lPpP! frt'CES(l7lTb'20S thirdjpart; 2F:hM2; TVf . B0 . rac "-yv-,r T t .! I't mmm Wfm . A. fPPIi H H I I CLUSTER OF BUDS 1 - - . if Soon to Unfold in the Scented I" ait oi uapitai society. TOUTH, BEATJTYl TALENT Combined in the Persons of This Season's Debutantes. FAIR GIRLS OF WASHINGTON'S 400 ICOBEZBrOKSZirCZ or thedisfjltch.j "Washington; December 7. THE pretty girls of the coun try have captured the Capital. They walk by the bun- dreds every after noon along Penn sylvania avenue. Their sweet, rosy faces shine ont from the galleries or the House and the Senate, and Mtheirstylishtnrn fljjnU make yon -dizzy nu aa miration as they dash past yon in Mix Mlans. the parKs ana in the drives near ex-President Cleveland s home. "Washington is a city of homely women no longer. The new Admin istratian has brought 'in new blood, and the crop of fresh girls contains more beauties than the famed gallery of the mad king of Bavaria in the palace at'Munich. Verily, nature has smiled upon our states men's daughters in this year of our Lord, 2889, and all that art and money can do is being done to make their appearance in the next year's social garden one of splendor, of sweetness, and light Thousands have been lavished upon their dresses, and lying away in the jewel cases of the Capital are diamonds by the quart, and pearls by the peck. The dresses of this year will be finer than ever before, but the girls will surpass the dresses, and the debutantes will be brignter than the dia- The Wtlliarmon Suten. monds and purer than the pearls. They -will be the rosebuds of the capital, the sweetest, the prettiest, and the freshest of their sex. They will come ont to us from every circle. The Cabinet will give five, and we will get two from the Supreme Court fami lies, and another two from the diplomatic corps. Two will have Senators for their sponsors, and a baker's dozen will come from the army, navy and resident society circles. So many and so fair t The winter's drawing rooms will be bas kets of roses passionate Jacqueminots, dreamy Marechal Neils, soulful Nephetos, and mystical La France blossoms. They have been nurtured in secret in the. hotbeds of private schools, and they are now trans planted with their petals glowing into the dazzling drawing rooms of Washington. JL BTXD X-BOU XAX2TE. Harriet Stanwood Blaine, the daughter of the Secretary of State, heads the list A bud of 19. For the last three years she has been trained at Mrs. Porter's school, at Farmington, Conn., and the bursts foith into Washington society "with her peuils in tellectually in the best of shape. She has nerratner s quick wit and his ready repartee, and she comes into the social flower garden with good looks and splendid dresses. As to her appearance, she is of medium height, and she carries her slender, well-made form with dignity and crace. Her face is clear cut, and her mobile, sweet mouth is founded on a firm, clean-cut chin. Her hazel eyes nave tne inena ly, magnetic look of those that have made her father the most popular of American statesmen, and she is especially leautiful under the dazzling lights of the baii fMMbJ? mmwi room, Miss Blaine has masses of glossy brown hair, which she wears in the pictur esque Catogan Mits Florence Miller. loop. On the street she dresses very quietly and in the English fashion. Her first sea son 'dinner and reception toilets are of the delicate tones of the society rosebud. Another Cabinet bud is Miss Florence Windom, the younger daughter of the Sec retary of the Treasury. She was educated at the same school as Miss Blaine, and, like Miss Blaine, she has seen very little of so ciety. She is not yet 19, and her father and mother still call her "the child" and "Flos sie." Hiss Windom is below medium height She has a plnmp figure, "brown eyes and hair, cheeks that show the color of the rose and which develop into dimples when she laughs or talks. Her eyes are brown, and her nose is just the least tip-tilted. Another young lady who will make her grit appearance on the social rostrum is Miss Emily Proctor, the daughter of the Secre tary. She is a very quiet girl, and she re minds one of Priscilla, with all of that Puritan maid's drollery. Her gowns are as modest as herself, and she looks very much, like her father; of rather pale complexion ' her face is shaped much the same as hit ana herfeyei and hair are of the same lightish browh'of his in his younger days. -SHE PLATS THE BANJO. The daughter of Attorney General Miller has the advantage over her sister belles in the point of musical ability. She can pick the banjo with more skill than the famed Uncle ifed of negro melody, and her sweet soprano voice has been cultured by the best teachers in Indianapolis. .She is a great friend of President and Mrs. Harrison, and she will probably be one of the figures of White House -society. She is the eldest I 3 1 A . d I . ..7iai ' AW mmM. ( k.SffiWSSSstfN 4 7frtSJg- - . mm&, dSJlK?SC?MNai ?S?!'i m&m daughter of the Attorney General, and she has assisted her mother In Indianapolis soci ety since she was 16. This is her first winter in "Washington, and her popularity is al ready assured, for she is vivacious, and en ters into every amusement with a child's en joyment, and has a pleasing candor. She will have as her guest, for a part of the sea son, Miss Annie Constant, an Indiana girl, who plays divinely, and who will also be an especial favorite at the White House. The Postmaster General's daughter, Min nie, has stolen a march on the other rose Im is. She was presented to society a month ago at "Lindenhurst," the Wauamafcer country place, near Philadelphia. Mrs. Wanamaker will be in the Quaker City very little after the season begins, and she wished