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The Exeter Times, 1888-11-15, Page 2[NOW FIRST P17131.10I1E10.1 [ALL Malian RESERVED.] KE AND UNLIKE By M. E. BRADDON. • AUTHOR:03? 4' LADY A,I3DLEY'8 SE0RET„ WIrLLARD'S,WMRD, ETO.,ET0. CHAPTER XLVIH.—No ALTERI,TATivE. Mrs. B tddeley stayed with her father ill after the trial, and did all in her pewer to support his spiritsthrough that terrible time between the discovery of the body and the couviction of the criminal. lewd St. Austell went back to London immediately after Valentines confession. He fele that there was no more for him to do. His mur- dered love was avenged. His identity with the dead woman's lover was never revealed by any of the witnesses —nor had Valentine mentioned his name. Yet St. Austell knew that there were very few people in England who vvonld not come to know that he was the man who had brought about this. evil. So far ari it was in his nature to feel sorry for any sin of his life, he was sorry for the sin that had brought Helen Balfield to an untimely grave. Yet. even while remorse was still new and keer, he was capable of ;equine with himself that the husband was by far the greater sinner: first for neglect- ing his wife, and then for killing her. CHAPTER XLIX.—A LAST Anteem Colonel Deverill started for Marseilles directly after thetrial, escorting Leo and the poodle as far as London, on his way. From Marseilles he meant to cross to Ajaccia, and spend the next two or three months in Corsica. It was an out of the way Island, where he might get a ‚little spore, and where he was no likely to meet many of his English ac- cjuaintanoss. ' Leonora Baddeley was deeply shocked by the events of the last three months, and even the knowledge that the kind fellow from Judie was on his homeward way did not suf- fice M restore her spirits. Everything in her life was at sixes and serene; her creditors impatient; Beeching inclined to be objec• tionable ; and the poodle's domestic comtort hardly compatible with a husband in resid- enceninasmuch as he always required the most luxurious easy chair in any room he occupied, and could not sleep anywhere ex- cept on the fur rug by his mistress's bed, waere he made the quiet night musicel with his snores. There was not room for a divid- ed du ty on that small la atin Wilkie Mansions; and Leonora feared that when her hind, good fellow was restored to her one of his first acts of authority might be to turn her poodle out of doors. And then, little by little, her terrible in• volvements would be revealed to him ; and tlae butcher and the baker, and the man who had supplied her with lamps and oil to feed them, would demand their due. How was was she to face those gruesome revelations, how answer to her husband for having spent four times as much as her position justified? She could almost have wished that the kind fellow's regiment had been forgotten by the authorities at the war office, and left in India for the next ten years. "They would have liked it," she told her- self. and it would h eve been such a relief to She parted with her father at Paddington, he having refused to spend a night in Lon- don. He was going by the night mail to Paris, and. to Mareeilles by the next morn. ing's express, • I hate London, and England, and every place that can remind me of my poor girl, he said. He kiseed his daughter in a sad farewell, ‘and Tory stood up on his bind legs and licked the Colonel's fade, deeply sympathetic, and perfectly aware thet there was trouble in the family. " tie's such a clever darling," said Leo, "I'm sure he knows disagreeable letters— bills and lawyers horrid threats in blue en- velopes—few he always brings them to me •with the air of biting sorry for me. When shall I see.you again, father ?" "1 don't know. I feel utterly beaten. My life has been a failure in most ways, Leo; but this last blow has crushed me. I don't feel aa if I should ever take any interest in life again. I used to regret the passage of time ; hated the idea of being an old man ; bttb now I wish I nem twenty years older, with my memory gene, and my senses dim, tottering upon the edge of the grave." "It has all been very sad for us, bat it was not half so dreadful for her," argued Leo, philosophically. " Think how little she suffered. A few moments of startled surprise—one swift, strong blow that ended life in a sudden flash, and she was gone. She died in the zenith of her beauty, adored by her lover. It was ever eo much better a fete than to have gone away with St Austell and for him to have grown tired of • her in • six months, as he most assuredly would." " Dont talk about it," said the Colonel sternly. "There is no consolation anyway. She perished in her youth and beauty with her mind intent upon sin. Sho had not a moment for repentance. God be merciful to the poor light soul, and let half the burd- en of her sin rest on me, because I brought her up so careleaely, ani never took pains to guide her steps into