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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1888-1-26, Page 7ninlaiellittealetaienreiletwene Atinnetiatinenttettiteltat [Novi Fon Nannette/al LIKE AND tiaVOSSisAitManteiNXISMIdiantiiiiiimitawfoleNiattmi -- E'ALL Itiocre rianninttaD,1 between ?nether and on to be closer than theirs had been. Yet, dearly as r*lie loved U \ ii ii[K, 4,0 offended teerr, heart slit:irked in the sectast L _ , the son who lted never in hie life crossed or A d eonger and more in tone affeetion for that other son, whose wayward spirit ban been ever a eourco of trouble or terror, The perpetual nutter of anxiety, the alternations of hope and tear, joy and, sorrew, in widish his restless soul had kept her, had made the rebel only so much the clearer. She loved him better for every anxiona hour, for every moment of rapture in his escape from some needless peril, some hazandoue folly. Valentine was the perpetually straying itheep, over whose recovery there was endless rejoicing. It was in vain that his mother told herself that she had remelt to be angry,and tried to harden her heart against the sinner. He had but to liold out h* arms to her, laugh- ing at her foolish love, and she was ready to aob out her joy upon hie breast. At last that sound wee hoard, faint in the distance, the rhythmical sound of a trotting horse. The moblier started up and ran to the window, while Adrian went out to the broad, gravelled epace in front of the porch to meet the prodigal. He came up to the houae quietly enough, dropped lightly frorn his horse, and greeted his brother with that all -conquering smile whioh ms de up for so many offences in the popular mind. "Look at that brute, Adrian," he field, pointing his hunting orop at the hors% which stood meekly, with head depressed and eye dull, reeking from crest toilet*, and with blood stains about his mouth. "I don't think he'll give me quite so much trouble another time, but I oan assure you he was a handful, even for me. I never crossed such an inveterate puller, or such a pighead- ed bees but believe he and I understand each other • pretty . well now. Yeah, you brute," with a savage tug at the bridle. "You might let him off without any more By M, El. BR ADDON) Author of "Lana Anonur's Sitenia," o' Wrz,Lanta's Watinee," Ern. pm, CHAPTER 1.--Coiereesse. "Has Mr. Belfield come ia yet?" No, Sir Adrian." "Ho rode the now horse, did, ho not ?" "Yes, Sir Adrian," . tlir Adrian Belfield moved utesaeily in his chair, then walked to the nreplace, and stood there, tooking down at the hall burnt out logs upon the hearth, with an sir of Anatolia thought, The footman waited to bo questioned fuether. ,,,,,kt, 4. et sort ot character do they give the new bre. in the stieblea, Andrew ?" asked Sir Adetituit presently. , Andkew hesitated before replying, and then answered with a somewhat exaggerated cheerfulness, " Well, Sir Adrian, they say he's a good 'um like all the horses Mr. Bel- field buys." "Yea, yes, he's a good judge of a horse -- we, know that. But he would huy the mad- dest devil that was ever foaled if he faimied the shape and paces of the beast. I' didn't like the look of that new chestnut." " You see, Sir Adriam its Mr. Belfield's eolour. You -know, Sir, as how he'll go any distance and give any money for a handsome cherinut when he won't look et another coloured "Ye, yes, that will. do, Andrew. Is her ladyahip in the drawing-reom ?" "Yes, Sir Adrian," said the footman who was middle aged and waxing gray, and ought long ago to have developed into a butler, only Belfield Court was so good a place that few servants cared to leave it in the hope of bettering their fortunes dee whore. The butler at Belfield was sixty, the under butler over fifty and the youngest of the flunkies had seen the sun go down upon his thirtymecondbirthday. That good old a stone mansion amidst the wooded •' hills of North Devon was a very paradise for serving men and women ; a paradise not altogether free from the presence of Satan ; but the inhabitants were able to bear with one Satanic element where so much was celestial. Sir Adrian went to the window, a deep embayed window with bone mullions, and riahly painted glass in the upper lattices, glass emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the Belfields and rich in the heraldic - blistery of aristocratio alliances. Like most Alizabethan windows, there was but a email portion of this one w ic opened. Adrian anfastenecl the practicable lattice and put his head out to survey the avenue along which his brother would ride when he came home from the hunt. 1 Thor!, wife no horseman visible in the long vista--onti the autumnal colouring of elms and oaks Ohich alternated along the broad avenue witb *its green ride at each side of the road, only the infinite variety of fading foliage, and the glancing lights of an Oc- tober afternoon. How often had Adrian watchedhis twin brother schooling an me - manageable horse upon yonder turf, gallop- enn i hag like fin infuriated 'centaur, and seeming .1nostatipart of his horse as if he had been - edeed made after the fashion of