IslililBIDBfrklkBBklKBlilBikililikklHIslllHaliHBBikllB -SECOHD PART. "Tn? I n pi I I Vf-Cr 'WfT TiiSkA I I H j PAGES 9 TO 16, l T" ' ' i .in ii i ii m A MODERN PHARAOH. How the Egyptian Khedive Lives and Eules Over His People. AN AUDIENCE AT THE PALACE, In Which llnch is Learned of How Things Go on the .Nile's Banks. A MODEL MAN AND HIS MODEL WIFE TOOK A STXTT COBBESrONDEIfT.l AIRO. Egypt, June 10 I have just re turned from a long audience with the Khedive .of Egypt. Khedive is a Persian Arabic word,meaning kins, and Mohammed Tewfik occupies much the same position now as the Pharoahs did in the days of Hoses and Joseph. It is true that he is in a measure the vassal of the Sultan, to whom be pays a tribute of about $3,750,000 a year, and that he has several European advisors who keep sharp watch over the revenues of his kingdom to see that a great part of them go to pay the interest on the debts which his predecessors and his Government have contracted, and which are held by the bank ers of Europe. But he is, nevertheless, the KingofEgypt, and, as kings go to-day, he has more power than most of themonarchs of Europe. His residence in Cairo is a grand palace with hundreds of rooms filled with magnificent furniture. Ho drives about the city with soldiers carrying swords, riding prancing horses in front ot his car riage and with a 6core of cavalry following behind. His personal expenses are limited to $200,000 a year, and he has several pal aces outside of the one he occupies in Cairo. One of these is the Baseltin palace, which He Hamet Ali built on the sea shore near Alexandria, another is at Helonan, in Up per Egypt, and a third is Koubeh, the Khedive's country seat jnst outside of Cairo, near the site of the old city of the sun, where Plato taught philosophy and Herodotus studied history. CALLING ON THE KHEDIVE. The Khedive's present residebce is the Abden Palace, in the heart of Cairo. And it was here that I met His Highness this morning. The interview had been arranged by the American Consul Genera), Colonel Card well, and the Consul General and my self left the consulate at a little after 10. in the consular carriage. The dragoman of the Legation, a bright-eyed Syrian, in the most gorgeous of Turkish clothes of brown covered with gold embroidery, and with a great sword shaped like a cymeter, clank ing at his side, opened the carriage door for us and took his seat bv the coachman. The Arabian Jehu cracked his whip and away he went through the narrow streets of Cairo. "We drove by the modern European mansions of the rich Greeks, past the palaces of Egyp tian princes, from which the sweet smell of tneorauge flowers came ana over which whispered broad spreading palms. We then n ent through a business street of Cairo, amid droves of donkeys, through a caravan of camels, by veiled women clad in black and looking like balloons upon donkeys, in front of the palace in which Ismail Pasha had his harem when he was Khedive, and in which I doubt not the present Khedive played as a boy when his lather was on the throne, and on'into a great square ot many acres, on the right of which were vast bar racks filled with Arab troops in blue uni iorms and fez caps, and in the midst of which a regiment of Egyptian troops were going through a gymnastic drill and per forming the motions as well to-day as thev did at the time when our American General Stone was their commander, and when Gen eral Grant reviewed them and said that they seemed to be good soldiers lor every thing except fighting. A GORGEOUS PALACE. At the end of this great square, in the form of a horseshoe, is the Abden palace. It is a vast building of two stories, ot brown stucco, with many windows and a graud en trance way in the center. At the door of the palace stood two pompous soldiers with great swords in their hands. They were clad in a Turkish costume with embroidered jackets of blue and gold and with full zou ave trousers of blue broadcloth. Upon their heads were turbans, and the faces that showed out under these were such that they made me think of the troops that conquered this oriental world in the days of the prophet Mohammet. Passing up the mas sive step the palace door was opened by an Arab clad in Eurooean clothes and wearing the red iez cap, which the Egyptian never takes off in house or out. "We entered a grand entrance hall, floored with marble mosaic, the walls of which were finished in cream and gold. In front of us a staircase so wide that two wagon loads of hay could be drawn up it without touching, lead by easy flights to the second floor, and at the right and the left were the reception rooms for visitors and halls leading to the apartments reserved for the chamberlains, masters of ceremonies and other officers of the King's household. We chatted a moment with one or two of the Khedive's Cabinet Ministers, who were just passing out after a council with His Highness, and then moved on up the stairs. In one of the drawing rooms on the second floor we were met by another Egyptian of ficial in black clothes and red fez cap and by him were conducted to a reception room, the door of which stood open and wire mo tioned to enter. BOVALTY PLAINLT ARRAYED. In the center of this room, which was not larger than a good sized American parlor, all alone stood a man of about 36 years of age. He was dressed in a black broadcloth coat which buttoned close up at the neck like that of a preacher. Lavender panta loons show out below this fitting well down over a pair of gaiter-like pumps and on the top of his rather