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The Exeter Advocate, 1894-5-3, Page 3"THE ¶iFF 01? A PSBR. CHAPThIR vat. During theearly part of the dinner which bellowed Capt:i,iu Langdon's arri- ' al at Warriu rtoe Court conversation of that gentleman Consisted Chiefly of )monosyllabic utterances. Laura endeavored at first to engage WS attention by moans of numerous re - Marks, proffered with the intention of inaugurating some discussion of mutual ,interest, but finding aim so intently ab- sorbed in the consumption of his food • that he seemed to have no time to devote to so secondary a consideration as his hostess she reeigued herself to the not uncongenial task of reflecting. She had. heard of Captain Langdon as a man who went everywhere and knew everybody, .and she wondered how a person who seemed so rudely indifferent to those about him could attain such popularity. 'Admitting that there was something 'decidedly original and attractive in the almost naive uuconcern with which he seemed to regard the world about him sho felt a desire to make him talk in spite of his evident decision that she was not worth the trouble of addressing. He replied to her occasional questions some- what as though he considered her a child whom it was rather a condescension to • answer and with whom it was a decided bore to converse. Laura did not find this treatment amusing, but as there seemed no appeal except to indulge iu a show of anger she wisely refrained from such a display until Captain Langdon, having finished his slice of mutton and drained his glass of champagne, spoke in accents which be- trayed the evideut satisfaction of a man who has dined well. " I am ready to talk now, Lady War- rington," he said. " You must think me an awful bore, but I had to eat, you know." Laura smiled. There was something so blunt and frank iu this statement that she felt incapable of resentment. "Are you always as frank as that? If you are I guess 1 shall like you," an- swered Laura. "Please don't say ' I guess,' Lady War- rington. It makes me shudder to sec beautiful lips utter such words" " Shakespeare didn't hesitate to use them," she replied somewhat sharply, feeling resentment at what she consid- ered an impertinence. "I should fancy a Chicago woman would ascribe it to Bacon," he answered, with a malicious twinkle in his eyes. " You are impertinent," said Laura, trying to be .vexed, but in reality amused at his engaging insolence. "No, I am not, I am rude," he re- plied. "Lady Twirlington once called me the rudest man in London. I was made from that moment. All that is necessary to get on in town is to be dis- tinguished for something bizarre. Whether it be for the height of one's -collars, the blackness of one's character, the length of oue's nose or the absurdity of one's pretensions, doesn't much matter, so long as there is something to remove one from mediocre humanity." Laura was astonished at Captain Lang - don's half boastful, half humorous as- sertion of his social prominence. "You have one advantage over, the rest of the world," she said. " What is that ?" " You aren't compelled to disguise your true character. You act according to your natural instincts." " Oh, dear, no," replied Captain Lang- don ; " I am the greatest of shams. Do you suppose I like being rude ? I abhor it,bnt it would never do to be natural in society, one could never get on. I am by nature the most gallant and rever- ential of men, my rudeness is all as- pumed. I do it because it makes me pop- erlar, and I live for popularity. To you i don't mind disclosing my true self. Lady Olivia jest now dropped her hand- kerchief. I saw it, but it would never do for me to pink it up, so I pretended not to notice it. It was really painful to me to be so rude, but just fancy' what society would think if I were po- lite. I should nese my prestige en- tirely." " Go on, you are delightful," said Laura, enthusiastically. "I know it, I make a point of being entertaining when I talk at all. Now there are a great many rude men in society, but they don't understand the art. They simply stand about and stare, and pretend to be bored, but there's nothing original in that. Now I am original. If I don't like a woman's I.gown—and sometimes, even, if I do— I tell her she's a horrid guy, or if a woman's talk bores me I tell her to be .quiet and let me think. That sort of rudeness astonishes people and gives them something to talk about. That is •the true art of being rude. By the way, Lady Warrington, don't play with :your fork, it annoys me." Laura did not know whether to laugh or be vexed, but somehow she was too amused at this unusual person to be angry with him. " I like you, Captain Langdon," she said after a moment of ,thought. " You're the first man I have met in England whom 1 could talk to." " I don't wonder at that," he replied dryly. " Why ?" she asked. " Because you haven't anything to talk about." " How insulting I" "Thanks awfully. I wanted your to •say that. It shows me