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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1888-8-2, Page 7THE THREAD OR SUNSHINE AND SHADE, GRAFTER XII.—Tzle PLOT IPi EXECU TION. Hugh hurried along the dike that bounded the salt - marsh meadows seaward, till he reached thepoint in hia march up where the aver narrowed abruptly into a mere third-class upland stream, There he jump- edin, and swam across, as well as he was able in the coil dark water, to the opposite bank. Onee over, he had still to straggle, as best he might through two or three swampy fields, and to climb a thickset hedge or ea -=regular bnllfineheaebefore he fairly gained the belated little high -road. Itis head swam. Wet and cold and miser- able without, be was torn within by conflicting passions; buthe walked firm and erect now along the winding read in the deep•gloom, fortunately never meet- ing a soul to the half -mile or ao of lonely way that lay between the point where he bad crossed the stream: and the Fisherman's Rest by the bank at Whitestrand. He was glad of that, for it was his cue now to escape obeervatien. In his own iniad, he felt him self a murderer; and every flicker of the wind among the honeysuclrle in the hedge, every rustle of the /eaves on the trees over- /read, every splash of the waves upon the distant shun, reale his heart flatter, and breath to short in response, though he gaaver no outer sign Qf fear or oompunotien in, hie Oven ./treatt and erect bemengi—the even tread and erect bearing of a proud, self•cotifident, English gentleman, Hew lucky that his railing} at the inn leappened to be placed on the ground -finer, true! that they opened by French windows down to the grimed on to the little gatelike 1 How bielty, too, that they lay on the hither' side of the door and the taproom, where leen were spitting late over their ring; of beer, singing mid rolholuog in vulgar mirth with their loud half Ibuish, Eaet•Anglian merriment ! Re stole through the garden on tiptoe, unperceived, and glided like a ghost into the tiny sitting -roam. The lamp burned brightly en the parlour table, as it bad burnt all evening, lin readfnesg for /tie arrival. He slipped quietly, on tiptoe still, lute the bedroom bellied, tweed off a Miff glesefal of brandy-asid-water cold, and chamg;ed ltfa elethea from bead to foot with ne much tweed and noiselesnese as cir;,nm- atancee permitted. Then, trending more easily, he went out onee more with a bold (rout into the other room, flung limaelf down at hie ease in the big armchair, took net a Welt, pretending to read, and rang the 111 with ostoutadu !demurour for the good andlady. Ilia Planwas metered rhwuld preened to put it luta execution. Thelandlady, a plentiful body of .about fifty, came in with evident aurpriam and hesitation. " Lord, air," she cried aloud in a slight 'flurry, to think of that now 1 I took it you. was oat ; an them men a-aingin g an ballyin' like that over there in the ber.reom 1 Stanneway he'll be downright angry when be duds you've come in an' all that noise groi& on in the'Qum, ea is Wrilly.reepectable. We never heerd you, nor knowod you was ire Tope you'll excuse them, air, beim' the fishermen from Suede, enjoyin thelreelves their own way In the cool o' the evontn'," Hugh, made a manful effort to appear un- concerned. "1 came in an hour ago or more," ho replied, emiling;— a eugar•o -lead sable. —' But pray, dont interfere with these good people's merriment for worlds, I beg of you. I ahould be sorry, indeed. if I thought I put a stopper upon anybody's in- nocent amusement anywhere. I don't want to be considered a regular kill-joy.—I rang the bell, Mxa. Stannaway, for a bottle of seltzer." It; was a simple way of letting them know be was really there.; and though the lie about the length of time he had been home was a fairly audacious one—for somebody might have comp in meanwhile to trim the lamp, or look if he was about, and so detect the falsehood—he caw at once, be Mra.. Stannaway'a face, that it passed muster with - cut rousing the slightest suspicion. " Why, William," he heard her my when she went out, in a hushed voice to her hue - band in the taproom, "Mr. Messinger, he's bin in his own room all this time, an' them men a-ehoutin' an' ewearin' out 'ere like a peek of savages." Then, they hadn't noticed bis absence, at, any rate 1 That was well. He was so far safe. If the rest of his plan held water equaliy, all might yet come right—and ho mighb yet succeed in marrying Winifred. To nave appearances—and marry Wini- fred J With Elsie still tossing on the break- ers of the bar, he had it in his mind to marry