the right way." "It is all too sad," sighed Leo; "she might have done so well if she hat' only kept her head." Mrs. Baddeley had her burden to bear in the way of sympathetic speeches and condo'. leg letters from all. her particular friends, who had read and doubtless gloated over the account of the trial. They had pered over the unfinished letter; they knew all poor Helen's weakness, and her intended sin; they who had envied her for her beauty and the effect, she had made in society, and who perhaps were secretly rejoiced at her evil fate, Leo had to endure condolence from all comers, and to say the same set phrases over and over again. " Yes,, it was all too dreadful. I believe that wretched man was half -n oddened. There was always a strain of madness about him it and so on, and so forth, till she seemed to repeat the same sentencemechanically. "1 sappose twins often are a little queer in their heads," replied one not over wise lady. The season Was in full progrese by thie time, and fashionable drawing rooma were bright with Wiling and narcissi, but Mrs. Baddeley went nowhere. She wore deepest black, which looked wonderfully well wins a kackground of yellow tulipa ; ani she steed est hone, waiting for the good fellow from India, Sho had put clown her victoria; or it may rather be said that it had been put dome for her, niece the livereestable keeper had refused to supply her any longer with horse and man, and held her carriage in pawn while he sued her for his account, She epeut fihr day e yen/riling over the, works a Mudie, and Paving with Tory, just as the had done iii l'eevonshiee ; and she took her constitute:alai on the Bayswater side of Iseraiington Gardena cerly every morning, hefore the emart. people Wete ont, She would not drive anywhere, elemthere was .degradatiit ht the thought of e hired vehicle, • while her pretty victoria, with its neat ap- pointments, was locked in a mouldy coach - house udder a tyrant's embargo. leiroBeeching oalled upon her, but she said not a word about the victoria. He had been somewhat sullenly deposed since his bargain with Mrs. Ponsonby and quarrel with St. Austell. He said that he had found out the hollowness of frieneship. Leo felt that there would be no good in mentioning the victoria, so she wrapped herself up in the dignity of her grief, knowing that she oked very hand- some in the bite& gown for which Jay bad not yet been paid, and whioh fitted her bet- ter than anything of the famous Poneonby a. The days were drawing nigh. in which she might hourly expect her husband's arrival, and she was beginning to think about the little dinners she would give him and how best she might soothe him, and reconerle htm to Tory's existence and to the burden of her debts. "We shall not entertain this season," she teld Beeehing, "but you must come and dine here quietly whenever you can. Frank is so fond of you." "And of a hand at ecarte, at which he al- ways beats me," answered Beeohing, bluntly. "Yes. I shall like to come; Thank and 1, get on capitally.° It was the day after this little talk with Mr. Beeching, that Leo's maid brought her a foreign telegram. The page had been sent home to his mother, as an expensive detail that must needs be suppressed in adversity. The telegram was from Aden, signed by a name unknown to Leonora Baddeley. " Sorry to inform you Major Baddeley died yesterday evening on board the Metis, of cerebral apoplexy. Will be buried. here unless you telegraph other instructions. " PHILPOTT, Regimental Surgeon." The shock was severe' and there were pangs of remorse mingledwith the widow's grief. She remembered how recklessly she had pursued her self-indulgeut course, oar- ing only for the pleasure of the hour, proud of her beauty, heedless' of her husband's welfare; content to hill her conscience with the belief that to be soldiering under an In- dian sky was the best possible thing for him. She remembered witli how little gladness she had anticipated his return, how willing she would have been n, leave him in India till his head was gray and his limbs were feeble. And uow a sterner Captain than any of the edheials at the War Office had ordered him to a further shore than the ut• termost border of Afghanistan, or the clis• puted limits of Burmah. She had sighed over the loss of her inde- pendence—had feared to etand before the only man who had a right to interrogate her; and now he was snatched away and she was free—free to make the best of her unfettered life, free in the pride of her beauty, before thue had put his withering finger on a aingla char m. With that telegram still in her heed she looked at hereelf in the glass, and told her- self that her armoury was in good order. She had lost no weapon by which such wo- men as she bave power over men. "11 he only oared for me," she said in herself, and then she stemped her foot pissionately, and 'crushed the telegram in her hand. She had no one to help her. Colonel Deverill was in Corsica; and she had no other near relation. Should she have her poor fellow brought home, to be carried into Gloucestershire, and laid in the buria: place of the 13ecideleys. No, the Beildeleys had never done anything for him since his father's death. He had brothers, some rich, some poor. The poor brothers had sponged upon him when he was in England, the rich brothers had held themselves aloof, "To bring him home would be dreadfully expensive," mused Leonora, "and 1 am al- most penniless. No, he must be buried at Aden, peer dear. There is no help for it." She telegraphed to the regimental doctor, and to the colonel, whom she knew, giving them full authority to act. And then she wroto and sent off an advertisement for the "Times." "Suddenly, at Aden—&e, &c., deeply regretted," in a thoroughly business- like manner; and then she sat down and cried. She wept for him honestly, after her fashion, telling herself how good he had al. ways been to her, how easy, how indulgent; trying to persuade herself that she had been desperately in love with him at the time of her marriage, which she had never been at any time: telling herself that she would feel his loss immensely. She tried to awaken within herself all those sentiments which a loving wife ought to feel—and then her thoughts wandered off to the all engrossing question of ways and means, Those harpy tradesmen would be more than ever force cious now Mutt she was a lonely widow. They would sharpen their claws to mail her. They would listen to no more excuses, wait no longer for remittences from India. They mole sweep off her pretty furniture, her bamboo and beads'her Japanese jars, fans, and feathers, and embroidered satio portieres; all that bright hued plumage which had made her nest so gay and pleasant to the eye of admiring man. "They would take you, my clearest tree - sure, if they coeld," she cried, hysterically, flinging herself upon the hearth rug and snatching the alarmed Tory to her breast. "Bot they rheal never have you—no, not if you are worth eig.hty guineas and I am a pauper—never while I have life." Tho announcement of her husband's death had the effect idee feared. and the lawyer& letters in atcley et two were more peremp- tory thafileefore. t There were also a shower of other lettere, ham condoling friende—the very people who had been continually ask - in, Andwhere is Major Baddeley ?" "And who is Mrs. Ba.ddeley's hueband ?" and who now wrote as if they had known void loved hire, and graciously consigned him to a better world with quotations from Scripture. Leonora bad scarcely finished these cum ternary tributee, vehon the maid brought her a telegram. "Major Baddeley was buried at seven o'clock yesterday morning, in the English Cemetery. Military honours," "How nice," sighed Loo; "he could not have bad them in Gloucestershire. Buried already ! .My poor, hgood-natnred lo.mb. How dreadfnlly quick. She was still atudying the telegram—those few words meaning so muoh—when the electrio boll aounded again, and the maid announced Mr. Beeohing. "1 see you have had plenty of teeters already," he seid, glancing at the scattered correspondence on hor table. "1 would:an Write. I thought it better to ante." " You are very good," she faltered, giving him her hand meekly, with lowered eyelids, remembering that he was the one man =meg all her intimates' who could help her ottt of her cliffloultioe if he chose. "1 am not a humbug, Mrs. 13addelen, Ihe hot ebIo g t ntend that Ihn merry for your husband's death. As te man, I liked the Major very well. He wim my very good friend, and I was hie, I hope. But he was your husband, and he eame between me end the woman I love. Corne, Leo, there's no need to beat about the tomb. You Writ held me ab arnals length for years, beeause you were a wife, And though I've felt that I was being fooled—for 'yontee blown hob and cold, don't you know, led me on and held me off—yet, deoce take it, I've res- pected you for keeping mo at a distance." " I always knew ygu were generous•mind- ed," said Leo, wibh a stifled riob,. beginning to feel that her debts woule be pad, "You did your utw to your alma hus- band, and I honour you for it," premed Bet:lolling, admiringtho beautiful head with its dark shining hair, the heavy eyelids, and long lashes, the perfect figure set off by the close-ntting black gown; hut you are a widow now, and you are free to reward my devotion. When will you make me happy, Lao? How semi may I call you my wife ? ' "My dear 13eeching, my poor fellow was only buried yesterday." "Yea, I know, I am not going to ask you to marry me to -morrow. There is the world to be thought of, I suppose though I don't care a hang about it. Will you marry me this day six months ?" "Don't ask me anything to -day. I am so utterly wretched. I cannot get that poor fellow's image out of my mind. Come to see me again in a week. I shall be calmer then." Mr. Beaching would fain have pee - slated, but iV1rs. Baddeley was firm, and he Went. • She rose from her sofa when he was gone and began to pace the room strangely agitated. "To have lots of money, a house in Park Lute or Grosvenor Place, to give the best parties in London, to have all these people who have just tolerated me at my feet They all worship money 1 Yes, that would be something. But then there is Beeching included in the bargain! To pass my whole life with Beeching— to see him every day -- not to be able to sand him away—to have him for my travelling companion Wherever I went Always Beeohing ; no escape, no variety. That would be terrible. Would Grosvenor Place'and a four-inhand and a yacht and stallsfor every first night, and everything in the world that I care for, counterbalance that one drawback— Beaching ?" She winked up and down in silence for a quarter of an hour, thinking intensely. "I don't think I care much for money, or I should snatoh at Beeching," she told herself, and then in a sudden bunt of pas- sion she clasped her hands and cried, "Oh, to spend my life with the man I love, the only man I ever loved! That would be Para- dise. There may be a chance even yet. He was so fond of her: and I am like her: and he cared for me first. If it is ever so faint a 'chance, I will not throw it away." She sat down at her desk andwrote a tele- gram to Lord St. Austell, Park Lthe. ' "Let me ee you here for half an hour on particular usineas. I shall wait till you come." It was late iu the afternoon when St. Austell was nnonnced. The day was cold and dull, and in thet gray light he looked ill and worn, aged by nearly a decade 01300 last season. He was in mourning, and hie closely buttoned frock coat had a severe middle aged am. '• You summoned me, and I have come," he said, coldly touching Leo's offered hand. "1 can't conceive why you should want to see mm an I think you ought to know how it distresses me to sec you." "1 am sorry for that. I have had start- ling news, and I could not rest till I Wild you. St. Austell, I am a free woman. My poor husband is dead. It is no longer a sin for me to talk of the past. Why cannot we both forget the misery of last year? You were cruel to me—more cruel to that poor girl you tempted. But you may forget all—" "Never. I have been untrue to other women. I shall be faithful toher until my dying day." , 'You think that now, perhaps. • You will tell a different story next yeard! "1 will wait for next year, and the hero- ine of the new story." "And yet you once pretended to care for me," said Leo trembling with indignation. "Ib was no pretence. I did care for you —very much at that time Only you oared so very well for yourself, you see! You cared so much more for yourself and for your own reputation than you cared for me. Orpheua trod the burning paths of hell in quest of his love. You would not have put your finger in the fire for my sake; and so, finding what you were, a woman of the world, worldly to the core, I fell out of love with you, somehow, just aa easily as I had fallen in love. And then your sister came upon the scene, younger, fairer, fresher, and with a heart— which you had not." "11 it pleases you to think thus of me—so let it be,' said Leo, hettightily. " We can be friends, I summers+ 'to the end of the chapter." / She looked at piteously, pleadingly, oven while her lip ,affected scorn. Yes, he was the only mare whoae accents had ever haunted her. Shewould have flung herself on her knees at his feet, and kissed the wasted hand 'which hung listlessly at his side. Sha could have died as Helen had died, only to be loved by him for one hour. But she knew that all was over. Of that old fire which had blazed so fiercely for a season, not a spark remained. "Tell me about my poor friend's death ?" he asked civilly, and she told him as much as the telegraph had made known to her. And then after a few trivialities, Lord St, Austell wishes her good day. There was no help for it. It was her dem tiny to be burdened with Beeching. EPILOGUE. Two years had gone by Since that gray Match day ba which Lady Belfield saw her son led out of the dock as a convicted felon; and she was sitting in her accustomed place by the hearth in that innermost drawing room which was the favourite—the room that held her own particular piano, and all her chosen books. She Was sitting in the springtwilight, sad and silent, but not i alone n her eadness. A girliah figure sat ort the fendenstool at her feet, and a month old baby was lying in that girlish lap. There were two Lady Belfields laow in the old Abbey, a mother and a daughteninilaw vvho neva disagreed, far the danghter was just that one woman whom the mother would have chosen out of all woman -kind for her 13011'8 Wife. Little ,hy little in the sad slow days after the trial, a new love had grown urt10 Adrain Belfield's heart, and he had learned to admire and appredate Ludy teareemantle's gentle Character and unpretentides charms. lb had oome tipon him ab a tevelatioh that the was levely; and that strength and nobility of mind Where the bads of that gentle wernanly &erecter. There was no cloud upon the dawn of this new loam It came to him Iikin the slow soft light �f eummer morning, creeping up from the dark LATEST FROM EUROPE. (mid east, aud gradually, alineust iinporeep- tibly filling the world with wonath and . brightness. They had been marled a little more than a y,est; sna this hsppy uhisti w tbe 004- ; boob:met Consbente Bellieldtelr rte .' . • TO -day that heart was to be W. eliby 'a joy that wee but, too closely bateenemen with igrief. Fler Ben wee to he eneleazed ' (remit geogettiee gteew et ta mmitteg in hie tatter prison. He was to return ni the house in ane it is gen erally held that the indignitiee evhich he was bon his crime expiated, his heeueeeel upon him in the United e.are sWenitilit: disproportionatetor p oheikeinogf feanto ea. ,InToo. merit's notice la a 'Step never taken entre - open rupture is designed. ,'Thie indention is actually imoeibed to the United Stetes lew some persOns. ()them urge the 'governnient not to fill the pest and to have no Minieter at Washington. Others, like the Standard; adviM the clismissal of Phelps. The Saukville incident. ---The Imperial gYputs. A few days:sge the tone of public opinion in England' ,Wris unlvetatily (against Lord peomice fulfilled; La he Wae.te reteirn only to die. For a long thee 'his health had been broken. His strength had gradually decayed from the beginning of his imprison- ment; and he had spent at least a third of his prieon life in the infirmary. .4.nd now his mother knew that he was given haelt to her, marked for death. • She had been permitted to see him at stated times. The hard rulee of prison dis- cipline had even been relaxed in his favour. She bad knelt beside his bed in the big white airy ward, and had talked with him hopefully of the daye when he who to be free fAltogether the incident is the one subjeo and oompletely throws discussirm, te and restored to her in the home of hit fore- o • , Parnell Commission into the shade. In effi fathersI‘Is.hall go bade to you an "leid man, dal and Parliamentary circles sober views mother," he said, "fib for nothing but to alt Are likely to prevail, Next week the gov- ernment will he invited to make publio the by the fire and yawn over a newepaper. I shall never hunt fox or stage hare or otter. communicgs•one whioh paned between it l • I shall never cell myself et crack shot again. and Mr' eP The springs are broken." ' , The "Official Meseenger " Medea that the Of the contingency' or non -return he had Gzar's feet and the 'Czarinatt hand were in - never epoken. Hie dimieseewas that pleve iured-in the Mete accident be the imperial train. ' Domini their injuries the Cztr and and insidious malady in whioh "-the sufferer hopes till the last. Re know that hie con. Czarina devoted themselves to attending to stitution was shattered, but he did notthe other persons on the train who were more severely injured. Nearly every mem• 'mow that his life was a question of a year or two at most. , • , ' lien of the imperial snits received contuteions. Madge Dawley went to see him as often ' Tiventy-oriei ettehdants were killed and • as the prison rule allowed, and her presence bhiremeeven were serioesly injured. One cheered him like strotig wine. of the injured persons has since died. The Ile was never tired of talking of their Ozer after the ancident picked ini a portion future life together of a rotten sleeper and handed is to a gen- "1 are a poor feeble oreaturei Madge," darme, with orders to preserve it for produo• thin at the official inquiry whioh will be he said, "but ab least I shall not be e hindrance to your good work. I won't pre- held to 'ascertain the cense of the disaster mise to clean the windows, but I can write and to fix the reepousibility. Persons who your letters and keep your accounts. You were on the imperiel train confirm the of - must not live at the Forlorn Hope after our fiaial version ot the cause—namely, that the marriage; but we can have a anug „little accident was due to a defe,ctive portion of villa. in the Kilburn -road, and you can the track. give twenty-four hours in every week to ONE INT SETTLED. the good work, as the other sisters do." She opposed him in nothing, knowine News reaches Berlin to the effect that the Havre incident has been finally settled. The that this dream of his could never e bg escutcheon was replaced over the German realised. She saw the traces ofgradual Embassy in the presence ot the German eon - decay at each new visit, saw thief the shad - m owe were deepening and the end' drawing sul, the Chief Comimary of Pollee and the nigh. She saw this, and she mourned for, Sub -Prefect of the depertment, The cere- him as one dead; but in all her sorrow she persevered bravely with the work which she had begun under such narrow condi- tions. The Forlorn Hope had prospered. There where three houses now in the dingy street off Lemon Grove, and there were a hundred and thirty-five ladies who each gave four and twenty hours in every week to the task of recleilning fallen creatures of their own sex. The plan had answered admirably. The sisters did not renounce the world and its affections'its domeatio ties, or its social pleasures. They wore no distinctive habit, they affected no aseetiasm beyond a etriet economy. They only gave a seventh part of their livestothe taskef help- ind the wretched; but this much they gave ungrudgingly, and with a regularity which gave way to nothing less than serious Indis- position. Any sister who •showed herself light -minded and inclined to play fast and loose with her duties, Was politely informed that she had DO vocation for the work, and was entreated to retire. - Frivolity was thus eliminated at the outset; and although many of the sisters were young, all were earnest, unflinching 'workers. Scone were rich and some were poor; some brought the Comforte and graces of life—flowers, and hot -house fruit, and books and music, and rare old wines—from their luxurious homes, to cheer the sick and broken-hearMd ; 'sonie contributed largely, to the expenses of the institution ; others gave only their time and labour ; but there was an equality of zeal and love which levelled all differences. ' To -day Madge had gene, to Dartmoor with Sir Adrian, to assist in the release of the prisoner. They had poked' there and were to post book ; five and thirty miles, by: moor and road, with a rest and a ohmage of horses mid way. They were to have left the prison at one , o'clock, and it *aa now five. They might be expected momentarily. Just as the mother had sat listening for the sound of hoofs upon the gravel, ex tent of athorses 1 Er her younger eon's return from hu ting, 130 she listened and waited nowt Hark, the steady trot of four, The carriage was in tho avenue. Ccinattelett Belfield went out to the hall, motion- ing to Lucy • to May with her baby. "I want to see him alone first," she said falteringly. • To be alone with him was impossible. The old butler and Andrew and Marrable were there, ready to welcome the wrongdoer almost as if it had been his return, from a honeymoon, Ile walked a little in advance of his companions, carrying himeelf erect as of old, making a great effort against weak- ness. He shook hands hastily with the old servants, looking at his mother all the time, and then held out his arnui and clasped her to his breast. "Ab home at last, mother," he said, kiss- ing the pale forehead, and the soft advery hair, which had whitened in the clap of his captivity, "no more prison bars, no more galling restrictions. I belong toyou and Madge henceforward." "To me and Madge. Yes, dear. I ahall not dispute Madge's claim," answered Lady Belfield, holding out her hand to the tall palegirt in black, who had m iace been a serv- ant n that home, but who now entered it as sedaughter. They a 11 went into the drawing -room, where Lucy had sent away her baby, and sat waiting for them in the glow of a great log fire, and where the tea -table was spread just the same as in the old days of the return trom hunting. They sat around the hearth, in a family circle while Lucy Belfield poured out the tea: and all tried to be glad because he had come back to them, and all were full of sadness because they know he had return- ed only to die. There is no one in London society better kiliwn than the bnautiful Mrs. Beeching. Her portrait has Be0I1 painted oy three of the moat famous Deader:caching, and has been exhibited for three consecutive seasone. Her dog Troy is a celebrity, and is sought after as an manic:doh at charity bazars, She is•one of those ladies whom People who are struggli eg to get , up to society always endeanor to know. Fter drawing -room is the gate of a second-rate paradise., one of the outer circles of the smart world. The greet family �f Parvenn Pushers have climbed- to a onsiderable altitude upon the social mountain before they beth to drop Mrs. Beeching. [Tete Men] Queen CJhristine ef Seitele is Odd to be one of the finest swimmere in 'the world. She recently OW11.th acrOsa the Bey of St. Sebas. tien, followed for security by , a heat. The trajeot took three•quattete of an hone, Four ladies tried to aWim eking With the Queers, but got up after a geertert of an mony was quietly performed in the presence of abounfifty spectators. • RETTJRNING T, BERLIN. The Emperor has signified a wish to remove With hie family from Potsdam to Berlin. The storm which was -predicted came along all right. It appears to have first struck the southere coast of Ireland at Port - rush and Portatuart. Fishing vessels there generally were prepared, but the Kangaroo, 'belonging to -Thomas McIlshannock, was caught white at anchor off Portstuart snd driven toward the rocks. Seethe- sig ale, the Portruah lifeboat put out in a tremend- ous sea and surf and the craw was gallantly saved, but the Kangaroo was beaten into mittchwood. The storm and gale raged up St. George's Chennel, rweeptt across Derby- shire and so on to the Northumberland , and Durham coasts of the :North Sea. The Etruria,,approaching the Irish cost, securely weathered the gale. A Lesson in Politeness.. The pay train stopped at Willow Bend to pay the railroad hands and to liquidate define for cattle that had been killed on tne track in that section. A gaunt, hungry - looking granger stepped up to the smar t young than who was dispensing the cash in the rear end of the car. Granger—" Got my name on your bemire, Mister?" . • Clerk—" How should I know, unless you tell me your name ?" ' " " Kerrect you are. „Spit have hgot the edge on me there.. Welleibtay neon° es Rufus McConkey." . e "Yea" said the young man, referring to his books ;ineinoCenkey, I've got you down for's, hog."' "Have me down for a hog, have you? Well, I'll have ycu "down and be on top of you, makineit sorter exalt& for you, if you don't etevise that expession. Now, say after me i "COL McConkey, School Trustee, FourthiDietrict : Your nam; sir, is on this here list, as a honey fider creditor of the I. & G. N. Railroad, which the amount are ten dollars, the vally of one spotted Berkshire hog; said amount Of ten dollars it do me proud to hand to you. Won't nett have a cigar, colonel ?" The smart eonng assistant paymaster re- peated after Mr. McConkey word for word, handed Mr. McConkey the ten dollars, and gave him a cigar. Colonel McConkey put the hammer of his six-shooter back to half- cock, and then strode out, muttering: " Some city chaps think they're smart, but they'll find they has to come out on the peraries to learn perliteness aid grammar." mmarietweimm The Meanest Man m the World. Says the Philadelphia Record "The meanest man in the world is the proprietor of a store in this city. He has just posted up anotice to all the saleswomen in his establish ment to the effect that they must wear but- toned shoes hereafter. When asked his rea- son for this order he said he lost money on the girls who wore laced shoes. 'I have in my store about 100 girlee said he, and they all wear leered shoes. These shoe become untied about five times every day, and it takes two Minutes to tie them again. At that rate each girl loses,ten minutes a day and 100 girls lose 1,000 minutes in the same time. That makes about sixteen hours per day or two dowse work. I pay rny girls $1,60 per day, and the loss consequently means e3 per day or about 81,000 a year. That much Money will keep my boy and girl at school very nicely or will pay my gas bills, and I propose to Save ib.'" • An Unhappy Condition. People are not naturally suspicious, as is sometimes suppotied. They hatit beettght themselves into tkis unwholesome 2,0 un- happy condition by fainting to deal rightly with each separate sumnoion as it arises. Instead of courageously testing it, or firm- ly resisting it, they have permitted the oon- starlit presence of one suspicion after anoth- er until they cloud tho mind, datken the thoughts and fill the heart with distrust and ,bitterneeet But he, who deals gently and faithfully with his auspidonsi mastering them, and never sufferieg thein to master him, will never sink into the miserable and , Misery -giving aonditioh that eveeer one meet occupy who has a sus- picious chspoilition, The girl who tekoe her migagetnent ring 1 to the jeweller to find out how inueh it cot Will hever make a salisfaatOry wife; eepeel- ally lt the young ntah &tide itaut GENERAL, NEWO., The entire frent of one of tho banks at Riverside, Celai conetrueted et Onyx. Curious though it be, 11 18 not uncommon to atm a weld water Man boil with rage., Gem B)ulanger drawee with extreme elegance. Mum in a eivtlianhi attire he is one of the most fashionable menin Paris. Perhaps nothing in nature conveys more trulythe idea of purity than the, quality of the air that' comes to us acresnew-fallen , snow, . ' It is said that good bread can be made put of cheataute. el. geed many paragraphers make not only their bread, but also their butter, out of them. A toadstool will lift 340 pounds of solid weight while growing, and a opmmon cab. bage 'lean veld bursteitaves as thick as those used in pork barrels. , A physician says that 80ge persons are so sensitive that they are in ,anger of taking yellow fever from reading telegraphic re- ports of the disease in the papers. A St. Louis paper reports that the people of that city ere buying comparatively little flour now, owing to its high price, and are living to a groat extent on corn -meal and potatoes. The American Woodcock now acting as adviser to the King of Wurternburg is too highly flavored for the monarch's Ministers. They threaten to reeign unless the King changes his game. Gemie O. Runes, the Kentucky evangel- ist, is now devoting his energies to the con- version of Men from the soul destroying habit of meat eating, arguing that Jehovah did not intend the ournan race to feed on animal food. A Baltimore dressmaker used or pretend- ed to use 22 yards of cloth in a dress whioh could have been. made with sixteen, and a jury made her pay for six yards. It was the first case ever won against a dressmaker in the State. The most popular hallowe'en sport with the mischievous young folks of New York city wa's carried on with long stockings filled with flour. Every passer-by was whacked hard enough to cover his clothing with a shower of flour. An ingenious inventor has devised a new screw—half nail and half renew ; two blows of the hammer, two turns of the screwdriver, and it is in. .LM holding power in white pine is said to be 332 pounds, against 298 pounds, the holding power of the present screw. A subscription paper for some religious object was passed to a zealous church mem- ber recently, when he remarked, "Well, I can give $5 and not feel it." "Then," said the fsolicitor, '"give 510 and feel it." The point was seen anrce, and the "tmaepot" was fcrthooming. • The reference to a whigkey flask as a pocket pistol may now hen some foundation in fact. Some of the downtown liquor stores have recently put on sale glass whis- key holders made in size and shape, like an ordinary revolver, and ceased by a screw cap at the muzzle. They are hollow clear down to the butt, and hold nearly a half pint. .A raft of piles destined for Boston has been built at Norfolk, Vat It is in six sections, strongly bound together, and the piles in each section are secAly fastened with wires. The whole raft will be 600 feet long with 23 feet beam, and mdraught of 7 feet, so that may go ;through the canals from Norfolk teethed -oily, whence it will be towed to Bostoneby sea. Daring high water in the Savannah River, William Arnow, a -negro, went fishing. His line • became entangled in a tree, and he climbed is to free it.' -The high water had lodsened the roots, and the weight of Wil- liam toppled the tree into the river. He hung on, and managed•to secure a firm seab in. the . ' branches and thus floateddown stream 200 miles before he was rescued. Theworkmen at the smelting works, near Portland, Me., are paid on Mondays. Oa a recent Monday night the night shift got their money, end ethen went to work as usual, there being six men in one room. About 11 o'olock a gang of men, with their faces covered by masks, rushed in and de- manded the men's money. At the same time they attacked them. One of the work- men, who stood near the door, grabbed a crowbar and dealt one of the robbere a blow on the head, knocking him down. • Another workman pulled a rope a ad set a steam t whistle shrieking ; and ab this the highway- men took fright and made off, carrying their insensible comrade with them. American Women and Matrimony. American mothers and their dieughtere are so often openly accused of being keen matrimonial sportswomen—the game they are anximus to bag being a British lord, or, at the least, a British baronet—that it is only fair to Cousin eonathan, says the London Figaro, to remember that British lords and baronets are, on their side, by no means un- willing, in many instancea, to be bagged by American heiresses. It would be, indeed, no exaggeration to say that many English- men with little glee. but titles and blue blood to hoe.st of are not only ready to fail a willing prey to the moneedollared maidens of the States, but are even ready to mark down and capture, if possible, the rich heiresses of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco for themselves. It is o,ertain that this fortune-hunting contingent is awaiting with much eagerness the publication of a work—literally mar° d'oro—which ia to con- tain full details of the fortunes of "The Rich Women of America," and the editor, has been good enough to explain in advanceli that by a "rich woman" he understand a any American lady possessed of not less than two millions of donate in her own right. The work, by the way, is to be only printed for private circulation; kale' copies will, no doubt, be procurable at a price by those' most interested in Me golden pages. Had No Confidence itn Himself. One of the patrol force 'tweeted a citin zen hiving sway out Gratiet avenue the other day, and as they were ready to leave the, house he said: ' " 1 ought to put the braoelets on, I sup - pose, but if you will promise not to give mel any trouble I won't expose you as a prime oner." "I'll promise," replied the man. They 1.ad only stetted, however, when he added: "Say, you'd better pub 'ern on." "Bat you ,proinieed." "Ye, 1 khow, but I'ani probably the biggest liar in Detroit, and you can't trust me. I'm already wondering if I could out- run you." "Pde 'em on' said the wife, wire stood by with a etude. "Jim is a good fellow's and a good huaband, but he heseit told th truth in twentyifive years." "You see," centitined jinn as the hand,t cuffs were snapped on, "I know myself and I den't want to take any unfair advantag4 ow oOme on and I'll behave myser." feet he preyed hfineelta liar by runnid off With the handcuffs. „