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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1888-10-4, Page 2stastah tNta'a VIM ParaLrelinp,1 •(ALL RaaraTS REsznynn.] LIKE AND ITNLI By M. E. BRADDON. AtTRo1 or "LuY AttnnEVECSEcarr, Wvalatnn's WErun, ETO.,ETO. CHAI?liER XXXIX.---(Conairtuun.) "Yea 1111,13++' go away, Val; but you Intuit do nothing hurriedly. Mrs. Freemantle watt talking about yea ism my mother this after- noon, eaying that you looked ill and rnoplein and needed ellen°. My mother admitted the fact, and it was aoreed that you should bo persuaded M travel. Your departure will thereforo seezu perfectly natural to all this little world of Chaciforci. There will be no appearancs of flight. All you have to think of, therefore, is the place to which you would like to go -all you have to do is to follow the bent of your own inclination." "I will go to Africa. There is better sport there them in A ustralia-ond a reer life." "If you decide upon Africa, Maluotte may be of Imo to you." "I don't like Melnotte, and I don't believe n his Afrioan ex perimmes. I strongly sus - pest that the into is an impoater. He is too glib." "Bat h ietoriee of aciveature have a vivid air, as, if he had lived among the soenes and people h describes." "The fellow is a good actor, that, is all. Some rowdy adventurer whom the Colonel nas picked up in a gambling den. Melnotte may have been to the Cape, perhaps. His txperiences in the interior I rank as shear lotion." This idea agreed curiously with Adrian's wn vague sospicione as to Mr. Melaotte's truthfulness. Those African stories of his were rather too good and too picturesque to have happened to one traveller. The average man's experiencee are dull enough. They ring the changes upon famine, fever and sport. But Melnotte seemed to have passed from hairbreadth escape to romantic situation, from dramatic encounter to picturesque resale, with an electrical brilliancy. He had slain his lions by the horde, and shot his geinsbocksiu hecatombs. There was exaggeration, no doubt; but whether the man were an actual impostor remained to be proved. "1 don't want anybody's advioe ?" said Valentine decisively. If I can once braes myself up to leave this place, I shall tseo to London, get the kind of outfit.1 think necessary, and then sailfor the Cape. Oen there I man pick ap all the information I want about the interior, and I shall plan my route from there." shall go to London by an early train to -morrow -and to the caps by the first good steamer that can carry me there." "To -morrow? That's soon.' "Why should I delay? I have been staying here face to face with a epectre-like a man in a nightmare dre tin, who faces ettme great horror and cannot move hand or foot. The sooner 7 go, the better." "Let me go to London with you, Val. I should like to Eee you off." "No, no. I am not fit company tor my fellow -men yet awhile. Perhaps after ten years in Atrice I may be better, Let me suffer my purgation, Adrian. Let me wrestle with the memory of sin as Jacob wrestled with the angel -and then per. haps -some day -w" with a stifled sob. shall he. tog . _ ,,...ouiug co 00. t will wire to you before Roil, and then, if there were time, and you would like to come and shake ,hands at • partmg- I, " Be sure I will come, if you give me the chance. It will comfort the mother to hear of you at the Iast moment of leaving. She would like to be there herself, dear soul, if you would lot her," "Dear soul, poor soul," murmured Val- entine, with a remorseful tenderness which was strange to his rough nature, "She has given me 'honey, and I have given her gall. I he e been a fountain of bitterness to you both. Bat it is past. You are strinag in lova and in mercy. Good night, and good- bye, till I sail. I shall be off early to -mor- row moralism "But you will bid your mother good. loyea' " Must 1? That will be hard. I should like to slip away without any leave-taking. would like to write to her from London," "She would be heartbroken if you left her like that". "Perhaps you are right. Itis the weak- aees of her character to be fond of me. I'll ;ee her in the morning before I start. She will be happier when I am gone -safe and nappy -with you. You ought to marry, Admen. You owe as much to my mother as well at to youreelf. There is Lucy Free - mantle, who has been in love with you for the last five years.' "Valentine.' a true bill. I've teen the growing passion from the time she left off short frocks and long halm You have been her ideal from the day she left the nursery -perhaps before. 