Winifred 1 When Mrs. Stannaway brought in the seltzer, Hugh Messinger moray looked up from the book he was reading with a plea- sant nod and a murmured " Thank you,' 'Twas the most he dared. His teeth chat- tered so he could hardly speak any further ; but ho tried with an agonized effort within to look as comfortst le under the circum- stances as possible. As soon as she was gone, however, he opened the seltzer, and pouring himself out a second strong dose of brandy, tossed it off at a gulp, almost neat, to steady his nerves for serious business. Then he opened his blotting -book, with a furtive glane to right and left, and took out a few stray sheets of paper—to write a letter. The first sheet had some stanzas of verse scrib- bled loosely upon it, with many corrections. Hugh's eyes unponsciously fell upon one of them. It read to him just then like an act of accusation. They were some simple lines describing some ideal utopian world—adream teethe future—and the stanza on which his glance lighted so carelessly ran thus :— But fairer and purer :till, True love is there to behold ; And none may fetter hie will With law or with gold : And none may sully hie wings With the deadly tint of the lust; But freest of all free things He soars from the dust, "With law or with gold," indeed 1 Fool! Idiot! , Jackanapes ! He crumpled the verses angrily in his hand as he looked, and flung them, with clenched tenth into the empty fireplace. His own words rose up in solemn judgment againet him and condemn- ed him remorselessly by anticipation. He had sold Elsie for Winifred's gold, and the Nemesis of his crime was already pursuing him like a deadly phantom through all hie waking moments. LIFE With a set cold look on his handsome dark face, be selected another sheet of clean white notepaper from the morocco -covered blon ting -book, anal then pulled, a bundle of old,worn-edged letterafrom bisbreast-poeket —a bundle of letters in a girl's hand. writing, secured by an Drastic Andes -rubber band, and carefully numbered with red ink from one to seventy, in the order they were received he Inugh was nothing, indeed, if not methodical. In his own way, he had loved Elsie, as well as he was capable of loving anybody a he had kept every word oho ewer wrote to him ; and now that she was gone --dead. and gone for ever -her let- ters were all he had left that belonged to tier. Ile laid one down on the table before bink and yielding to a momentary impulse of ecstasy, bee kissed It ,first with reverent tenderness, It was Elaie'a letter—poor dead Eisie's—Elaie dead! Re could hardly realize it.—His brain whirled and swam with the manifold emotions of that eventful evening, .Sut he must brace himself up for hie part like a Fran. He meet not bo weak, There was work to do; he moat make haste to do it. He took a broad-nibbed pen carefully from; his deck—•the broadeab beoould tied --- and fitted it with pains to hie ivory Hodder. Elate always used is broad nib—poor drowned Elsie—dear rnartyred Elate 1 Then, glauoing sideways at her last letter, be wrote on the sheet, In a large flowing angular hand, deep sad black„ moat unlike iris own, which was neat and smell aril cramped: and rounded, the wee solitary weds, "Alp darling." Ile gazed at them when done with evident Gemplaceuoy, They would do very we 1: an excellent imp ration Wee begging, then, to copy Elston letter No; foritafir.uw ea. „My read own darling lieges,," he had allowed her to address him in aitch terms as that; but still, he muttered to himself even now, be was never engaged to her --never engaged to her. Iu copying, he omitted the word "own," That, he thought, would probably be con- aidered quite too affectionate far any rea- sonable probability, Even in eniereencies be waacoolaudnolleeted, But" d1ydarling"wee just about the'proper menu, Gide are alwa e attt idly brag their exreaston of feel. in,, to one An..other, No doubt /tittle herself would have begun,'°hfy darling," After that, he turned over the lettere with careful scrutiny, es if looking down. the a eco byfar ao or word ie wanted. At lastc hectuuulare upon the exact thing ; "Mra, Meyaey and Wini- fred are going ant to -morrow, "That'll do," he said in his soul to himself; "a curl to the w" —and laying the blank sheet once more before !him, he wrote down boldly, in the same free band, with thick blade down- atrohee, "My darling Winifred." The flan was shaping itself clearly n his mind now. Word by wore he tithed In sa, copying each direct from Elden letter; and. dovetailingthe whole with skilled Mowry oraftemanahap into is Qurious Ionto of her pet pbrases, till at last, after an hour's