orwr 't&Tfr - .. v kr 12 ' rn E BRAHMIN'S GIFT. CHAPTER I. At that time to-wit, at the beginning of this veracioni chronicle I wat a bachelor of 33, with a priTate incomo which aver aged 900 a year. I rented a pretty maisonette, just outside the old-fashioned and arietocratic town of Dereminster. My modest establishment consisted of two wo men servants, a man and a boy. I kept a couple of horses and rode regularly to bounds during the season, I was alBO an adept at flj.fisb.injj, and played the violin fairly well for an amateur. Finally my name was Horace Sparkinson. Let tho reader note that I say my name was Horace Sparkinson. "What it is now, and how it came to be what it is, it will be my object in these pages to elucidate. A suite of rooms in London would have been far more to my liking than vegetating in a dead-alive hole like Dereminster, but I was impelled to settle there for the time be ing, after ray long sojourn abroad, by two powerful reasons, either of which in itself would have sufficed to induce me to act as I had. Reason number one was that mv bachelor uncle, Mr. Matthew Chidley, a re tired Liverpool merchant, lived at Blair field, on the outskirts of Dereminster. He was 75 years old and in failing health, and it was only fit and proper that he should lave his sister's son at hand in case of anything hap pening to him; besides which, there was a horde of harpy cousins and half-cousins ready to swoop down upon him like a troop of vultures had I not been on the spot to keep them at arm's length. I cannot con scientiously say that I was a favorite with the old man, but neither, so far as I knew, was anyone else. However, I dined with him every Sunday, and that was something in mv favor. "Nobody could truthfully ay, 6parky, that you're ornamental," he wonld sometimes remark with a snigger, in that plain-speaking way of his which X took care never to resent, ''and I don't know that yon're of much use in the world, unless it be to act as a watch-dog and keep off the others with your bark." The one trouble left him in life seemed to be the making up of his mind as to whom, and in what proportion!, he should bequeath his money. I had it in a whisper from Ship ton, his lawyer, that he had made three dif ferent wills in the course of the year, and that even then he was meditating a fourth. I was surely justified in hoping that I, his sister's &on, who suffered a hebdomadal martyrdom under the lash of his tongue, which spared nothing and nobody, was not forgotten in the documents in question. My reason number two, for pitching my tent at Dereminster, was because I was madly in love with Ida Meredith, whose acquaintance I had made at Nice in the course of the preceding winter. Ida, who was of age, and possessed of 3,000 a year in her own right, lived with her uncle, Mr. Ralph Timbrell, and his wife, at Fernside, a charming country house, about two miles out of the town. 7t wonld be disingenuous on my part to say that at the beginning of our acquaint ance my pursuit of her was not influenced by a knowledge of her income (derived from authentic sources), but when I came to know her better, I learnt to love her for herself alone; indeed, I can safely aver that there was a time when if she had not been worth a shilling, I should almost have been prepared I say almost to ask her to be come by wife. She wrote verses of a sort and brimmed over with all kinds of romantic, high-flown notions, but an fond she had a vein of natur al shrewdness which saved her, if at times only by a hair-breadth, Irom overpassing the thin line which, as often as not, is all that nerves to divide common sense from absurdity. Ida liked me or rather, she liked my company. I was clever, accomplished:, well-read, and, as times go, a fairly good 'conversationalist. But, alas! I was very plain-looking; indeed, there were not want ing some, chiefly my rivals In Ida's good graces, who averred that I was absolutely ugly. Half-a-dozen times had I been on the verge of proposing, when the remem brance of my ill-favored looks caused me, at the last moment, to shrink irom the ordeal. I used to grind my teeth with impotent rage, while watching the good-looking, but empty-headed popinjays who flattered round her, and noting with what apparent pleasure she used to accept their fatuous flatteries and fulsome compliments, although teeling sure in my heart that she laughed at and de spised each and all of them. At length there came a day when I took my courage in both hands, and told her what she could have hardlv have failed to guess long before. Well, I was rejected, and that in a way which left no room for hope in the luture. Some women's "Kb," is not intended to be taken as final; in the heart of it, carefully wrapped up, like a sugar-plum in a cracker, lurks its exact opposite, but not so with Ida. "I like and respect yoa, Mr. Sparkinson, but nothing would induce me to become your wife," she aid, and I knew she meant it when I looked at thy reflection in the glass I could not wonder at her decision. It was an im possibility for any woman to love such a semi-satyr as I. It was about a week later that I came to grief in the hunting-field. I was in one of those moods when a man takes everything as it comes without regard to consequences. My horse failed to clear a . leap which, knowing what he could and could not do, it was madness on my part to put him at. "We fell together, he rolling a-top of me. I was carried home on an extemporised stretchet. The doctors examined me; it was a case of injury to the spine; there was no hope. One of the medicos gave me three days, the other opined that I might possibly linger a week; in any case I was doomed. I was paralvzea from the loins downwards,and suf fered no pain, which was something to be thankful for. My mind had never been clearer; I was penectly calm and composed, and already felt myself looking At life and its interests from an altogether impersonal point ot view, and as if I were a visitant from some other planet. One thought, and only one, had still a flavor of earthly bitterness. "Is Ida sorry for what has happened to me?" 1 asked myself again and again. "Will any tinge of regret mingle with her brief me'morj of me alter I am gone?" I now come to a phase of my experiences of which I have not hitherto made men tion. During my stay in India, tome years be fore I settled at Dereminster, it fell to my lot to be the means of saving the life ot a certain Brahmin, a man who lived in the odor of sanctity, and was popularly credited with being a de positary "of divers of the strange secrets and mysteries, saia to be handed down from one generation to another, of the priests of the culte of which he was so eminent a pro fessor, and guarded more jealously than life itself from the knowledge of the outside world. Be that as it may, my Brahmin, whoproved anything but ungrateful lor the service I had done him, taught me one secret, as to which I used often to think afterward, that it wonld have been better for me if I had been left in ignorance. What he taught me was, to dissociate my inner self my eco my spiritual essence (call it by whatever name you please) from that mortal coil, the body; to exist apart y from it "or a certain space, and to re assqmo my fleshly tenement when it pleased me so to do. Of the mode by which this strange gift could be made avail able it is not iny purpose