that my ability to be rude is appreciated." " What do you mean by saying that I have nothing to talk about,?" asked Laura, finding herself actually enjoying the man's insolence. " Why, you're nothing but a country girl transplanted from the prairies ; what do you know about society ?" " Nothing." " Precisely ; then by your own con- fession you have nothing to talk about." " But I might know other things," Laura objected. " Do you know anything about sport ?" asked Captain Langdon. ,t NQ „ " Then what earthly interests have I Cas a society and sporting manin hear- ing what you do know ?" " Don't you care anything about liter- ature or art ?" " Nothing beyond the latest novel or the picture of the year. I don't care for them, but I learn about them just to be able to worry the people who do." Laura looked inquisitively at her com- panion. " What do you care for r?" she asked ffinally. 11 Captain Langdon played -with the stem of his wine glass and his brow "contract- •ed just a trille, as though he were think- ing. " There is only one person .sin the world whom I care for," ho saidlslow ly, after 'a moment of silence. " And that person is '1" " Myself." She looked at him intently. " I `don't believe that," she said, "Why?" " Because if it were true you would. bo too selfish to confess ft. Y'ou,would be too selfish to create so unfavorable an inlpreesien." Ile looked up quickly; " Where did you learn that kind of repartee ?' he asked. nrel of s o stern y n n to Western b Prairies ?" " ]: don't know," Laura replied. " u said that ob cause T •.don't believe that any u d bo so hopelessly bad gas you pretend to be," He glanced at Lady Olivia. She turn- ed her hoad away quickly. He saw she had been listening to, their conversation, so he lowered his voice, J' Lady War- rington," he said, ." I am far worse thaw I dare confess, even to myself." "Then 1 pity you." There was a moment of silence. The others had finished their dessert, and tee ladies left Langdon and Hugh toenjoy their wine. When the three women had filed out of the dining -room the blue curls of smoke had already begun to 'fill the air. Langdon turned to Hugh and said familiarly : " Z say, old fellow, haven't had a chance really to congratu- late you since you came into the title." " Don't say anything about that," he answered, as he had a real distaste for such manifestations. " fust fill up your glass and let's have a talk about old times. Why did you leave the Guards ?" Captain Langdon took a sip of Iport and then replied : • " I took to thinking one day that a soldier was a cross be- tween a butcher and a beadle. In war he slaughters, and in peace he a struts around for the edification of kitchen maids. When I thought that out I re- signed." " Not a very complimentary summing up of an honorable career," smiled Hugh. "Aren't you a trifle unjust +?" " Perhaps. I got tired of reviews and parlidles, so I left, If I had had a .go at the butcher business I might have liked it better." " You haven't the true instinct of a British soldier, ,so the army is well rid of you," said Hugh dryly. " I know it, and I congratulate the Guards," answered Langdon. Both men smoked thoughtfully for at Toast a minute, then Hugh broke (the silence. " Go in for sport a good deal now, don't you 7" Yes a London in the season, the moors in August and the shires in win- ter. That's the only life." "You hunt with the 1 uorn mostly, don't you ?" " Ties, and the Pytehley. I'm usually out five days a week." They relapsed into silence again, dur- ing which Langdon drained his glass. "Uncommonly good port, this," ,he remarked, and, reaching hor the decanter, he continued : " I must have another go at such good stuff. By the way, Warrington, your wife's an awfully good sort. Lots more sense than our girls have. I congratulate you." " Thanks, old man,,' a Hugh replied rather coldly ; "I'm glad you like her.' " She's a winner, too, in a field of beauties," his oompanion continued with more enthusiasm than he had yet displayed. " None of the bedraggled,befrizzled nonsense about her but fresh and blooming as a rosebud.; I like her. I'd like to see the women stare the first time she shows herself in town." Hugh was delighted; with his friend's approval of his wife, knowing it to be a preliminary to a London success, but he did not think it becoming to dilate upon his own possessions, so he made no reply to Captain Langdon's words of praise. After another minute or two of silence he changed the subject by reverting to the perennial topic of sport. " We have the first run on Saturday," he said. "I suppose you can let me have a gee," his friend replied. " I've got a lot picked out for you, four of 'em, all up to your weight." " Awfully good of yon. Have yon ever hunted this country ?" Langdon asked. " Not since I was a youngster," he re- plied. "You forget I have been out in the States for seven years. Here, try another cigar, won't you ?" " No • thank you ; one's my limit. I'm ready to join the ladies