1 daresay she was often thinking of you over Pinnock or Lingard. Marry her, Adrian. She has not one of the at. trilsutee of the typical girl, and she will make you a true and honest wife." "I will wait till my time comes, Val," ariewered Adrian, with a sad smile. "It has not come yet." Lady Belfield was always An early riser. $the was in the garden next) morning, look- ing at the first oluetere of snowdrops, white against the whiteriese of the hoar froet, when Valentine joined her, clad for a jouto nay, in a fur -lined overcoat and deer stalk- ercap. " blether ," ho began abruptly, " Adrian and I had a long brotherly talk last night, arid he adviaecl mo to try change of scene as a cute for bitter memoriee. I aril •going abroad for a spell." "Mac, dear. Yee, it will be Et good thing, 1"em sure," answered hie mother, poling etidclonly 4b the mere thotight of a peseible parting, "but you will not be go- ing just yet, You will lake time to think about it. 4'1 am going at once, Yon know I was never given to ftreto1utjn 1 havealone most things, for good or. evil, on Om epar.of the moment. Ihana off by the 8.35.. My parttriaateatx lieve gene down tothe dahlia yard. I thrall etem o day or two in to wo, satd theta sail for the Cope. or the dope 1 That la so fat, Val. Why tot go ts Ittdy or Spain." "Tame, hanknoyed, intolerable. The soliday groond of elf-opitffiniated Yankees oul perecoially conducted Cookueye. No, if change of scene ie ts clo roe ally good, if 1 Mt to got ont of myeelf, X runt get face to face with mature. Afriet is the place for me, boat& be afroid, dear mother. The Dark Centlimut ie as cafe a eoiitude oe Herne Bay.' And pm are golug-this morning ?'' " At otioe The dogcart le welting for me Geod.-bye." He 'duped hie mother hi his ulna; kissed her as he hod not 'defied her Sr Yeats -at hardly since he wee a schoolboy. His ow eyes were not innocent of tears as he rushed asvay, leaviug her to sob out her sorrow in the quiet shrubbery walk whiel her foot. steps had so often trodden. Never had she felt more desolate them in this parting with the wayward and beloved 15051, and yet she told herself that it was well he ware gone. Anything must be done rather than to see him as he had beep since last August. The South -Western Railway conveyed Mr. Belfield to Exeter, but in the junction station there, he had a cheice of trains, and the Great Western suited him best on this occasion. tie crossed from one platform to the other, took his ticket fer Paddington, and Came out upon the departure platform of the Great Western, under the big °look. The platform waanot so crowded as usuel, and the train was not due for five minutee. As he walked slowly towards the end of the station, Valentine passed a mau volaose face flashed ripen him with a sadden sickening of the heart and weakening of the limbs, like the sight of a ghost in high noon. The wintry sun shone upon the pale and. high.bred features. Ha sow the face looking at him. half in hatred, half in scorn, and he could not give beck scorn for scorn, hate for hate. He who had never feared his fellow- men, sickened at the sight of this man, and passed on with quickened step, and eyes looking steadily forward, preteadiueo not to see that familiar face, the face of the man who had stolen his wife's heart. SI. Austell stopped and looked back bt him, am alive, that was the face of a felon,' he said to himself, "and the mystery of Helen's fate is darker than any of us dream of. That titan dared not meet my eye -although it was his place to hector and mine to quail. There was guilt in that look." • He was on his way westward. Since that meeting at the Badminton, he had been much disturbed in his mind about his lost love. Fickle as the previous experience of his life had proved him, he had not yet for- gotten Helen. The year which Mr. Baddeley had allowed for the duration of his pas - :don was pot yet ended, and it may be that the disappointment and mischance av'nich had attended this particular intrigue, had intensified his feelings. He would have for- feited ten years of his life to have found Helen, and won her for his own, but there was that in her husbond's countenance which chilled his soul. He had half a mind to follow Valentine Belfielcl, and tax him then and there with foul ploy. He had no evid- ence except the mysterious circumstances of tlae wife's disappearance, and that guilty look in the husband's face -but the two to- gether brought conviction to St. Austell's mind. CHAPTER XL -THE FORLORN HOPE. Valentine Bolfield walked to the furthest end of the platform and stood there, cold and sick, like a man in an aglln 61 4.111 -me ea, you don't look the -kind ofrnan who could stand it," said an elderly parson, one of those amiable busy -bodies who are always' interested in other poople affairs. Valentine scowled at him wby ay oi an- swer, as he threw his deer.stalker into the rack, and mopped his forehead and hair, damp with ley sweat. " A churlish personage," thought the West Country rector, "something wrong with the heart, and a very irritable temper," and the good man tried to interest himsef in his newspaper; glancing over the top of it every now and then to zee it there were any hope of conversation. Valentine put on his cap again, pulled it over his forehead; and coiled himself in a corner of the carriage in an attitude that tneant total isolation. He was trying