HFPITTSBUE(rr-'DlSTGHrBUND'f:' 'DECEMBER '25, y -1892. synopsis or rKi:viou5 ch vpteex Xord Gaston Verner is a handsome, but unscrnpulous member of society. Ha ha s tired of his vonns and beautiful wlio. To rid lilmsnir rf ii-i,n i. mnMi..K n .i... Into Iier company Lord Wyvis. a man of his illuuitti ttuu utibiuiiuu Luatuiu yuuiiv srauuftl at Hliy COSC. At II J ""uj "".! - -- ..vi ufvo mjiu ii j iauuu juiiiMiiie3 tier iiusuaua s i U iimtniiiiMttnfrniWflr. irnAiitiirilin. tl nmmla o. .I.-!.. .... ... W yvis kiss L id eroer's hand. He ets to qunrrelins with her. tlion-h 1 iiunroi uepanurv ii.isiiiiig ginca pnssoa, ana lie n:is inana:rod so the cmnp.inv meeting vttn uuunyvis. ijjiir uailna'mlnu Is poisoned against lady 1 treats tier verv coolly. O.i the wavho'iic Loid Vt-rnnr stnnjnr Mc !,,ii , Justend of Roins home, coes toLndy Carystort's homenud tells her of li'er trouble, disclos' inc tint Lord orner has sent a diamond tiara to a woman hose name she dors not know. cue uclioics mil n umtr in marry uui winiian mat ixnu verner wishes to fet lid pi her. Lartj Verner then decides to leave her husband's homo diirtmr his temporary ab sence. Herlriends wish to have her with them, but she Insists on carnin- her own liveli hood. On tlieiccomme.idatiou ofhor aunt sho seeks fie post of housekeeper for an un known but pi esumably old man. It is a quiet shod: to her to dUcover th.it lie i com-p,iratiolvyonn5a:iddecidedlvhand-ome. Lndv Verner accepts the place though she meets wltti many embarrassments In rnanatl-ii; Mr. Dra ton's household. In the mean time Ixnd Vemerendcnvors to spread the report tint his wire has eloped, and has a vio lent q u au el with her cousin Jtreuda. Mr. Drayton is coon convinced that his new house keeper is not an ordinary person, and finds himself falling in love with her. CHAPTER XXYL Let us rise mi and part: she will not know, Let us 20 seaward a the great winds go, Full of blown sand and foam. What help is there? There is no help, for all these things are so, jn J all the world is bitter as a tear. And how these tilings are, though, j e strove to show. She would not know. Evening has fallen upon the earth. A dewy August evening, rich in beauty. The light is still with ui, but tempered gener ously by a soft shadin; that fills from the darkening heavens. Ithoda standing be neath the clump of elms in the old quiet garden giarces with a touch of rapture to ward the still glowing horizon. The guests had arrive' in due course by the 6:40 train, and had fonti'l everything in readiness for them. After that crowning act of lolly of hers (that perhaps would not have been such folly after all, it e:ie had not been discovered) Bhoda had torn off her finery, now hatclul to her (for had it not brought her cold and questioning looks from him''), and given her -whole mind to the business before Iier.s The result was un qualified success! Dinner is now over, and there has been no flaw, no fault anywhere. Once assured on tins point, she has gladly caught up a white shawl and escaped to the light shadows ol the garden, there to think, and think, and think. Tne sun is not yet quite dead though his glory has departed and there is a wonder lul foe-red light in the western sky. The Mimet is gorgeous, glowing like a hre-opal, and even now, "at sliutot evening flowers," it seems to cast a splendid heat upon the earth. Ithoda, throning hex wrap upon au old bench near her, litts her head as if to draw in the sweetness of that lovely light. Even here over her head the clouds though grav are tinged with brilliant pink: and over there, behind her, there are crim son streaks that look like stains of blood. What an evening! Beautiful as heaven itself. As heaven might be, if one could dream of it. A sense of delight, of joy, possesses llhoda's soul. Xerer perhaps in all her young lite hitherto bas she felt so entirely, eo spiritually happy. Xot a sus picion, not a thought of evil to come, mars the brightness of her thoughts. Hut now she must return to the house, 'though The air was a long sweet dream " Jind the earth was a siteet nldo smile. for