now if yon are." Hugh was surprised at Langdon's un- usual readiness to leave the dining room, but he said nothing. The two friends rose, and after stretching their lege a moment they wandered slowly toward the drawing room, (where they found Lady Olivia playing a snatch from the latest Savoy epera,and her mother dozing in a corner, while Laura, seemingly lost in her own thoughts, was comfortably occupying one-half of a tete-a-tete chair. Captain Langdon walked toward Laura, and seating himself beside her, entered into conversation with somewhat more animation than he was accustomed to betray. " It's awfully good of yon to have me down Lady Warrington," he said. " I was dying for a change." " It you think it is rude to tell me you are glad to be here I guess I'll bo rude to you and say we are delighted to have you," Laura answered, laughingly, " There you go again with that awful ` guess,' " he replied. " What shall I do with you ? Don't you know you are in bad form ?" " Goodness gracious I" said Laura, with a sigh: " I hear nothing else but what is ' bad form.' Won't yon tell me what ' bad form' is ?" " First of all, it is bad form to say `Goodness gracious.' Then it is bad form to appear amused, to be natural, to be interested in anything or anybody, to be in love, to be polite or to be sincere. In other words, it is bad form to be any- thing but a hollow mockery of pretences and deceptions." " And yet your creed is form." "It is, Lady Warrington. I confess I would rather sizzle in Hades in company with a respectable peer than bask in heaven beside a cad." "A proof of your sincerity. Take care ot• I shall think you aro in bad form yourself." "I ain sincere with you, Lady War- rington," he answered quickly. "I shall pretend to be nothing but what I am—a cynical, selfish vagabond, who could best serve the world by getting out of it." Laura looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. "1 never heard anyone talk like that before," she said. "Perhaps you have never met a man like me before." " I don't think I over did," she re- plied thoughtfully. " There are plenty of us in London. .You can meet us in any Mayfair draw- ing -room. A well-groomed lot of con- ceited dandies, who harmonize beauti- fully with the furniture. I wonder some enterprising tradesman doesn't conceive the idea of supplying us in packages of a dozen, stuffed and dressed ready for use." " Is that your real opinion of yourself ? You eaid a moment ago that the only person in the world you care for is your- self. What am 1 to think of your taste ?" "Think anything you like about me, except that it is my habit to talk in this stupid way. Do you suppose 1 go about telling the world what I have told you ?" "I haven't known you long enough to judge," Laura replied cautiously. "Lady Warrington," lie said, "you are not like the wonleft one meets in society. 1 have known you scarcely an hour, but I can- see that you are frank, sincere and unaffected. So I was tempted to take off my special armor and breathe honestly for a moment. The next time We meet I shall probably be on my pedes- tal trying to impose on anyone foolish enough to be taken in." Lad Olivia, up to.this time, cow, tinned touch, inn � her desultor la in .Her , however, was lightenough to enable her to catch' many f the words Whieh wore Paiehig betw eeu Laura and Captain a n Langdon. It angered her to see him talking no earnestly to . another woman, and at moments she felt compelled to throw herself st his feet and humbly beg foe a return of his love. Biting her lips angrily at the thought of such humiliation, she tossed her head de- fiantly, while her fingers rolled rapidly over the keys, intensifying a determina- tion to thrust that'Mortifying love out of her heart. "Captain Langdon," said Lady Olivia suddenly, when there was a momentary lull in the conversation, " what has be- come of your friood, Lord Keith ? I thought him such an amusing man." Now, Lady Olivia, in reality had not the slightest interest in learning the whereabouts of that particular noble- man, but she desired to say something, and Lord Keith was the first person who came to her mind. A moment later she regretted the weakness which. had prompted her to speak of him. " Keith ?" said Langdon, looking up in answer to her Oueetion. " He's gone to Spain for a month to get rid of an awful American who was following him. I bog pardon, Lady Warrington, but she is awful. She followed him from Homburg, and she's bound to marry him, not to himself, but to her daugh- ter." "Poor fellow," said Lady Olivia em- pathetically. She had not forgotten the American who had captured her Mar- quis almost before her eyes. "Sha will get him, eventually, no doubt." "• Not Keith," said Langdon: "Keith's a canny Scot, with twenty thousand a year ; dollars are no attraction, and I'll back him to marry the right sort." "What is the name of this awful, coon: trywoman of mine?" asked Laura, anx- ious to know what American could so debase