bard and anxious work, round drops of sweat seta- ing meanwhile cold and clammy upon itis hot forehead, he read it over with unmixed approbation to bimaolf—an excellent letter both in design and execution. WHITESTr.A\A Haze, Sept. 17. hIy laAtrrtxa WI`IERuD-I can hardly snake up my mind to write you this letter; and yet T moat; I can no longer avoid it. I know you will think me so winked, so nn• grateful : I know Mrs. Meysey will never forgive .me ; but I can't help it. Circum. atanoes are too strong for me, By the time this reecho you, I shall have left White - trend, I fear for ever. Why I am leaving, I can never, never, never tell you, if you try to :find out, you wont succeed in discovering it. I know what you'll think ; but you're quite mistaken. It's something about which you hew) never heard; something that I've told to nobody anywhere ; something I can never, never tall, even to you, darling. I've written a line to explain to Hugh ; but it's no use either of you trying to trace me. I shall write to you some day again to lot you know how I'm getting on—but never my whereabouts.—Darling, for Heaven's sake, do try to hush this up as much as you can. To havemyself discussed byhalf the county would drive me mad with despair and shame. Get Mrs. Meysey to say I've been called away auddenly by private business, and will not return. If only you knew all, you would forgive me everything.—Good-bye, darling, Don't think too harshly of me. Ever your affectionate, but heart -broken ELSIB, His soul approved the style and the matter. Would it answer his purpose? he wondered, half tremulously. Would they really believe Elsie had written it, and Elsie was gone ? How account for her never having been seen to quit the grounds of the Hall? For her not having been ob- served at Almundham Station ? For no trace being left of her by rail or road, by by aea or river ? It was a desperate card to play, he knew, but he held no other ; and fortune often favourn the brave. How often at loo bad he stood against all precedent upon a hopeless hand, and swept the board in the and by some audacious stroke of in- spired good play, or some strange turn or the favouring chances 1 He would' stand to win now in the same spirit on the forged letter. It was his one good card. Nobody could ever prove he wrote it. And perhaps, with the unthinking readiness of the world at large, they would all accept ib without further question. If ever Elsie's body were recovered 1 Ah, yes : true : that would indeed be fatal. But then, the ahancea were enormously against it. The deep sea holds its own : It yields up its dead only to patient and careful ses:role ; and who would ever dream of searching for Elsie ? Except himself, she had no one to search for her. The letter was vague and uncertain, to be sure ; but its very vaguenees was infinitely better than the most definite lie ; it left open the door to so much width of conjecture. Every man could invent his own solution. If be had tried to tell a plausible story, it might have broken down when confronted with the in- convenient detail of stern reality; but he had trusted everything to imagination. And imagination is such a charmingly elastic fac- ulty ! The Meyaeya might put their own construction upon it. Each, no doubt, would put adifferent one ,and each would be convinced that his own was the truest. He folded it up and thrust it into an envelope. When he addressed the face bold- ly, in the eemefree black hand as the letter itself, to "° Miss Aleyaey, Toe Hall, White - strand," In the corner be stuck the identi- callittle monogram, E. 0., written with strokes creasing each other, that Elsie put on ail her lettere. lite power of imitating tbeminutest details of any autograph stood bine here in good stead, It was a perfect fae•simile, letter and address ; and tottered,. as he was in hia own mind by remoras and fear, he smiled to himself an approving smile as Ile gazed at tbe abeelutely undetectable forgery. No expert on earth could ever detect it. "That ll clinch all, he thought serepely, " They'll never for a moment doubt that it Domes. from Elsie," He knew the Meyseys had gone out to dinner at the vicarage that evening, and weuldnot eaten% until after the !tour at which Elsie usually retired. As soon as they got back, they would take it for grant- ed she had gone to bed, as the always did, and would in all probability never inquire for her, If so, nothing would be known till to -morrow at breakfast. He must drop the letter into the box unperceived to -night,, and then it would be delivered at White - strand is due comae by the fleet poet to- morrow.. He