to re- cover his nerve after that sudden apparition of Sr. Austell. "By I was afraid of the man," he said to himself. "For the first time in my life I have known what it ia to fear the face of a man. If a brace of constables came to arrest me, warrant and handcuffs complete, I wouldn't flinch; but his face unnerved me. He loved her. He would ask me, What have you done with your wife! What have you done with that frail, false, lovely girl whose heart was mine?' Yes, his, Hs -not mine. It was his love I mur- dered. It is to him I am answerable. It was his life I spoiled. She had ceased to belong to me -she was openly, avowedly his. And 1 quailed betore him, turned sick with fear at sight of the villain who wrong- ed me." For an hour and more he sat ha his corner, living over that brief moment of meeting -- seeing that passing viaion of a malignant face, telling himself again and again in the bitterest mockery that it was St. Austell who had lost by that fatal blow. At last, and with a tremendous effort, he dismissed this dark train of thoughts, and his mind recurred to one of the object of his journey to London.' Ever since that last meeting with Madge Dailey, the girl and her mission had been present to his mind. Paraion was dead in him buried under the crushing weight of a great remorse, numbed and frozen as the senses are in a nightmare. There was no rekindling of an old thane ; but in the as he of his dead love for that strange girl„ there waa a faint glow, a little spot of warmth ree thaining where all else bad grown cold. He yowled for her presence, for the sound of her voice, for the touch of her hand, He Sit diet if there could be comfort or hope for him Anywhere upon thia earth, it would be with her, He felt that5 there were any one to whom he could confess his crime, it Was Madge Dawley, and not a priest. " The Porlorn Hope," herepeated to hint. self as he sat in hisoorner, loohing out at thelandsm pe ; everyfield; and copse, and hill,' and. Curving ateam; familiat to hini 'frore h5byood ; beheld again and again at all seasons, sometimein listless vacuity, sometimes inipatienee. At last the train steamed into Paddington Station on the edge of dusk, The sunset glowed darkly rid athwart the London log, aa the train noosed Harrow and Hanwell. The great vaulted roof of the terminus look- ed ghastly and eepulehral 1n the chilly light o electro lan-ips 'Valentine told perter to take his port- mantoeux to the Groat Western hotels and theo left the station on foot. Ho Wag going to Lissola Grove to look for the Refuge found- ed b Made Dawley. The leng thoroughfare of the Grove was light With lamplit shops i and fall of traffics. Valentina enquired in 0510 of the shop, and wa.0 (limited to iskle,streeti looting street of Shabby, dilapidated lian-eiS; which might have had Bente preteneton te respectability half a century ago, but'which had fallen to about the lowest stage In the hietory of bricks and mortar, 'They were houses of a considerable size, however, and offered accommodation to a oonsiderable population, as appeared by the various light- ed windows, suggestiog many domicilea un- der ono roof. Across the front of one of these houses, of a somewhat bettsr aspect than its neigh• bouts, appeared along black board on, which the words "The 'Forlorn Hope," were painted in large white lettere. In front of the fanlight there was a lamp with the words "Refuge for Women and Girls," in black letters, on tho glass. There was no poesible mistake as to the motive and char- acter of this institution. The door swung open at Valentine's touch, and as he etOileed the threshold, a woman iu a block gown and a white cap came out of the parlor next the etreet, and met him in the pasage. It teas Madge D kwley. The shepherdesa was always ready to receive the lost sheep. I The fold was humble and unattrootive but I itt meant what it offered -Shelter. She started at sight of a tall man in afar bordered coat-storted again on recognizing Valentino. "Mr. Belfield I" she exclaimed. "Yes.' Ittold you I should eome to you some day, Madge, and you ponied not to shut yoor door in my face.", . "1 4.111 not likely to do that; but I don't think you will want to stay verylong in this house, She led the way into t'oe porlour, a plain- ly farnished-room, lighted by a cheap para- ffin lamp, under a green shade. A tall press made of pitch pine occupied either side of the fireplace. Toe table was of varmahed deal, the walla were white- washed, the floor was uncarpeted, and half- a•dozan rush -bottomed chairs completed the furniture of the room; but all was scrupu- lously neat and clean. A tire burned cheer- ily in the shining grate, and an open-work brass fender made one point of brigatness in the picture. A large iron ket de was singing on the old-faehioned hob. "Pray sit down," said Madge, pointing tw a chair opposite her own. You have an idle hour to spare'I suppose, and you have come to see our Refuge -to find out for yourself whether