here to speak; it is enough to say that, to a large extent, it depended oa the recipient's capability for bringing to bear an amount of "vill force which probably not one person in 10,000 is endowed with. As it happens, I possess the power in question; had I not, the Brahmin's secret would have availed nothing so far as I was concerned. tca as it was, it was a gift which I had rarely cared to avail myself of; there I was a certain element of risk connected with it which it was impossible altogether to eliminate. Forjinstance, if I had chanced to stav away from my earthlv tabernacle for too long a time, I might on my return, have found it as dead in reality as it was to all seeming; tho pulses of life, which beat with but faint insistence while spirit and bodv were dissevered, might have come to a standstill, leaving me without a home, and, being unsanctified by death, under com pulsion to wander, it might be for long ages, in a No-Man's Land, where twilight ever reigns, there to consort with other shades, as forlorn and hopeless as myself. Inwason the third evening after the 'doctors had given me up that an irresistible longing came over me to exercise once more, and for the last time, this mysterious gift. I was utterly sick of lying on my pallet with nothing to do bat commune with my own thoughts, which, of a truth, were of the most somber hue. I felt that I should like to look on Ida once more, though it were in spirit only, before death should have sealed my eyes" forever. "I feel very drowsy, nurse," I said to one of the two watchers who stayed by me day and night; "I think that, perhaps, I can sleep a little. Please be careful that I'm not disturbed till I awake of my own accord." Ten minutes later I had slipped out of my earthly husk, more easily than a snake sheds its skin, and was standing, a disem bodied shade, on the threshold of my own house. It was a frosty evening and the stars glinted like points of cold flame. Two seconds later a slight exercise ot will-power set me down in the drawing-room at Fern side. Ida, as usual, had three or four young men flattering around her. Never had her eyes looked more unclouded, never had her laugh rung out more musically and joyously, never had I seen her more apt at persiflage and repartee. Poor fool that I had been, to dream that she would waste more than a passing thought on such a disagreeable subject as a dying manl The cold, still surface of a lake, over which the shadow of a cloudlet has passed, without lingering, is not more unruffled than she was. I turned away, and scarcely had I formu lated the wish, before I tonnd myself in my uncle's library so Called. The old man was seated at his writing table with an open bag of money before him. With trembling fingers, he was counting the sovereigns into little piles, of 20 each,and arranging them in front of him. His puckered face would have made a fine study for a picture of mingled greed and cunning. It was the in dex of his soul. No need to linger there. A wish and I was cone. I was next at Millinghan, a large manu facturing center in thenorth orEnyland, fully 200 miles from Dereminster, where lived an old chum, whom I thought I should like to take a peep at for the last time. My friend Dennis lay prone on the hearth-rug of his sitting room, sleeping the stertorous sleep of one who had indulged, not wisely, but too well. Was that the hideous Lethe in which his bright intellect was about to extinguish itselfl I turned away with a shudder of mingled pity and repulsion. As I stood on the steps of my friend's lodgings, debating as to whither I should go next, I became aware of another disembodied hade, like myself, who issued from a house a few doors up the street, and, without becoming aware of my propinquity, a second later was gone. My curi osity was excited. Who, and what, was my fellow visitant to No Man's Land? which, I may here remark, I had found to be by no means so devoid of visitors as, in my ignorance, I had at first deemed it to be. Qnite a number of people besides myself, hailing from varions points of the compass, were in possession of the same secret which the Brahmin had imparted to me, and availed themselves, in a greater or lesser degree, of its dangerous privileges. Bat, indeed, it could matter nothing to me who or what the stranger I had just seen might be, seeing that, in an hour at most, I must be back at home, and creep into my husk, there to await the inevitable end, which a lew short hours wonld now bring to pass. Still, having a little time to spare, I might as well gratify my curiosity " for the last time. Next instant I was standing in the room which the stranger had so recently quitted. It was the unpretentious domicile of one who was both a bachelor and a student; indeed, I may say at once that its occupant, Perciual Daubeny, was a promising young surgeon, who had lately taken his degree, and was temporarily attached to the Millingham town hospital. The door was locked, and on a sofa lay stretched his body in the state of coma (so to speak) in which he had left it to awatt his return. It was thebody of one of the handsomest young men it had ever been my fortune to set eyes on. As I stood gazing at it I could not help reflecting what a different lot mine might have been had I but possessed one tithe;of this young fellow's good looks. Fol lowing on that thought came auntber, or rather a suggestion, one of those subtle whispers whether emanating from within or without who shall say? which nine times out of ten are the first tentative suggestions to wrong doing. "Why not grasp the chance which fate has pat in your way," ran the whisper, "and take possession of this body while its owner is away? To go back to your own body simply means that you will be dead and buried in a week from now." And then a series of dazzling possibilities flashed across my mental retina, chief and foremost among which I discerned firstly, that by so doing I should secure for myself a fresh lease of life, and secondly, that henceforth, instead of postnring before the world as one of the ugliest of my kind, I should gladden its eyes with a face and form which might, without exaggeration, be likened to those of a modern Antinous. Was it in the power of mortal to resist such a temptation? It was certainly not in my power to do s'o. With such a chance held out to me, hesitation would have been the acme of folly. Five minutes later, the recumbent body on the sofa opened its eyes, vawned, sat up, shook and stretched itself, then rose, and, crossing the room, stared at itself in the chimney glass. It was the body of Percival Daubeny re-animated by the shade of Hor ace Sparkinson. Admirable conjunction! As I stared at my exceedingly handsome self, I felt an intoxication of spirit, a mental exhilaration, such I had never experienced before. Involuntarily I likened myself to another Faust after the transformation scene. I had been incarnated anew, and the world was all before me where to choose. But it would be as well to get away before Daubeny returned to claim his property I might have said bis lostpropertv. Not that I had anything to dread from his return, or that he could interfere with me in any way, still then an unpleasant thought forced it self upon me. In ceasing to be Horace Sparkinson, I had cnt off all mv sources of income, without being able to appropriate in lieu ot them any revenues