abet the front window, put out the lamp, and stale quietly into the bedroom behind. That done, he opened the little Ian tics into the back garden, and slipped out,. closing the window loosely after Hitt, and blowing out the candle, The post-o$ise lay juat beyond the church, lie walked there feat, dropped his letter be minty into the box, and turned, uusoen, into the It ghteml once more in the dusky moenligglst. Wearied and faint rota* halt delirloueits he was after bie long immersion, lee couldn't even now go back to the inn #o rent quietly, Eleio's image haunted him still. A etrenge fascination led him across the Heide and through the lane to the Hail—to EieiO"e last dwelling lilacs. lie walked, in by the Tittle alde•gate, the way he usually genie to visit Elate, and prowled guiltily to the back of the house, The, family had evidently re- turned, and suspected nothing ;, no:sl �e of beetle or commotion er disturbance betrayed itaelt .anywhere ; not a. light allowed ficin a elegies window aU was dark and stilt front end to end, as if peer dead Elsie were aleoping caleuly_inher own little bedroom in the main building. It was close on one in the morning note, Hugh skulked and prowled around the east wing on cautious tiptoe, like a coevieted burglar. As be /tassel ,Elsie'a room, all nark and empty, a mad desire .seized upon him all et QUO to look in at the window and see hew everything lay within there, At Drat, he bad no more reason for the act in hie head than that : the Pune only developed itself further as he thought of it. It wouldn't be: diflicnit to climb to the sill by the aid of the porch and the olamberingwistaria. Ile liemit• cited a nzoment; then remorse and curiosity tivally conquered. The remaatte suggestion came to biro, like a dream,in his fevered and almnst delirious condition; like as dream, he carrion it at once into effect, Groping and feeling his way with dumb .fingers, dim eyes, and head that atilt reeled and. swam tri ter, ribte ,giddiness from his long spell of eon- tinned asphyxia, ho raised himself cautiously to the .level of the *ill, and priced the win- dow open with his dead 'white hand. The lamp on the table, though turned down to low that he hadn't observed its glimmer from the outaido, was atilt alight and burn. ing faintly. Be was le up prat ter enough. to aeo through the gloom his way about the bedroom. The door was cloned, but not looked. He twiated thokeynoieeleaalywith dexterous preasure, so as to leave le fastened from the inaido.—That was a clover touch 1 —They would think Elea had climbed out of the window. A few letters and things lay Iooae about the room. The devil within trim was ravel- ling naw iu hideous euggostions, Why not make everything clear behind bin? He gathered them up and atuck them in his pookot. Elsie's small black loather bag stood on a wooden frame in the far corner. Ha pushed into it beadily the nightdress on the bed, the brush and comb, and a few selected articles of underclothing from the chest of drawers by the tiled fireplace. The drawers themselves he lift sedulously open, It argued haste. If you choose to play for a high atake,;you must play boldly, but you. must play well. Hugh. never for a moment concealed from himself the fact that the ad- versary against whom he was playing now was the public hangman, and that his own neck was the stake at issue. If ever it was discovered that Elide was drowned, all the world, including the en- lightened British jury—twelve butchers and bakers and candlestick -makers, selected at random from the Whitestrand rabble, he said to himself angrily—would draw the in- evitable inference for themselves that Hugh had murdered her. Hia own neck was the stake at inane—hie own neck, and honour and honesty. He glanced around the room with as ap- proving eye once more. It was capital 1 Splendid ! Ever} thing was indeed in most admired disorder. The very spot it looked, in truth, from which a girl had esoaped in a breathless hurry. He left the lamp atill burning at half -height: that fitted well ; low- ered the bag by a piece of tape to the garden below ; littered a few:stray handkerchiefs and lace bodices loosely on the floor ; and crawl- ing out of the window with anxious'gare, tried to let himself down hand over hand bya, branch of the wistaria. The branch snapped short with au ugly crack ; and Hugh found him- self one second later on the shrubbery be- low, bruised and shaken. CHAPTER XIII.