herself. "Mrs. Flood -Smith," Langdon answer- ed. " It used to be Smith, they say, un- til a flood of dollars s`vept into her hus- band's bank account ; then she eoupled Flood to Smith and came to London, where dollars can buy most anything except a sensible Scotchman like Keith. She could buy poor Sir Arthur Fitzmaur- ice for a small deposit down and the rest on time, but a baronet isn't good enough for her. Keith, though, is not the man." " What is Miss Flood -Smith like ?" Laura asked, anxious to learn if the daughter acquiesced in her mother's heartless schemes. She is her mother's : own child, except that she is good looking. She would elbow countesses right and left, if by so doing she could reach a duchess." " How disgusting 1" exclaimed Laura. f° Yet it is the way of the world," re- plied Captain Langdon. " Of a little, narrow world which I am just begining to learn about," said Laura. "I say, Laura," called her husband from the corner where he had been con- versing with the late Earl's wife, " come and tell Lady Warrington whether one meets the negroes in society in Am- erica. I confess the question is too deep for me." • Laura, laughing at the absurdity of this inquiry, went over to were they were sitting. Langdon, after carefully wiping his glass and adjusting it to his satisfaction, turned toward Lady Olivia and addressed her in the careless uncon- cerned manes he usually assumed toward women. "By the way," he said, "Lord Keith asked me about you when; I saw him last." " ReaIly 1 It was very considerate, I am sure," Lady Olivia replied, trying to assume her habitual indiference. "I think," Langdon continued, throw- ing a little more emphasis into hie words, " that Keith is quite gone on you. He said you were the best sort he knew, and wanted to know m9 opinion of you." " And yon told him ?" asked Olivia, turning her eyes away and playing with a cushion tassel.' "Nothing," Langdon answered, slow- ly, looking fixedly at his companion. "I wanted to ask you what I should say." " Ask me ?" she replied, in a tone of surprise. " Yes ; do you want me to tell him my opinion of you ?" he asked, looking into her face boldly and with a sneer. The girl's cheeks colored and she turned her face away. " Will you never for- get, Arthur 9" she asked. " I have forgotten, Lady Olivia," he re- plied coldly. " If you will pardon me I shall join your mother. I have a message for her from a friend in town." Lady Olivia watched his retreating eteps. The hard, cold cast of her fea- tures returned, and her lips became thin and compressed. "I was weak," she thought, " to think of anything but bate. It must be war between us ; cruel, relentless war, with no more mercy on my part than he has shown me." Late that evening when she had re- tired and her maid was unlacing the body of her gown, Laura began to think about the people she had met during the day, and endeavored to judge them ac- cording to the impressions they had pro- duced at the time. She had liked Lady Twirlington's frank manner, and had felt that under this woman's thin veneer of worldliness there was a heart to which she might turn for help and sympathy. Mrs. Fenton, on the other hand, was neither to be liked nor trusted. Per- haps this decision was unjust ; but sus- picion of Madge Barclay bad rankled in her heart so long that she did not feel capable of judging her with the fairness she might exercise towards other women. She wanted to drive her from her mind, so she turned her thoughts to Cap- tain Langdon. He seemed to her a curious paradox which she did not at all comprehend. Perhaps it was because she had never before meta ordeal man of the world whose scoffs are merely the reverberations of his own follies, but she confessed her inability to understand his peculiar manner. Several times dur- ing the evening she had noticed a melan- choly, almost despondent, tone in his voice, even when his cynicism and rude- ness were the most extravagant ; and she felt almost confident that his indif- ferent manner was assumed for the pur- pose of hiding his inner nature from the world. She wondered why she felt inclined to study the ,people about her so carefully. At home she had never experienced this desire ; but since she had been in Eng- land she not only tried to analyze the characteristics of the people she met, but was invariably prompted to feel her way discreetly in the presence of strangers as though she were uncertain of her ability, to impress them favor- ably. Lady Olivia's scrutinizing glances of disapproval had first put her on her guard, and after that she felt compelled to exercise a curtain amount of tact and reserve. She longed for a friend in whom she might confide her thoughts and impressions and who would sympa- thize with all her little woes. Hugh had seemed so ocenpied with his affairs of late that She felt neglected, and wished there were some way to make him realize that she was lonely. To re- proach him would be foolish, for she kiiew that his neglect was nothing