which might pertain to Daubeny; besides which, a cer tain amount of ready money was an abso lute : neceslty. It was with a little justifiable anxiety that I proceeded to invesligate'snn dry receptacles in the room one after an other.. At length in one of the drawers Of a davenport I lound a pocketbook containing 60 poundsin notes. To have felt any scruple about taking the money would been pre posterous in the extreme. To the real Daub eny, so long as he remained in his present dis-embodied state, bank notes were of no more use than so many withered leaves, while to the new Daubeny they were a mst terof vital consequence. Behind the door hung a fur-lined over coat, and in the adjoining bed room I found a silver-mounted dressing case, both of which would prove admirable adjuncts to my new personality. When I had added to them Daubeny's hat stnd umbrella, and had ascertained the time by Daubeny's gold re peater, I was ready to take my departure. I had turned down the lamp and1 opened the door, when a waft or ice-cold air smote me in the face and a shiver ran through me from head to foot. I fell back a pace or two with a constriction of the heart (Daubeny's heart in point of fact), which seemed for the few moments it tasted as if it conld be caused by nothing less than the hand of Death. But it passed, and I was quickly myself again. X recognized at once what it was that had o startled me; it was Daubeny's shade come back to resume its mortal tenement. But the tenement was no longer vacantl "I pity you, my good fellow, I do, honor bright," I said aloud) "but self-preservation is the first law of nature, and I had no option but to do as I have done. Take my advice, which is, that you follow my ex ample. By diligent searching you will doubtless be able to find some other fellow's domicile left empty tor the time being, as you left yours, whieh you will be able to appropriate and make your own. Yon have my sincere wishes that your quest may prove a fortunate one.i Adieu, cher monsieur I trust that you are too much the gentleman to bear me any malice." I got out of the house 'without being ob served. Hailing the first cab I came across, I was driven to the railway station and be fore daybreak next morning was in London. CHAPTER IL After spending a couple of dayA In town, where I laid in a stock of clothes, and other indispensable and had the beard and mous tache of Mr. Percival Daubeny removed by the razor, thereby imparting quite a differ ent character to his face, I went down to Dereminster, and tooK up my quarters at the "George and Dragon." the best hotel in the town, entering my name in the register as "Mr. Evan Onslow of London." Three days after my arrival I had the unique experience of being a looker - on at my own funeral or rather at the funeral of Horace Sparkinson. That gentleman, who had been fatally injured in the hunting field, had been fonnd dead in bed, having passed quietly away in his sleep. On the same day I read in the newspapers an ac count headed, "Mysterious Disappearance of a Surgeon at Millingham." He was spoken of as being a yodng man of excep tional promise in his profession, and no ad equate motive seemed forthcoming which would terve to account for so strange a pro ceeding on his part. Tfelt sincerely sorry for him, and if I could have benefited him in any way, I would gladly have done so. My one burning desire now was to be revenged on Ida Menteith ior her rejection of me, or rather of the Horace Sparkinson who was now supposed to be desd and buried; but first ot all it was requisite that Mr. Evan Onslow should obtain an intro duction to her. Among other frequenters of the billiard room at the "George," was a callow youth of good family of the name of Ford," who, from a casual remark overheard by me, I found to be well acquainted with Miss Menteith, and that, in fact, she,' together with her uncle and aunt, were frequent visi tors at his mother's bouse. To this young man I attached myself. I put him up to several "wrinkles" at billiards, practicing an hour with him in private every morning. I initiated him into the mysteries of ecarte and poker, I told him stories of lite in London and Paris which caused him to open his guileless blue eyes very wide indeed, and above all, I took care not to win his money, or whenever I did, I so arranged matters that he should not fail to win it back at onr next meeting. The re sult was that in less than a month after making his acquaintance, Mr. Evan Onslow was honored with an invitation to the din ner, to be followed by a ball, given by his mother in honor of his coming of age. There, as I had fully expected I should, I met Miss Menteith, accompanied by Mr. Timbrell and his wife. An introduction followed in due course, and I was fortunate enough to secure three dances with Ida. When all was over, and I handed her into her uncle's brougham, I did not fail to fa vor her with a tender pressure of the fingers and a flashing glanc from mes beaux yeux. Her eyes met mine for a moment and then dropped before their ardor in what I felt to be no simulated confusion. After that I knew the rest would be plain sailing. Not many days passed before I received an invitation to dine at Fernside. I took care to pay assiduous court to both uncle and aunt, and as most of their little likes and dislikes were known to me of old, I was able to play on them without the trouble of having to find them out beforehand. So taken were they with me that, after my sec ond visit, I might have spent half my time at Fernside had I been so minded. Nor did I experience any more difficulty in dealing with Ida. All ber idiosyncraeies were patent to me and I could strike any chord at will, feeling sure what the response would be. "I have never met any one with suoh an intuitive knowledge of me as you seem to have," she said to me one day, with a little uneasy laugh. "You seem to know my fancies and Icnbles almost as well as I know them myself." One trait in especial I had not lorgotten, which was her, by no means uncommon, weakness for good-looking men, and Evan Onslow was far and away the handsomest man who had ever paid court to her. She was fast caught in the foils, she who had caught so many in her time and had such scant mercy on her victims. My intention had been to cause Ida to fall in love with me, and then to treat her as she had treated Horace Sparkinson, but as time went on and I was more and .more in her company, I fell under the old enchantment, and all thought or desire for revenge faded out of my mind; I felt only that Moved her and that the one purpose of my life was to make her mine. All this time I wasliving at the "George," passing as a great gentleman of means and leisure. Once I had secured the entree to society, nobody seemed to trouble them selves about my antecedents, or cared to question me as to which branch of the Onslows my people belonged to. I was young and handsome, and had the sack ot making myself agreeable, and having slipped in among them, they were quite willing to take me at my own valuation. But, however pleasant all this might he and was, it did not blind me to the fact that when I should propose to Ida, as I had fully made up my mind to do, it was imperative that I should be in a position to answer whatever questions might be put to me hav ing re'erence to my means, connections, and standing in society. As far as'Ida herself