handsome head was a fez cap of dark red with a black silk tassel ex tending Ironi the center of the crown and falling down behind. The costume of this man, barring the fez, might have been that of an American, and his Circassian cream colored complexion was such that he would have passed unnoticed in a crowd in New York. This man was the Khedive of Egypt. He is, I judge, about 5 feet 6 inches in height and he does not weigh more than ICO pounds. He is rather fleshy than thin. His frame being well rounded, his head large, and his features clean cut. He has a nose slightly inclined to the Roman. His forehead is hiirh and the dark hrnn-n eyes which shine out fiom under it change from the crave to the smiling during his conversation. He is plain and simple in both his habits and dress. He shook Colonel Cardwell's hand cordially as he entered, and upon the Con sul General presenting me as an American citizen he extended his hand to me and told me he was glad to see me, and was glad to have Americans come to Cairo. He then walked across the room to a divan and mo tioned me to a seat at his left as he sat down, (putting one of his legs up under him and hanging the other foot on the floor. There was an absence of pomp or snobbishness, and though dignified he had not half the airs of the average 'backwoods members ot our House of Representatives at Washing ton. As he seated himself his black coat opened, and I noted the contrast between his ccstume and that of the gorgeous rajahs whom I met in India. His only jewelrv consisted of a sei of gold studs 'the size of the smallest of peas and a watch chain of tbin links of gold. He wore a black neck tie bow in his white turnover colltr, such as you buy on lower Broadway for 25 cents, and his cuffs, though scrupulously clean, had not the polish of the American Chinese laundry. THE KHEDIVE'S EETORMS. The Khedive of Egypt is a good French scholar and he has learned to speak En glish within the past fevr years. Our talk was carried on in English and His Highness chatted freely, now and then breaking out in a chuckling langh as something amusing entered into the talk, and again growing so"ber and impressive as he discussed the more sober problems of his reign. In speak ing of his Hie as Khedive, he said: "I am told that maty people envy me my position. They say that I am a young man and that my lot must be a pleasant one. They do not understand the troubles that surround me. Hany a time I wonld have been glad to have laid down all of the honors I have for rest and peace. Hy 10 years of reign hae been equal to 40 years of work and of worry. If life were a matter oi pleasure I would be a fool to remain on the throne. I believe, however, that God put man on the world for a purpose other than this. Duty, not pleasure, is the chief end of man. I do the best I can for my country and my people, and I feel the hap piest when I do the most work and when my work is the hardest" The talk then turned upon the condition IJHHi 4 m vw The Khedive of Egypt. of Egypt and its future, but as to this the King was reticent. Hespokeproudfyofthe reforms which he had inaugurated in gov ernment, and of the fact that now, though the taxes were heavr. everv peasant knew just what his taxes were to be, and that they were honestly collected. He spoke of the improvements of the courts and said that the Pasha and the fellahin now stood on the same footing before the law. "When I came to the throne," said be, "the people were surprised that I put the prince on the same footing as other people before the courts. Now, thank God, there is no differ ence in justice. The prince and the fellah are the same in our courts and the former may be punished like the latter." HE EOLLOTVS THE KOEAX. Coffee and cigarettes were at this point bronght-in by the servants oCthe palace. The coffee was a la Torque. -Itwas served in little china cups in holdexstrf gold filli gree. shaped like an egg cup and each cup held about three tablespoonfuls of rich, black coffee as thick as chocolate and as sweet as molasses. There were no saucers nor spoons and I tried in my drinking to follow the Khedive. I took the holder in my fist and gulped down half the'eontents of the cup at a swallow. It was as hot as liquid fire. I could feel the top of my mouth rising in a blister, the tears came into my eyes and my stomach felt as though it had taken an internal Turkish bath. It was lucky that at this, moment, the Khedive had just addressed a remark to Consul General Card well, who sat on thtother side of him, and he did not notice my emotion. He took the boiling mixture without wink ing and went on talking as though his throat was used to liquid fire. I was sur prised to see him refuse the cigarette and I asked him it he did not smoke. He replied: A Lady of the J'alaee. "No! I neither smoke nor drink. I do not drink on two grounds. I believe man is better off without it, and what is of more moment to me, it is against the laws of life as laid down in the Koran. We do not be lieve it right to drink nnything intoxicating, and good Mussulmans drink neither wine nor liquor. I believe that every man should be faithful to the religion which he pro fesses. My faith is that of Islam, and I try to follow it as well as I can. I am not illib eral in it. however, and I tolerate all re ligions and all sects in my kingdom. We have Copts, Jews and Christians, and your missionaries are at work in the land. They make very few conversions, if any, among the people of my faith, but they have schools in upper Egypt