered it ;slowly keeping up the same speed ee the ahip And and, awkwardly with cumbrous retina- retaining abcitt the same distance as wh*a alat*at* eelf-exculpatieg verbosity. AS Brat seen. " The abepe et the ereatore," for Elsie, ehe sot like A St4t134 and lie- Reid the Captain lin an aalavit before felted; elged and sinterevable, she *et there 10,44511a Sterooe oetieg LwSg'zretrarY to atiU; while Ilagb, for the verr, first time he the Dantieti Supremo Caurt at Steteghaila her whole expellees; revealed the weal "1 weedd compare to that of a gimantle rieTrireeveeftrelewend/7fee° ;ere; e4nPillilleete4eaa faztJt-st Niveloolgrifurbtowestafeectotrawthael et his peeitlen, ide prospeeta, hie abilities, own wesebeha the waver, 'tried in vein to life Milted of joureediere, of the bee, 9f pre inabe Ont 1110 lAtT114" „he prieol, "bat motion, Ile talked -a litereture, of reveres mmwotmwnaC va "a 4?3Q'w w4ter, el fame. ale 'waked ea namey, pad jitn 4b3n. Tiga 110.11. WAS 1111111S414tly COnnenteal with tete *teed te men and woman ta thine let- the hoilY trlt4out oeY lediehtiolt a a MO. er days of ours. Re talked of Wianitred, of The hefty was ebene forty -se er fifty feet Whiteetreud, eed of the hleyeey mem- long feed Om or el Shape perfeetly emeeth, home. It'll he beet in thia end for nu beth, hot there rilaYeK' hale'e bean a alight 314,40 41Q4Z yea huow, he ;Mid areeneseetatively, the ePleet UVav4 rc" sumo Rea foci ide fOOliSh riemnatole, =Melting her above the ear4we, 40 IPIPiguo tail 150'. OPSO for gemething like mewilling feet la leegthe Togs A few Ineltee above the nee, "Qi ceurao 1 ehell atilt be very water. TAIS taU saw dietinetly from its of you, as always been food ef lanai= with th§ body toite enteemitys it—like a eelleite only—andIll be %brother It eeetued eelindrieel, with n very eligie yen now as long As I live and wheel tepee, and 1 eetiniete ite dineleter At tag feet. The body end, tail were teethed with Wonfred end / ere ......1..maned, and I live here at II hitestrawl, I then. be eble to do alternate bende er stripes, blecle And Pale greet della mere for you, and help you by very =?.1411 isr my pewer, Ana 341tr4011CO freely into our own circle, en dif- rent term; yea heow, where you'll c14433CSS of meetiug—well, cent:able US. Yoe =1St KO YOUrtrat WSJ tb9 t Mug for ue beth. The Nee of two peouileee pee* litto yea and me raerryleg qn0 matter he the preeeut etete efeitelety le ehoply ridieulleueh fe Ste 'tweed him oat to the hitter etch re- eling the netted &fertility of hie kneel , *tenet her brae reeled at it, whit- e() peniog weld of repreeele or elievent, ehe eeid inan ley 'Nue of teeter horror; gh r. Ice, Elsie." 44 Is that all ?" "Thetis all." Aud yas mean 11 V " 1 MOJA ft," "Oh, for Ifeaveuha eekehbefore you me outeight,Hugh, Hugh 1 es it refill; Ira Aro you really like that 1 Do you really mean it ?" "1 realty mean to niarry Winifred." Mete eleeped ber -two halide on. either shle et her head, as if to hold it together from berating with her agony. "litett aiim cried, "it's foolieh, I know, biz I ask you once more, before ithi toe late, in sight of Heaven, I eels you nolemuly, aro you geriouely te rerneati IS Mkt what you re made of ? Aro you going to desert me ? To &sere and betray- me? ' "I don't know what you mean," Hu column of that exalted print, the Aforeting :Ccierhone. So he :wide up his roind ; and be 'propped to Winifred. The aters heart gave a suaden bound, and the Tea blood flushed her somewhat pallid cheek with hasty roses we ehe listened to Hugh's graceful and. ems; avowal of the pro. found aud unfeigned. love that he proffered her. She thought of the poem Hugh had read her aloud in his sonorous tones the evening before—much virtuelin a judiciously ;selected passage of poetry, well marked in dehvery ; "He flees net love me for myhirto, Nor for inroads so broad and fait; He loves me for inl; own true worth, And that is well,' said Lady Clare. That was how Hogh Maesinger loved her, she was quite -sure. End he not trembled and hesitated to ask ber? Her bosom flut- tered -with a delicious flutterhig ; but she cast her eyes down. and answerea nothing for a brief apace. Then her heart gave her courage to look up once more and to mur- mur back, in answer to his pleading look: "Hugh, I love you." And Hugh, carried away not ungractfully by the impulse of the moment, felt his own heart thrill responsive to hers in real earnest, and in utter temper - Ary forgetfulness of poor betrayed and abandoned Elsie. They walked back to the Hall together next minute, whispering