was concerned, I bad no fear. She had one of those romantically impulsive dispositions which led some women to derive a supreme delight from knowing that the man they love owes everything to them. If only when they give iiim themselves, they can at the same time lift him from poverty to af fluence, the joy of the generous creatures knows no bounds But with Mr. Timbrell it would be altogether different. Simple minded thongh he was in many ways, he was a man of business, and he wonld un doubtedly pnt questions to me which I might find it difficult to answer with a due regard to the facts of the case. Here was a dilemma out of which I was puz zled to find a way of escape. I was burning to propose to Ida and yet I was to take premier pas which is said to cost so much, being exceedingly doubtful where it might land me. If only I could persuade Ida to agree to a secret marriagel Another disagreeable circumstance was that, about this time, I began to fall short of money. Daubeny's 50 had melted down to 10, and I knew not where to look for a replenishment of my purse. Horace Sparkinson being dead and buried, it was out of the question that he should claim his dividends or draw a cheque on his bankers. This was a contingency I bad not fore seen when I so precipitately and eagerly took on myself the person ality of the young surgeon. It was awkward, deucededly awkward. Never till now had I knnwh the meaning of the term "hard up," and the experience was not an agreeable one. Something must be done and that without delay. It would be ridic ulous and Worse to be turned out of my hotel just as I was on the eve of proposing to a young lady worth 3,000 a year. Even if Ida were to agree to'a secret marriage, I had no longer the wherewithal to defray the ex penses of such an escapade. It was a most preposterous predicament to 'find oneself in, and at the same time one of the most mad dening. Of a truth something must be done. ''Bat What? Then by degrees a certain notion, dimly j EHE PITTSBURG "DISPATCH, apprehended at first, began to assume form and consistency In my mind, till at length it formulated itself as a concrete idea. If by any means I cot" contrive to relieve my uncle of a portion of his superfluous wealth I should merely be claiming, after a fashion of my own, a 'modicum of that which would doubtless have come to me in due course, had I, as Horace Sperkinson, outlived the old cur mudgeon. I was" still as much my uncle's nephew as ever I had been, and why should the whole of his wealth go to endow some charity, or otherwise to enrich that harpy horde of cousins and half-cousins who were waiting, with ill-concealed impatience, till the breath shoujd be out of his body? But the question was, how to bring my idea within the range of practicability. The necessity which it involved was by no means a pleasant one to contemplate; all my in stincts took arms against it; I recoiled Irom the prospect with a shudder. And yet, on the other hand; was I to run the risk of los ing the only woman I had ever loved and three thousand a year to boot, for lack ot a few paltry pounds? The thought was intolerable. There was nothing for itlbut to whistle my scruples down the wind and seize the oc acsion boldly by the hilt, regardless of what might follow. Without troubling the reader with unnec essary details, it is enough to say that on a certain night, or morning rather, between 2 and 3 o'clock, I found myself in my uncle's dressing room; built into the wall of which was the safe in which he kept his money and other valuables. As soon as my uncle's peaceful snoring had assured me that he was asleep, I stole forward into his bedroom, in which a night light was burning, and possessed myself of the key of the safe, which was always placed overnight on a small table within reach of his hand. On getting back to his dress ing room I opened the slide of my dark lantern and went down on one knee in front of the safe, thinking to open it without diffi culty; but, much to my disgust, I found that the lock was coypred by a brass flap which fastened with a catch, and a couple of minutes passed before I found out the trick of it and succeeded in laying bare the lock. After that the rest was easy. The bolts yielded noislessly to the key, after which the door opened almost of its own accord. My hand was in the act of grasping a bag of money when a slight noise caused me to turn my head. Framed by the doorway, and glaring at me with eyes like those of a wolf robbed of its cubs, stood my uncle's long, lean figure clothed in his nightshirt. "Bobber double-distilled scroundrel thief!" he shrieked in his quavering, hieh pitched voice. "You shall not escape me." Speaking thus, he made a dash for the bell rope,but I was too quick for him. Next instant we had closed in a desperate struggle, his object being to rouse the house, and mine to hinder him from doing so. The old man was very wiry and much stronger than I could have believed possible. One of his arms encircled my neck in a grip which half choked me, while he panted and snarled in my ear like some wild animal. To and fro we reeled, I forcing him, foot by foot, farther from the bell rope. The only light was that shed by my lantern, which I had placed on the floor close by the Bafe. Then all at once my uncle's strength seemed to unaccountably desert him, it may have been from failure of the heart; in any case, his legs gave way under him, and he sank to the floor, dragging me with him. We were close to the fireplace, and in fall ing his head struck against a sharp point of one of the steel "dogs" inside the fender. When 1 had succeeded in loosing his grip of me and had risen to my feet, I saw that a thin stream of blood was trickling from under his head. I stooped and felt his pulse, and as it was still flattering, I con cluded that he had merely fainted and would presently come round. I mnst do what I had come to do, and get away before he recovered consciousness. In the safe I found a bag of sovereigns, which I pocketed without scruple, but be yond that there was nothing save a heap of documents, which would have been value less to me. Stay, though; in one corner there gleamed a ring a splendid cat's eye set with brilliants which I had occasionally seen my uncle wear, but never without cov eting it. I had a weakness for jewelry, and without more ado I thrust the ring into my waistcoat pocket After a last look at my uncle, in whose limbs I noticed a tremor which I took to be an indication of return ing consciousness, I rang a peal on the bell loud enough to rouse every sleeper in the house, then I hurried from the room by way or the French window, and dropping from the balcony to the ground I stole through the shrubbery and thence to the outlying fields. A couple ot days later I quietly re appeared at the "George" with my bag and umbrella. I had previously given out, both to the hotel people and the inmates of Fern side, that I had been called away to London for a few days on a matter of special im portance. But before getting back to Dereminster I had read in the newspapers an account of the burglary at Briarfield, and was inex pressibly shocked to learn that my uncle had died without having ever recovered con sciousness, and that the coroner's jury had brouzht in a verdict of "wilful murder against some person or persons unknown." To me such a verdict seemed utterly pre