that are doing much in the way of education. You ask me as to my at tendance upon the Hosque. Yes, I goregu larly, and it was a surprise to the people of the court when 1 attended the Hosque im mediately after my accession." A HAPPY FAMILY. Colonel Cardwell here spoke of the Khe dive's knowledge of the Koran and cited the fact that his majesty knows the whole book by h;art,and that he can commence at any point and recite it from one end to the other. Toe Khedive stands well with his people, aid leading men in Cairo tell me he would do much for Egypt if he were not hampered by foreign intervention? He gave up a number ot his palaces a year or so ago, and be is, for a king, most econom ical. He has, as far as I can learn, no ex travagant habits and no vices, and he lives withinthe half million dollars a year, whica is known as his civil list Had other khedives of the past been equally careful, Egypt would be a rich country to-day in stead of a mortgaged one. He is a man of strong domestic tastes, and though a Ho hammedan and an Oriental king, he is the husband of but one wife, and he is as true to her as the most chaste American. A friend of his gavfe me to-night a talk he recently had witn ui upon this subject in which the I Khedive expressed himself strongly in favor of monogamy: "I saw," said he, "in my father's harem, the disadvantages of a plurality of wives .and of having children by different wives, and I decided before I came to manhood that I would marry but one woman and would be true to her. I have done so and I have had no reason to regret it" These words of the Khedive are verified by his wife. Prom what I can learn his family life is a happy one. He is much in love with bis wife, and the Khedivieh is said to be one of the brightest women of Egypt A lady friend of hers, who visits often at the royal harem, tells me that this Queen of Egypt is both beautiful and ac complished. LIFE OP THE KHEDIVIEir. She gives receptions to ladies at her pal ace every Saturday. She speaks French very well, and she uses this language in her intercourse with foreignhers. She is as sensible in her ways as her husband, and a few days ago at one of her little receptions at her country seat near Cairo one of the visitors expre sed a desire to see the ostrich farm, which is near there. The Queen then proposed that the whole party go over and visit it, and this they did, walking through the fields and along the road the whole dis tance. I cite this merely as an instance of the nnostentation which she usually shows. It must not be supposed, however, that she does not live like a Queen. She has her harem or women servants by scores. She is accompanied whenever she goes out to ride or drive by some of her numerous eunuchst and she keeps up abig establishment sepa rate from that ot the King. When she sits down to dinner or breakfast it is not with the King, but with her own ladies. The King eats with his officers, according to Mohammedan etiquette, and his apart ments or the salumlik are separate from hers. Both she and her husband have done much to break down the rigidity ot Moham medan social customs. Thetr Jove for each other and the example of the Khedive in having but one wife, Consul General Card well tells me, is catching, and many of the other noble Arab gentlemen are following it The Khedive takes his wife with him wherever he goes. She does not usually travel on the same train nor, if so, in the same car. She has stuck to the Khedive through the stormiest times of the reign, and dunng the last war she refused to go on the English gdnboats when invited to do so for safety. She is close in the councils of her husband, I am told, and it is said that he has great confidence in her judgment Both the Khedive and the Khedivieh are wrapped np in their children, and I am told that thev intend to allow one of their sons to take a trip to America at no very distant day. They have two boys and two girls. The boys are Abbas, who will be 15 years old in July, and Mehemet Ali, who is two years younger. These boys are now at school in Berlin. They speak French, En glish, German and Arabic, and they are, I am told, very bright The girls are rather pretty cream-complexioned young maidens of 8 and 10, who are as much like American girls as they can be, considering their sur roundings. They wear European clothes, and may oe seen aiongtne seasnore at Alex andria, walking together and swinging their hats in their hands like our little girls at Long Branch or Asbury Park. They have European governesses and talk French quite well. Fbank G. Cabpenteb. A PANTHE1J BTOEI. An Old Besldent of RevnoldsTllle Tells of a Punxminwncy Sinn's Struggle. Pnnxsut&wner Spirit J "Did you ever hear of John Potter's bat tle with the panther?" asked an old citizen of Eeynoldsville of a reporter. "We never had. "Well, John Potter came to this country along about 1834, and settled on the hanks of the Sandy Lick, on what is now known as the Gray farm. John was a large, sinewy man, with any amount of courage. One day in the early spring, while the ground was still white with snow, John and his wife, and dog started to walk to Pnnxsntawney. They had traveled only about two miles when a pile of snow beside the road at tracted John's attention. Going up to it and kicking it a little he discovered a dead deer bnried .beneath it, and just then a large panther, which had no doubt killed the deer and covered it with snow, sprang from be hind a los and ran up an adjacent tree. John told Nancy, his wife, to hasten back and get