that fabul- o , , sir monster. They must have had a good day," ught Adrain. " He ought to have been e before now, unless they killed further than usual." He looked round at tho clock over the •place. Half past five ! Not so late tafter all. It was only h* knowledge that his brother was riding a hot-tempered brute that• d him. • . "What a morbid fool I am," he said to himself, impatiently. " What an idiot I ' must be to give way to this feeling of • anxiety and foreboding every time be is out of my sight foe a few hours. I know he is one of the finest horsemen in Devon- shire, but if he rides a restive horse I am miserable. And yet I can sympathise with the purchase, if Ho might to hs,ve ed bitterly, walking to and fro in the opace before the bay window —a window corres- ponding to that in the library. " Dearest mother, it is foolish to worry yourself like this every time Valentine rides an untried horse. You know what a mag- nificent horseman he is." 11 I know that he is utterly rookies% that he would throw away his life to gratify the whim of the moment, that he has not the slightest consideration for me." 'Mother, you know he love e you better than anyone else in the world," Intleed I do not, Adrian. But if he does, his highest degree of loving fall's nary far below my idea of affection. Oh, why did he insisb upon buying that brute, in spite of every warning ? My dear mother, while you are making yourself a martyr, I daresay Valentine is walking that obnoxiouri °hernia quietly home after a distant and he will be here presently in tremendous spirits after a gra,nd day's sport. "Do you really think so ? Are you sure you are not uneasy ?" •"Do I look it ?" asked Adrian, smiling at her. • He had had to conceal his own feelings many a time in order to spare her's when some recklessness of the daredevil younger born had tortured them both with unspeak- able apprehensions. Ever since he had been punishment to -night, I think, Val," said the physictan, after careful consultation,. ,Adrian quietly; "he looks pretty well done." " but you must take no liberties with it. old enough to be let out of leading strings, "He is pretty well done; I can assure There are plenty of ways in which a man Valentine had been perpetually endangering his limbs and life to the torment of other you I haven't spared him !" may enjoy the country without tearing 4'And you've bitted him severely enough across it at a mad gallop. There is fly-fish. • people, Hie boats, his horses, his guns, his for. the most- incorrigible Tartar." ing, for instance. I am sure with that noble dog?, had been sources of inexhaustible anxiety to Lady Belfield and her older son. Iknown very well that I could not," she add. 7-7 up to my weight—oh, mho carries me fairly enough, I know that—but she's overaveight- ed. You should have given Jeer to Adrian," with e sneer. Adrian can afford to buy his horses," answered his mother, with an affectienate Look at the elder born. "The only birthly gift he will take from me is a bunch of early violets," "All your life is full of gifts to me, moth- er," saki Adrian. " Whenever yoUre tired of Cinderella I'll take her off your hands, Val." "The deuce you will," cried Valentine "You'll find her a trifle too nem:Wier you, It's like the old saying e,bout the goose, dear boy. She's too much for you and uot enough for me. She wants work, Adrain, not gentle exercise. She was never meant for a lady's palfrey. , Adrian sighed es he turned away from h* brother, mut seated himself at Lady Bel - field's tea -table, which had been furnished with due regard to a huggry hunting man, too impatient to wait for the eight o'clock dinner. That taunt of Valentine's stung him as such taunts, and they were frequent, always did sting. He keenly felt his ehort comings as a horseman and as an athlete. In all those manly accomplishments in which his brother'excelled, fragile health had made Adrian a failure. The doctors had warned him that to ride hard would be to endanger hia life. Be might amble along the country, lanes, nay, even enjoy a slow canter over down or common ; might pee a little hunt- ing sometimes in an elderly gentleman's fashion, waitieg about on the crest of a hill to wet& the hounds working in the hollow below, or jogging up and down beside the cover while they were drawing—but those gallant flights across country which so in- toxicate tho souls of men were not for him. "You have a heart that will work for you very fairly to a good old age, Sir Adrian, if you will but me it kindly," said A bit of my own invention, my dear trout etree.m in your own park you must be It suited his temperament to be always in boy, a high port and a gag. I don't think fond of fly-fishing." movement anti strife of some kind, riding an unbroken horse,sailing his yacht in a storm, making companions and .playthings of fero- cious does, climbing periloue mountain peaks, crossing the Channel or the Bay of Biscay jest when any reasonable being, master of his own life and time, would have avoided the passage, doing everything in a. reckless, hot-headed way, which was agony you, answered