posterous, knowing, as I did, that my uncle's death was purely the result of acci dent I felt sorry for the old boy, although he had so often rasped me cruelly with his tongue in days gone by. The bag taken by me contained 80 in gold and a few pounds in silver. It was a miserably inadequate haul to have run such a risk for, and to have resulted in consequences so tragic; but even so, it was the only portion ot my uncle's wealth which wonld ever accrue to me. Now that I was in funds again there was no reason why I should not seize the first opportunity which might present itself of proposing to Ida. Consequently it was not without a sense of disappointment that, on reaching Fernside, I found she had gone on a visit to some friends. Her uncle and aunt received me as cordially as ever, which went some way toward consoling me for her absence. A lew days later Something hap pened which, not only annoyed me greatly, but had far reaching consequences such as it was impossible at the time to foresee. The smaller of my two portmanteaus was stolen by some one who had obtained access to my room during my absence from the hotel. Fortunately there was no money in it, I having changed the greater part of my gold into notes, which, for safety, I carried about my person. Due notice was given of the robbery to the police, und there, as far as I was concerned, I expected the mat ter would end. A week had passed, when one afternoon I was waited on by two police officers, one of whom, producing the cat's eye ring which had been my uncle's, de manded to know whether it was not my property. No sooner had he put the question than it flashed across me what had happened, and, in an instant, I was on my guard. Taking the ring in my fingers, I turned it over as it to examine it "No," I said, "it is certainly not my property; I wish it were. I never, to my knowledge, set eyes on it till this mo ment But why do you ask such a ques tion?" Without answering me, he pulled out of his pocket the canvas bag which had held my uncle's money, and had his initials stamped on it "Perhaps you will say that you have never seen this before?" he re marked drily. "That I certainly never have," was my reply, "and now, perhaps, you will explain why I am-honored with this' visit?" His explanation, part of which I could gue3s already, was to the effect that the ring had been offered at a pawnbroker's by the man who stole mv portmanteau; the pawn broker, having recognized it, owing to the description of it which had been circulated, had detained the man and sent for the po lice. 'The man had at once confessed that the ring was' in the stolen portmanteau and that the latter article was at the cloakroom of a certain rail way terminus, where he had lodged ic inime iately after his arrival in town, first taking the ring out of it, but leaving the rest of its contents intact On the portmanteau being searched, the empty cash bag was found stowed away in one corner of it. The question that now required to be solved SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, was, whether the man who stole the port manteau, or the man from whom it was stolen, was the author of the Briarfield trag edy. That night was passed by me in one of the cells of the Dereminster police station. Next morning I was hauled befote the bench ot magistrates and remanded; in the result, a week later, I was committed to take my trial at the next county assizes, on the double charge of robbery and murder, the fellow Who stole my portmanteau having been able to prove that he was in another part of the country on the night of the burglary. By the advice of the man-of-law whose services I had retained I reserved my defense, although what line of defense that would avail anything it behooved me to adopt was "hidden in the deep obscure." Suppose I were to confess everything ex actly as it happened, would any jnry be lieve my statement? Granting, however, that they did believe it, although I might manage to save my neck, it would only be at the expense of a life-long term of penal servitude. Here was a scurvy trick for fate to play a man who, only a few days before, had been looking forward to wed a beautiful girl and 3,000 a year into the bargain. The assizes were not due for six weeks. By the end ot a fortnight I felt as if the hor rible monotony of prison life was slowly but sorely eating away my brain. I h id not ventured to exercise my gift of dissociating my spirit from my body since I had assumed the role of Evan Onslow. I was too well satisfied with my quarters, and too much afraid of having the tables turned on me after a similar fashion, to allow of my venturing on so serious a task. Now, how ever, that I was a prisoner, friendless and alone, with a charge hanging over me which, if it did not consign me to the gallows, would at least cut me off forever irom all that makes existence endurable, the case was altogether different The temptation was strong upon me to escape, if only for an hour or two, from my death-in-life exist ence. One night I yielded to it Even if anyone were to" seize upon and take possession of the body of Evan Onslow it would be a poor bargain for him, bearing in mind the fact that, at the same time, he would be under the compulsion to take the risk of whatever penalties the law might choose to enforce against the person in ques tion. I lay down on my pallet and willed the change, which came about in due course. Whither I went and what I saw during .my brief absence from my fleshly tenement, is not to the purpose of this narrative. I was back in my cell in little over an hour, but only to find that the tables had indeed been turned upon me while I was away. Instead of being stretched on his pallet, as I had left him, a faintly breathing and all but inanimate frame, I found Evan Onslow, or, to speak more accurately, Percival Daubeny, slowly pacing his cell with folded arms in sombre meditation. Daubeny, for he it was, who had probably been almost continnously on the watch for the opportunity I had at length afforded him, had not failed to take advantage of it He had treated me after the same fashion in which I had treated him, and, when all was said and done, he had merely reclaimed his own property. I could not blame him, and yet I experienced a vindictive pleasure (for so is poor human nature constituted) from knowing that, in all likelihood, he would, in the course of a few weeks, either be hanged or condemned to life-long imprisonment But nothing of the sort happened to him. Percival Dau beny was a long-headed fellow, and he made a bold stand for life and liberty. When his trial came on (of course under the name and personality of Evan Onslow) he was able to prove a complete alibi. How was it done? you will probably ask. The secret was carefully kept, but it was one which I, in my then impersonal condition, was able to fathom without much difficulty. Quite half a dozen witnesses came forward at the trial and deposed on oath that on the night of the robbery and supposed murder, Evan Onslow was in their company at a seaport 200 miles away. They were alto- f ether unaware that Daubeny had a twin rother, who had landed from abroad only a few hours previously, and that it was with him they had played billiards, and had after wards spent a pleasantly convivial evening. The awkward question still remained if the prisoner at the bar were inno