We are doing good work-- in order that you may help us.' She spoke gravely, faltering a little' more deeply moved by his presence in thatplace than eh e would have oared to own to herself. The lesson of her life for nearly four years had been the, lesson of forgetful- ness; but it was not yet learned. His voice, his face, had still the power to awaken a, strange, unreasoning gladness, to give life a new color. . "No, Madge; I have come on no such philanthropic errand. I confess to caring very little whether your work of mercy, thrives or fails, I aro here from pure sel- fishness. I am eaten up by my own cares; my own burden is too heavy for me, and of late, night and day, I am devoured by one thought, one He stopped suddenly, looking at hemysith eyes thet shone feverishly bright in his pale and haggard face, with one strong hand clenched upon the table between them. nom -dee' ern Hope, Madge," he said in f ter a few moments', silence, lt you will pity me when no is world, except my brother, tnowing all. Yea, that you, in, might still pity me -might He flung himself on his knees at her feet. He seized her hand and covered it with kisses, despairing kisses, which moved her more than his wildest passion of days gone by had ever moved her, fondly as she had loved the tempter. She snatched her hand from him indig- nantly, looking at him in angry surprise. "I thought you knew me better them to talk to ms in that strain," she said. "1 thougbt I had shown you that I am not the kind of woman to be tempted by a fine gen- tleman lover -to be tempted now, after I have given nay life to the saving of weaker women. Do you think that I am likely to forget that yeti are another woman's husband -w-and that when you were a free man you refused to marry me ? "1 was a fool, Madge, a proud, eelf-opin- ionated idiot. I did not know that you were the one woman upon this earth who could have made my life happy -who might have influenced me for good. I was hemmed in and bound round by petty prejudices, by bigoted belief in birth and position. What are birth and position when weighed against the nobility of such a nature as yours? saw in you a beautiful peasant, whom it was my business, as a gentleman, 'to . seduce. And when I saw that your resistance was real and earnest, I lost my temper, and fancied myself in love with another woman, It was pique that made me Helen Deverilre lover." He shuddered as he pronounoed his wife'a name. "That is all past and done with," said Madge, gravely. "I am very a orry that your marriage ended unhappily; but thete is a long life before you yet, I hope, and there must be semething for you to do in it. And now I must see after my patients. It is teatime. Shall I make you a cup of tea ?" She Went to one of the presses, opened it, and began to take out cups ana saucers, and little crockery Majoots, and trays, and plates. Everything.vvas of the cheapest, but the things had been chosen for their pretti.' news, and the little trays had a, neat and, dainty look as those active hoods arranged them, each with its spotless linen d'oyloy. He thought of those careless days on the river, with boat, and dog, , and gun ; tho sheer idlenesa.of fancy which had led him to Madge DawIey's cottage ; the hold her beauty had taken of him, and Itis..scornttil disbelief in her virtue. And he now came to this woman la his agony; as the woman 'who could giv,e him help and comfort, whose strong brave soul could inspire him with courage to begin life anew. And having come Loth tido house of pain, he felt DX if it would be best of all to stay here for ever, to be her clerk, her ally, her drudge, only to have the privilege of being near her, He altruist forgot his scheme of distant travel, he W415 ready to grovel at her feet and plead to be allowed to stay .with'her. . She was absent for more than an hour. He emptied the tea'pet,latittd looked at isis Watch a dozen tianettbefdreshomarne book,: ' " Ate you aurprised to eeo in here etill," ins asked. . "Yes, I thought you would have gone back to yourhotel. This is not a place for yeti." ' "X sappone not, yet yon told me if were in great distress I Might come to you for shelter. I belied to find the name ot your house *as not altogether a delusion= • The Forlorn 1 heato no other hope, Madge." 0' That Cannot be true. Von hetie your imothem vahe tadorea you. 44 My mother bannot help MO to bear my burdenit would blast her declining years. bring her 1 t anguish to tho graveto know the nature of my misery. 