the gun, while he andthe dog stood guard under the tree. She did so, hut scarcely had she gotten out of sight when the panther began to exhibit strong symptoms ' of restlessness. It eyed the dog and snarled Bavagely. Potter had no weapon but a jackknife, and he had some anxiety to see that panther remain where it was until Nancy returned with the eun. But thepanther did not like hisquarters,atid, with a tremendous spring, bounded from the tree and immediately attacked the dog, which, with true canine courage, gave the beast the very best he had in the house; and, being a large and active mastiff, he made it so warm for the animal that it retreated back up the tree. But the dog had the worst of the battle. He was torn and bleeding, but still stood his ground with magnificent heroism ana was furious for the fray. In the meantime Potter had cut a hickory club with his jackknife and wy prepared to defend the dog. He had not long to wait Again the huge beast sprang from the tree and began a life and death struggle with the dog, who was greatly inferior to it both in strength and activity. But while the fierce fight between the panther and the dog was progressing, Potter rushed in with his club and belabored the animal over the head with all his might, and soon succeeded in crushing its skull, when it keeled over and yielded np the ghost Then John sat him down upon its lifeless carcass and waited for Nancy. The dog was thought to be finished. He was unable to walk, and the noble brute was left to die in silence on tbe field of battle, but to the surprise of his friends he came home two weeks afterward a thoroughly emanciatea out convalescent aog. xne panther measured nine feet from the nose to the tip of the tail." An Orercrowded Profession. Mnnsey'i Weekly.'. Fannie Father, Mr. Bond proposed to me last night Father What is his business? Fannie He's a broker. Father What kind of a broker? Bobby He's a dead oroker. Something Appropriate. Nugent Spancc Well, madam, there is nothing so appropriate for an innocent child as white, pure whitel Hrs. Fauntleroy Well, I'll look at some white suits. Are they on this counter ? Mr. Snance Nn. ma'am! lhiti nm fav- 'kevieis' jackets. This way, please! Puck. PITTSBURG, SUNDAY, JULY 14, 1889. CHARMING NEWPORT. A Luxurious and Elegant Watering Place for Millionaires. BELLES BEVELING IN THE SURF. A Society Girl's Vivid Description of Polo as it is Flayed, THE HOOSIEE'S OBJECTION TO NEWPORT COBnxsroxDxxcx or th pispatCh.1 EVPoai, B. I., xVTlrulY 12. The lux urious cairn wnicn hangs over New port immediately oonvinoes the strange visitor that he has been ush ered into some- A ent from the usual yd flash - and - flutter watering place. It is a strictly elegant . ysity, with its de- 2 Sights, habits and "'-'passions very gen erally screened by beautiful hedge-rows and impenetrable foliage. Excitements there surely are beneath that placid front, but the eyes of the multitude are forbidden to Turn Etcell Huntsmen. view them, and so the casual caller at New port often votes the place exceedingly dull. Well, there is more than one way to kill a cat, and there are several ways of seeing Newport precisely as it is. If you are "one of us," you go there and share in the joys and betray no secrets. If you are a sports man you can put on your leggings and tweed coat, and knock over all the part ridges you can carry, in someone's well stocked woods. If you area bather, you can get good cold surf and lovely compan ions to swim with. If you don't go in for water well, they tell me there is nothing else to drink here, but if yqu will follow me down this quiet hallway, I will introduce you to a gentleman in a white jacket who will prove to you that there are more things in heaven and Bhode Island than is pumped out of a well. If you are a hunts man, there is no place on earth where you can do your shooting in better form, if only you take example of the swells, in their gunnery jackets and knee-short trousers. OPPBESSIVE EXCLTJSrVENESS. There is an atmosphere of wealth in the place which distresses provincial Inngs. In the hotels you find families of uncertain people who are here to see things, and are plainly wondering if they are being mis taken for legitimate members of the re fulgent society. They are so careful of be having correctly that it must be bliss for them to get into the seclusion of their rooms occasionally and unbend. They do not sup ple up even to eat, but sit rigidly and glare at the viands as they are set before them. I heard a man, who looked as though he might be from the central part of Indiana, and who seemed bent upon doing tbe right thing regardless of expense, order a bottle of wine at dinner yesterday. "Best ye got, now, best ye got," he called to the waiter. When he was informed that no wine could be served, he said: "No wine? Well, I reckon yernot so dnmed high-toned here as yer pertend to make oat Why, I kin git any sort o wine I prefer up to any the lake places, an' they don't say they're in the same list with Newport." This queen of summer cities is certainly a golden enigma. Who are the lairies and knights living in these seclnded castles, and what do they do to pass the time away? It is difficult to understand that they are only men and women, fnll of the frailties, dis turbances, and emotions that are found in uncouther districts. When you catch a PS eajs A N'eieport Maiden. glimpse of a divine girl straying afar off through an archway ot trees It seems as though she must surely be free from gnile and contamination; that