cent, how did it come to pass that the dead man's ring and cashbag were found in the portmanteau stolen from the hotel? To this Daubeny pleaded through his counsel that there was no proof whatever connecting him with the articles in question, thathe had never seen eitherof them till they were shown to him by the police, that the cash bag must have been put into the port manteau uy tne man wno stole tne latter, which theory would also account for his pos session of the ring, and that, although the man might, as stated, have been SO miles away, on the night of the Briarfield incident, there was no proof that he had not received both the ring and the bag from the real au thor of the ontrage in question. ''The jury accepted the views thus pro pounded and Daubeny was acquitted. As to whether he went back to Millingham, and if so, in what way he accounted for his disappearance, and the fact of his having lived lor several months in another town and under a fictitious name, I have never taken the trouble to inquire. And now to return to myself and the strange predicament to which I was re duced, which was that of a homeless shade, wandering forlorn through the realms of space a condition ot things from which there was no escape until I should succeed in re-incarnating my disembodied ego. Of my long wanderings to and fro with that object ever in view, the recital would only weary yon. Whenever I succeeded in finding an empty tenement awaiting the return of its owner, it was always either that of a man decieoit with years, whose earthly pil grimage had nearly run to its close, or else that of some Eastern fakeer. or mystic, Whose habits and mode of life wouldhave been utterly abhorrent to me even supposing me to have been acquainted with his language, and to have been able to play his role without detection as an impostor. At length there came a day when an op portunity offered itself, of which, although it was far, very far, from being what I would have chosen, I did not hesitate to avail myself. Know then, O reader, who may have followed my narrative thus lar, that should you wish to make the lurther acquaintance of the whilom, Horace Spark inson, you will find him in the person of Ephraim Saggers, a middle-aged ol(T""clo" man, who lives a lonely lite in a frowsy, evil-smelling garret within a bowshot of the Minones. Do you think it possible that you can more than faintly imagine what my thoughts are as I sit of a night brooding over my handlul of fire with the ghosts ot the dead past crowding thickly, around me? N. B. Ephriam Saggers deals in all kinds of cast-off wearing appjrel. Cash down and no questionsasked. Belgravia. BKAIIS TOE C0NSUHPIIVE3. The Vinojrnrd of France Furnish a Pretty Iilvply Market In London. Pall Mall Budget , Snails are largely consumed by consump tives in England who can afford them. Of course they are imported. The best come from the vineyards ot France, and for this reason they are considered especially fine. They are certainly a luxury, for a tin of snails cost 4s Gil. Frogs' hind legs are eaten in larger quantities than is generalty supposed. You can't tell them from a bit of chicken; and no doubt a good' many people who are not careful about consulting the menu at swell dinners cat them as such. Another novelty for epicures, is crayfish tails. These are little things like shrimps, and are used for flavoring all sorts of dishes, soups, sauces, and vegetables. Boned larks in aspic telly sounds well. The young bachelors who lounge through life in cham bers off Piccadilly go in lor these potted things. They are convenient Appetite is generally restored to deli catechildren by the use ot Dr. D. Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge; and not only an appetite, but strength and vigor as well. Sold by all druggists. 1890. THE CZAK'S CRUELTY Toward the Hebrews Confirmed in - Letters to This Country. SHDBBED, BOBBED AND EXILED. They Must Dance to Any Tone Which. Suits a Russian's Fancy. AN ABSTRACT OP THE BEFHE8SIYE LAWS The letters and papers from Bussian Israelites to their relatives in Philadelphia daily bring fresh instances of the systematic persecution of the race by the Czar's petty officials. The Bussians in this city are re ceiving appeals from their cuelly burdened brethren for tickets of deliverance from the hand of the oppressor. The extent of the persecution in the every day affairs of life among the down-trodden race would surpass belief if the stories were not established beyond a doubt by letters di rect from many victims independently cor roborating each other. These letters show that it was not enongh that the Government should place every obstacle in the way of a Hebrew rising to anv place of prominence or honor, in civil or military office, but that things have come to that pass where thriv ing citizens of this faith can be harassed and driven from their homes, that they can be lawfully robbed of their property, re- stricted'in the honest business they may wish to engage in, thrust out of their seats in public conveyances, andjliterally kicked and spat upon like curs in the very streets. MUST STAND IK CABS. In Bnssia there Is a law to sustain the Bussian who enters a street car, finds every seat taken, and who taps an Israelite on the shoulder and says: "Here, Jew, give up your seat!" That is done in Kischenoff, a city of over 100,000 inhabitants, in Southern Bussia, is shown by letters received in Phil adelphia, says the Inquirer ot that city. One of them is written to M. L. iilitzstein, who keeps a cigar store at Fourth and Lom bard streets. The letter is written in beauti ful Hebrew style, which proves the writer's culture. Among other things it says: Borne few days ago a circular was sent around to the various local officials to the effect that if any "Jid" (Russian for Jew) riding In a street car is occupying a seat and a Christian enters who can und no vacancy the "Jid" Is bound to give up his seat. And if the 'Mid" refuses then the Christian can lodge a complaint against him with the gendarme who will enter it on a protocol and tbs "Jid" will be punished by banishment from the four neighboring dis tricts (corresponding to connties). likewise if a "Jid" and a Christian quarrel in the street and the latter has two witnesses to testify that the "Jid" insulted him, then the offense istpun lshed under the same rule. It needs no telling that each of as is envying those who have letc Russia. The name of the writer of that letter was in the copy of this article until two friends of the oppressed Bussian begged that the name be withheld. They feared that he would be traced out in Bussia and made the victim of revengeful persecution by the Czar's official minions before he can get away from Kischenoff. The main purpose of the letter was to ask for tickets to bring him to America. Thev will be sent. The regulations about street quarrels mak6 it easy for any three loungers or roughs to abuse any Hebrew they happen to meet, get into a fight and then two of them can readily swear that the inoffensive one gave the insult and have him sent ont of the four districts, which would be an equiv alent to prohibiting a Philadelphian from living here or in Chester, Delaware, Mont gomery and Bucks counties. STEALING PEOPEETT BY IiAVT. A Bussian, named Sussman, who has been in Philadelphia'only a few months, has just received a letter from his brother, Isaac