to present her daughter to her friends before leaving. Miss Minnie does not know it, but her entrance into Washington society is looked for more eagerly than that of any of the others. Everyone of the score of de butantes knows that she is pretty, traveled, and of consummate art in dress. Chief Justice Fuller has eight daughters, and the fairest of the eight will be a winter's rosebud. All of Chief Justice Fuller's daughters are pretty, but no one would deny JfeA " M sWyp f WW S?iss(a povyib; y " A SXNAXOBXAXi trio. the palm to Miss Mildred, the fourth daugh ter, who will come ont dunnt,' the season. There are two distinct types in the Fuller family. Maud, Mary, who is now in Ber lin, and Pauline, who married so suddenly in Milwaukee last March, are pronounced brunettes, while the other five and Melville "WestonTJr., the young son, are all pur est blondes. X BEAtrTEFUIi DEBAM. Miss Mildred Fuller is not only the pret tiest girl in her own family, but she can eas ily compare with any one -ot the score of debutantes. She is tall and formed after the graceiui moaei oi Marie Antoinette.' t-rFUfcittaeeshpwi&g a strange- 'combina tion of dreaminess and power. Her throat is round and soft, and her shoul ders slope a trifle more than those of the modem girl. She wearsher show er ot golden curls netted low on tier tecTi after that type ,i svmmetrv. the Venus of Mdo. At first glance, one 4 irould think she had that marvelous Mist Elizabeth CampbeU.combias.tion, bla(k eyes and golden hair, but the effect is really produced by the quality of the eye whicn permits the' dilating of the pupil until it seems to absorb the whole iris. Her eyes are really a clear, light gray. There is a tinge of sadness in the whole face that makes one wonder what the world has in store for the dreamy, beautiful girl. The second debutante of the Supreme Court circle is Miss Laura Harlan, second daughter oi Justice Harlan. She has spent the last two years at a fashionable school in If ew York, and is a winning, lovable girl. Miss Maud Pauncefote, the eldest of the four daughters of the British Minister, .was presented at eourt'.two seasons ago, and can not be put with vthe debutantes, although she will appear forstha first time in 'Wash ington. She is alraodjr, popular with the young girls who havefieen asked to meet her, and will be as much liked as the daughters ot the former Ifinister.the Misses West. She is a sensible girl, for she likes America and everything American. She will assist Lady Pnnncefote at the receptions at the British L gat on. Uiie yonngest oi Senator Donald Cam eron's five daughters by his first marriage will enter society this winter. All but one of the others are married. The debutante, Miss Bachel, was educated at the best pri vate schools, and has never been allowed to appear in the Cameron drawing room at any thing but family parties, so that her debut will De a veritable ''coming out." A PSETTT BBOWN-EYED MAID. The prettiest little brown-eyed maid in this round world is Courtenav Walthall, the adopted daughter of Senator Cary Walthall, of Mississippi. She is his wife s niece and was adopted by them when a child. Miss Courtenav is only 17, so tnat ner nrit winter will be a rather quiet one, and she will not appear as tbe inll-blown rose until next season. She had a taste of society last winter, and willful little beauty that she is, is unwilling to wait until she reaches the debutante age, which Js 18. Her mother has consented that she appear informally in her own and her friends' drawing rooms. No famed professional beauty is prettier than, this little Mississippi girl. She has the wonderful coloring of a Creole, brown skin that flushes m waves of red as she talks, eyes lull, dark and dreamy, nose tip-tilted. Her mouth is dim pled, and her round chin is like a pretty baby's. Her hair is dark, and it waves -. back from a igfe; low forehead and. rose-pink ears. She is naive, and it will take many a season to brush the child-like beauty from M its Paxmctfole. Courtenav Walthall's face. She spent her school days in Washington and New Orleans, and is a fitting daughter of the South, which produced Bailie Ward, Nellie Hazeltine, and tbe famed beauties of the White Salphar Springs. Miss Grace Davis, daughter ef ex-Senator WA MMK Z Hi& kJH' "?r .sSsr -mmLM i jgu v- wm&Km 1 V7lhi a iSssssssK mrr & ve , ijj Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia, may al, most be called the White House debutante as she will appear In Washington society partly under the chaperonage of Mrs. Ham son. She has already spent two weeks there, and is greatly favored by the President's wife. She is a noble-looking young woman, tall, with a carriage of head and shoulders which only a life of exercise can give. She is a fine horsewoman, perfectly fearless, and she sits in the saddle with the ease of an English huntress. In coloring she is more brunette than blonde, and her waving brown hair is the prettiest coronet woman ever wore. She wears no bangs, but allows her hair to ripple back in the natural -way, braiding it on the necfc In a heavy mass of shining plaits. Miss Davis is a favorite with the Cabinet girls, many of whom she went to school with, and she also counts her friends in the select resident society. MOKE BLOSSOMS. Miss Davis has a niece almost as old as as herself, who will appear at the capital during the season. This is Miss Elizabeth Elkins, daughter of Mr. Stephen B. Elkins by his first wife. Her entrance into Wash ington society will be under the chaperon ege of a very 'handsome woman, Mrs. Clark son, wife of the Assistant Postmaster Gen eral. Miss Elkins has a magnificent phy sique, and is one of the most genuinely clever girls it