low, in the fool's paradise, indeed, for those two poorllovers, whose wooiag set out under - such evil auspices. But whenlingh had left his landed prey at • the front door of the square -built manor• house,and strolled off by himself towards the village inn, the difficulty about Elsie for the first time began to stare him openly in the face in all its real and horrid magni- tude. He would have to confess and to ex- plain to Elsie. Wore° still, for a man of his mettle and Lis sensitiveness, he would have to apologize for and excuse his own conduat. That was unendurable—that was ignominious—that was even absurd. Hie virility kicked at it. There is something essentially insulting and degrading to one's manhoccl in having to tell a girl you've pre- tended to love her—that you only care for her in a sisterly fashion. It is 'practically to unsex one's self. A pretty girl appeals quite otherwise to the man that is in as. Hugh felt it bitterly and. deeply—for him- self, not for Elsie. He pitied his own sled plight most eincerely. But then, there was poor Elsie to think of too. No use in the world in blinking that. Elsie loved him very, very dearly. True, they had never been engaged to one another—so great is the love of consistency in mane that even alone in the real estate market, He was bound in his own mind Hugh continued to bug that by contract to Winnifred now and he must translucent fiatieu ; but she had been very do his »est to break 11 gently tit Elsie. He had never really berm engaged to Elsie—he had mid Ito to her Luca thou - amid times. If Elsie chose to misinter- pret his hie& attentions, bestowed upon ber solely as his am relnaining con= and kinswoman, the only other ehannel for the blood of the Massbagers, surely. Winifred would never be so foolish as to fall blindly into Elsiels self imposed error, and to bold him to a bargain he had ever and over again expressly repudiated. Re was a barrister, and he knew his ground in these matters. Chitty on Contract Lays it down as an estab- lished principle of English law that free constant of both parties forme a condition precedent and essential part of the very ex- ietence of a compact of marriage. With such transparent internal sophisms did Hugh Isfassinger strive all day to stifle and smother his own sonscience ; for every man. always at least pretends to keep up ap- pearances in his private relations with that domestic censor. But as evening came on, cigarette in mouth, he strolled round after dinner, by special appointment, to meet Elsie at the big poplar. They often met there, these warm summer nights; and on this particular occasion, witicipating trouble, Hugh had definitely arranged with Elide beforehand to come to him by eight at the accustomed trysting-place. The Meerseys and Winifred had gone out to dinner at a neighboring vicarage; but Elsie had stopped. se home on purpose, on the hasty plea of some slight passing headache. Hugh had specially asked her to wait and meet him. Better get it all over at once, he thought to himself, in his short. sighted wisdom—like the measles or the chicken-pox—and know straight off exactly where he stood in his new positicn with these two women. Women were the greatest nuisance in life. For his own part, now he came to look the thing squarely in the face, he really wished he was well quit of them all for good and ever. He was early for his appointment ; but by the tree he found E aie, in her pretty white dress, already waiting for him, His heart gave a jump, a pleased jump, as he eaw her sitting there before her time. Dear, dear Elsie; she was very, very fond of him 1 He would have given worlds to fling his arms tight around her then, and strain her to his bosom and kiss her, tenderly. He would have given worlds, but not his reversionary chances in the Whitestreeid property. Worlds don't 'coinit ; the entire fee -simple of Mars mid Jupiter would fetch nothing 11 "I proposed to her this morning," Hugh answered outright, with a choking throat and glassy eye; "and alio accepted me, Elsie ;so 1 mesa to merry her." " Hugh 1" She uttered only that ono Alert word in a cone of awful and unapeakablo agony. But her bent brows, her pallid fa,herhusky voice, her startlee attitude, said more then a thousand words, however wild, could pos- sibly: have said for her. Sho took it in dimly and imperfectly iron'; she began to grasp what Hugh, was talking about; but as yet she could not understand to the full all the man's profound and unfathomed infamy. She looked at him feebly for some