but thoughtlessness inspired by his many new occupations. Thus musing slid end- denly, started toward his dressing -room, and entered ito n iselessly, walking on tiptoe until she reached the place where he was standing with his back toward her.. Then, before he had had time to be startled by her presence, she threw her arms about his neck and kissed him. "Tell me Feu love me, dear," she 4aid. " I wan, so lonesome in there without you. I thought you were never coming." " You mustn't, little girl," he answered tenderly, drawing her closer to his side. " You mustn't be lonesome. I am always here, you know." " If you only Were." "1 don't understand, Laura. I haven't been away.: What do you mean ?" he asked in a puzzled manner: " I know I am ungrateful and selfish and horrid," she said protestingly, but you are away so much that sometimes I do get lonesome. I am perfectly happppy when you are with me,dear but I do wish you would find ore time to be with your little girl: There, X didn't mean to complain, but somehow. I couldn't help it." " Why, sweet one," he said, kissing her, "I don't mean to neglect you, but I have a great deal to look after. You forget I have just come into the pro- perty and there are all the accounts to examine. Why, you're not crying?" he continued, with a somewhat injured ton. "There, there, I will try not to leave you any more." For a moment Laura buried her face oh his shpulder and sobbed as a child might have done. Somehow the crying relieved her feelings and she felt hap- pier; " There," she said when she had ceased sobbing sufficiently to speak, "I kust had to cry, I couldn't help it. 1 now it was silly, but don't hate me, dear, please don't." " Hate you, my child!" exclaimed Hugh, feeling really ashamed at the thought that his neglect might have been the cause of his wife's unhappiness. " How could I hate you ? I have been a selfish brute and I shan't leave yon alone any more." For a moment he felt heartily asham- ed of his failure to realize that his pres- once and love were necessary to Laura in hor strange new life, and, for a mo- ment, he forgot his fields, his tenants, and his hunters in a sincere resolve that, henceforth, his wife should command hie first attentions. " And you don't care anything for that —that other woman 7" faltered Laura, hiding her face against his breast. " What other woman ?" asked Hugh, " Madge Barclay."• " Why, Laura, how could I care for her when I have yon ?" " Then I am happy, Hugh," she said, looking up into his face trustfully. CHAPTER VII. Sheets of mist were driving over the downs and wreathing the trees of Wil- ton Wood in dampness. The tall gables of Wilton Hall loomed dismally through the gloom, and every gust of wind brought fresh relays of vapor to en- velop the hedges, gates and stables in the most hopeless of autumn fogs. It certainly did not seem like a typi- cal hunting morning: The driving mist and piercing wind might have dampen- ed the ardor of the keenest sportsman were it not for the rolling clouds of fog —driving thinner with every blast—and the rising glass which in that country forebodes a northeast wind,a moist field and a good scent. It was the morning of the opening meet of the Warrington hounds, and Wilton Hall had been se- lected as the place. This famous pile had once been the scene of a determined skirmish between a devoted body of cav- aliers and a troop of Roundhead horse, in which the Parliamentarians had been sent scampering over the downs . in search of reinforcements and cannon with which to drive the hated Royal- ists from the shelter of its time -stained walls: It was in compliance with one of Madge Fenton's fancies that shortly after her marriage Wilton Hall had been purchas- ed, and after having been refitted and remodelled it had resumed its place in the social life of the county. Its near- ness to the Goodwood race course render- ed it an attractive haven for Madge's fashionable friends at a time when the pleasures of a London season had begun to pall, and its celebrated covert, where hounds seldom failed to find, made it a popular place of meeting for devotees of hunting during the winter months. So the famous walls of Wilton Hall usually sheltered their fashionable mistress and her friends during certain weeks of the year. It is thus natural that the first meet of the Warrington hounds should be set for Wilton Hall, and that, on the morn- ing of the opening, despite the foreboding fog outside, a small army of servants should be laying the long table in the great dining room with breakfast covers, while ample supplies of hams and of tongues, rounds of beef and game pies were in preparation for the hunting farmers of the neighborhood, not to mention copious tankards for ale, decan- ters for sherry, and the inevitable cherry brandy. While the footmen were scurry- ing about the tables indoors, the fog out- side was slowly lifting, or rather blow- ing away with the increasing, breeze. The leaden sky showed, from time to time, through rifts in the vapor, and the fog seemed gradually to vanish until, except for an occasional veil of mist hanging low on tree or coppice, the gray autumn landscape became plainly visible. Then a faint sun gleam, bursting through a scudding cloud, drew sparkles from the moist turf and lines of dampened hedge- rows, and as the sunlight vanished be- hind a bank of gray, a pink coat coming slowly around a distant curve in the park road marked the first patch of warm color on the cheerless scene. This pioneer was shortly followed by tergrooms, walking "their master's favorite hunters along the hard drive. A young farmer on a fleabitten gray then trot.' ted through a neighboring gate, a feel] more sportsmen galloped up of/ covert hacks, their horses' sides steam- ing and their bridle reins still damp witb the moisture of the recent fog. The loud crack, of a whip and a; glint of scarlet through a neighboring coppice attracted the attention of those already assembled to a point where three velvet caps were passing slowly behind a growth of brushwood. The dexterous twist of a whip handle in a practised hand swung open the gate, and a stream of white and tan hounds with waving tails and soft, mellow eyes, swept through into the field appointed for the Meet: More lusty and hungry, young farmers trotted up on Well-bred mounts, ready to put the rounds of beef and bottles of cherry brandy, to the test. More 'sports- men galloped up on covert hacks, more grooms and second horsemen arrived, and finally the rumble of wheels on the hard gravel announced the coming of two ladies whose clever horses had already arrived in charge of neatly -booted grooms. A tandem dashed along the road driven by a well-known sportsman whose leader had unmistakable hunters' points. Then, after other relays of gentlemen on hacks, grooms and Second horsemen, farmers, carts and carriages, Sir W1,- liam West s yellow -wheeled drag, with its team of chestnut's, swung round the terve, bearing a party of sportsmen from his neighboring seat of I1arly Croft, The dismal aspect of the early morn, lag gave pleas #e to; Beene tall of color and animation, where the greetings of blonde and the encouraging words to restless hunters blended with, clattering boobs and champing bits. In the dining room of Wilton Hall, the hungry farm- ers were stowing away numerous cuts of beef and copious glasses of amber ale, while in the drawing room a few ladies were drinking tea with Mrs. Fen- ton, whose workmanlike habit denoted that she also intended to struggle for a place in the first flight, Quteide the house the attention of the waiting crowd was attracted by anoth- er carriage, which, accompanied by two men in pink, riding ;awful backs, roiled along the drive. It was a neat victoria, perfectly appointed, with an earl's cor- onet traced on the panel, and its only occupant was a young woman, whose most beautiful face peeping over a col, lar of black fur was strange to the as- sembled crowd. A murmur of admiration and curiosity followed the carriage up to the doorway of Wilton Hall. " What a handsome wman 1 Who is she 7" asked pretty Miss Qrenwell of the Hon. Angus Forbes, who was assisting her to mount. Before the latter had time to reply little Major Hawley, from his point of vantage astride a big boned roan up to twice his weight, called down to his friends below that it was Lady Warrington, so that Miss Grenwell and the. Hon. Angus Forbes immediately felt a trifle ashamed to think that Major Hawley should have been able to an- nounce the identity of so unimportant a personage. As Laura, accompanied by her husband and Captain Langdon, entered the hall they met Mrs. Fenton and Lady Twirl- ington, who, with others, were hurriedly deserting the morning room and dining hall. " You're just in time, Lady Warring- ton," said Madge, " The master has come, and that means `boots and lead - dies.' " '" Yes," interrupted Lady TwirIington, " if yon and' I are going to drive, Lady Warrington, we must hurry. It is fur- ther to the covert by road and we may be too late to see the hounds throw off." "If yon don't mind, Lady Warring- ton," said Captain Langdon, "I shall ride beside yon and deliver that lecture on the art of hunting I promised you." " And perhaps lose the chance of a good start," interrupted Lady Twirling - ton. "I ani astonished, Captain Lang- don. You are untrue to your repute*. tion," As the little party passed out of the hall Laura heard Madge Fenton saying to Hugh in a familiar undertone, " I want you to pilot me. It will be so like the good old days in Leicestershire." Laura glanced at Hugh reproachfully, but he did not see her. It was not Percy CGrenwell's custom to keep the field waiting, so his somewhat tardy arrival was the signal to be off. Those who were not already mounted hurriedly swung into the saddle, and then the great multitude followed the M. F. H. into the field where the pack was waiting. At the sight of the master the graceful hounds bounded