is one's pleasure to meet. Miss Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of Ohio's new Governor, was to have been presented in January by her mother; but, as that is the time of her father's inaugura tion, at Columbus, O., she will not appear at the Capital until later. Much of the season, however, she will spend here, and she can really be called a Washington rose bud. She is one of the few decided bru- sssw(4lrrrfWV ' lUJssCouAeWlWl nettes in tbe whole score, and is conse- quenuy a superoiy preny gin. dub wa Mucated in Mr. Peeble's school in New York, traveled abroad one year, and is now taking a course in French and history in the same New York school. Like a sensi ble girl, she knew there was nothing to do until the season opened, and she begged to go back to school and stndy three months before tbe plnnge into gaiety. She looks like a demoiselle of the Empress Josephine's court The resemblance is increased as she wears her black hair coined high in & fash ion learned from a Parisian coifieur. What a record they must keep up, these pretty daughters of the first families. So many beauties tamed in the old, as well as the new, world come from them, and they, par excellence, are the beauties of Washing ton. In the list in which the divine Mattie Mitchell, the heiress-beauty; Miss Letter, the charming Misses Maury, the lovely Katy Beach, who, at one time, was engaged to Allan Arthur; the pretty Florence Audenried, and the fairest of last season's buds, Peggy James, appeared, we riow have the "Williamson Twins,"Miss CarrleStory, Miss Hoy, Miss Mildred Carlisle, Miss Louise Baiobridge-Hofif. Miss Alice Condit Smith, and Miss'Abbie Scott. IHE -WaLIXAMSON JJBATTTIES. These are.the girls who make their debut at the Capital, fly off to Paris or London, the nextyear, reign as queens at Newport. and finally marry tne scions ot tne oest houses. They are rarely seen in official society, and are guarded as carefully from the public as the daughters of New York's Fonr Hundred. It is said that Senator Mitchell's daughter has had no rival, here' tofore, but thisyear she will need to look ont for the laurels, for the bunch oi buds are the prettiest ever seen. These are the twin daughters of General Williamson, the dark- eyed Madge and fair Pauline, contrasting beauties, who will set the world by its ears. Some people say Pauline is the prettier, others say Bhe cannot compare with Madge. They are just 18 these William son beauties. Pauline is tall and slender, with shapely head and eyes of a wonderful blue. Madge is petite and slight, with black eyes that make her sister's blue ones for gotten, and which look at you with an ex pression saucy aud piquant. They belong to a family of prejtty women. Their older sister, Annette, was married a month ago, and was said to be one of the prettiest of the. year's brides. The girls were in school in Chicago last winter, and went out a little there under a married sister's chaperonage. They are great favorites in Washington, being especially liked by Lady Pauncefote and her daughters and other members of the diplomatic corps. Mas. GBTJxmr, JB. QUEER NOISES IN A HOTEL, They Are Made nt Night by People With the Nightmare. "Among the man queer experiences gained in a hotel," said the clerk of an up town hostelry to a reporter, "are those con nected with gnests who ore subject to night mare, which is more common than many people suppose. It is not uncommon for a night in a large hotel to develop several cases of this kind. In the stillness of the early morning hours heavy groans or a shriek may be heard sounding along the corridor. The ball boy wakes up. rubs his eyes and awaits to see what is coming, and if he is a new one at the business, half ex pects that a murder is being committed. "We had a case, not long ago of a gentle man here who, dnring the middle of the night began pounding on his door, yelling at the same time, 'Let me out, let me out. Help! Help!' The hallbor rushed down to the desk, and, with the night clerk and the porter, hurried back to the room whence came the sounds of distress. All was quiet They waited awhile, then knocked. The subject of the nightmare came to the door feeling very much crestfallen. He explained that be had eaten a too-liberal supply ot deviled crab during the previous evening, and that he had dreamed that he was locked in one of the immense money vaults of the Treasury, which he bad seen during his visit to the city. His own cries for help had caused him to wake. Such cases, more or less ex citing, are of almost nightly occurrence in a large hotel, -and usually greater -when the social season is at its height. Tbe guests who get intoxicated are sot jaclude in this class of Boke-Baakers. They-form a separate study alone. V " MUs ixaier. PITTSBURG, SUNDAY, WHYDON'THEMABKT? Some Reasons Given by Tonng Men of To-Day for Not Marrying. BENEDICT CHAMBERS VS WEDLOCK. Mrs. Frank Leslie oa tbe Marital State and Its Happiness. THE ESSENTIALITY OP HABBIAGE twnmaa job tot dispatch. 