Sussman, of Baden, a Bussian town near the Armenian frontier. Sussman owns a house and ground worth (2,000, and three months before Jnne 6, the date of his letter, be received .notice from the chief city official that he must sell out his property in six months. The poor man sold out his furniture and goods and sent his family to America, and remained there himself to try to sell his house. The official order being made public, no Bussian will pay him any thing for the property until the time is up, when he is forced to sell it for a song or see it confiscated. Three months have passed, and he is wondering what on earth to do to .save himself from poverty. What pretense of a reason is set up for the order does not exactly appear. There has been a revival of several harsh laws that would serve the purpose of the prosecution. One regulation was that no Hebrew could possess property formerly owned by a monastery, that heing consid ered a horrible piece of desecration. But Dr. Spivak and B. Harris, of 338 Spruce street, who know the family and vouch for the truth of the statements, mention other regulations which 'would explain it It means, in Dr. Spivak's opinion, that the low prohibiting Hebrews from holding any property whatsoever is being enforced. At least it is enforced in every sense where it suits the officials for any reason to drive out a Hebrew EXPELLING THEJI FEOM TOWNS. Another law which is now revived is that which prohibits Israelites from living with in SO miles of the frontier, and the result is that every Bussian paper contains brief statements that so many were expelled from certain towns along the frontier. This process of driving them out of the frontier towns into the interior is going on rapidly. Many who can afford to travel any other way than afoot are emigrating. One motive assigned for this action.wbich seems to lack any motive but that of mali cious persecution, is that they are a danger ous element near the borders in case of war. Another explanation, lies in the fact that the Government is ever at work trying to paciiy the growing discontent of the Russian masses, whose minds are perverted to believe that their poverty and misery are entirely caused bv the pernicious presence of the Hebrews. The expulsion of dozens of thrifty ones from a small town makes business for their less thrifty, less sober and less industrious competitors and "times are good" again ior awhile. Other regulations tending in this direction prevent a Jewish shoemaker from selling shoes un less they are made by himself. A watch maker can sell his own watches, but he can not buy and sell watches. For refusing ofr .neglecting to doff their hats to the officials and gentry they receive due punishment, and it is announced in a July copy of the Novorotsuiky Telegraph that for sdeh offenses they may no longer have the usual trials, but their punishment shall be at the discretion of the minor magis trates before whom the offender is dragged. HIGH-HANDED OTJTBAOES. Word has just come to ilr. Harris that In the town of Mohilieff the head of the gentry recently called the Hebrews of the town tc a meeting. Me then proceeded to read them a long lecture about their duties. For an hour he rebuked and insulted them about their habitsaud behavior, his charges being about nothing and no one in particular. The sum total of the offense seemed to be tneir shortcomings in making obeisances, doffing their hats and generally paying re spect to their superiors. Thev must be more humble. In conclusion he said that he would select a lew of the most prominent in their numbers to punish asan example to the others of the town. He then dispersed them in a lordly way.. Alter the meeting the Hebrews held a council and-ierided to send a committee to the Mayor to inquire in what they had offended. He refused to re ceive the committee, 'and the correspondence concludes by stating that the Hebrews of Mohilieff are talking of leaving for America. The Hebrew young men are forced to serve in the army, but compelled to remain in the ranks no matter how valorous their services. In only the medical service, in which they excel, have they ever been given a military title, except in cases of certain ones whose wealth and influence made it ad vantageous. While the Hebrew Polyakoff, t the railroad king of Bussia, is given a title, the other side of the paper which makes the announcement tells of seven families ex pelled from a certain small village. HANDICAPPED IN SCIENCE. The success of the Hebrews in higher sci entific pursuits was effectually cut off by an order which reduces the percentage of those who may be admitted to the higher Institu tion of learning almost to zero. The result is that after spending'eight years, as they must, In schools graduating to what would be our central high school, only a one hun dredth part of the Jewish graduates can ever get into a college of medicine or engi neering. The last copy of theFoscftod tells of the lite of M. Babhmowich, who was driven to despair, starvation and suicide by this rule. Oat of respect for Jewish scientists in Bussia and disrespect for the oppression of the Jews, the last medical congress refused to meet in St Petersburg. It is on account of the revival of the meanest forms of Bussian persecution of the Jews that an influx to America is looked for, and the Jewish Alliance is about to call a mass meeting to further the movement to prepare a plan of distributing them over the country as they come. THE CZAE'S EDICT. Abstract of the Repressive Laws About to be Enforced. From the London Times. First Jews throughout Bussia (and in cluding Bussian Poland) must henceforth reside in towns only, and not in the country, No Jew will any longer be permitted to own land or even to farm land. All Jewish land owners, farmers and agricultural laborers will thus be expelled from their village homes, and unless they have saved the means of subsistence, will be reduced to beggary. To intensity the severity of this edict, and widen its scope, the Government officials have includetTmany hundreds of small towns in the category of country vil lages, and expelled the Jews from those towns. In this manner the number of suf ferers from the edict is greatly augmented. Tens of thousands of souls will be thus ren dered homeless. These laws, known as the "May Laws," were promulgated in 1882, but Were never put into force until the pres ent year. Second Jews have hitherto been allowed by law to reside in only 16 of the counties (gubernia) of Bussia. But the law has not been enforced against Jewish merchants in many important commercial centers outside those provinces, such as Biga, Libau, Bostoff, etc.; tor, by a Ministerial circular of 1880, Jews long established in such towns were permitted to remain there unmolested. The law is now to be strictly enforced, and, by a recent Ministerial order, all Jews, numbering many thousands of families, settled ontside the 16 counties, are to be ex pelled. AETISANS EENDEEED HOMELESS. Third Jewish artisans who in like man ner had, under the law of 1865, been per mitted to settle temporarily in places ont side the 16 counties are now to be expelled from those places. Tens of thousands of artisans with their families will, it is said, be affected by this edict, and rendered home less. Fourth Jews are no longer to be allowed to be in any way connected with mines or