1 want some strong koliern ti tleupent; 1 want' adatt .heroicdmorif to4iispire inttt with °garages Madge,1 have come to you -to you, aa the only wentanwho ointnehed a ray (Alight upon this darkened epirit. I am a viler Pinner than auy of your lost sheep. Have pity upou me if you on, /dodge, for I am the kind of sinner whom no one pities. I am a pout derer I" He clasped her hand in both his Own and, drew her nearer to him, looking up at her with deapairing eyes, as she stood looking down upon him, spesehless with horror-. " I killed my wife." "Oh, God 1' "I had the confession of her falsehood in my hand, her own deliberate declaration that she had ceased to love me, and that she was passionately in love with another man -that she was leaving me to be hiss mistress. A pleasant letter for a husband to read, Madge. The ink was wet upon the paper, and she stood there looking at me - beautiful -false to the core. 1 truek her to the ground. It was only one blow, but it killed her. Between the reading of that letter and her death, there was but an in- terval of half -a -dozen seconds. The ink was wet still, and she was lying at my feet look. ing up at me -dead." "It was horrible," gasped Madge, " an awful, irreparable calamity -but not mur- der. You did not mean to kill her." "I will not say as much as that. I think I wanted to kill her -as I would have killed her seducer had he been there -bat I was sorry the instant she was dead. The agony Of remorse began before that ink was dry." "You should have confessed the truth;: you should have braved all consequences." "1 should. I was a coward ' and a fool a a craven, to shrink from the consequences of my wrath. I had a right to be angry. I forgot how frail a thing she was. She fell like a lily -a tall white ;lily snapped in a storm. One moment, my passion had vent- ed itself, and she was dead." And then he went on to describe that ghastly burialof the dead, in the silence of the summer night. He dwelt on every de- tail, showing how vividly every circurni stance of that cliental scene • had painted it- self on his memory, lie recalled these things shudderingly, 55 a- man relates a bad dream which he has dreamed again and again. " Did no one suspect you ?" "No one has found me out. There is a man I suspeet of being some kind of eaves- dropper and spy -a man who is on a visit to her father, and who passes for a gentle- man." "You must not lose an hour in getting away from Eaglancl-from Europe -beyond the reach of pursuit, if that be possible. Suspicion once aroused, detection might be easy, and then having hidden your crime, you might seem a deliberate murderer in. stead of the victim of a moment's passion. You must sail by the first ship that can carry you. Go to Liverpool to -night by the mail -if Liverpool is the port -and start to- morrow morning." "1 am in no hurry." "But if your secret were once suspected, to leave Eagland then would look like flight, and only confirm suepicion. Go at once, while you are free to go." "1 have half a mind to stay and take my chance," he answered thoughtfully. "1± you would be kind to me, Madge -if you would let me spend an hour in this room sometimes, hear the sound of your voice, watch you coming in and going out, I would rather stay in London than go to Africa to look for diamonds and shoot big game. I am not the man I was before that night, Madge. When -when I had done that deed, my first thought was to save my neck -to hide my crime and go scot free. I thought iife would be the same as it had been -the hunting field -the racecourse - the battue -all the same. I thought I could forget. Bat when the seasons came round again, and the old sports, and the old people -my God, what a change. All the zest and flavour was gone. I went about as if I was in a dream, only half conscious of my own existence or the life round me. Wherever I went, the same haunting thoughts went with me and a ghost that would not be laid. 013, Madge, you are stronger than I --braver, nobler. Pity me if, you can, as the strong should pity the weak." "1 do pity you, poor soul, with all my heart," she answered, softly. She bent over him, and Mese(' his burning forehead. For the first time in their lives, her lips touched him in love, freely given. "1 cannot live without you Madge. I have yearned for you in my misery. That kiss has sealed mo as your own for ever." " "If you persist in saying these things, I will never see you again, Mr. Belfield. I have done with love, and all thoughts of love. I have planned out my path in life, and mean to keep to it. And now I must wish you good -night, and ask you to leave this house. I have a great deal to do be- fore bedtime," - "Cannot other people do it for you? Can not you give one evening in your lite to my despair -you who do so much for others ?" "1 ani the head of our little organization. and have to see that all is done rightly. There are three and twenty sick or ailing girls and women in the house and only three sisters besides myself to f00 to them. We are a sisterhood of twenty-two. I am the only permanent resident. The other- twentymne each give one day and night in every weak to the work. They come at eight one evening, and go away at eight on the following evening. It is one day taken from th3 week of Worldly business for a work of meroy. We find the Plan works better than many resident sisterhood. The sisters are more Cheerful, better tempered,. and in better health. Their lives are not Monotonous, There ia' no wearinees, no pining for escape into the outer vverld. They always bring a certain amount of freshness to their work ; and it Makes them happy to know that however worldly the rest of their lives ntey be, one day out of the seven 5 spoilt in doing good." "The plan is your invention 1 suppoSe ?" "Yefil, it ie "Clear bran; strong heart 1 Why did I not know your value four years ago? Well M taiga, you have received Me kindly, and I won't Maltose tinbn yout kindness. Good -night. 