1 Btraws show which way the wind blows, and a quiet little addition to the building interests of New York especially, and other cities in their degree, shows the growth of a new phase of our American life, likely to make a large mark upon the future. Benedict Chambers is a favorite name for these new edifices, and that of course means that they are intended for bachelors' quar ters, although in passing let us wonder, as I often do, why Benedict, who is chiefly famous because he did marry, and calls himself "Benedict the married man," should be chosen a the type, of resolved and settled celibacy. Until lately, a young unmarried man was considered and acoommodated as a sort of bird of passage; he had a tiny room in his father's house, or he boarded somewhere, or he lived at a hotel, or he lodged in one house and ate in another or at a cafe; he was on his promotion; he was not livine, but stay ing; he was the half of a pair of scissors; he was a transitional formation, not worth plac ing or formulating very accurately. If he hung lone on hand, people began to say, "Why doesn't he marry? He surely has salary enough, hasn't he?" And it by chance he remained unmarried, he became a sort of phenomenon, was called 'an old bachelor," ridiculed, offered in jest to each other by merry girls, and made the subject of comic songs, stories and jests. It was in those days, not so long gone by, either, a matter of course that a young man's one idea of contented personal life was to marry a nice girl, set up a home where he snould be lord and master, and accept with equanimity the little responsi bilities likely to accrue. SINGLE SKUI31INES3. But the luxurious ana carefully planned Benedict Chambers do not accord with this idea. They are evidently intended for men who already have secured a sufficient in come for modest marriage, but who do not intend to spend their money in that way; for men who say of two or three or five thou sand a year as the gourmand did of the goose that it was an inconvenient roast, be ing a little too much for one, but not enough for two. These gentlemen consider that a pretty suite of rooms where they may smoke as much as they choose, stay up until they wish to go to bed, have guests when they like, or play hermit if they prefer, have tb'e morning coffee and roll served at their bed side, and lunch and dine at Delmonico's, is better than to establish a partnership house hold, where tbe domestic portion is more apt to rule than the one whose business takes him away for most of his waking hours. From a purely selfish point of view prob ably Benedict judges wisely. He can be more comfortable, he can be more independent, he can escape a good deal of annoyance and perplexity, but then he can't be married. And placing Benedict Chambers in one scale, and married life in the other, which has solid gold enough in its composition to bear down the scales? Is marriage an essential of the hapniness of life? TIMES HATE CHANGED. Flftv vears aeofls J have, iust intimated r no sucn quesuon couiu nave oeen seriously asxea or answered. At was a matter or course that yonng people were to marry just as soonlas they had the means, and, to judge from what was written in that day, and from the ingrained prejudices of the survivors of that day, it was the young men who were eager to be married as speedily as possible, and the young women who were urged to set aside their coy scru ples and consent to an early day. "What has changed this healthy, natural, patriarchal order of events? Why do men now take counsel with themselves and each other, and so often conclude that chambers are preferable to a dulce domum? and why do they and ill-natured women so often speak of girls trying to marry, angling for husbands, and all the rest of it? We are often told by the bachelors them selves that tbe march of luxury has out stripped the march of incomes; that a man cannot now start in life as his father did, but is expeoted to begin where he left off. They say that tbe dowerless daughter of a man living up to a big income expects to go from her father's honse to one just as fashionably situated, just as well furnished and served, and to continue without a break the life to which she has been accustomed. "And a fellow of 25 doesn't ordinarily have an income rising $10,000 a year," said one discontented bachelor to whom I was giving sensible advice. But, taking all one's, friends together, do the married men seem absolutely happier than the bachelors, even if they have means large enough, or a wife economical enough, to make marriage possible? ANXIOUS MAEEIED MES. I am inclined to think they are not. Mar ried men, as a rule, have a speculative, absent-minded expression upon their faces, as if they were mutely pondering over some intricate domestic or commercial affiair. They generally have aa air ot arriere pen see, so to speak, and it is not, to my mind, the fullest expression of happiness the human face can wear. The bachelor face, on the other hand, has its own handwriting ot ill success. It is apt to wear a bored expression; a look of Is life worth the living? or else a cynical indiffer ence to this and every other qnestlon outside of his own material comforts, which is very painful to read upon a youne man. An unmarried man grows selfish, narrow and material almost as a matter of course, for life in its early days possesses an elas ticity like what the medical men tell us be longs to the human stomach. If one eats a cood deal and varied food, the stomach em braces and assimilates it.all; if one eats too little, and that only of concentrated food, the stomach contracts, grows rigid and is no longer capable of more than the most lim ited service. Moral: Put a good deal into your life, and your life will be able to make good use of it, and to nourish the inner man, the un seen and immortal Fgo, to the best advant age. We cannot supersede nature, although we do try very ardently and obstinately to do so. Men and women were- intended for each other; they were intended to marry and to become parents. The human race is to be carried on, and the waste places of the globe are yet to be peopled; and this great sweep of the circle of infinity is not to be clipped out and thrown aside by the archi tects of Benedict Chambers. Perhaps tbe gilded youth of Hew York, London, Paris and Vienna will inhabit such chambers,and live and die in them; and please