Valentine, contemptuously. * sport, . to his mother's tender heart. Jason, After all I have my library, and I And, yet, though both mother and broth- "They have made you think like a girl, and have the good fortune -to be fond of books, er suffered infinitely from Valentine Belt they have made you ride like a girl. My which my brother detests." chief delight in a horse is to &nit the better 1 field's folly, they both went on loving him " I h Id h )7 • and forgiving him with an affection that knew no diminution, tend which he accepted with a careleasnes that was akin to con- ' tempt. "You look pale, and fagged, and ill," said Lady Belfield, scrutinisingler son with ' i (mit ous eyes. "I know you are just as : frightened as I ann though. you hide your he has had too easy a tune of it." • "1 cannot imagine anything tamer than "I cannot understand your in in fiy-fishing in tone's own park," replied riding an ill -conditioned brute in order to Adrian, with a touoh of impatience. " Sal- soliool him into good manners by sheer mon fishing in Scotland or in Norway—" cruelty," said Adrian, with undisguised die "Too fatiguing—too strenuous a form of approval. "1 like to be on friendly terma pteature for a man of your delicate constitu• with my horse." tion. A little trout fishing in mild spring "My dear Adrian, your doctore and weather--" nurses have conspired to molly -coddle " Merci I must e his delight in conquering an ill-tempered brute, in proving that the nerve end muscle of the smaller animal, backed nith 'brains, can prevail over size and weight and sheer brute power. I love to watch him break a horse, and ORD. feel almost as keen a delight as if I myself were in the paddle, and my • hand were doing the work. And then in another moment, while I am triumphing in his victory, the womanish mood comes over me, and I turn cold with fear for his sake. I'm afraid my mother is sight, and that nature intended me fur a NITM He was peeing slowly up and down the room as he mused upon himself thus, and ,„ne waeming face to face with a Venetis.n glass • which hung between two blocks of book shelves at the end of the library, he paused e le to contemplate his own imageretlected there. The face he saw in the looking glass was handsome enough to satisfy the most exact- ing self-consciousness; but the classical re- gularity of the features :aid the delicacy of the colouring were allied with a refinement which verged upon effeminacy, and suggest- • ed a feeble constitution and %hypersensitive • temperament. It was not the face of one who could have battled against mlverse . eirettinotatices or out his way upward from the lowest rung of the ladder to the top. But its a very good face for Sir Adrian Belfield, born in tho pin ple, with fortune and distinction laid Op for him by a long line of stalwart ancestors. Such an one could afford to be delicately fashioned and slender- ly built. in such an one that air of fragility, tendibg even towards sickliness, was but an added grace. " So interesting," said all the oung ladies in Sir Adrian'a neighbourhood, wben they descanted on the young beironet's personality. 2 For Belfield's own eye those, delicately - chiselled features and that ivory pallor had no charm. He compared the face nt tho glass with another face which was like it uneasiness for my sal*. . Yoh are always so of the original sill bnat's in him. yen may Jason blandly, " Mr. Bvu wa elfield has not the , give him a warm drink, Stokes. He has outlook of a reading man. Henn* that hard earned it," he added, flinging the bridle to ' penetrating gaze which denotes the sports - the groom, who had come from the stables man—straialit, keen, business -like, rapid, at the sound of Mr. Belfield's return. 1 yet steady. I think I never Saw a finer "Had you a good run !" asked Adrian, as man—and so like you, Sir Adrian." they went into the house. I "Is it not something of a mockery to tell " Capital ; and that beggar went in,first- me that after you have sounded this poor rate style when once he and. I got to under- Inarrow chest et mine ?" goo to me, drian, t is wit a one t a rEand each other. We killed on Hagley) "Oh, there are constitutional divergencies. ' . your ro er In eath after haltanhour over the grass. Nature has been kinder to b th ' seemed half apolo etio, as if she would have ome an tell mother all aboub it, Val. eat& "1 lavish t e greater half of my af-tthe matter of thew and sinew, but the like- fection on your brother, and yet yon give me "Has she been worrying herself about the nese between you is really remarkable, all Bo midge chestnut? She was almost in tears this the more remarkable perhaps on account of •1' Dear mother, what should I be but good morning whea she found I was going to ride 'that constitutional difference. And I have no than to you. You have never tried me as to the best and lunl cleat of.parents ?" "Oh, but 1 am more indulgent to him "She was getting a little uneasy just be- you— fore you came home," answered Adrian unitea twin children." that sympathetic bond which so often him." I ' , I doubt there is a very close affection between he has done, and yet—" . • lightly. •I "Yes, I am very fond of him," answered " And yet I love him better' than I love That scornful glance of his brother's eye . 