mining industry, nor even to hold shares in any mine. Filth The Jews will henceforth be prac tically debarred from partaking of any edu cational advantages, whether in schools, gymnasia or nniversities. Hitherto they have been allowed admission subject to the limitation that their number should not ex ceed 5 per cent of the total number of students. Secret instructions have already been sent requiring the reduction of this small percentage to still lower limits, and from many of the higher educational insti tutions all Jewish students have been ex pelled. Sixth The legal profession, in which here tofore a large number of Jews in Bussia haye achieved great success, will in future be closed to Jewish students. A law has al ready been put in force requiring the special sanction of the Minister o; the Interior be fore a Jew, qualified by examination, may practice. Since the promulgation of the law not a single sanction has been given, and it is understood that none will be given. KEPT OUT OF PEOEESSIONS. Seventh Jews are henceforth prohibited from following the professions of engineer or army doctor, or from filling any Government post, however subordinate. In the days of the Emperor Nicholas it was a subject of reproach to the Bussian Jews that they were alltraders and not pro ducers. That reproach has since been wiped away, and now an enormous propor tion have become skilled artisans, agri culturists and professional men, all adding largely to the wealth of the Empire. But under the new repressive laws all this communal progress is to be re versedthe artisan, the farmer and profes sional man are all to be ruined, and those who survive the persecution must become traders in'the over-crowded towns. It is estimated that the total number of Eersons who will be expelled from their omes under the new law will not be far from 1,000,000. The consequent migration and the congestion of the starving fugitives in those cities where Jews will still be al lowed to dwell will be so dangerous, and possibly so pestilential in its results, that only one object can be contemplated by the instigators of these persecutions, namely, the total extermination of the 4.000.000 Jews of Bassia. FATHER OF FOTJ2 SONS. lie Wished to Experiment With tlieThlm- blerlgger for Their Benefit. New York San. I We were waiting at the depot at Texar kani when a young man pulled out a thim blerigging outfit and began to call for bets against his game. If it was against the law no one interfered with him, and in a few minutes he had worked up quite an excite ment I was with a friend from Buffalo, and we were not "in." However, as we sat apart from the crowd a benign and benevo lent looking man about SO years old came over to us and said: "Gentlemen, I am Mr. Jones, of St. Louis. I have four sons. This is a wieked, wicked world, and I take every precaution to guide them in right paths. "I have heard of this game, but never saw it before. I want to play it just a little. I shall lose, of course, and that will make a strong point for me when warning my boys against such temptations. I can prove' to them that it is a skin came." "Well?" "Well, I have no small money. If you could change a f20-billformelthinkl'd lose about $5 for the benefit of my boys." The Buffalo man said he'd be only too happy to oblige, and he gave him four fives. The benevolent Mr. Jones disappeared at once, but we didn't worry about that It was only when my friend went: to the ticket office and had the $20 thrown back at him as n. g. that we went out to look for the benign father of four sons. The earth had swallowed him up. An odorless liquid. Powerful; cheap. De stroys disease germs, prevents sickness. A necessity In every home. Invaluable in tbe tick room . my31-33-ita 1 TtiE HOUSEHOLD JO NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. itfpptfi&S Presents in the most elegant form THE LAXATIVE and NUTRITIOUS JUIQB OF THB FIGS OF CALIFORNIA, Combined with the medicinal virtues of plants known to be most beneficial to the human system, forming an agreeable and effective laxative to perma nently cure Habitual Consti pation, and the many ills de pending on a weak or inactive condition of the KIDNEYS, LIVER AND BOWELS. It is the most excellent remedy known to CLEANSE THE SYSTEM EFFECTUALLY When one is Bilious or Constipated SO THAT PURE BLOOD, REFRESHING SLEEP, HEALTH and STRENGTH NATURALLY FOLLOW. Every one is using it and all are delighted with it. ASK YOUR DRUQGIST FOR S"ST3rtSJjc OS1 FIGS MANUFACTURED ONLY BY CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP CO. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 10UISYIUE, KY. HEW YORK. If. K lT-TMnr CHILDREN , LEARN ECONOMY. T Ttachtr.-ii t7 trie osa of woiff'sAGMEBackinB yoa save oca pair of Shoes a year, and a bottle at 15 cents lasts three months, for how many years blacking will on year's saving In shoe Leather pay 7 Atk in Dng. Point nnd Boux Tttmuhuig Storujor Pife-Bon. uhieh wnL8TAiiot.oNtwroiiiTur famWh will stain Glass and Chinawahc at the will Stain Tinwarc tamo WILL STAIN TOUR OLD BASXtTS time, ill Stain BABT-s coach ano jffTMMrmr o a a, 77?V lt BJ cam ir rHAvfr. 2k ' 'l WOLFff & RANDOLPH. PhUailalohJa. ' auliTTSSU 108 Tape Worms Taken In the last 19 months, and one of them from J. T. Slagle, of Cal- lery Junction,Butler Co.,Pa. During my professional career I bars taken successfully over 500 tape worms, and this Is nndonbtedly the broadest and ona of tbe loos est on record. It measured, when stretched, 163 feecinches, and to anvone doubting same. If they will call at my office the fact will bo demonstrated, and Mr. Slacle was only two hours under treatment. Thousands are suffer ing who do not know It, Send stamp for cir culars describing syniDtoms. Remember that I also cure Cancer, without knife or plaster. Catarrh and Parasites positively cared. I de sire to Inform my patients and pnblio thaS owing to my large increasing 0fflcepractice.1t has necessitated tbe employment of an assist ant, a physician of years of practice and a graduate of one of the largest medical colleges" In this country. Hitherto It has been an Impos sibility for me to visit patients at their homes, but on and after July LI shall try and visit, either day or night, all those afflicted who can- not call at my office. I have thousands ot testimonials,, showing cures of Cancers, Catarrh, Kidney and Llrec troubles and all chronic diseases that the human system is prone to. in my possession, and will show them to all afflicted wishing Information, concerning their case. Don't forget Burgoon's System Renovator;' tbouiands are using It with success, who bava been suffering for ears. Don't suffer, bat get t a bottle at your drag stores, or call at my office. Consultation free. Office hoars from 8 A. M. to 9f.m. Sundays2 to 5 P. M. Dr. J. A. BURG00N. (I OHIO STREET, Allegheny City, Pa. KNOW ME BY -MY WORKS. anl2-TTfl FREE BY MAIL. Exaggerated claims of excel. lenccin many advertisements have made people tired. We claim nothing. Our Teal speaks for itself. HE-NO IS IN MCKAOIS uki cut. We are the importers who" supply the retail trade. Wei will send, free by mail, to any, one in Pittsburgh or Allegheny J during august, enough He-Noi Teatolastaweek. ApostalcardJ witayouraddressbnngsthetea: MARTIN GITCr. CO., BALTIMORE. Hi x yr .imvv WmM TAXOAl!lfej5s5 4UI3-73-XW1J '
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers