Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1892-12-30, Page 22 BEYOND REuALL, —Published be seeetal ;trt':utsa.tie It from advance Meats of C7trunhrrs'Jonrnrut. CHAPT1rlt \XV, i Salt Din' wire:, When 1 loft the parsonage the mesa was rising over the coppice of Mich before me ; a spray crossed it, and a few delicate leaves hung motionless against the bright dusk in the still air'. A few steps farther ou I be- came nonseious of the sheep, honeyed scent of sweet briar. 'Ilion from the lilac lttelh at the bottom of the Vicarago garden a nightingale purled out the first sad, long - drawn notes of his song. Aly heart sank aching within me at this appeal to my senses. All tierce visions of it pitiless re. ven ge died away, giving place to an in- effalle feeling of loss aid regret. I stop- red, wondering what it was that besot me. hea I recollected that it was at this very spot, by the stile on which my band lay trembling with the return of a long•lost emotion, that Reba and I had stood on the first night she stole from the house to meet me—when the moon shone, and the night- ingale sang, and the sweet -briar gave out its perfume exactly the some t1.1 now. Why did I suffer this unemory to shake me thus? Was this the stood, in which to carry out my vengeance? At this sato my been world melt and my resolution go before ono supplicating look from her faithless, treacherous eyes. The sound of a sou, the sight of her tears, would torn me from my purpose. 1 must think only of her falsehood. She was lying when she whispered " 1 love you." It was apiece of seting whoa she clung to me as if it were impossible to part. It was love of herself, not of me, that lay at the bottom of tint false heart. She was wearied to death of the monotonous life iu the Vicar. age, irritated by its rostriotlons. She be. lined, with the foolish old parson, that a great future was before me, that I should obtain fano and fortune in London by my genius. She desired a place in that greater world in which I was going—saw in my future freedom for hersoif, and the gratifi. cation of her caprices. She feared to lose me—feared that I should forget her, and give another the place she desired. That was why she consented to a clandes• tine inarriago, and fell in with all the arti- fice to accomplish it that was suggested to me, Could I, without her ready negates. cense, have proposed a thing that then seemed presumptuous to lee? That it was for her own material advantage, and not from disinterested love, she had taken that step, there was proof enough. WIth what readiness had she accepted her father's pro. posa1 to live with hint and her sister in Lon. don; how jutckly bad she thrown oft her simple habits and modest dress to play the role of a woman in society, and adopt her extravagance ! From the very first she was a hypo,trite sad a liar. If I had not been a greenhorn—a simple fool—I should have known that she was deceiving me by the consummate art with which she deceived her guardian. With these reflections I hardened my heart again, so that the nightingale's song made no more impression on it than the crunching of tho gravel under my heel. I wits ashamed of my feebleness, and recol- lecting the nameless rimed with whiuh I had avoided passing by the places that wore once dear to me, I now turned my steps that way, visiting one after the other all the spots with which my memories of the past were associated --stopping at every one to recollect what had happened there be- tween Hobe and me, and finding in each fresh evidence of her heartless Bullishness and double dealing, "Now I am a man again 1" I said to my self as I turned without a pang from the window through wbieh I had looked into my old workshop, marking the very spot where I stood when she first came to seamy work. I might have said, " Now 1 am a fiend !" for surely no fled ever harbored a more infernal hatred 11 a.h burnt in my breast. I walked along the London Road until I oonld go no further, and then I threw my- self down under the lee of it hay rink and slept like a log. At the roadside inn where I stopped the next morning to eat, an old road map of England hung against; the wall of the par. lor. "'Tor ILcY was markedupon it and to the west of the road running from Exeter to Dartmouth Haven lay a blank space, across which wns written, "Here is ye for- est of Dartmoor." The position of Teel - stook and Chegford showed me whereabouts Princestown lay—not more than twenty miles from Torquay as the crow flies, I reckoned. This suggesteda new scheme to my mind that presented advantages above any I had yet formed for the punishment of my wife. The originality of the idea flat- tered my inventive spirit; the severity of the retribution gratified the craving of my vindictive passion, At the vary first I shonld strike tomer into the heart of the woman ; the suffering to be inflicted after- wards could be prolonged to the very limit of human endurance, and finally elle cou'd be cast off with IN burden of shame that she must bear to the end of her life, "That will do," thought I, cheerfully. " It can't fail if I go about it cautiously, and do the thing thoroughly. To begin with, I must go to Torquay and examine the ground." And with that resolution I start- ed off with long strides for the nearest rail. way station, It was late in the afteruoon when Ireaoh• ed Torquay. There was a crowd of well- dressed people on the platform, I saw nothing distinctly but the women's faces— expecting in oath to recognise my wife's features, My fnrtivo glances and wild look ottraobed attention, I felt that every ono observed mo ; mud hurrying out of the eta. tion I took refuge In the first eating -house I came to, I was not afraid that my wife would know me, but .T. had reasons for wish• ung not to be sear by her yet awhile, ' Do you knew a plane called the Henn'. tage" I naked, when I was paying the won - an for my tea She shook her head as she counted the corpora, and then turning round to at old man, who set ab a table on the other side of the shop, she Mid—, "Do you know where the Hermitage le, Mr. Brown ?" "Tho Hermitage—why that's Captain Stukely'e place up at Hadleigh. Thero'e another military get got 11 now, Him thatdrives that little " Victoria" with the two brown oohs : the old gentleman with the white moustaole, and generally got two ladies with bin—you k,how; one's his wife." "What, her with bio pretty heir and that dear little boy?" The old man nodded and finished hie tea ; then putting (101101 his oap ho told mo that. I had only Logo straight up the hill till I Damm to a hone standing in a garden over• looking the bay—a house all minors and sed brick—and that was the Hermitage - 1` Hermitage ermitage,"Iiormitage 1" added he, with a roan - tin stnilo, ".Chey do find some ruin names for these new houses, to be sura ; what with their Belvederes and their Uouhlseliers, and one thing and another ! Precious uaeet• hermit;tge where there's alway three or Four servants kept, and visitors miming and going ever' day." "What is 0 hern;itage?" asked the woman, leaning against the wall, and slow- ly counting the coppers from one hand into the other and back again. "A hermitage," replied the mol, clearly flattered by this appeal to his knowledge— "a hermitage le a kind of a hole where a to ,v!, tU alone by himself." "What, like that Mr. Meaders, the artist, up there on tho moor?" " J est that ; only hermits are generally pions ; and I don't think Mr. Meaders was that, the way I heard him go on one day when the wind blowed his umbrella up in the air one way and carried off his picture another. But a hermit lives like what he did; all alone by hisself, where no one ever goes, doing his cooking and house -keeping, and all without auyfomale." "Anel a pretty mess he made of it, I'll bo bound. Why, what can a man do without a woman ?" ' \Yell, he ain't math wne off than what a woman is without a men, Look at Mrs. Bates; you can't say but what she's gond and made s pretty mess of it along of this very Meaders," "'ain't see what chat's got to do with it," retorted the woman, simply, resenting the sarcastic lone in whiuh her own words were used against herself, The man pushed his cup away impatient. ly' She wouldn't have got into no moss if she hadn't been a widder," said he. " Why, look here," he continued, addressing me, "I'll put it to you, as a ratan, whether she'd here made a fool of herself if she'd had a husband to think about and look atter her. I know all about it, for she's my wife's sister -in -dew, though we don't, speak. Mrs. Bates lives np here in Cross Street, and keeps a little milk shop. She's got a nice house of furniture, and lets apartments. Well, throe years next September this Mae -dere comes and takes her first floor as a single gent and an artis' ; and a pretty artis' he was --no offence to you I hope." " Why should I be offended?" I asked. "I didn't know but what you might be in the same line yourself ; you've got a sing'. ler look like what most artists has. How- ever, there's some good and some bail, same as with other trades, so you won't take my remarks personal. Well, this headers he stayed there six months, taking his draughts of the sea and smoking his pipe as com- fortable as could be. Then people began to talk, thinking as he certainly meant stopping on there for good. with Airs. Bates. Whether he heard this, or whether he found Mrs. Bates was getting a little too warm for him, I can't say ; but this I do know, that in the spring he made out es he'd draughted all there was to draught about Torquay, and he must go away where he could draught something fresh. Well, what does this foolish woman do thou, think- ing hiek- ing she was going to lose him for ever, but she takes and bailds hits a little cot hoose in the middle of the moor, where he reckon- ed to make a fortune draughtinq the tors and the streams. There he lived, smoking Ms pipe and painting This pictures, more comfortable than 0ve•, where no Mrs. Bates nor any one else was likely to bother hint from one year's end to the nowt. He kept a pony and Pm hanged if he didn't actually ride over to Newton foe his booty and whisky instead of oomiog here for it 1 Mrs. Bates she stood it and stood it as long as she could, and when, what with one rub and another, she oouldu't stand it any long- er, she took out a summons againet him for two years' rent and extras. Ile didn't take any notice of tlhat. So site had to go to more expense and get another summons; and lie didn't take any notice of that, At last she get an execution warrant ;but, bless you, when they went to execute him, all they could find of him or his property was the rag ho'd used to wipe up his mess of paints. And now there's that poor woman left with a cot house on her harms which no one in the world is likly to see, let alone rent, and a bill as no one iu the world is likelytopay,and all through her not haw. g inga husband nd tokeep t from usba l e her making a P foul of herself," d L'nt•ing the shop, 1 turned in the diroc. tion lh man had indicated by a jerk of his thutu ', and found Cross tarok, and a dairy with lee name of Bates over the door. The wvid00 was knitting behind the neuter, " I nap told that yon have a house to let on the moor," I said.. "Ay,that I havo,"she replied,laying clown her knitting. " And a Mee little cottage it is : neatly finished, with linen and every thing necessary for a party who might like a nioe quiet place out of the noise of the WWII. I could let it by the month or the season, if you wanted it for thealhooting, now." I told her I was an artist, She took up her knitting with a regretful shake of the head. " I'm afraid it wouldn't suit you," e e said. " I couldn't let it Wil bout "If it spited melshould want to buy it —cash down."' " Bless you, site I wouldn't have said a word about references if I'd known you were an artist of that sort. As for the set. tage, it's sure to please you. M y last ten- ant was an artist, and he lived there best part of three years, and wouldn't have gone then if circumstances hadn't obliged him," " When can I see the place ?" "To-Inurriwif you like, sir. Are you keying bore ?" No at Newton," " Why, thins I could meet you there. A train gots in about half•past ten, and I have a friend who would land me ills cart to drive over rho moor, and his little boy to show the way ; for though I've been there morn than onto, I wouldn't undertake to find my way to it." I promised to be on the platform. at Now. ton the next day when the train nano in, and left her. And now I sot out for the Hermitage to find my wife, the palms of hay hands won and cold, my teens oltattarntg with the agitablon of my mind, jest as the feverish expectation of meeting her h ,d alreatedmom the old days when wo warn lovers, The light was fading. 'fliero were but few people in the road. After passing bio last row of villus no one was in eight, Cont ing to the top of thohit%, I caeght sight, of the Hermitage below, a house of modern - antique kited, all angles and red brick, as the man had cicseribed He It looked pretty enough an the twill ht, with the trees about it, the elepiug meadow beyond, and the palcll of him aura ascii thrnngh 1 he a oft of the valley ; int h0W With it to bo approach. att? It looked rhflieult et thet dike -nee, I Wending bank a temple or hundred yards from the road ; you, I di i not dettbt overt THE BRUSSELS' POST, _...mmwsAvmPsseeeteeetesseeeseteaeeteeee ..:.:- then that I obnul,l be enabled to nee my wife. Ac .t i mts had favored nut already, and re. vived the belief inpredestivatlonwhich had veer,hsed such powerful influent)), over me before. With a moat of blind enulldence I denote:1 d the hill, and passed a gala with en avenue l:e'youd, }which clearly led to the Mime. A little fort her , n 1 stopped in- stinctively before 0 gate. There was just light enough to road on tho top tar, " Private rued to the beach," Thut was the wets' 1 bed to take. Noiselessly I opened the gene and. slipped through into the road. On the left was a row of fir trees ; on the tivbt a shrubbery marking the llemakeso grounds ; the road lay in deep shadow. I walked along with my eyes on the shrubbery, believing that somewhere there must be a way for the in- habitants of the house to go down to the sea Presently I found a gate with an opening through the shrubbery, as i expected. The geto was locked. I climbed over, and fol- lowed the path in still deeply shade, until I name to a lttwu, and saw rho house right before 1110 There was now just light enough todis- tingnish the form of the house and its post. tion, The fall of the ground, the narrow space between the shrubbery and the build- ing showed ane that T faxed the side of the house, 'There was no light in any of the windows ; nu oigu of living ereabire there. But its I stood looking about me, like one who fails to find something that bus been promised, 1 heard a nailed sound of voices, and the sharper elinlc of glass. Creeping down by the edge of the shrubbery I reach. ed a point that lhted with the front of the house. Light Dame from tho rooms there. 1 saw it reflected on n table with glass and a couple of garden chairs stood beside it on the turfed terrace. The night was hot and close, " Thoy are at supper to then," I argued ; " the windows must open to the grotmd for the light to strike the grass like that." The sounds of the supper table were more distinct. I started suddenly as if I had been struck in the face, hearing a light laugh that I knew was Hebe's. The lawn followed the natural sweep of the hill, but a terrace had bean raised to forma level walk round the house. Its outer edge stood breast high above the lawn. Bend- ing down I passed quickly across the open strip of lawn, and then skirting the terrace I came round 10 the front of the house. A flower bed ran along the foot of She terrace creeping plants were trained over the wall end up the open iron work above I knew when I was opposite the window by the light on the foliage. With my hat drawn down over my brows I slowly rased myself from a crouching pos. burs, until my eyes wereabove the level of the terrace. Aly wife was there, seated at the head of the table, in the room not; more than eight or nine yards from me. Not for an instant did I doubt her iden- tity. At that distance, in the soft Light that fell upon her, I null see no change in her Face, She was as I left her. " Sho can have neither heart nor conscience," I said to my- self. There were others at the table. I heard their voices, but I did not see them. liIy oyes were riveted on her. She sat with a listening attitude. 1 fancied there was a smile on her face. She spoke, but in too low a tone for me to catch the words ; yet the sound of her voice was as familiar to my oar 08 though the years that had separated us wore no more than hours. Presently I nerd a man's voice say " Hero's the boy cone to say ' good -night."' Then me• wife's fano lit tip as sho raised her tread end looked acroes the mom. A maid came to her side carrying is child in her arms. Pushing back her chair, my wife !held out 'em hands and tock the child ou her lap. He knelt there and clasped her about the neok, laying his cheek beside hers, She held him in her arms pressed to her bosons, rocking from side to side play. fully for a minute, and then gave him up to the nurse. "Say ' gnod•night, mamma I"' said the maul, in a olenr high voice that reached my ear distinctly. The child was silent, looking round the table, and then hiding his face on the maid's shoulder, She spoke to him a sin, using the same words. The child re- plied without lifting his head. The words were inaudible, but they drew a peal of laughter from those who heard it Clear above the sound of mingled merriment my wife's light iathgh rang out, It was to me like the last maddening blow of the knout. " Laugh well I laugh well 1" I muttered, gr' lis+inY heelinto to the plants under my toot. " Yeti will not l long lu CHAPTER XXVI. PREPARATIONS. " There, that's the little cottage, sir," said Mrs. Bales, as we jolted slowly over the rugged Inner. Looking around I saw nothing but then. dolating moor, the scrubby growth inter- spersed with blocks of granite, with here and there pools of water uonneeted by a thin stream. "Down there by the water against that fine pile of stones," sho added. Thus directed I made out the hut. Built of grautte and roofed with grey slates it was hardly distinguishable from the rocks that sheltered it. I nodded. "For en artist who is fond of 2,atnre," she pnrsned, " there's a plenty here to satisfy him." I looked about me again, with another nod. It was desolate and wild 0000511 to suit even my requirements, We seemed to be at the bottom of an immense basin edged with tors that touched she sky. There was nota tree to break the monotonous sweep of moorland, For best part of three hours we lied been jolting painfully along a rugged track, dant rho woman 'night well have doubted her ability to foliose, without see- ing a sign of human being. ' This is the garden," said Mrs. Bates, as the cart drew up before a ragged patch of ground overgrown with woods and surround. ail with a rough 510110 wall. "Tho test tenant Was nob partial to gardening, and ho let it go a bit wild." I lilted the look of that neglected patch. It was in harmony with its enrrouudinga, turd added to the air of desolation and abandonment that characterized rho house, But I seed nothing, J. had not opened my lips from the time we got upon the 20100. My thoughts wore elsewhere, misery frail long ago dulled my sense of humor, er I might have found matter for amnsemnnt in studying my enntpatiou. The poor woman had snarled with at least en eppeartutce of hope. She had done her host to drew me out of my sombre mood by cheerful comments on the weather aid the few objets of interest then presented 04M - :selves by the wayside. Little by little her courage flagged under the discouraging in- fluenee of my silent°, until at last she sank intoa state of dejnotlon from which she could einly aroma harsede at intervals by effort. 'pile failure of this last attempt to T,n pitiato mo in favor of her property scam• eel to exhaust imt• ieaources, and with a he,vy elgh ale got slowly down from the met. In eilenco she unlocked and pushed open the door, "Slhalll take down ho window shatters?' alto asked in s tone of despondency. 'No," 1 se wired, 'Thele is light enough to o, d ,C0 want." Well, you said you wanted solitude," she remonstrated, " What does that stop lathier lead to?" "The bedroom; it's just the semestzc as this, 1)o yon want to go up ?" " No." 1 dhln'taay it was a villa rcaideme- , diet I,?„ " Where's the stable?" "Round at the book, There's an oven as well, You don't want to sea thorn, 1 suppose?" "NO." \Voll, it's my loss ns well as y ours cont ing hero ;only I've gat to pay the Dart oxtra, not to mention my return ticket from Tor. quay." How much de you want for 1110111000?' She looked at the to Bee if I were jolting, and finding me es gloomy as ever she re. plied, in a tone of desperation— " Well, to be till of it--thoro, if I wouldn't taken hundred pounds—fnrnitnt'o, lamina linea, every essed thing I" " Will you take tern pounds now and tete rest in a week's Limo?" linked, producing one of the notes I had received from Mr. Renshaw, "That I will," cried she, eagerly. " Why, if I didn't think the moor had frightened you off at the very first. But there 1 There's no knowing how to judge yon gentlemen artists." She rambled on for some time, and then proposed that we should go back to New. ton, whore she would write out a receipt for my money. " Yon can send a receipt next week when you get the rest of the money. Now I tam here i shall stay, I watt to bogie work at once." Strange work it was I was so eager to begin 1 begin the cart whit Airs, Bates and the baker who hail brought us were gone, I made a closer examination of my property. Thele was a shed and a stable at the -back of tie house. In the shod were a moat safe a filter, some deal planks, it bench, and a box of tools. A ladder in the stable led np into a loft, where I found hay, straw, and half Iseult of oats. I went into the house. Thee was room below andanother above. The room below had on ° long window facing the north, closed with outside shutters like a Shap front, and hong inside with a green curttut ; the walls were lime washed. daub- ed here and there with smudges of paint whore the artist had cleaned his palette knife. On one side was a kitchener, with cooking utensils hung against a board above; on the other was a sink, with a mak of plates above it, and a Chesser and shelves filled with crookery and kitchen things. A cupboard in a corner contained other do- mestic requisites. These things, with a table and four chairs, oomprisel the furniture of what had evidently served the purpose of a studio, a kitchen, a dining and a living room. The room above hail also served as 0 studio. The north slope of the roof woe glazed to admit the light. There was no other window, Beside the smears of the palette knife wore numerous sketches roughly done in charcoal ou the wall. There were a chest of drawers, two filled with linen, and the usucl furniture of a bedroom. In one corner stood a broken Basle and it big shrimping net. What use could the net be :o hen on the moor twenty utiles from the sea, I wondered ? But the mystery was explained when I caught sight of a roue!, sketch of a fisher- man and his wife coming over a bleak stretch of moorland with aglimpse of sea beyond. "If he had the not hero for his model, he must have had the oostemes," theughb I, looking around the room. There wee mourner cupboardsimilar to that bolow. I opened it, and amongst old baskets and a lot of rubbish I found one of those non des- cript suits of oilcloth and rags which shrimpers wear, a frayed skirt and ,jacket, and a tarpaulin snit that possibly had serv- ed the artist's on'n use for painting out of doers in rough weather. 1 stood looking at these things with half shut eyes—as the artist himself might have looked at them in planning how they should bo employed to realize a preconceived idea. Then I turned about to examine the open - is in the floor through which one desoend- g g ed bythe sho ladder t rho room Uolo t o w. I P closed with a trap that opeued upwards, and rested against a and rail; there was a bolt on rho top to secure it when in its plan, The top of the step ladder was screwed to 0 joist, " If the bolt were sot underneath the trap and the take screws n out of the ladder to c make it retrievable, this room would be per. feat," said T. "No one could get out ex- cept by breaking through the skylight and dropping, from the roof. I'll set abort that at onus. I fotohed the toolbox from the sited, and taking off my coat set to work. ;\l.y hands avers alttnlsy ab first, not having touched m tool for eleven years ; but my, bent was in the job, and in a quarter of an hour the alterations were made, " There ; that's something done I" said I, as I drew away the stop ladder and look. ad up at the close -bolted trap-door, (To 100 00NTIA'OIC41.) A Oliver Ruse. In a sposeh delivered some years bank al the Liverpool Amphitheatre, Mr. Iiors- fall, M. le, told the following story. "When In Staffordshire a very short time ago, four aeahnen Dame to the door—at least four parties who presented themselves as seaman—and said they were inreat die. trees, having been shipwrecked off Hull, "I wont to spook to them, as my sym- pathies are, anti I hope always will be, with A seamen, s soon ms I saw them, I knot/ that 01101005 a seater ; bat, as we say in Lancashire, I saw with half an aye then the other three were 'hail fellows, well met,' picked up on the road. • "I said, 'I ant very sorry to hear of you ,1r what vessel ware you wrecked uu?' "They replied, 'the Elizabeth.' "I told the seatnan to stand where he was, end then told the first of the outer three men to go ten or fifteen yards to the right, the second to retire ten or fifteen yards to the left, and the third man to stand off in front, "'l'Isoy could nob tell what I was alto'. "I went quietly up to one and Whispered, I am very sorry to hear that the Elizabeth has been lest; what was the captain's Haute.' "'Jones,' was the reply, "I went to the next, told him I exceed. ingly regretted tho union, end &eked the name of the captain of the Elizabeth, 'Captain 'Bremen, sir.' "1 want to the other, and naked him also the nine of his capb;tin. 'Captain Smith, air,' "1 then said, 'Cana hero, inn, You aro a pretty set of fallow, to go and sail in tho ship It heabett, end to have three captains, You might, rvoll be lost, and deserve Moo d" NEW 1'EAE'li DAY IN THE OLD RED SO:1u0.0OD B. 110 1l.bY 0 16'ti 1Tttttn0, thnteidn, rho now fell fast, the white Ilakee whirling and deeming in their down. ward flight. The north wind whistlal and siuiokeda•oned the unsheltered building, tugging at the heavy wooden shutters, as if soaking for entrance, Insldo, the great stove roared and grew rod in its doliones to the 010,1r eeld. The room itself was dingy and bare of ornament but not obaetless, for ranged in rows cult side the centre isle were fifty bright faces. What picture gallery oonld boast more attractive works of art? A row of honks new= hung thick with the mindere. outer wimps, forming with their varied hues a bright contrast to the gray smoked bactt.gronud. The door at one and was flanked on either side by three long shelves filled with the capacious dinner. pails and baskets, At one side a short rough shelf ltald the waterpail, and the rusty tin cup hung on a nail just above. The space under the shelves on tete other aide were piled high with the great sticks of beech that fed the fiery monster in the middle of the room. At the end opposite the door, two loeg benne without banko stood on a raised platform which extended aoross the entire width of the roots, These were the " recd. Latton bunches," and jest above them was the blackboard of painted plank. Just in front of these stood the teacher's desk and the ono chair tete room afforded. The scholars, sone, were wooden, straight backed bombes with roomy wooden desks in front, '1'11510 stood as two have mentioned with their backs toward either side in rows of thee, facing the broad aisle down the center of the room and the pupils were seated boys on one side and girls opposite, making it, as Jerry Hill, the largest, laziest, 1'eseeittineed of them all remarked, " All - fired handy for a faller to look at the girls." If they wanted hint to study books they'd have to "turn the seats plum around, sure as thunder," Paul Newell, the young college -brad Leacher, smiled at the remark but echoed It in his own heart. For in those days the district school wvas the school. There was no going away to high school, normal or oolloge for the most of them, and the boys and girls sat in the dingy schoolroom winter after winter until they married. Thus the country teacher's pupils ranged in agouti the way from five to twentylive and a wiser head than that of Jerry hill might well be lost in the presence of those merry, bewitah- ing country girls, This particular school boasted the attend- ance of the handsomest maiden in all the country round, Cynthia White, a tall, vivacious blonde, only daughter of rho rich- est farmer fn ' diabrict No. 2." i'rond and imperious, she ruled tyrannically over half the young men in the country, but ambitiou was her rating passion and site laughed at all their wooing, tolling them in her half - insolent manner that she never would marry a farmer. Since this winter's school begat Jerry declerd,l, Cynthia White has set her oap for the teacher and I bet my life he's a gentle." This New Year's day, now twenty year's in the past, the monotonous hum of school buzzed on, for holidays were serum It was not long since six days school a week had boon the rule and old people still groaned lugubriously over "given' a teacher all the Saturdays." Hence ho taught Christmas and New Year's or "shade them up," It was still early in the morning. The little ones had clustered around the teacher's knee to "say" their letters and were again perched on their high benches, swinging pairs of lemonlably short legs and wishing hey were longer. The reading classes were in turn (soeupy- iug the reeitatiou benches and the busy teener, stub ono aye on the book from whialt they were reading, was helping the older ones with the knotty problems in " Ray's Higher ;" thus :Ming two thiuge at once. Not the wisest thing, perhaps, but the thing made wise by necessity as all who have taught a large ungraded school and conducted some twenty -odd rocitetlone be- tween nine in the morning and four in the afternoon will realize. Presently the wits seated by Cynthia White, working a problem for her. He had taken the pencil and was rapidly form. Mg column after column of figures through the long solution, He was not blind to her beauty evident nor to her ave d n preference for him, and as 6e felt her warm, sweet broach on his hands, as the queenly head bent over the slate In unfeigned interest, his thoughts wandered from the rotating pupils and from the example in hand to the beautiful girl by his side, and while mechanically adding figure to figure he thought as he bad thought before of staking this rare maid Ma wifo. There was only one thing. He knew he did not love her, if love was Mat of which he had read and heard, but he doubted the power of that fabled passion. What was it that it should 'sl1 life r Ho was not emotional • such lore would never cone to him. She lied beauty, intelligence, and wealth, What could he ask more ? Ile admired her and felt the subtle fascination of her presence. Was that not all of loge the should ever know? He knew she teas more that willing to unite hoe fate with his and he almost answered himself, " I will ;" but as his thoughts took this form, a ]all in the monotonous reading of the eines caused him to look np and discover that rho "piece" was finished, As he did so, his oyes rested on a shapely lead covered with long, brown curls, anti a swift revulsion of feeling swept over Lim and loo thought, " Nob yet I" As he loft Cynthia's side he paused by Margaret Deane, the owner of the cluster. ing earls, and questioned ler kindly of her progress. The sweet face was raised and the noose brown oyes looked into his for a moment, and the classed on with a thrill of warmth in hie heart and a desire to merit the approval of those pare eyes snoln as no glance of bhe fair Cynthia's ever called into being. Ho did not realize it hin5alt until long afterwards, for wo take our emotions as they come and seldom analyze. Noon came at length, mid the storm still continuing, after the lunches lied been hastily oaten and the cry of, "Dog and doer I' wet.t up from adozen boyish throats, Jerry Hill proposed : "Oh, heng ib all ; it's Nov Year's end it's too plagued stormy to gallop around out. derlems1anyhow ; le's stay in and amuse the gi" Aftor some debate the proposition was adopted by the older boys, while the young.. er ones disdaining the company of gale donned caps and mittens and plunged into the storms outside. The "big girls" were nob diepleesod et their schoolmates' dooieion, and soon a series of games was in progress, Daring Duo of these, forfeits wore won from nearly all and the aporb of redeeming them ran high. Mealy of the peneltios fnolItdetl kisses Whialu wore exchanged freely among the boys and girls, el though really grown then and women, with to thought of harm or halls of mod0sty, Why should there be? They had grown up together ahnost like P1sc:1. 30, 1892 brothers ant deters a1(1 hail kissed each other from their cradles, Su downy need- ed lips teethed dainty pink cheeks nail all was an ill L10111.111. ru1105 of huleterotie fou and taught ea Jerry hill strelnhed his lung forth lazily across two Husks and the intervening aisle and seemed the pre tiding tiepins of the frolic, The amebae ,at, at his desk, book in hand, but rather watching the merry crowd than reading,. Presently the seller of pawns held closed Lauds over a soltoolniute's�head and annotate. od" heavy, heavy, hams over your bond,,, and the boy addressed meekly questioned, " Fine or superfine? ' Snperfiue, was the entwine, " What shall the owner 110 to redoes, hoe property?" After a moments thought the answer 20100 510811, " She nluat bow to rho prettiest, kneel toe rho wittiest, and kiss the one she loves best," The seller opened his hands disclosing Cynthia's ring, and amid the la -tighter and applause sho bowed mockingly to Margaret Deane, bent her knee greeetelly before Jer- ry, notwithstanding hie loud voice protests. tions of "hiss me Cynthia 1 Oh, do hiss MO I" Then with a wilful toss of her pretty head and an arch look backward she step- ped boldly towards the teacher's desk and offered Lint her full rod lips. Ile had been an interested spectator and as he became fully aware of her intention 1.10 sprang to his feet and encircling her perfect forst with his nein throw her closely to him for a mo. mouL and'left a warm kiss on the tempting lips. A round of applause went up from the scholars who had watched her daring yen. Lure, Jerry slapped his hands in enthusiasm, and, forgetful of the limits of hie position, rolled over and cff striking rho Iloor precip- itately and painfully. The bold beauty was for a moment abesh- 1 ed and a crimson tide swepb over her• face • but she quickly recovered iter wonted self- possesaion and rejoined her companions exulting in her heart that she bad won. It seemed she had. Again the old question troubled Newell's mind and this tinpo, with the touch of her warm lips thrilling his, he answered himself, " I will." But the game went on. Tits seller ab Ins extended his hands over Cynthia's head and she caught the glean of Margaret's silt cr thimble and half in malice towards the timid girl answered his " What shall the owner do to redeem her property?'' with, " Ask the teacher to kiss her." \Viten the thimble was exposed Mtrgeret pleaded in genuine pain, " I cannot; oh, indeed I cannot 1 Anything else in the world bet that 1" But Cynthia was inexorable and at length, urged and encouraged at ell sides, Margaret stepped timidly to the teacher's side. He was engrossed for the time being in his book and heel nob noticed this stage of the play until the trembling form stood before ban and with face alternately flushing and pal- ing asked in faint faltering tones, "Will you pleaso hiss Ire?" A roar of laughter from the listening group followed the low voice, and during the confusion Paul Newell arose and with a great hush of reverence in his heart tonehed her 151,15 forehead with reverent lips. The merry games wont an but Cynthia White had lost, for at that moment the kunwledge of love cane into his life and on New Yeat•'s day of the next year gave into his keeping the life and love of Meager. etDeane with the bonnie brown curls, EARNEST SOOTOHMBI'T• 'rimy Rat nnsntnrient Food far tie Bake of Gaining anRdnca tine. '1he privations which human beings will endure for the purpose of persuing some beloved oeoupatlen are often exbreordinary. A Scotch writer gives a list of instances which tend to prove that his countrymen aro willing to suffer great extremity for learning, He mentions one young man, who, though of fine manners and aristo- cratic appearance, dined but three times a week, and then upon a hot two -penny pie. On off days he sated hie hunger with dry bread. Another had a curious method of study- ing. He spread oub his hooka where the hearth rug would naturally have boon, and la thereupon, learning Y P 8 hie task by the light of the fire made from roots of dean o d recce, which be had dug in a wood near Edinburgh, and carried to his lodgings. Three prominent and successful Scotch. men of the present clay have behind them a hard experience, which, no doult, they recall with pleasure, They lived together. for at least a year in Aberdeen University in a room 101110h eon :lined but one bed, It was not a very largo bed, and could not bo persuaded to hold tl roe persons at one ; so two worked while the other slept, and when he arose they went to bed. At Edinburgh e wet two interesting students whose ways were for a time a riddle. The one glided along the corridors to his not, holding his class -book straight out before him. After a time it waslearn- ed that he had been a hotel waiter ; this vocation he pursued during the Summer months, and returned to his studios in Win. ter. He was never quite able to forget his calling, and when he wee suddenly aroused Morn his reverie, would ory, " Coming, sir, coming." Tho other mysterious student was never seers outside the classroom except nt full gallop. He ran into his net for a recite. Rote antl aftoe it was over dashed away like a racehorse. It finally transpired that he kopb a small stationery aha'tn at soma dietetics from the Uuivorsiey, and being too poor to hire an aeeistant he was obliged to close his place of business in order to recite his lessons. Professor .Blackie menbious bite nee of to young man who lived during au entire mil- lege session on red herrings and ono bar- rel of potatoes, which he had brought from Thome. Ho finally succumbed to the weak - noes brought on by insufficient food. y Porboarauoe• Nay I let it pass 1 'Twas but as hasty word, Unthinking it as nnwlictng heard— Although upon my car It strangely Jarred, A lifelong friendship shall not nus 50 marred ; Nay I In it pant Nay 11et it pass! Iwfllnot answer so, Leebwnrde on words to greater did' Benne grow ; 0. ngaardea moments norm to all—to me Oft reeds tbo trust of loving charley; Then lot it pewit Then 101 it bass, And nob a thought remain 'brain my heater glvo aiothee's p:1111 Lot hearts be trim, and let frdendehip enol That ipoa'e root with the fattings of it friend, Yes) Ink t pees Inema ltock, Ldltlo Anna wee need to seeing Are, 13 rr crimp' her hair and erraugo db smoothly down eooh side of her Mao. Riding along oto day she saw 12 very tithe bore, j .01 over the forme, "Look, papa "sho said, "Oafsherao s silos aro crimped 1"