—water SUCCESS ? At the Meyseys' next morning, all was turmoil and surprise. The servants' hall fluttered with unwonted excitememt. No less . an event than an elopement was suspected. Miss Elsie had not Dome down to breakfast; and when Miss Winifred went up, on the lady's -maid's report, to ask what was the matter, she had found the door securely locked on the inside, and received no answer to her repeated questions. The butler, hastily 'summoned to the rescue, broke open the look ; and Winifred entered, to find the lamp still feebly burning at half - height, and a huddled confusion everywhere pervading the disordered room. 'Clearly, some strange thing had occurred.Elsie's drawers had been opened and searched the black bag was gone from the stand in the corner; and the little jewel -case with the 'silver shield on the top was missing from its accustomed: 'place on the dressing -table, With a sudden Dry, Winifred rushed for- ward. terrified. Her first idea was the mewl feminine one of robbery and murder. Elsie was killed—killed by a burglar. But one glanee at the bed dispelled that allusion ; it had never been slept~ in, The nightdress end the little embroidered nightdress bag in red ailk were neither of them there in their familiar fashion. The brush and comb had disappeared from the base of the looking - glean The hairpins evert had been removed Epsom theglaas hairpin box. These indica.' time seemed frankly inoonsiatent with the theory of mere intrueive burglary. The enterprising burglar doesn't make up the bed of the robbed andmurdered, niter pocketing their watehee ; nor does he walk off, as a rule, with ordinary h.iirbruahee and: embroidered, niglitdreea bage, Sur rued sed alarmed, Winifred, rushed to the window; it wee open still ; a breach of the wistaria lay broken on the ground, and the mark of a falling body might be tunny observed among the plants aped soil in the shrubbery border. By this time, the Squire had appeared Ppm upthe scene:hanging In his hand a let- ter for Winifred, With the coot common- lanae of edvancing years, he surveyed the room in its littery condition, and gazed over Ida daughter's shoulder as elle read the Shadowy and incoherent jumble of phrases Hugh. Messinger had strung together ao carefully in Elaie'a name ?sat night at the Fisherman's .Rest, "Whey, 1" he wbiatled f to hfinealf cal sharp enrpniee as the state of the case dawned slowly upon hlan, "/Depend upon it, there's a young man at the bottom of this. «Onerchez la femme," says the .Freeels proverb. When isen situgo. .mar's in the proverb, "Qherolwz 1'ihouzne'" oomaa very mush nearer it. The ghee run ff off with santetooly, yon may be sure. I ozsly bop ahe's ecu elf all straight and above- board, and not goneaway with a groomor a gamekeeper or married a clrgyman, "raps 1" Winifred cried, laying down the letter isi leasee and bursting+, into teals, "do you think Mr. hiamieger can 'have auythsng to do with 1t'" The Squire han been duly apprised Taut night by Mre, M'oyeey le Suocessiva instar• /ricers-- tia to the Meteofrelatione between Hugh awl ndrinifred; but hie blunt English nature cavalierly rejected the suggested ex. planation, e - planation, of Etsie'a departure, and he brushed, It mirk at once after' tine fashion, of his kind with an easy rs Diemy soul 1 net child, The girl's run off with some fool somewhere. pet's alwaya feels who situ off with women. Da you thick a man would be Idiot enough to"mile was just -going to any ",propene to ane woluau it,. the morning, and elope with another the even, Ing alter*" but he checked htinealf In tireo, betore the face of the servants, and (!malted bra sentence timely by isay ng throned, "earn - mit himself so with a girl of that sort?" 44 That wean't what I meant, papa," Wialfredd whispered Tow. "I .erleaut, could !deee" ]save fanclei. R--- - Yoe understand The quire gave a tined in pla.e of Ye, Imposalbte, impoaatble; the young ensu WAS ao well connected, She could navor have thought he meant to make up to her. Much more likely, if it came to that, the girl wculd run away tale him than team him, Young women dont really ran away from a man because their hearts are broken. They go up to their own bedrooms instead, and muse and mope .over it, and i try their eyes red. And indeed, the Sgntro remarked to him- eeif inwardly on the other hand, that if Hugh were minded to elope with any cue, he would be far more likely to elope with the heiress of %Vbitestrand than with a penniless governose like Elsie Challoner. Elopement implies parental opposition, Why the deuce should a man take the trouble to run away with an uudowered orphan, whom nobody on earth desires to prevent him from marry - lug any day, in the strictly correetese man* ner, by benne or license et the parish church of her own domicile? The suggestion was