she is A BEAUTIFUL BPJBIT existing in a fairer world than ours. And yet when von come to talk with her she is only a girl; and let me whisper to you often as frivolous as anything 'you can imagine. Ob, vest These angelic creatures perfect enough if left unadorned, yet with their loveliness accentuated so by sublime draperies as to impress you with the belief that not enough worldliness is left to make them approachable they are flesh and blood women, with all the feminine witcheries made doubly dangerons by this ontward dis play of finery. We shall never find' the man who can withstand the innumerable charms of tbe thoroughbred Newport maiden. She is a perfect palace of sweetness and li?ht In order to see her you must be alert and in formed. At one hour you shall discover her and her friends arranged in bouquets all aound what is called ''The Horseshoe" in the Casino. She sits there in lofty silence, drinking in the dreamy refrain of a hidden orchestra, and consuming a creme de menthe very often at the same time, do ing the first as flowers drink the morning oSDM SiTTOS 'tJ III 1 LrJ air, and the latter as humming birds draw honey from morning glories. Again yon v ill find her tiptoeing down from her bath house to the sea, clad in clinging flannel, her graceful limbs swathed in bright silk stockings and the gentle curves of her fig ure nngirt and eloquent WEWPOBT BATHING. She is a dainty and fascinating bather. Instead of splashing fiercely in, as her cousin over at Narragansett does, she is in the habit of taking about 15 minutes in get ting out as deep as her knees, and when the swells float up to her, she stands with flut tering arms and heaving breast, just like a little bird. After a lone time of doabt, she makes a decision. She watches for a small, peaceful wave, and when she finds a very gentle one she turns half round and waits FroXictome Little Millionaire!. for it. Then she elves a tiny scream and- trots out of the water, when she is met by her maid, who envelopes her in a long robe, and the two go up over the beach shattering in French together. In contrast with this prim sort of propriety in the surf, it would be almost a joy to see tbe boldness of Coney Island or Bar Harbor bathing. At all events, it is agreeable to find that the children are free and frolicsome in the surf, and that the young offspring of mil lionaires are left ft) the care of a common, everyday old bathmaster for safety, while no restraint is placed on their shore gam bols. Twice a week you will see therown-up Newport enchantress reclining in regal state among the cushions of her carriage, lazily gazing from beneath her long lashes at the cyclonic game of polo, and listening to the conversation of her highly-groomed men friends who go lounging about from oue carriage to another, leaning languidly against a wheel, and paying the same com pliments to each girl in turn. Don't im agine but what many of these superior young women are entirely sensible, and that tbey are as ready to ridicule their own cus toms as outsiders are. A DE3CBIPTI0K OP POLO. Out at the polo game last Saturday I heard the handsomest of them all a su preme blonde with dreamy brown eyes, and with a voice that was in Itself a caress as sure a friend, who stood by her carriage, that, if it were not for the clever ponies, her cold-plated brothers would get themselves killed occasionally. "Well, I don't exactly understand polo," said her friend, who looked like a navy or army officer on leave. "What is it made up of, Miss B 1" "A scamper and a tangle," was the reply. "There's a rush and a whizz, and then the men all begin to shout at one another. 'Cawnfaound it Stanley, if you will persist 'SiJ An Unpleasant Incident. in riding right ovaw me, you'll break my neck, don't ye know.' And again: 'I say, Raymond, old man. if you will kindly take your pony's fore feet off ray neck, I'll be duced obliged to you. I will, bay jawve.' Then Tommy Hitchcock canters up and says: 'Only tew minuter and a hawf moah, fellows!' That is polo." A SEASIDE INCIDENT. There are proportionately more fellows to girls at Newport than at most watering places, because wealthy idlers are plentier here. It is the heavy father with business in .New XorK to care for, who comes here to sandwich a Sunday between slices of Sat urday and Henday, while beaux are here all through the week. Sometimes the old chap is the husband, instead ot the father, of a young belle; and in that case, believe me, she is an interesting creature in his ab sence. "Let me introduce you to Mr. Smith," sweetly said such a wife who had been flirt ing as a maiden. "This is Hr. Brown." "Glad to know you," responded the gouty old Smith, lifting'his hat from his nearly hairless head, and gazing on the stalwart, handsome Brown. "The pleasure is mutual,", said Brown. "Your most agreeable daughter has" And then the change from benignity to color in Smith's face stopped all vivacity, even in the young woman who had thought it fun to change, for mildly flirtations pur poses, from matron to maiden. To drive along the Cliff road on a spark ling afternoon is a delight that cannot be found in many parts of this world. Added to the natural adornments of the neighbor hood and the salt freshness of the splendid sea beneath you, are such palaces as only princes are supposed to live in, a pageant of equipages, and av fleeting vision of faces with their beauty heightened bv every pos sible device of environment UAQXmCEXT BUT SLOW. The houses of the Vanderbilts alone are marvels of magnificence