word of explanation. Surely he muse have some deep had subtle reason of his own for this astomahing act and fact of furtive treachery. Some horrible combination al adverse eireumstaneee, about which she knew and could know nothing, must have driven him against his will to this incredible solution of an inaoluble problem. He could not of his own mere motion have proposed to Winifred. She looked at, him hard: he quailed before her mutiny. "I love you, Elsie," he burst out with an irresistible impulse at last, as she gazed through and through him from long black lashea Elsie laid her hand on his shoulder blind- ly. "Yon love me," she murmured. "Hugh, Hugh, you etill love me?' "1 always loved you, Elsie," Mu& an- swered bitterly with a sudden pang of ab- ject remoras; and as long as I live I shall always love you" "And yet —you are going to marry Winifred !" " Elsie I You and I were never engaged." She turned round upon him fiercely with a burst of horror. He, to take refuge in that hollow excuse! "Never engaged 1" she cried, aghast. "You mean it, Hugh—you mean that mockery ?—And I, who would have given up my life for love of you 1" He tried to assume a calm judicial tone. " Let us be reasonable, Elsie," he said, with an attempt at ease, "and talk this matter over without sentiment or hysterics. You knew very well I was too poor to marry; you knew I always said we were only cousins; you knew I had my way in life to make. You could never have that thought I seriously dreamt of marrying you." Elsie looked up at him with a soared white face. That Hugh should descend to such transparent futilities; "This is all new to me,' she moaned out in a dazed voioe. "All, all—quite, quite new to me." Elsie, I've said it over and over a thousand times before." She gazed back at him like a stone. "Ah, yes ; but till to.day," she murmured slow- ly, "you never, never, never meant it." 111 yellow in color. The atrapee were distitiet to the very extremity of the tell. I can- vey whether the tell tenth -Med in a uot. The creetere poeiesind no dee ddlmiee fax am we ceold perceive. I tey if it bail lege. It AlsrtArefl te by 11174.'Ina of ree tuideletery melee ail its vettivel plasm." be remembered that in I$73 cettletleh wee elIMAltered iy 01244 ia Cameeptitie Eay,Newtauad. attenhed, the ereeture threw eereee the Determaree beet, unwed 45 a veritable et the fitherilleu cut tett widele the wittly vegerdiug adieuas nutair. Thie tentaele a dive lime in lemetli ; and as the geberenen contidered that it W4.1 ent off fully ten feet from the burly, the entice length cif the tentaele neat Woe been about thinnetive feet. They eetimeted the bogy at eiXty feet la length ausl five feet in, diernet r In Ditil the *each war ateanier Aleetre uutered re moneter cuttle zrteea ahaut mita northeast of Tenetifile The crew nous enema the bo ly, but uufortuto It elipped to the tett, which it pulled ', The weight of :hie little bit of the creature wee found to be peer forty pounds. It was eetimated that the bidy was f 011eet long and the weight not len than 4,C00 poled% The most remarkableaecount of astencer er oi thie kind was that given by tain and eilisere of the Pauline. ib was sworn to o e oath by George Drover, tho Captain ; °ratio Thompeen, chief mete ; John Letts doll; Emma mete, and by the etoward and 4 mum. On July S we observed three large 'Term whales, eta of whieli was gripped round the body by two turns of o het appeared to be a huge serpent. The head and tailappear- el to haven length heyend the eoils of about thirty free, and a girth of eight or nine feet. The creature whirled the whale round and round for ebent fifteen minutes end then suddenly dragged it to the hat= bead!. first. Fi ve days Ines the sante ore Deuce, or n, aiue ilex one, was seen about two hundred yards; from theeltaderliagalong the surface, bead end neck being out of the water. Only Capt. Dreyer and an ordinary seaman sew this. Bat a few rainutee later the Captain first mate, and two seamen saw the monste;e raise its neck and head above the water to a height which they eatiinated at sixty feet. Some ten years ago Commandant Villen- euve and the offcere of the French mareof- war the Lendre sa'sv a creature correspond- ing in appearance with the eon Retreat travelling rapidly along, the head slightly raised above the water, and with a sort of mane streaming backward, while the back , of a long body could be seen under thin( water. A creature exactly answering to ' this description was seen by Major James Harding, then an officer in the King of Vigis's army, passing within a few yards of his cenoe, and swimming towards a milli island outside Suva, Bay, known as the home of the Big Snake. Captain the on. George! Hope of the British ship Fly, when in the Gulf of California, the sea being unusually calm and transrparent saw at the bottom a( large marine animal with the head and general figure of an alligator, but be neok much longer, and with four lag/ paddles instead of legs. anawered atenily, rifting ae if to go—for li could tand It no longer. "I've never bee engaged to you. I (thwarts told yon so. owe you nothing. And now X mean t marry Winifred. With a cry of agony, she buret wildly away from him. She Neve it all non'; the underatood to the full the ornelty awl base - nese of the m AU'S innermoat underlying na- ture. Fair ontelde ; htte false, false, false to the mare 1 Yet even so, she could ecarco- ly believe it The faith of a lifetime fauvist hard for life in her. Ile, that Hugh she haft loved and trusted—he, the one Hugh in all the univeree — he to east her off with sucheal- lous selfishness 1 to turn upon her non' with hisemp phrase/0 He to mid and betray her for a Winifred and a manor houee 1 Oh, the guilt and the min of it 1 Her head reel- ed and swam round deliriously. She mrd. ly knowwhatshefeltordid. Madwithagony, love, and terror, she rushed away headlong from his polluted presence—not from Hugh, but from this fallen mol. He saw her white dress disappearing fast through the deep gloom in the direction of the poplar tree, and he groped his way after her, almost as mad as herself, struck dumb with remorse and awe and. shame at the ruin he had visibly and instantly wrought in the fabric of that trustful girl's whole being. One moment she fled and stumbled in the dark along the grassy path toward the roots of the poplar. Then he caught. a glimpse of her for a eeeond, dimly silhouetted in the faint starlight, a wan white figure with outstretched arms against the black horizon. She was poising, irresolute, on the gnarled roots. It was buil for the twinkling of an eye that he saw her; next instant, is splash, a gurgle, a shriek of terror, and he beheld her borne wildly away, a helpless burden, by that fierce current to- wards the breakers that glistened white and roared hoarsely in their savage joy on the bar of the river. In her agony of disgrace, she had fallen, rather than thrown herself be. ,As she stood there' undecided, on the slippery roots, withall her soul burning within her, her head swimming and her eyes dim, a' bruised, humiliated, hopeless creature, she had missed her foothold on the smooth worn stump, slimy with lichens, and raising her hands as if to balance herself, hal thrown herself forward, half wittingly, half unconsciously, on the tender mercies of the rushing stream. When she returned for a moment, a little later, to life and thought, it was with it swirling sense of many waters, eddying anni seething in mad con- flict round her faint numb form. Strange roaring noises thuhdered in her eax. A choking sensation made her gasp for breath. What the drank in with her gasp was not air, but water—salt brackish water, an over- whelming flood of it. Then she sank again, and was dimly aware of the cold chill ocean floating around her on everfaide. She took a deep gulp, and with it sighed out her sense of life and action. Hugh was lost to her, and it was all over. She could die now. My own belief is that some, at any rate of the stories relating to supposed sea sere pents are to be explained by the theory thee there still exist creatures such au Capt. Hope described—long-necked reptillian forms akiial to the Dolichodeiros of former ages. Such creatures would present all the characterial tics recognized in the so-called sea serpents.; Their paddles would enable them to wive= without perceptible undulation (which th sea Berpent has been observed to do, and which no actual serpentine creature could do). The great objection to this view lug been that we find no fossil plesiosaurs u tertiarytstrata. Bat this objection loses iti force when we note that the chimera a connecting link between the sharks an the sturgeons) is closely relatel to -forN' existing III the secondary era, while no tract of any of those forms has been found it the intermediate strata down to our owl time. The °Miners, certainly exists, for has been seen captured. It is exceeding rare, however, and tip to the beginning the.present century all the objections urg agaanst the Sea serpent might have b urged against the chimera.