impatiently, their flickering tails swinging with de- light, their white and tan bodies cavort- ing joyfully about the hunter's chestnut legs, while wistful eyes were upturned to Percy Grenwell. But a sharp,word of command and a crack of the first whip's lash brought the pack together. The master having gathered his reins well in hand and settled himself into a firm hunting seat moved on across the field, followed by a hundred eager sports- men. Meanwhile Laura and Lady Twirl- ington were driving rapidly to a point near the neighboring gorse, which they hoped, to reach before the hounds had had time to draw. (To be continued.) AN OBSOLETE: SLUSH. the Planar Government of the highland Chief and Has Cit,neinea. The clan system of government was in ita way an ideaIIy perfect one—prob. ably the only gerfect one that has ever existed. Perhaps it was the very thor- oughness of its adaptation to early needs that made it so ha;d to adjust to new necessities. In its principles and motives it was essentially opposed to the bent of modern influences. Its appeal was to sentiment rather than to law, or even reason ; it was a. system not of the letter, but of the spirit. The clansman was not the subject—a term implying some sort of conquest—but the kinsman of his chief. The chief had no title to indicate " a distant superiority." He was simply the Macleod, or Macpherson, or Macshimei. But while the clansman cherished a keen sense of independence, and expected to be treated by his chief with friendly familiarity, the cold and degrading equality typified in the Par- isian citizenship—child and parent of revolutions—would have had for him no charm. It was his peculiar pride to claim the relationship to a superior; and in itself the very thought of kin- ship was thus ineiniring and ennobling. Obedience became rather a privilege than a task, and no possible bribery or menace could shake his fidelity. To- wards the Sassenach, or the members of clans at feud with him, he might act meanly, treacherously and cruelly with- out cheek and without compunction, for there he recognized no moral obligations whatever. But as aclansman to his clan he was Courteous, truthful, virtuous, benevolent, with notions of honor as punctilious as those of the ancient knight. Not only was the standard of public morality a high one, but it was impossible to evade or defy it. Most clans had a certain number of helots (descendants of captives), but pauper or criminal class there was none, for the crimes of the clansmen were committed only against his enemies, and it was by, stealing from them that he relieved the stress of poverty. No code of laws—after all it may be a symptom of decay, and no proof of advance in the art of gov- ernment—stood between him and the personality of his chief ; And his chief's kindness, with the chief's justice and wisdom, begat a far warmer esteem for law and order than the most admir- able set of rules could ever have in- spired. ALUMLNUM SADDLES. An interesting experiment is at pre- sent being inane with a squadron o£ Turkish soldiers In the Soudan. They have been supplied with saddles,, the ;bands of which, as well as the spurs, aro made of aluminum. The saddles are Made after the pattern of the regular artillery saddles, cost the same price and weigh at least sloven pounds less than the fprmer. CHEAP FRUIT CAKE. Two eggs, ono cup brown sugar, ono cup molasses, one half -cup butter, one cup raisins, one cup sour milk, one tea- spoonful soda, one tablespoonful: of all kinds of spice, five cups of flour. Tliis will Make two loaves. their Getman gmprees Mind her children and sir aiteudante hero taken no fewer than forty room! of the Southern Railway ,11`otel at A.bbazzia. Carter Harrison'! memory will be perpot- uated'by the tallest atonement In Greeeland Cemetery, near Chleago, Where hie body rests. LOT MINUTE TIQ Orillfa'isl to have a canoe olu1ii 1 Peace has been formally, proclainied fit Brasil: Destructive balloterm at Vanueg" Prance. A brabroach' ' from nc xey ei amylis( criovll3� m Boston. Hail has damaged trope in file Cherokee Strip, Oregon Democratic State' Cociventfolt endorses Cleveland. Police discover ecounterfeiter's def6. at . Bonillac, France. The Philadelphia contingent of •C'oxeeti army, is at Perryman, bbd Locusts have been found in Moweagnsti Ill., and at Sedalia, Mo. A branch' of 'the Industrial' Arcµ Id being organized at Anderson, Ind. T Six thousand pilgrims embarked tai Barcelona last evening on their way, tot Rome. Mayor Hopkins, of Chicago, has de- tided to deny a license to the Garfield]' Race Track. Great fire in Yokohama, Japan; trod'• Yankee sailors and two Japanese women] were burned to death. The Spanish Government has received advices from Melilla that the Billions arei again becoming disquieted. General Manager Case, of the G. N., R., asks the unions to send delegates one thorized to make a binding. settlement of the strike. Incidental to the preparation for the Hesse -Coburg marriage, authorities have taken every possible precaution against Anarchist oatrs a*,; Passengers just arrived at New Orleans from Bluefields say a report reached that a German had been flogged by Meares, guans at Matagulpa, in the interior, The New York canals will be officially opened on May 14th. The Bishop of Autuu, France, has, been elevated to the cardinalate. Sixty-five cases of cholerine were ref ported at Lisbon yesterday. Oxford is willing to race Harvard or, Yale if they will go to England. Three persons were drowned by the] wreck of the Los Angeles at Monterey.; Cal. - There is no truth in the rumor of se reconciliation between Princess Colonnal and her husband. In the British House of Commons toe day royal assent to the Behring Se& Act was announced. Ex -Judge Nelson Jarvis Waterbury,tfie veteran lawyer and former partner of Samuel J. Tilden, died yesterday. The Spanish pilgrims have made money contributions to the Pope aggregating 1,220,000 f ranes. Carnot, the London anarchist, confesseef he wanted to blow up the Royal Eby change and kill Inspector Melville. The first public exhibition of picture* to be held in London on Sunday was. opened in the Guildhall yesterday, and was attended by enormous crowds. REEVE ®Y FOIE DIPOIRERIA. ilt This is a Sure Care Let It be Knowe: Quickly. The New -York Medical Journal recently contained a paper on ozone in the treat- ment of diphtheria, written by Dr. Ir- ving S. Haynes, which deserves attentiosf and is in the nature of a medical dis- covery. A preparation of ozone has been, need in cases of tuberculosis with. success, and the new preparation whicle Dr. 'Haynes has employed an "diphtheria is called " therapol." It has been used in cases of diphtheria which had been given up, and in six cases out of seven et this class recovery has been effected. The treatment is the swabbing or the throat with therapoI, and the injection of the liquid into each nostril of the, patient, who is kept upon itis back so that the disinfection of the entire nose and throat can be secured. The treat - malt is completed by the use of the usual. iron mixture as a gargle, and where the larynx is attacked, calomel fumigations must be used. The membrane is die - solved usuallylin from 8 to 48 hours, its: removal depending upon the severity of the attack. Dr. Haynes is a member off the Society of the Alumni of Bellevue Hospital, and deserves the thanks ol" the public for having communinated hia discovery to the world through the Medical Journal, and that every doctor; may be able to apply this new remedy to the removal of this disease, it la here stated that " therapol " may bei had by; applying 'to J."C. Dietrich, chem- ist, No. 47 Liberty street, New York. 11 Dr. Haynes has succeeded in supplying; a remedy for this disease that is as ef- fective as he has demonstrated it to be, he has conferred a great benefit up- on mankind. AN Ji c'0sYTION OE RELIGION. To be Dae of the Featitres of the Japanese Celebration. Nest year an extraordinary exhibi tion is to be held in Japan, where the resources of that wonderful country are to be displayed as they have never yet been. The exhibition is to be made in; Kioto, and ;is to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of the establishment of that city as the capital of Japan. The most Curious exhibit, however, is one which nobody else seems to have thought of, but to which the Japanese Government intends to give an extensive development. This is a religious ex- hibit, comprising, so to speak, processes as well as apparatus. On the grounds there are to be temples of the various sects represented in Japan, including Christian churches, if the communities of Christians choose to furnish them,. and in eaeh temple or church will be sta- tioned priests, who will not only per- form the appropriate services, but will expound the doctrines of their sect to all who wish to listen to them, interpreters being provided, who will translate the discourses for the benefit of foreigners. NO SENSE OP HUMOR. The edueators out at Wichita don't seem to have mueh fun in their make np: A boy in the school wrote the following; composition on " Pants " and was sus- pended ; "Pants are made for men, and not mon for petits. Pants are like mo- lasses ; they are thinner in hot weather and thicker in cold. The man in the; moon changes his pants during the eclipse. Don't you go to the pantry for pants ; you might be mistaken. Men are. often mistaken in pants. Sudh mistakes makes breeches of promise, There has been much discussion ;as 'to whether; pants 18 singular or plural. Seems to up When Men wear pants they are plural, and when they don't it is singular. Melt go on a tear in pants, and it is all right;. but when the pants go on ♦tear it is all wrong." The richest mall in Prussia is Albert Iloesch, who owns his wealth to his mann- leeturiug establfskinonts (iron and paper). IIie income is about $2,000,000 n year and his taxes' last year, when his wealth want rated hall a million more, were $109,000.