FAUCT STJOH A DEATHBED I But the world will go on, aen and maid ens will love and marry and rear up chil dren to follow their example so Ictag as the world endures; and well for the world it is that these things thus should be, for this is the natural life, and in following out such laws both the race and the individual will find its highest development, and therefore highest happiness. The unmarried man, and more especially tbe unmarried womaa, has not filled his or her amplest sphere of existence, a4 MUMot btffll.tgMiy.isarSi' . - U DEOEMBEB 8, 1889. aenleved, for they leave the place where they stood vacant when they fall, and the "win, aiwougn it may be wiser, cannot oe the richer becansa thev hnvn lived. It is hardly worth while, however, to fret very mucn over tne perversity oi tnose wno will not follow out this benignJawofnature or too severely scold the selfish Benedicts, or the silly, extravagant girls who diseour- ing another law of not so much nature aa destiny one of those bits of quiet irony with which that "Des tiny which shapes our ends, rough hew them how we may," often diversifies her labors. Look through the history of tbe world, that is, of its civilized nations, and yon will find every one of them governed by this unwritten bnt unchanging law; while life is simple, the need of population con fessed, and communities small, marriage will be looked upon as desirable, and nearly all young persons will seek, desire and ac complish it. Life will be easy, and children wUl spring up like buttercups in June. JTATUBE KITOWS BEST. Later on capital becomes concentrated, rich men wealthier and poor men poorer, labor less honorable, the standard of com fort advanced beyond what was once the limit of luxury, the cities grow too large to be called communities, business takes on the air of piracy or predatory warfare, and men no longer profess to care much for building up a country or emulating the patriotism of their grandsires. JThen comes the eraof Benedict Chambers; then does destiny permit her young men to contract their lives into selfish, cynical bachelorhood, and her maidens to wither upon the stem or to find themselves a "voca tion" in the world or the convent, for she sees this coming destiny that at this point ot space and time there is no need of more pop ulation, no need ot pioneers, no need of building up an already overgrown center. She sees, too, dpes she not? that an effete and overcultivated and exhausted stock is not the one whence to take scions for her new pIantations,and she simply leaves them to run out, struggle where they will, un bound and untrained, flower or fruit, and finally die down and disappear. Nature knows best; nature has her laws and her intentions; and quiet though she be in most of her ways, the combined wisdom, determination and effort of the whole race wiU not effect her methods in the least. Mbs. Fbaxk Leslie. THE STKEET OAR HOG. There Are Times Wlen the Porker ! Not of JHascnllne Gender. WashlnEtonroit.1 The street car bog is as various as the hu man race. Sometimes the hog has its own way and sometimes it doesn't. It was on a bobtail car. A gorgeously attired woman with a square chin and strident voice gets in with a couple ot friends. She fills the only vacant space. To a quiet, unassuming crent'.eman next her she says: "Sir, will you kindly get me a package of tickets?" He pulls out of the' seat into which she bad wedged him to get the tickets. She slides along, her party squirms in, and in a second the space the gentleman vacated is fuller than ever. The gentleman returns with the tickets, and asks: "How many ont?" To which madam replies with an air of concealed triumph. "Nonel" And takes the package. Everybody "catches on" and smiles or frowns, artach considers it a joke or a put-up job. The gentleman fails to catch the drift of merriment, seemingly, but hooks on to a strap as if it were all right Suddenly he feels in one pocket, then in another, and then remarks: "Pardon me, madam, but I.think you are sitting on something that is mine." ' am I?" she asks, and rises heavily that he may get it. He slips into the vacated seat lYegmadam, You were sittinz on sav eat"'" " Madam is paralyzed, and the passengers laugh, giggle, scream, shout, roar or howl, according to age. sex or previous condition of servitude. Tne mortified woman pulls the bell strap and tries to back offbeforo the car stops, with a face you could light a cigar by, leaving her friends behind. The gentleman looks serenely unconscious, and a car fall of people feel comfortable tbe rest of the way home because one car hog has gotten such a come-upance. BISMAECFSLITEEARI TASTES. The Chancellor a Student of Greek and Ijstln bnt Not of English. ladles' Home Journal. The Iron Chancellor is quite, a connois seur in books, and has added without very much expense at any time to the small library that he began to gather when a student He is a good Greek and Latin scholar also, and often amuses himself by translating from the original, He is not nearly so voluminous a reader as Mr. Gladstone, and is not always looking for a gem or something that will repay the perusal of a stupid chapter. He once explained to a friend that the book must interest him at the be ginning, or he would have nothing to do with it. He pays little or no attention to English or American literature, and al though many of the English and American men of letters have been presented to him he is not well acquainted with their work. He possesses a well thumbed copy of Whittier's poems, and likes to spend an hour or so occasionally with the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." When some great work has appeared in either England or America, and is translated into German, Bismarck reads it, but it must be of sur passing interest to engage his attention. Where They Drew tfao Line. Captive Hold ont Give me five minutes to smoke a cigarette, first! Chonw of Natives Wowl cigarette smoker bo feed ta aat. aoisoa as aU-ht Errant in AN IRISH GENTLEMAN'S ADVENTUEB IN it j JC By Justin. Huntley McCarthy, M. P., and Albert Delpit. : WBHTEX TOS THE K an autumn evening certain gentleman sa certain tavern in Denver. The time was autumn but the aspect of the year was wintry and wofuL A drizzling, thin rain, fine as needles and chill as icicles, filmed the view. The inn was a wretched place, but it might well have seemed as pleasing as a palace to any wanderer abroad on such a doleful evening. Yet the occupant of the best room and bad was the best did not appear to be over-pleased with his quarters. A fire blazed upon thn hearth, and sent queer shadows leaping about the stark walls and quivering in the dnsty corners of the room. The gentleman sat opposite the fire, with one booted leg swung over the other, and his chair tilted back, staring into the flames, and lightly "Hi Talbat Meditate Upon Bit Fotitton. humming to himself, beneath his breath, the gracious Irish rebel tune, "The Shan VanVocht" Helookedasmixedlygallant and depressed as an olden knight in bad luck, for he wa&as handsome a younglrish man as ever wandered from Ireland in quest of fortune. His costume was a departure from civilized garb toward the picturesque dress of a cowboy. By the side of the rickety chimney-piece a square of printed paper had been lately stuck up, and on this squarevof, .priated paper the eyes of Jhe gentleman frequently rested, and whenever they did so an amused light danced inthem, and the hummine sped at a blither gait It is a custom in that region to advertise in a particular newspaper with very big type, such things as cattle ranchers desire to bny or sell, and this clipping was typographic ally bold in tbe conventional way, but its matter was novel if its manner was not It read: WASTED 'A GENTLEMAN WHO speaks French, and Js perfectly familiar with the Rocky Mountains regions, to act as guide and guard to a lady on a prospecting tour. Address M,B at this office. The gentleman had posted the 'advertise ment on the wall, as if to see, by regarding it. how he would look in the employment whioh it offered. He was out of money, and nearly out of hope. Therefore, any source of immediate income was to be apprecia tively considered. But be was something of an aristocrat at home, and therefore the job of a courier was something which he had never before thought of as passible to him. Whenever the gentleman's eyes rested on the bit of paper they brightened, still, when thev turned strain to the glowing fire thev .gloomed, and "The Shan Van Yocht'' flagged marceuiy. or tne ore was inn oi pictures, as all fires are to the observant, and the pictures they painted now to their watcher were melancholy enough. He saw tbe ruins of bis family estate in Ireland; he saw gallant gentlefolk of ancient name wandering wearily in foreign lands. Deso late, pathetic pictures. But the fire pic tures he studied "were chiefly personal lit tle pictures in which two persons played prominent parts. He was. one of the actors; his cousin, Gregory O'Carroll, was the other. The last thing he had heard of concerning Gregory was that he was seeking the hand of Eitty Hellish, the beautiful girl with whom he had danced a measure on the night before-be quitted his Irish home to seek a better fortnne ia American. She was a handsome girl he remembered, scan ning his dream-picture in the glowing coals. Would she be sorry, he wondered, if he never returned? Would she be glad if he went back enriched? What would she think of him of Talbot Power, scion of the rained but still proud Power family If she knew that he would hire himself out as a courier? "She ought to think it better than cattle stealing or stage robbing," he said to him self; "and those are the alternatives, so far as I can see. So I go to M. I?., whoever she may be, and she may have me if she will." His preparation for the visit was singu lar. It consisted of shaving off his beard and mustache. The beard was of American growth, but the mustache had covered his lip and overhung his mouth since he was 20. The clean shave was in the whimsical na ture of a disguise. He smiled bitterly as he surveyed in the glass bis face as smooth as that of an actor or a lackey. He saw, too, that a change had come over his expression during bis days of Western atmggiing. A line crossed his forehead, his cheeks had be come thinner, and his whole face had grown harder. In an hour he was in the presence of Mrs. Mira Belitska, a Bassian. countess, wealthy and ad venturous,, who had come to America ou a pleasure tour. He had made up his mind to retreat if the stranger proved to be disagreeable. But her mode of reception astonished him so much that it was long be fore he regained the sense of reality. At the end ot the hotel room in a reclining chair lay a woman of 30 or 35 years. She had been very beautiful; but in spite of her comparative youth her face appeared old upon closer inspection, because of the many fine wrinkles covering tbe temples and neck. Her gray eyes were wandering, dull and colorless. Only her heavy blonde hair and white teeth kept the beauty of youtb, though her delicate hands showed her noble birth. "AM is it you, Monsieur?" she said in French, in a lingering voice. "Pardon me if I do not rise to receive youy Xaa ill, so lilt" The young maa responded with an aupro priate kew, took a ehafc and sat tnwq'ailly down- Then he kefced at Mrs. Selifeks, and, wiiW far VyJa-frtti ffii fcwd di I 11 K an autumn evening a II certain gentleman sat at ease in jthe best room of a the Rockies AMERICA. i PITTSBXrEO DI3PAI0H.1 rect glance seemed to embarrass the lady, for she blushed slightly, and spoke in the plaintive, imploring tone of a child: "Yon have seen Mason?" he being the agent through whom Talbot had briefly negotiated before calling on her. "You accept I hope, the conditions which he has named?" "Yes. madam." "Ah, that is well. I am glad to bear it" She drew a small syringe from a case on the table beside her. I am obliged to use mor phine when I suffer so much. I am so ill." Lightly and skillfully she injected the drug under the skin above her left shoulder. Almost immediately her bead fell back heavily upon the cushion of the chair. Talbot watched her in amazement, asking himself if the woman could be crazy. For a minute she remained motionless, in deep prostration; then suddenly starting up as if waking from a refreshing nap. she rose, and throwing back her hair with a coquettish gesture, said: "I feel quite cured. Now we caatalk. Mason told me your name, but I have forgotten it" "Talbot Power." "Ah, thanks." The young man could hardly conceal his surprise. This animated lady could not ba the one whom he bad been studying some minutes before. The heavy eyes bad be come almost brilliant and theindolentfigdre almost energetic. She took a Bussian cigarette from a silver case and touched a bell. After lighting her cigarette she rested her arm upon the table and graciously re peated: "Yes, you please me very much, mon sieur, f think that my trip will last a year. Mason has asked me to give you three months' salary in advance. You shall have six. In several weeks we shall be able to judge of each other, and either of us shall have the right to break the engagement if not satisfied with the other." The woman's confidence and her gener osity touched him. "I am very gratelul for your words, madam," he said, ''but I must decline your offer, for it would give me the lion's share of the bargain. Let us keep to the conditions fixed by Mason. It is fair that I should receive a quarter's salary be fore starting, since I am quite penniless, but I have no right to accept more." Mrs. Belitska lightly shrugged her shoul ders and replied dryly, "As you choose, Monsieur.-" There was a short silence; then, stretching out her hand to the young man with an almost feline movement, she added, "Then we do agree?" "Entirely;" "I am to start in three days for a ram bling, roaming tour of the Bocky Mountains region. It shall be your duty, if yon please, to be a guide not in an ordinary sense, but as a protector, adviser and champion for me and the young lady who is to be my only companion. We are good travelers, and have come across the Atlantic, as well as this far across America, without a male es cort, but the Bockies make us afraid, and so we will trust our safety to you, sir." A short talk about the part of country to be visited, and the means of transit, ended the interview. An hour later Talbot re joined Mason, the intermediary agent "Well, bow did the interview go off? Mason asked. s lrVery well,'' was the reply. - The Irishman was in better spirits than he bad been for months, and gave a crisp ac count of his call. "I don't know much about this lady," Mason said, "only you did one foolish thing." "What wus that?" "When you -were offered six months' pay you ought to have taken it It was a guar anty against her caprices; but after all you probably have nothing to be afraid of. The most likely event is that before six -weeks are up my fair client will be madly in love with you." This idea seemed so farfetched that Talbot had an outburst of hilarity. "Yon needn't laugh; I'm perfectly serious. That woman has a mania for marrying, and having al ready buried two husbands, she must be thinking about disposing of a third. Thanks to me, she believes you a hero of romance, and imagines that the name of Power dis guises a penniless Irish lord of high degree. Your good bearing has done the rest" Talbot frowned. "That would be the most disagreeable thing that could happen. I would avoid it like tne plague, even if I had to work my passage back to Ireland." Puzzled by his strange employe and pre disposed against her, Talbot studied her during his next visit much as a naturalist would Inspect a strange variety of tigress. Truly, she seemed a charming woman; a lit- tl ln.nM.tatant and (MTIMffTitt pit su.natt bat good humored and gay. She had traveled much, and her naturally good memory served her well. He allowed her to talk, as much for the pleasure of hearing her as to keep the reserve that he had im posed upon himself. He would be very courteous, but cool, for he rather suspected the friendliness of his prospective traveling companion. Next day he found that the gayetv of Mrs. Belitska bad suddenly col lapsed. The sparkle in her eyes faded out, the muscles of her face contracted, and a network of wrinkles farrowed her brow and and neck. In a day she had grown ten years older, and was once more the ex hausted and complaining creature whom he had seen at his first interview. He had known cases analogous to- that of this un fortunate woman. The morphine takers are almost incurable ; scarcely 30 out of 100 can free themselves from this deadly habit As in all such cases, this Bussian woman lived ou the drug. Six times a day she made hypodermic injections, which alone gave her a factitious and transparent energy. Talbot felt the deepest pity as he regarded her lying back upon the cushion and quiver ing with nervous excitement "I am ill, so ill," she moaned. BegardlewofTalb'spreeeBce she made an Injection into her arm, and then lay back upon the esshion with closed eyes. Five minutes later she regained her animation and her brilliancy. "You look more surprised thaa you did the other day," she observed. "I am not surprised, madam, bat I pity yon with all my heart" "Ah!" she replied ratkerhasghtily. The after a brief sileace she added geotly aad with a smile: "Yom haw a coed heart, ay fcisU.-Jjia A wriWe sajsia, J Mn. BeliUka MeroUnq Kitty. Once, two years ago, I tried to cure mvseliViSj a went o Joeruu mj ub wuij jjutpiwu udt thera ix in Enrone for maladies of this kind.'' The superintendent made me sign a paper t? promising to remain a prisoner ior tnrea ? montns. Unhappily, alter several weejes, a fell back into my bad habits; But let us talk or other things." A sort of intimacy was gradually arising, between tbem, and when they met again at nipht In thArifninc rnnm of the hotel ana w.nlil 1.I...& ...... ........I Alj.n 4m ha fwn n t with Talbot and ntterinera thousand follies.-' They went to a theatrical entertainment. Once she said, smiling: "What is joa- nrst name:' "Talbot," he answered. "Don't you find it tiresome to call Madam' all the time?" "Jtfotatall." "Oh. how respectful you Irishmen alwayai are. Bnssians and Americans are at theirj ease immediately. So I'm going to- ask your J permission to call you Talbot, simply, aadi, in return, instead of that everlastingtj name, which is Mira." ' Talbot felt somewhat startled by Mrs." Belitska's tone and manner. Was the, merely affecting to treat him as a man of tne world, or as a menial, or was tnere a ' hidden meaning? In his perplexity he re- JL Struggle for Mattery. solved to keep up his politeness and re "3-iK -j "1 thank you for the honor that you do&gl me," be replied, "but do you, not think that? 31 .1,1. -,:i:n.,-f. tv,;k .om i:ti otr -.s iuj. .u.A.a..j ....guv Brm amb sAMar: orainaryr js'vj "As you choose," she rejoined, with herw Habitual snrng or tne snoulders. j, Z it was half over. Then they went to a pub- M lie restaurant for a supper. "What do you take to drink with", meal?" she asked, as she scanned the bill of fare- "Nothing, madam, thank you," he re plied. "Oh, well. I'm not so temperate as that" She ordered a bottle of fine champagne, and poured out a glassful, which she swal lowed at one draught, with the coolness and rapidity of a proficient drinker. Then the conversation began as before. From time to time Mira poured ont a fresh glass of the champagne, as serenely and composedly as any old toper. The wine in creased her gaiety. Her, cheeks flushed and her glance became more keen and penetra- , ting. At 10 o'clock when he left her at the hotel, she offered her hand to Boland and ' said: "Good-night I'm half dead from want of sleep, and I'm going to bed. Fare well until to-morrow." Left to himself, the. young man fell into a reverie. What was this strange woman . proud even to arrogance, or childishly aim pie? In keeping up the same attitude toward her he hoped to remain upon a -" friendly footing. If would be better not to v enter farther into such a dangerous intl- . macy. When Talbot went upstairs to his own ' room for he had transferred his quarters from the miserable tavern the clocks were ntHklni"- 12. Mrs. Belitska's apartments - MTtBimiaA nfi.vn rnnmn fnr hersp.lf and cse '-? fnrlhn rirl comrjanion whom he had not X ..am mb b1,a 1, A 1,.nn.n. t 1umt AfT .,M..MvMtnw.r rt. (h. fium,. ...1, f!m. - he had called. As he reached the first -i,. landing tneyoung man neara ioua sonnas at the end of the corridor. If was the Bus sian's voice, violent and furious in the si lence of the night Suddenly a cry of pain arose, the lingering, plaintive cry of a per son suffering. What could be the matter? Finally the noise ceased, and be went to his room, only a little way off. But sleep avoided him; on the eve of this curious expedition a thousand opposing thoughts crowded through his brain. What waa pretty Kitty Mellish doing at home in Ire land ? What was she thinking about ? All at once he heard from the Bussian's room a low moan, like that of an injured child. He knew that the girl was there. Could Mrs. Eelitzka have been beating her ? Impossi Hc That eccentric woman appeared good- hearted; she had shown admirable tact in her relations with Talbot; wny snouia sno.', not act-in the same way toward tnegirir, .But at last ne leu asieep mm iuu uu awus r till morning. n. Breakfast was the first meal which Talbot Power was to eat in the same hotel where his employer lodged. She had asked him to meet her in the parlor at 9 o'clock, to be introduced to her young female compan ion, and then take the meal together. He was ahead of her. When she entered, ao- jttwnnAnfMl liv tTlA cirl & troic&l IHsh beauty, with gray eyes, rimmed by black? 1..1,.. w!1 a T--w wMa fnmn1Ti(Mt . sprinkled with a Texr freckles, and with a J demurely any manner sne rornea to """?- Kitty 'Atrumet a Hovel Bole. does the two young persons. Butbefonl she could utter their names iney were 1 selves ejaculating them. "Kitty!" "Talbot!" tfheir clasp of hands approached closelyr to an impulsive caress, ana a kiss was rs- Iuctantlv left unexchanged. sfffl "You know each other?" Mrs. Belitska exclaimed. ' SHI "Ever since we were two feet tall," TaKl bot responded. "We grew up in the i conntv In Tt1ti1 "How strange a chance that I should haveT engaged Miss Mellish in London, to make! tbe journey with me, and then yon herejaj Denver to make out the party," and thirst! was a tone of onestloning doubt in Uiu Belitska's mind," as though she glimmer ingly fancied some plot "Did neither off yoa ue hmc the other was nerev" "I left MIm Mellish at home ia lWlasSl wheal started' for America," Mia lattJ ,11111 'frT. 5 1 Jfej .&'... t' - - zi-ii