sufficient to make Newport extraordinary. There is no other section of the country where pastoral life is bedecKed with the grandeur of masonry and horticulture as it is here. The stone man sions of perfect architectural taste, the weeping roadways edged with flawless A Society Belle's Whim, lawns whereon grew exotic plants that in themselves are worth' small fortunes, the umbrageous woods, the lakes, alHhene things spread in a continuity of cultivated beauty as far as your vision will take you, make of Newport a very wonderland, something to be seen by all who can secure the oppor tunity. Kameba, Im'nr 1 ' ' til ll A DEAD MAN'S VENGEANCE By EDGAR CHAPTEBL Bbo'ys Gerald Eave lowsnd Louis Bond used to play together. They would perhaps never have sought one another's company had not circumstances caused them to spend many boyish summers n their parents' neighbor ing estates, not far from the picturesque shores of NewBocbelie; for Gerald was a robust, merry, pink cheeked Tad, and Louis, with his sallow face and great mystic black eyes, differed from him as tn ivy leaf differs from a dan delion. Having once met and become friends, how ever, a genuine fondness grew and throve between their two widely opposite natures. Gerald Bavelow's mother was a meek-faced widow, who adored her only child, and lived in a perpetual state of weak-chested and neuralgic reret that his late father had not left him a millionaire. But Gerald's cheerful mind could see nothing really ca lamitous in the snug little fortune that had survived his father's commercial collapse. They spent four or five months in New York each year, and their Westchester home was pleasant if not palatial. "After all," said Gerald one day, "I be gin to think, mamma, that money can't al ways buy us happiness." He looked so jocundly ignorant of his own platitude that his mother forgot how threadbare a one it was. "There are the Bonds," he went on. "Louts is a nice little ciap when you know him, but then he gets fits of the blues, as he calls 'em, and he don't begin to have half as good a time of it as I do. And just look at their great big house and their stables, and their servants, and everything like that? And then Louis' father? I always think of a crow when I see Hr. Bond, he's so awful ly dark and glum." "He never recovered from his wife's loss," said Mrs. Bavelow, a little reprovingly. "I liever saw her; they bought Shadynhore after her death. But I've heard that little Brenda looks a great deal like her dead mother, and if that is tbe case Hrs. Bond must have been very beautiful." "Do you think Brenda Bond's prettv?" asked Gerald. The idea of her being so had never occurred to mm, Deiore. "She's like a little angel!" declared his mother. "Such hair as hers will always stay golden it isn't the kind that changes to nut brown, as that of so many children does. And then her pure little wild-rose of a face! Oh, Gerald, I should think you'd be ever so fond of her already!" That "already" piqued Gerald by its am biguity. He did not know exactly whether it referred to his own youth or that of Brenda, who was two good years younger man oimseii. uui pnue Kept mm Ironi In quiries as to his mother's actual meaning, while at tbe same time be reflected that he was privately very fond, indeed, of little Brenda, and that in more than one gallant way he had contrived to tell her so. The thought of her son marrying Brenda Bond at some future day filled Hrs. Bave low with ambitious thrills. The Bond for tune was well known to be six millions if a dime, and though Louis would perhaps re ceive the great bulk of the property on his father's death, still, his sister's share would doubtless prove a handsome one. But Hrs. Bavelow was of too hypochondriac a turn to allow hope the least altitude of flight Her semi-invalid eyes forever gazed on the dark side of things, and she saw slight prospect of a mere ooy-and.girl preference ever resulting seriously in alter life. At 16 Gerald went to Harvard, while Louis, owing to the enfeebled health of his melancholy father, remained at home under the care ot tutors. During Gerald's vaca tions he saw a great deal of both Lonis and his sister. This had proved one of the few childish friendships not fated to be shat tered or dispelled by time. Gerald took no high stand in his class, and Louis, studying and reading amid comparative solitude, wonld sometimes assail him with gentle ironies, "I dare say you'd beat us all ont of our boots if you were at Cambridge," laughed Gerald one day in his junior year. "Oh, how I do wish he had gone!" said Brenda, who chanced to he present, and who had now become a damsel with hair like threaded sunshine, figure of arrowy straightness and cheeks to rival rose petals. xier oromer looxea at ner witn a little start; they scarcely seemed as if blood really allied them, he so dark and grave beside his blonde, buoyant sister. "Why do you say that, Brenda?" he queried. '"Do you mean that you could spare me so easily if I were off in Massachusetts with Gerald?" "Ah, no, indeed!" cried Brenda. "But I think you grow gloomy, Louis, from living in such complete seclusion." "I'm gloomy by nature," said Lonis, with one of his sad little smiles. "Heaven only knows why you should be!" exclaimed Gerald, with a glance at the richly-appointed room wherein they sat "You've everything to make you jolly as a cricket," he went on, and now there came a mellowness into his hazel eyes as he fixed them on Brenda's face and softly added: "Including the loveliest sister on the iacs of the earth." Brenda blushed, and gave her golden head a little mutinous toss. She had reached the feminine age that often resents broad com pliments as tiresome, and a trifle vulgar be sides. But if Gerald could have seen, by some clairvoyant wizardry, how her heart was fluttering at the thought of such high praise from his lip he might perhaps have failed to regret the rather intimate boldness of what he had just said. Sometimes he told himself that he rebelled ungraciously against Brenda's assumption of the grown up young lady; and again he would feel in dignant flushes that she should find it in her heart to alter tjieir old careless relations by a distance and ceremony which depressed ana cnuieu. "Confound it," he once said to Louis, "Brenda acts as if we'd never sat in the same swing together and made voyages with I onr heels up among the birds' nests, not to speac oi letting tbe old cat die with our armsquite unnecessarily about one another's waists." Lonis smiled. "Oh, don't be annoyed at Brenda's airs," he returned. "I dare say all young girls put them on in abundance. Besides, if she now and then seems distrait Gerald, it's no doubt because she's worried at the way onr poor father goes on failing worse and worse from week to 'week." The Bonds were now back in their charm ing country place, and a short time after they had quitted the town to come thither, Crawford Bond rapidly sank and died. The funeral was held in a quiet country church not far from Shadyshore, though many prominent New Yorkers came np by train to attend it Afterward the body was in terred in a family vault on the Bond estate a massive granite mausoleum which the late proprietor had caused to be built soon after purchasing Shadyshore, and to which the remains of "his wife had long ago been consigned. The funeral threw a terrible gloom over Lonis. He had loved his father dearly, and yet Gerald soon saw that the young man's torpor and sadness were not solely a product of bereavement Itwas plain that Louis hardly had enongh will-power to concern i 1 J : 1 fjr lli 3 III 111 wT 1 111 Ie?W flu I I 1 1 ik3b, FAWCETT. himself with these immediate tasks which the administration of hit father's affairs de manded. Gerald assisted his flagging ener gies as much as proved possible, and finally indnced him to take a short summer trip among the Northern lakes. Brenda was .deeply gratified by this plan, and gave Gerald certain thankful words and looks because of it, that divinely repaid him for u Bunorances at ner past hauteur. For a time the spirits of Louis underwent a change. The weather in Montreal, on the St Lawrence and on Lake Superior chanced to be delicious, and there were hours it not actual days when his compan ion felt hopeful that the somber cloud had permanently lined from his sonL Then the old indifference and dreariness would take hold of him once more, and at last, by the time of their return to Shadvshore, it Gerald Keeps Mis Oath. became evident that he was really no better than he had been when they started. "I am haunted with an idea," he sudden ly announced to Gerald one evening, as the two friends were seated together in a mo- A WJ, VENGEANCE nastic, high-wainscoted, book.llned room, which was the perfection of a library. "It never leaves me. I have not told it to yon or to anyone. And yet, yon are, of all peo ple, the one whom it would seem most close ly to concern." Gerald felt a sort of light shiver pass through his frame. He had long dreaded lest some insanity might be at the root of bis friend's peculiar behavior, and now there seemed in Louis' tone and demeanor, not positive confirmation of such fears, but at least the delicate and mysterious proph ecy of it "Haunting ideas should be treated with extreme rudeness," he now said, in a voice gayer than were his furtive fe&lings. "When they're morbid, Lou, they should be insulted up and down, and given the most inhospitable notice to quit" Louis shook his head with a low, deep sigh. Through the open window near which he sat, glimmered the placid level of Long Island Sound, bine in the slant after noon sunshine, as though it had been one monstrous slab of polished turquoise and fringed, at its rocky shore, with dark bosks ot cedar, large-leaved hickories and small yet stalwart oaks. Lewis let his eyes tra verse the rolling lawn and then rest on the exquisite sea view beyond. Presently, in a musing voice, ne gain: "You've never told me, once and for all, whether or not yon believe in the immortali ty of the soul. Do you?" 'Gerald looked puzzled for an instant "Yon know it isn t mnch in my line, Lou, to think at all on those questions," he at length said. "I'm sure,'' he went on, "it's my most earnest hope that we're immortal after death. As for my belief, how ever " "You're like me there," broke in Louis, turning his black eyes upon Gerald with sudden intentness. "I don't believe; I only hope. But I'd like to believe; I'd like it above all other things." "Is that the haunting idea yon spoke oi?" asked Gerald. "Oh, I suppose that's what makes me so forlornly blue." "At last von admit tTipra ximolHni. Louis. Well, all the more reason for yon to make a stout effort and crnsh down the devilish nnisance. It hasn't any real exist ence, anyhow; it's born only of aii unhealthy fancy. Good heavens! we've all got to die, and none of us no, not one really knows what life, ii like at all, waits beyond the grave." "I'd like to know if I conld," mnr mnred Lonis, in a low, stubborn voice. "If you eould! So would evprvhnrlvi'f he could." Louis seemed