1ellen eothe again to -morrow evening." ," Tear& ,better ofit, and go to,Liverpool Good night,, norepeated; ignoribg her questiott. , "Good -night." They claimed hands and parted. Scarce. ly had the outer door stilt upon hint, Wheh she covered her face with her hands and burst into tears. "Oh, my love, nly sinostained love 1" ehe Marmured ; " I care for yoa mote in Your abatement than I ever eared for you yet. I would give my life tO lead you ‘bitola to hap, pihesa, if I had oily hope you could ever bo happy, But the corse of blood ie on your Beall, mid whot hope out theta be for yeti this aside of the grave ? (to DP CONTINUED) Wedding by electricity has conic to Stay. 'CABLE NEWS Frederick 111,. as the Author of German Daion-Growmg Belief 3,u Stanley's Death. ' Nothing more surprising and important has been published in Europe in many a long day than the extracts from the diary of the late Kaiser Frederick printed in the October number of the Deutsche ittsncischazaw. The section only covers some eight months bevinning in mid July, 1870. It contains much new and valuable matter about the Franoo.German war as seen from headquar- ters but it striking feature is the disclosure that neither Emperor William nor Prince Bismarck liked the idea of founding a new German empire and that Unser Fritz was the one who carried the whole project through, laboriously persuading his father and almost bullying the Chancellor into a reluctant support of it. Eveubedy hereto- fore supposed that William and Bismarck had been the sole and joint author a of the imperial echeme. • Since the news of Jamieson's death reach- ed London there hoe been a distinct growth of conviction that Stanley him,self is. lost. As was pointed out at the time, the tidinge of Barttellot'a murder and the evil fate which overtook this relief expedition really do not affect the question of Stanley's safety, as he passed through the country 12 months ahead of Barttelot and Jamieson, and they seemed to have karned nothing about him beyond what we knew last year, that is, that he had had lots of hard fighting on the road. More- over, Stanley has shown that though often rough and arbitrary, he knows how to manage the blacks, whereas ,Barttelot was brutal and arrogant to the last degree. The regular Autumn disturbance in Bul- garia and the East is evidently not going t3 be missed this, year, I hear from a friend now in Moecow that a lot of money has been recently raised to send a crop of revo- lutionista into the Danubian country, and lastweek's attempt to assassinates the Bul- garian Minister, Nacevics, is conceded to be the overture to new operations. Of course there ie no telling what proportions they may assume, but Bulgaria on the sur- face seems better able than ever to take care of her self. The danger of the existing situation lies not so much in the abortive emeutes fomented by Russian agitators as in Turkey's new attitude of truelence to- ward Bulgaria. There is some fear that this means that Russia has once more got the upper,hand in Stamboul. European Dress in Japan, The taste for European dress is spread - ng very rapidly in Japan, especially so far as women's toggery is concerned. Some of the sensible leaders of society in the States, among whom are Mrs. Clevelmd and Mrs. Garfield, regret this and in order to counter- act what they regard as a great mistake and a great danger they have ivritten an "open better" to their Japanese sisters in which they try to stop them in their rage for foreign fashions in dress. In this letter the Japanese ladies are told that in point of beauty, grace and suitability tllepamese dresses modeled after the best &yam- ese standards are both elegant and re- fined and that it would take years for Japanese ladies to adapt to themselves and wear with equal grace a costume to which they are entirely unaccustomed. They tell them that European dresses are far more expensive and that it would be necessary to remodel the whole household economy, if such innovations are to be successful. Besides, it ia argued that European dresses are not so healthful; that heavy skirts, dangerously close -fitting dress bodies,, the insidious custom of wearing corsets which is far more direful M its con- sequences than the Chinese custom of com- pressing the feet of women are all abomina- tions, and that it will be far better for the ladies in Japan to pause in their course and to take counsel with the best women, in other countries so as to have as far as possi- ble, the dress adapted to the health, of the body and to tho development of the soul. This ia all very well,' but we 'rather fear that Sas European craze will prevail artiong'the Japanese sisterhood. Whatever is fashionable has to be adopted whether it be healthful and bee0111113g, or the reverse. Xarried >laves in Paris.. it Ftenchmon of the commercial class matries, as rogeneral 'rule, in order to in- crease his balance at the banker's; to de- velop his business connection, an& to find a trustworthy person tc keen his books ; for the Frenchwoman who marries a baker, but- cher, linen draper, grocer, or charcittier or "pork man." becomes until her dying day the 'slave of the shop." She sits before a ledger from morning to night, adding up figures and superintending her employees, while her husband is perhaps smoking cig- arettes and playing dominoes in adjacent cafe. The married Woman of this doss may deena herself lucky if she can put up her shutters at 1 o' cloak on Sunday in order to take a gala fresh air just outside the walls of the city or to viait her friends. Mastiff and Hen. A remarkableinstance of animal sagacity, told by a cortespondent of the Lohdon "Spectator," well interest mar dog -loving readers: " Bob " a fine two.year-old mastiff, whose maasive head and face is relieved by great mildness of expression, was seen one day carrying it hen in his mouth to the kennel. Ile placed lier hi one corner, and stood sen. try while elle laid an egg, which he at 'once deviated. " From that day the two creatures have beat fast frienda ; the hen refuses to lay any where hut in Bob's kennel, and gets her reward in the dainty morsels from Ins plat- ter. Careful of the" Book. • , ottng Author (making a, eall)-I'see yen have my new book .on the tahle,-.Miss Haint mealy. ' ttainTherely7Oh, . yes, 1C/Ir,., Preface,. .and we have (Ohnd at Sciinter,estirig:, toting Artliiir(teking the'laeek),4, 'neitiOe 180.41i) ,Of.,plie leaves are notecttf; ' Mi88 Hatnnietely-tEr-mo, Mr, ,Preface; we ate. carefulto keep, it fresh as long as possible. 2 ' ' • wwe-a- : A:VIA:1141f% "1 don't uriderstand. Women," remarked PoStman, and"--aftor pause-" I 'don't believe 1 want to, either" • " Whaes the Matter!" , "12 hond 3, letter to a Wonsan. Ad leeks . at me eeveraly rola ott,yei Whot I only one If I gin° her ,sbc, she says, What 1,only eb ?' and if I had a hundred for her she make the same remark. If X have only a paper id del/Ver.-4011, Daterribla life to leo 4 /. nobert Innis Stevenson's $torr iteprotineq '. edin Fact lin the Northern .1"aellie °mean. 7 • In 1823,, during a revolution in Peru; number of wealthy residents of Liina'cliar ()red A , brig, of 300 tons, to earry to Spain! their' -property in money and j'etvelry, and a lariats emantity of .monestio plate. ' It is maid that there were cloubloone to the vOlue Of two- naillione eterling, and a vast guilt' hi plate. Hot after ahoMteasare wpm on board, and - when. iti OWLIfitS came down to theheech. they found thevessel gone. .An gugu*rian, it Lieutenant' M the Peruvian navy, hearing of the intended flight, had gone .00 bpard with it chosen bond, and had cut out thetbrig within hail of a, retitvian naan-of-war. He steered right across the Pacific; and ilcourse of time reached the Marianne blond , in the Macau° Ocean, whin 3 the treaeure- was buried. A course was then made for Ffonolnlu, But 'before reachipg thia port quarrels+ broke out among the pirates, and.the Lieatenant, with his two officers and a cabin boy,, having ,Eet fire to the vessel, got into a boat and left the crew. One of the officers wationtaileted and thrown . overboard before the, boat reached Honolulu. There the party repreeenn.td themselves as the survivors of it shipping disaster. The Lieutenant, before, leaving Lima nad.been in love with a lad',. the Wife of a Peruvian- officer who Woe slain in the revolution and; before taking further steps Withariagard to the' treasure, decidedtesencl for her. The cabiti boy was despatched as emissary to Lima, but 1311 his arrival there hettaas acelied and imprisoned, anct1tlie7lady refused to -have anything futther tede with a man whom She Styled a detestable Pirate. , The Lieutenant and his sole remaining companion thereupon char tered,a smallfore- andaft schooner, the Swallow, honitnandecl by one Capt.