'Adrian dreamily. "Fond of him, do I say you." That was the unspoken ending of her wounded him to the quick. It implied a I.....ie is more than mere fondness. I am a contemptuous acceptance of a too loving . speech. parb of himself f 1 "th la' " 1. t 11 , ee vn un in a mos a She vrent to the window brushing away solicitude. It showed the temper of a spoil- things, am angry with him, sorry with him, her tears—tears of remorseful feeling, tears Igled with him ; and yet there is antagonism. ed child who takes all a mother's care as a matter of course, and has not one touch of tre of sorrowing love, that she balf knew were • th • f ' • wasted upon an unworthy object. • "Cheer up, mother,' said Adrian, light- ly. "It will never do for Valentine to surprise us in this tragical mood. He would indulge his wit at our expense all the even- ing. If you want him to get rid elf the chesnut say not one word about danger. You might remark in a careless way that gratitude or genuine responsive affection. 'when I coul quarrel with him more deeper- . The two brothers went to the drawing- ately than with any other man upon earth; room side by side. Like and unlike. Yes, and yet I deolare to you, doctor, he is as it that was the description which best indicat- were my second self.' ed the close resemblance and the marked • " 1 can readily believe it, Sir Adrian. difference betneen them. In the form of Who is there with whom we aro so often in - the head and face, in the outline of the lea- alined to quarrel &stabil ourselves. I know tures, they resembled each other as closely there is a d-- bad fellow in me whom I as ever twm brothers have done sista Illti should often like to kick." the anunal has an ugly head, and does not ture produced these human doublet% ; but D. Jason wound up with a boisterous look so well bred as his usual stamp of horse . in colourtng and in expression the brothers laugh, and felt that he had earned the —that is a safe thing to say to any man— and if he tells us a long story of a battle royal with the beast, be sure you put on your moat indifferent air, as if the thing were a matter of course, and nobody's bum- eye lows e mate y pencilled, lashes long would not venture to be jovial. Were there ness but his own, and before the week is and drooping like those of a girl, lilts st but three.weeks of life in a patient he would out he will have sold the horse or swopped faintest carmine. It was only his intellec- him for another, and, as he could hardly take leave.of him with a jocosity which was tual power and innate manliness of feeling ebeeei„g enough to help the patient on a find one with a worse character, ether feel- which redeemed Adrian's face from effemine ins will gain by the change. He is a dear fourth week. And this case of Sir Adrian's acy ; but mind was stronger than matter, offered no reason for dolefulness. A fragile fellow, but there is a vein of opposition in him, - • and hero the brave, calm Emir* dominated body and a sensitive temperament, a life ' the vveasly frame. •that might be prolonged to three score and " Yea he loves to oppose me; but after Valentine was altogether differently all he is not a bad son, is he, Adrian ?" st'll- ten,, or might expire in a moment, in the " A bad son ! Of course not, whoever stituted. His head, though shaped like very morning of youth, like the flame of a Adrian's, was tlarger, broader at the base., candle. . said he was ?" • • and lower at the temples—a head in widen "Are you ever going to give me my tea, "No one ; only I am afraid I spoke bit- the aensual organs predominated. His cone- meineeg asked Valentine •impatiently. terly. about him just now. He ni always plexion was of a. dark olive, browned by ex- "1 am absolutely famishing." keeping my nerves on the rack by his reek- posure to all kinds of weather, his eyes were "My dearest boy, everything is ready for leesness in one way or the other. He is of deepest brown, splendid eyes considered vone go like hie poor father—so terribly like?" from a purely physical standpoint large were curiously unlike. e elder one had twenty pound note which Sir Adrian slipped the pallid tints of ill -health, an almost wax- modestly into his comfortable palm. Jovial - en brow, hair of a pale auburn, features re- ity was the good physician's particular line, fined to attenuation, eyee of a dark violet, and a case must be bad indeed in which he Valentine surveyed the low tea -table with Her voice grew hushed and grave almost. and full and brilliant, ivith a wondrous a sweepine glance before he sat down, and to solemnity as she spoke of her dead hus- capacity for expressing all the passions of then strolled across to the bell and rang band. She had been a widow for nearly which self-willed manhood is capable. violently. "Those fellows always forgeb twenty 300T8, ever since her twin boys, and Nose, mouth, and chin were formed in the the cognac, he said, as he dropped into a only children, were four yews old. It was , same lines as in that other face, but each coon. the long minority which had made Sir Ad- l feature was larger and more boldly. cut. " I daresay if one of them came rain Belfield a rich man.• 1 The dark hair was thinker than Adrian's, home after seven hours in the saddle, he'd " And yet, mother, he must be more like 1 coarser bi texture. Hercules might have want something stronger than tea." you than my father," said Adrien, " for he i had just such a head of. hair, bristling in "My dear Valentine I am sure it is a , and I are alike, and everyone says that I , short crisp curves about the low forehead, very bad habit to poison your tea with am like you." • I That likeneas and yet unlikeness between brand3r,"waid Lady Belfield, with a distress. suppose," she anewered thoughtfully : "but contemplative observers and theorists of all ed look. ". Spare me ' the customary sermon, • " In person, yes be is more like me, 1 tho twice was a peychological wonder to it is his character which is so like hie kinds. mother. It is a much worse habit to lecture father's: the name 'daring, mei genic epirit , Lady Belfield came to meet her 8002 08 me every time I take a spoonful of brandy. —the eamerestleas activity— the Name strong they entered the room. It was only by the It will end by my going straight to my (hese- will. He reminds me of poor Montagu most strenuous effort at self-control that she suppressed all signs of emotion and laid her hand calmly. on the sportsintrin shoul- der, lo eking at him with a proud, happy smile. "Well, Valentine, had you` a good day were waiting and watching for his ninth in on the cheatnut ? she asked lightly. a villa on Lego Maggiore. The horror of "Splendi 1, That horse ivill make a rip- ping good hunter, in spin of you and Par- ker. Did you itee him from the window as I brought him home. ?" "Ye, I was watching you. I don't think he is quite up to your usual standard, Val. every day of his life." Sir Montagu Belfield had met his fate uddenly, tunidst the darkness of %snow- storm on the ice.bound slopes of Monte, Rosa, while bit young wife and two boys and yet unhke ethe face of his twin brother t in which youtbthealth and physical powe.r were the leading oharacteristice. Adri- an thought of ,hasat other fa,?e, and tamed from his own image wIth an irnpatienb sigh, a hat eudden death, the awfulness of that parting, had left a lasting shadow upou Maud Belfield's existence, and he.d given a morbid tinge to a temperament than had lways been hypersensitive. That first sud• " Of all the ovils that cap befall a man I think a eickly youth must be the' worst," t he mid to himself as he left the room and B went across the hell to his mother's favour- itt the smallest in ateite of three a drawing -rooms opening out of each other. Indy Belfielcl Was sitting in a low chair •t near the fire, but she started up its her km ' opened the door, 1 "Has he eenee home ?" she anted eagerly. c den sorrow had so impressed her mind that Hasn't he rather an ugly head ?" here was an ever-present apprehension of a • "Thaws just like a woman," exclaimed ecoed blow. She quailed before the iron Valentine, with a disgusted "Har eyo hand of inexorable destiny, which seemed is always keen on, prettiness, as if it were lways retied to strike hoe. She had lived the Alpha and Omega, He hasn't a racer's much alone, devoting hor time and thoughts head, if that's what yob mean. He has a o the rearing and education a her sons; ' good serviceable head, thae will bear a ,good nd her mind hied fed upon itself in those I deal of pulling about—rether 0 plain head, ong, quiet years, unbroken by stirring if you will have it. But a horse doesn't vents of any kind. She • had read and jump with his head, or gallop on his heacl, • • " Valentino ? No, mother," anaWered Adrian quietly. " Sarely, pin are not anx.. ions about him ?" •." 13 ut I Dan coax lotto. Hove white and tired 8 you look 1 1 am always annous when he 0 • ,• rides a new horse/` reedy flelhald exclaimed, 1 with an agitated aie, "lt ia se cru,ol. of him to • buy sec& wretched el- attune, as If it Wer0 to e• torture me, Ann tie .t lie loughs mid makes light• of my fears. Toe stud groom told Int b that thch is estntit has an abominable charac- ter, He Itept been the death of one man al- 0 reedy,•lie oho but Vilentihe Weida have t bouglOhim. Parker bogged me to prevent 'p thought much in those years ; she had cult'. cloes he ?" vated her tette for mueic and art, and won I " Vly dear Val, if you are aatisfied with now a highly accomplished woman; but her tithes and accomplishments had always "Satisfied," cited Valentine looking as coupied tho eeconcl place in her life and in +black as thunder, "1 tell von 1 an delight - ler mind. Her • SODS were paramount. ed with him. ,Ire is out and away the best When they were With her the thought of limiter in the etables—beats that &ger- lothing but, them. It was only in their bread skeWbald mare you gave mo on my bsance that she eoneelea herself with the lest birtlidey hollow." ooke or the music that she loved so well. " And yet I have heard people gay the Her elder son, Adrian, reeerobled. her , ekowbald is the prettiest horse in the coun. loeely in person and dieposition. His I try," vanesWore her tastes, analt urkg hardly I "There you go again'prettiness, all basible for 'syMpathy and companionship prettinese, The ekeWbald Wite (AVM' Well • se. in room after hunting, where I cam enjoy a stiff glass of grog with my feet on the hobs, and with nobody to preach temperance." "You know I love to have you here, Val," said the mother, laying her delicate hand upon the son's roughened wrist, and looking at him with ineffable teoderness. " So be it, and in that ease don't let' shave any tett-tobal sermons be ulnae of a honice- pathic dose of cognac," (TO BE CONTINUEO.) One Exception to the Rule. "1 should think," said Dooflicker, "that Jay Gould had enough money to take a rest," Never," eplied Blank. Tho more a man has the more he wants, and Getild 18 no exception to the rule. "Well, I for one do nob think so." " Why not ?" "Because, if Jay Gould had Ply wife's toegne he wouldn't want any more.' A new conj ming trick wart exhibited at the Eden Theatre, in Perin The "man with the velvet meek," es the operator is called, placed a geetlernau dressed as a Red. Indian on a soft, and, covering him over with a piece of tint for te moment, despatch- ed him it seine mysterious way into the in- terior of a locked trendier -1g trunk at the other end. of the stage. The trick, which Was neatly done, is a Pet version, in a More eomplieated fore), et Baader de liolta's Vaaddag lady." A ESTRANGE APPARITIOX. The Nan Ui the Snow Worms. A oitizen of a county in Western Ontario, wbo is not only prominent looally, but is well known politically, was present recently where a Inumber of persons were ridiculing aupernatural or ,psychological phenomena, and finally said : "There is no person who is more skepti- cal on such matters than I, but I had an ex. perience once that was more than enough to make men most ardent and sincere believer in the supernatural. I could never bring myeelf to think, however, that it was may. thing more than the result of some natural law beyond the cognizence or explanation of any human being. • "It occurred several years ago. One cold, but clear, winter's night I wes,on my way to Reynoldsville on horseback. The Reynoldsville road, as you all know, leads for some distance through the woods, and I was paseing over that stretch of the road when auddenly, probably a rod ahead of me, the figure of a man suddenly appear- ed in the read, and he seemed to be eum rounded by a fierce fall of snow, 'which was apparentlyhurled against him bya terrible gale of wind. The man struggled along feebly avainst the storm. I had no need to draw my horse up, for he seemed to see the strange apparition too, and stopped sudden- ly, pricked up his ears, and pawed the snow impatiently. All around, except in the email space surrounding the figure of the man, everything was clear and calm. I rubbed my eyes and made up my mind the man was some drunken fellow on his way home from the village, and that the storm was an optical illusion. I called out to him, but no answer came back. 1 rihoutee again and again, louder eaoh time, but the struggling figure gave no re- sponse. At last the man fell as if exhaust- ed and the snow continued to fall upon him and the fierce gale whirled it around him. Knowing that if the fallen man was drunk he would freeze to death if I left him lying there, I jumped from my horse and ran to help him up, intending to take him to the nearest place of shelter. It was starlight, but in that light alone the features of no person could have been recognized under the closest scrutiny. I berried to the prostrate figure, and as I reached it I saw the face was turnen upward. As my eyes fell on the face I started back and almost fell fainting in the snow. The face was revealed in the, dark- ness as plainly as if iti had been broad day- light, and it was the face of my brother, who lived in the NortieWest, and itwa,s his face as a corpse. When I recovered from the shock the sight had given me and turned again to the body it was gone. There was not even an impression in the snow where it hod lain. Be 'endured and much unstrung by this singular vision, I finally mounted my horse and rode on. I gradually recovered my composure, and at last convinced myself that I had been the viotim of ti strange and unaccountable hallucination. But 1 slept but little that night, and a strange forebod- ing of evil haunted me for several- days; in fact,until I reoived a letter from the station in the North-West where my brother was, and which informed me that he had been caught in a blizzard while on his way to his rbin, and was overpowered by it and frozen to death. The letter gave the time and date of his sad death. It had occurred the very hour and night that the apparition of the man struggling against the storm ap- peared to me on the Reynolclimille road, and I recognized my brother's face as he lay deed in the snow." Business and Society Lies. Is it the fact that the world could not get comforte.bly•along without lying of one sorb or another? Some say that it 18, many more are doubtful, while the number is coin parativel3r small who stoutly maintain that if either white or black lies were indespene- able to life and society moving cernfortably along, then life and society would not be worth the havinm The quantity of ly- ing that is all about is in any ease simply immense. Lies of courtesy, lies of conven lent*, lies of business lies deliberate, lies unpremeditated, lies Of all sorts and sizes, how they threng about! how they fill the air, they polute the lips and the heart. With many it is to be feared that not a' single day passes without their having uttered more or fewer of very re- spectable standard falsehoods. Such people also defend, the practice. If all they say and what they felt were spoken honestly out in all cases they would be continually in hot water. You cannot tell a man that he is a blockhead though you be solemnly convinced of the fact. You can't say to a visitor that you wish him to Jericho though you really do. Yet surely it is perfectly possible to be at once honest and polite. Perhaps with not a few lying is a disease. The demon of exargeratiou has taken pos- session of them. They can't help it. They would rather lie than not, •even though the truth might be advantageous. Curious also how often lying goes hand in hand, with great professions of religion. A dear friend once had an interview of twoor three hours' duration on a sub- ject: of importance to both the intenviewer and interviewed. The interviewed WaS a distinguished Canadian statesman now gone over to the majority. He was pious pro- fessedly, a member of a church and in good name and fame with the best in the odour of sanctity. Yet in all that three hours' talk he never spoke one single item of truth and never made a single proposition which he had the slightest intention of carrying out. 'Start him on a prayer or a speech and he was first rate, but he was a champion liar all the same, and every one of his friends •ackowledged the fact. Suppose every lie tittered in say, the oonme of a day, in this holy city Of Toronto were to take the shape, say, of insects in =Ad measure correspond- ing with the ugliness of the offence, what a frightful atmosphere there -would be, worse it is to be feared than when the Egyptian plague of fliea darkened the sky. There is this to be said, however: The man or the Woman given to exaggeration is aoon found out. And they take their places in general estimation oncordingly. By way of melee mice 'Abet is a mean vice, and it Makes those who yield to it mean indeed. About two hundred years ago Englishmen were the finest diamond cutters in the world, end the trade was nearly all carried on in London, and at the nresont time old English -cut diamonds will always fetch a very high price, as the ehttiug is still so muoli prized. Through religious persecu tion the cutters migrated to Amsterdam, where they have since remained, A firm of Now York phunbers was fined SIM for imperfect plumbing and violating the plan and eptioifieetione Of the inspector of buildinge, Since the fine wait imposed, peesone heilitate about employing the firm, for fear the $750 will be include(1 in the first bill presented, A social. philosopher foresees the day when the primary school desk will be supplied with typewriters instead of writing books. Deer Butehery by Lumber gaMPers, " A Resident" writes to the Ottewa, Free, Pros ;---" Having noticed several communism-, tions in your paper last March referring zo the destruction of deer in the locality of Casselman village, Roxborough •swamp, three nailea east of Casselinan and the Gore of Cambridge, four miles gtheti of Casselman, I desire to •call the serious attention of all: true sportsmen to the following facts:--).. There is end has been for many years paet,. *age (leer yards in the It ntborough swamp, above eferred to. 2. The deer In theSe yards have hitherto been protected in the close season from dogs allowed to run at: large (contrary to the game laws) and pot, heaters, by a process best known to youri correspondent. 3. That owing to the present; outlook your correspondent and those. friendly to the ptrict obeervance of the game laws cannot protect the deer in the close in the future as in the past, as there are now from 10 to 12 railway tie camps located in the midst of these deer yards with from, 10 to 3e men in each camp, and many of them 'mete brought their dogs to camp. The original outfit oi a man in this employment - consists generally of a pair of snowshoes, a. hand spike and a cur dog, which does net, aost much to keep, as the latter, after the. first crust is formed on the snow or it be- comes very deep, will readily feed theznselves on deer run down. 4, That if something *. not done to put a stop to this certain des- truction of deer they will be exterminated. this present winter, as this, the largest and hitherto the safest and only yard in thia. country, was never invaded before, and which has proved the only safe place of re- fuge for deer in the past; for, when dogged and murdered on the Castor, Nation, and Bearbrook rivers'they always flocked to this for proteetion. 5. That this yard is com— posed of over 50 square miles of cedar and lemma° swamp, and if the deer were pro- tected in the close season would produce more deer every spring then all the sports- men that oome here could shoot in ten years to come. Therefore all true sports-, men should govern themselves accordingly,. for although I will continue to do as usual I, feel as if my single-handed exertions will be. quite inadequate to save any quantity of the hundreds of deer that are now flocking here." This is a matter that certainly requires immediate attention, for no individual can check single-handed the wholesale and cruel destruction that must ensue if these men in any number take it into their heads to go. "deer -hunting." • Concerning Men of Fame- Schopenhauer declares that no one can Bee blind to his own merit any more that the MU who is six feet high ean remain ignor- • ant of the fact that he towers above his fellows. Lucretius, Ovid, Dante, Shake - spear and Bacon have spoken, of themselves, . and quotes the Englishman, who wittily, observed that merit and modesty have no- thing in common except the initial letter "'I have always a suspicion about modest . celebrities " he Adds, that they might be. right." &dile has frankly said "Only?. good-for-nothings are modest." Certainly - the great German himself came well within, the limits of his own estimate of worth, for no one would ever think of accusing him of being withoutopersonal poise and absolute confidence in the .powers Which influence ', human success. I begin with this. "he told his mother as a small boy, "later on in life I shall distinguish myself.* far other ways." The fact is that as long as he lived Goethe believed in oracles, and was as will- ing as Rousseau to trust his fortunes to the. merest processes of chance. Rousseau was to be saved in the other -- world if the stone he threw hit the tree at n blob it was aimed, and had Goethe caught. the plunge of the valuable pocket-knife, which he tossed into the' river Lann from behind the bushes where he stood he might have become a painter instead of a poet. There maybe a divinity thatshapes the ends of all men, but only the exceptional indi-. divual seems at all conscious of the fact, or in the way of turning it to practical account by actually relying upon it in daily life. Thus it comes about that demoniac men,, men of a definite bent and direction which they can not resist, are given to trusting, more than those whose standpoint is merely personal and commonplace. Greene, then • histoaian, tells us that '1 Eliztheth had, as all stronig natues have, an unpounded con- fidence n her luck." "Her Majesty counts. much fortune," Walsingham wrote bitterly; I wish she would trust more in A imighty God." Lincoln never for an instant donbt- ed that he was formed for some " great or miserable end," and talked freely about the impression to this effect which had been with. him all bis life, and which, after the year 1849, assumed the character of a postive conviction. His biographer sserts that this present- ment was as clear and certain as any image conveyed by the senses ; " The Star u nder which he was born was at once brilliant and malignant. The horoscope was cast, fi xed irreversible, and he had no more power to divert it in the minutes particular then he, had to reverse the law ofgravitation. A Last Wish. A good story is told of a German Dio- genes. When King Frederick William IV: of Prusssia visited the Rhine provinces in 1843, he stopped some hours at Wesel, in winch strongly -fortified town, as the mili- tary commander of the post informed him, the oldest man in the monarchy was then living. • The king went to see the eldest of his subjects, and found him, a hale and still hearty veteran of Mae hundred and six, comfortably seated in an old arra-chair, en- joying his inseparable companion, a short pipe. On the approach of the king he rose and advanced a few steps ; but the king made him sit down and conversed quite, freely with him, the pipe, however, not leaving the old mains lips ae minute. On parting, tb'e king asked him if he had any wish that he could gratify, "No, your Majesty," was the reply, " 1 thank you. I have everything I nee& in this world." ' " Rave you indeed? just think a moment —Wts mortals generally have some wish or other." " Well, sire on second thought I might Ask a favor. ty physieian insists upon my taking a Walk every day on the ramparts. Every time I pass in front of the powdernintgazine, the eentry hails me froth a distance, crying out, 'Take the pipe out of your mouth and, as I can advance but slowly, my pipe goes out every time. Now, if your Majesty will be gracious enough to give the order that the sentry shall let me smoke my pipe the whole of the way, I shall esteem it the greatest boon of my re- maining days." The order was given, and the old mean enjoyed the privilege for nin wards of two you% dyinh with his pipe in his month. There Was a large falling -off in the reports of wheat into Britain last, year from Austin,- lasia. To 1885 they amended to 5,270,230 cwt.; lest year they were no more than 738n 690 cwt.