to take no heed of this rather sarcastic response. "In a certain way," he pursued, "yon and I. Gerald, are peculiarly placed. We both own Mtaten which we shall probably never part with during our lifetimes. On either of these there Is a family vault The chances of one of us being bnried in each of those vaults must be excessively strong." "In the name of everything unearthly," said Gerald, as his friend pansed, "what can you be driving at?" "Simply this," replied Louis, whose manner and tones were now as calm as if he had been passing judgment on some very ordinary and prosarc question, "It wonld give me great satisfaction if yon wonld make a compact with me, and the compact to which I allude has been one whose most minute detail I have carefully thought I SKI (JILL l.tsa. jsiiii ' iilpKllll1wvVn9 ssk &Ob out." He went on speaking for some little time after this, and as he finally paused Gerald gave an exclamation of acute, sur prise. "Will I agree?" rang his word. "Why, Lou, it's altogether too crazy a kind of scheme! Just imagine my going alone at midnight into the vault where you're lying dead!" "I somehow haven't been imagining that." returned Louis, with a quaint little motion of the head. "I've the fancy, Ger ald, that I shall survive yon and perhaps by a number of years. You see, I'm not specially strong of constitution, yet I live s quiet life and put no tax upon my forces' of endurance. You, however, who are as strong as an ox, pay very little heed to your phys ical powers. You're like the man who draws thoughtlessly on a large bank account and who may wake some morning to find his check politely returned by the paying teller. I, on the other hand, am like a man with a small deposit, yet who treats it in a most economic spirit, and hence makes no mistake about the surplus that he might rely upon in case of any sudden embarrassment" Gerald gave one of his loud, joyous laughs, and got np from his chair, going to a window and staring out of it with both hands thrust into his pockets. "I see, Lou," he said, "yon calculate con fidently on my dving before you do." "Oh, not confidently. But " "Yes, I understand. Well, this compact could be carried out by the survivor, of course, and in absolute solitude, as you say. "Yon conld receive from me a key to our vault, I from you a key-to yours. Say that I died before you did. On the first night following my death you could steal to the vault, unlock it and wait inside with a lighted candle for the space of three hours, after having removed the lid of mycoffin so as to make my face and part of my form .1mt1v visible. Then you could endeavor I by every possible effort of will, to receive I" some sign from me that I was awareof your vigil. All this, as yon propose it, my boy, might be perfectly practicable that is, pro vided I were not lost at sea, bnried abroad, hanged for murder and afterward claimed by the physicians, or " "Oh, now you're laughing at me, struck in Louis, with a hurt intonation. "No, I'm not," protested Gerald. "I merely want to rrnind you that although such extravaganzas as these en be played in real life, discovery subjects those con cerned in them to a good deal of severe ridicule." l 4 . But he soon saw that anyattempt at argu -ing Louis out of his "fad" wonld be wholly futile. As far as feeling terror or dread of carrying out such a ghastly compact, Gerald could regard the prospect of doing so with entire calmness. Indeed, as au act that would supposably involve nerve and pluck, its possible undertaking rather amused him than otherwise. Still, he would perhaps have discountenanced the entire project as both lrivolous and sensational but for s thought that now came to him, born of his iX AT LAST. loyal friendship. What if he should humor this whim of Lonis', in the hope that by so doing the persistent mood of melancholy might be dissipated? It was a matter of mortification to him, several hours later, when he reflected upon what he had done. The terms of the com- act into which he had now entered with lOuis pledged him to absolute secrecy-, otherwise he might have informed h'is mother of the strangely acquiescent part that he had played. To obtain a duplicate key of the family vault was a more difficult task for him than for Lonis, since in one case the master of Shadvshore needed but to employ a locksmith and' in the other it was I Louis and Gerald in the Library. necessary for Gerald to hunt through closets and odd corners, and always with a sense of ultimate failure. Bnt suddenly one morn ing he found the object of his search, and to make the desired exchange with Lcuis was thenceforth easy enough. There were now but a few days left Gerald before his return to collegn, and during this time he failed to notice mnch change in his friend. Perhaps, however, the attention which he paid Lonis was in a manner mo lested and thwarted by semi-farewell meet ings and talks with Brenda. Gerald fonnd himself perpetually quarrelling with the girl he had now grown to adore. It some times seemed to him that Brenda, in the im perious arrogance of her maidenly beauty, wonld like him to get down on his knees and kiss her slender little foot He told her something of the sort one day, and she answered him with an insolent quiver of her long, golden eyelashes, that on the contrary she would be afraid to forbid his even doing anything so silly for tear that obstinacy .might moke him stupidly disobey. CHAPTER II. During Gerald's next term at Harvard he ii StJmt: .-? -fcU tjjLilr.i fcaasf vl... &i W foi WEgMBm cjwwmrr,