- Thompiton, and proceeded to - the Mariannes for his treasure. Theinpeon ' tried hard to get a charter for a specified( port or ports, but the Lieutenant insisted OM a broad charter; including any or . all. the Mowianties. One evening when they were, in sight of the islands, the Lieutenant,. who, was sitting o0. thelee rail chatting with his, companion, Was, his conjectured, tipped! ".. ' Overboard by the latter and disappeared. . The urinal alarm was raised, , but the . Lieu, tenant's body was never recovered, Thomp- son, from certain scraps of conversation, which he had overheard, having suspeotedt the object of the voyage, °vet -hooded the - dead Lieutenant's effects, and among them found a chart of the island on which the treasure woe hidden, but With the name, omitted. Soon afterward he sighted another. brig, with the master of which he was - acquainted, and they arranged to search.for. the treasure and divide it between them; giving the surviving pirate a share on condi- tion that he consented to point out the spot, but with a threat if he did not do so he would forthwith be handed over to the -Open - fah authorities. At a concerted:moment the, pirate was seizid by both Captains and the conditions named, He nodded. They asked him if he would lotlicate the situation of the treasure.He nodded. They asked if this was the island, pointing to the nearest of the group. He again nodded. They invited him to step into it boat which had been lowerectand guide them to the treastige. He nodded once more. Afterward he went below, and filled his pockets with lead paid" iron., Then going down the ladder, he pushed off the boat with one foot from the side of the schooner, and dropped Set first into the sea. Until within two years ago there was aline one of the boat's crew, who 4 1 ...., , snatching at the suicide's hair to save him as ' he sank, plualted from his head a handful of hair, but could not raise the heavily - weighted body, This put an end to the treasure hunting. The chart went into the possession of the Spanish authorities. The British schooner Nerold recently sailed from Japan as far as Guam, a small island belonging to the Marianne group, M - search of the buried treasure. But while the - Captain, who intended to sail for Yap, in the Carolines, was on shore, it was carried . off either byhis mate or two Japanese; or by all three, these being the only persons on boord. AS no trace of the' vessel -has been' found; there Is still some mystery about the affair. Meanwhile the Captain of the Nereid, who holds or believes he holds the clue to , tho seereti of ails this wealth, has lost everything. .Whatever :May "be thought ' of this, ex. traordinaryastortrowliat is beyOnd any ques- tion, says the Japan Mial, ile that an English shipmaster in Yokohama, at the commence. , ment of the present year, set out in a schooner, built under his own supervision and belonging to himself, to search for the treas- ure supposed to be hidden more then sixty yeareago among the coral islands of the North P' acific and that Isis crew ran away with his'. vesael and have not since been heard of. Posaibly they, too, have determined to. recover ' the treasure on their own account. The story .was.taken down from the mouth. of the Captain himself. • , The Sugar Trust Dictates. ,• • The Oetor sugar trust has told ,the Sena ate of the United States what it wants. We suppose when political parties are so nearly divided, as now happens to be the case, the sugar magnates, who are stealing 820,000a 000 from the people annually through in creased profit, think it is a question only of buying ,a, few Congressmen. These trusts, and syndicates have too long dictated te the -American people . . . .The sugar trust refuses to anode to the ent,Of 50 per pent. in the tariff, loht, will compromiseam as cut of 33; per .cent. the present sager, classification to stand. - How complacent of the thieves! ThedPiairie Farmer idea of knocking the tarK from so gat for year art -mif:g7, bring t,hese,..s.7,13,,a, alto orate to -their milk; ,epeaking ofter'o aoix Themonsumption of sager -hi. theenuntry , is t haimitt - 3,000,009;000 *pout& me year. • Since 41`ii forMationof the trtistd'the .. profits of the refiners'have , been , increased Ifrieni to 2 °onto a pound. They havehy corner- ing7", redneed -the, . price of raw, sugar f to themselves about,f, of . a cent per pound." Histoce they,thinkthotrisplvea streng.enough to, dictate -to • Congress. What will the • people thinktot ,their public servants who allevatthis dietatiert7 Watch' Opitgreesnaen ,tiktatretertlie Octet), u,a sugar ,tru,St.'ed, e7ands- )"''• '' `,;I:C'A:'3' . kd " ' 'Oh li .; ad AV lin UM Isah't‘o'n' don "Times', oaths ::--hOtir Canter, WhW 'Correspondent writes ;4The audacity: - of thejackdatv oftillitiima hoe been equalield , if not .eteelied, at Monkton; in Kent, • Dar- ing DiVine derviee a jackdaw, holeniffing' to IIG,Stipleten dotton,t made itS way into the •noted, edifice with the congregation, and not • only took a lively,part ,In the responaesi bat idso letataine exceedingly talkatite at °thin . tinies,, . The whole comaregatieni wero ,in a illicit, the pleigynien hunsolf with difficulty' kept a straight face,'" while the school Ail - dreg present' broke ont into open laughter. Thingbecame so bad :that. thcs' elerg,ymarh Wet dempolleal to .order the thildren out of the chnrolif , ,Tben an Wert WLIS made to °Lsebaul IrPid:lobit°,6 tlhowever, Yea o'Itnrylriponnetfl: oetWrh, .°, to l I)0readinga di desk.t 13Oer1°' ha b° (1011vhet he . where it, remained (still . ta1kativ) , tilt the ' • A REAL TREASURE ISLAND,