clearly quite quixotic. If Elsie had rem. away with any one, it was neither from nor with tine young man of Winifred's, the Squire felt sure, bub with the gardener's son or with the under -gamekeeper. Still, he telt distinctly relieved in his own mind when, at half -past ten, Hugh Messing- er strolled idly in, a rose in his button hole and a smile on Isis face—thaugh a little lame of the loft leg—all unconscious, apparently, that anything out of the common had hap- pened since last night at the groat house. Hugh was one of the very finest and moat finished actors then performing on the stage of social England ; but even he had a diffi- cult part to play that stormy morning, and he went through his role, taking it alto- gether, with but indifferent success, though with sufficient candour to float him through unsuspected somehow. The circumstances, inieed, were terribly against him. When he fell the night before from Elsie's window, he had bruised and shaken himself, already fatigued as he was by his desperate swim and his long unconecionsnean ; and, it was with a violent effort, goaded on by the sense of absolute necessity alone, that he picked himself up, black bag and all, and staggered home, with one ankle strained, to hia +coma at Stannaway's. Once arrived there, he locked away Elsie's belongings cautiously in back cupboard—incriminating evidence, indeed, if anything ahould ever happen to come out—end flung himself half •eurlressod at haat in a fever of fatigue upon the bed in the corner. Strange to say, he slept—slept soundly. Worn out with overwork and exertion and faintness, he slept on peacefully like a tired child, till at nine o'clock Mrs. Stanuaway rapped hard at the door to rouse him. Then he woke with a start from, aheavy sleep, his head aching, but drowsy still, and with feverish pains in all his limbs from his desper- ate swim and hie long immersion. He was quite unfit to get up and dress; but he rose for all that, as if all was well, and even pretended to eat some breakfast, though a cup of tea was the only thing he could really gulp down his parched throat in his horror and excitement, Last night's events came clearly home to him now in their naked ghastliness, and with sinking heart and throbbing head he realised the full extent of his guilt and his danger, the depth. of his remorse and the profundity of his folly. Elsie was gone—tbatwas his first thought. There was no more an Elsie to reckon with in all this world: Her place :was blank how blank Ile could never before have truly realised. The whole world itself was blank too; What he loved best in it all was gone olefin out of it. Eine, Elsie, poor. drowned, lost Elsie ! His heart ached as he thought to himself of Elsie, gasping and struggling in that cold,, cold sea, among those fierce wild breakers, for one last breath—and knew it was he who bad driven her, by iiia baseness and wicked- nese and cruelty, to that terrible ,end of a sweet young existence,He had darkened the sun in heaven for hinaself henceforth and for ever, He had sown the wind, and he ahemid reap tine whirlwied, He hated !lint, pelf;, he hated Winifred ; he crated every- body aed everything but Elaie i'oer mar. tyred Elsie 1 Beautiful Elsie ! Hia own sweat, exquisite, noble Elsie 1 He would have given the whole world at that monienh to being her back again, But the past was irrevocable, quite irrevocable, There wan nothing for strong man now to do bet to brace himself up and face the present. "If not, what resolation ire= deep,* 2 "-- That wan alt the comfort hips philosophy could give him. E,laie'a tbinge were locked up in the cup, boar& If suslsiefen lighted upon him in any way now, le was all up with him." Elsie's bag and eewelcase and clothing in the cep- board would alone lee more than enough to bang him. hang him 1 What did he euro any longer for hanging ? They *night hang him and welcome, if they chose to try. For sixpence he would save themthe trouble and drown himself. He wanted to die, Ib WAS fate prevented hurt. Why hadn't hQ .drowned whenhe might, Inst night ? An ugly proverb that, about the man who is born to be banged, &c,, tee.. Some of these proverbs are downright rade--poaitive1y vulgar in the coarse aimplioity and direct.• neap of their language. He gulped dawn the tea with a terrible effort : it wets scalding her+ and it burnt his mouth, hue he scarcely noticed it, Then he pelted about the Pole on his fork for a motuept, to dirty, the plate, anti boning it roughly, gave the Used to the eat, wise ate It purring an the rugby the fireplace. He welted for a neac4nale interval haat before ringing the bell—it takes a lone men tell inmates to breakfast—but as iman as that necessary trine bad passed, he put on labs bat, crsalifng it deems an iiia bead, ,and with fiery soul sand bursting templet, strolled up,; with the jauntiest air he could winnow to the Meyeeye' after breakfast, Winifred met him at the front door, Hie nate eweethee t was pato acrd Welded, 'bete net now crying, Hugh felt himself atraid to preanntie upou their novel rattle= and in* scat upon a k'ise—alte would expect it of hire. It war the very firat time ha /tad ever kink- ed her, arid, oh, evil osuau, it revolted haus at last that belted now to do it—with Eteie's Body tossed about that very ruauzeat by the cruel waves uparz that augry bar or or; the cold ata -bottom, It wase treason to F,tsla—to pour deed Elsie ---that be should ever tries any rather woutau, Ili'ea losses were here, bla heart wax !leis, for ever crud ever. But what would you haver He looked on, iia he had said, ae If from Above as eircuaietazscee wafting hie own alt. Ione liltiser rand thither wherever they willed --end this was the pail to,a WoLs they /tad naw brought bine He moat play out the plane—piny it cue to the and, whatever it might coat pian. Winifred took the kiwi mein:Weeny and coldly, aedhanded him Blends latter—hie owe forged letter --without one word of pre, face or explanation. Hughwes glad the did, so at the very iiret momen--.,—it allowed him to relieve himmelf at ons* from, the terrible amain of the affected gayety lee was keeping up nab to save appearances. Ile couldn'e have, kept it up much longer. Hie counten. auto fell visibly 'se he real tbo uote--orpre- tended to read it, for he heti no need really to glance et its words --every word of them alt now burnt into the very fibre* and Fabric' of his being. (TQ ISE CONTiNnan ) The Sleepers, .d CONTRAST. Behold themstumbericg silo by aide, Fair sniffling youth and hoary age ; One dreams d worldly pomp and pride, Where men a godless warfare wage ; The other dreams of summer Lewers, Bright sunshine, warbling birds, and flowers. One brow is marked with lines afore, Which shows the world -warn spirit grieves; The other gleam 'neath clustering hair; Tao a fair Star through quivering leaven. One heart's grasping, proud, and cold; The other, generous, warm, and bold, One breathes a long, n weary sigh, And dreams of earthly gain or loss, As with a keen, aueplcious eye. Ile counts once more his glitttrring dross The other b :nods a itis joyous tread O'er fields of clover white and std. A groan eeespca the old man's lips, aeroan of mingled rage And pain, For to l his schemes, like phantom chips, Have vanished'aeath the treacherous main. He stretches forth ane wrinkled hand, To find his treasured board but sand. From parted lips of tender bloom A trill of merry laughter steals, Whose fairy music fille the room— The happy boy fa dreamland kneels Above a little crystal stream, Where rushes wave and pebbles gleam And, he beholds with sparkling eyes His ship—a water-lily—glide Beneath the rosy -tinted skies, Richt bravely down the dimpling tide. Ilia bark no sordid hopes doth bear, But dances on, he cares not where. Hark 1 how the dreaming worldling speaks; "The path to wealth, how drear, how long!" "Ah 1" orie, the boy, with glowing charas, " Row lovely is the skylark's song, High soaring .mid the blue above, For ever singing, God is love 1" And when the morning nun shall rise To charm away the mists of night, The boy will greet with gladdened eyes A world of beauty bathed in light, For a fond mother's morning loss Will ope its golden gates of bliss. But the poor worldling. what of biro Will he not seek the busy mart, Like some gaunt spectre, stern and grins, No joy. within his withered heart For life is empty, vain, and call To him who only seeketh gold 1 —Earners Fonsasrss, VIM Declared O1L AY A. W. BELLAW. We've plighted troth ; the day is set There ie no fairer bride than she, Than I no fonder lover. yet That matoh is destined not to he. An awful bar is in the way, For though I've wealth in goodly eters And cannot fear a rainy day, Her name is Riot; and my name's Poor Why did I never think of this To save her from so dire a fate And from a lifelong wretchedness For she was reared hi high estate. How very dreadful would it be For one so gentle to endure The taunts of those who'd say that she, Who once was Rioh, had wedded Foo Then" A Poor•Rioh Affair " we'd see In every paper, and the wits Would set to punning bt}wily- The public laughing at their hits. 111 eall.the invitations in, However much I must deplore, I'd rather, just to save the din, she'd still be Riolr and rd -be Pooh:.