other duties lie before her. Her joy, the curious glad uplifting ot her spirit, mil remains iwth her, howcTer, as with light, but lingering loottep, she moves over the mossy sward ot the garden toward that old door, that has grown to be her usual means ot exit and entrance. She goes slowly, feeling safe from the thought ot meeting anyone. Mr. Drayton and his guests must still be in the dining room, or, il they wish to smoke in the open tiir, would certaiulv wove out to the bal conj. And here, where she is, at the back ot the house, there is no lear of her being seen. She has reached the door dear to her the little door that leads to the armory. Prom it runs up a long stone passage, at the end or which is another passage that leads to her own sitting room. As she reaches the angle that divides the first passage from the second, the sound ot coming leet hastens her own steps. Hurriedly turnitig the corner, she steps into tne shadow of a door way (always with that fear upon her that someone out ot her own life may see, and recognize a'ld denounce her), and so stands lost in the growing darkness waiting until the guests mav go bv. She has hardly time to so hide herself when the come round the corner laughing and talking. Certainly she would not have had time to reach her own door a little further on, so it was well she hid stopped here here in this safe seclusion. Sne is congratulating herselt upon -this, whilst blaming herself lor never haing asked old Peter the names of the expected guests (though indeed he would not have known, so hurried had been the manner of their com-ng) when when all at once Great Heaven! Hot this! She staggers back, an awful icv touch, the touch of death, upon her ieart. Oh, worse than death! Gladly would she have welcomed that grim fiend at this moment! Fear! Inghtful, overpowering, seizes upon her, and holds her in its grip." Struggling with herself, she clutches the lintels of the door and bends forward a lace, so leadeu hued, so devoid ot all the brightness and youth that but a second ago made it so oely. that a beholder seeing it would scarcely have known her. les yes. It is he. Gaston! Gaston here! She watches him lrom her shadow like one stricken into stone. He is gone now, but his face lives so in her memory that almost her burning eyes still seem to ee him. She gazes blindly toward the spot where he had b;en! As she thus gazes, someone else sees her. Drayt&ri! He had been the last to Jollow his guests into the garden, and he alone had seen that slight figure, leaning forward in the passage at his right. Perhaps he alone had thought ot looking in that direc , fion. He had staj ed behind to get a box of cigarettes, and was hurrying alter the men who had gone on before him, when he saw her. . And seeing her, he comes to a standstill. Even in the gloom the agony ot her lace, the strained the rigid attitude of her, be comes known to him. He cau hear no the wild sigh that is almost a sob with which, like a wounded thing, she steps from the threshold of that darkened door, ai.d drags herself to the safer shelter of her own room. He casts one glauce in the direction of his friends. They are now iu the open air and the sound ot their gay laughter comes back to him they can wait. He turns and walks deliberately to the door of Mrs. Clarke's sitting room. It is open! She has perhaps had no power to close it behind her. With a feeling at his heart that he scarcely analyz s then, but that he knows is the worst pain lie ever lelt in hit life, and that really means despair, he pushes the door a little farther open and goes in. Ye. She is here. But is this she? This crouching figure iu the corner with uown bent hed. and body descriptive of nothing less than abject terror? What terrible eil own unscrupulous set. Lady Vevnet discover eceptlon Riven by jeusrminatinn. iiu bcci.,ijiiru lie knows tho knew or her renter and she I I .ssYl it Vpnat has fallen 'across this boar, dividing light from dark?" She is leaning against the wait her face covered with her hands. She seems dead to hisapproach; it is as though the powers of seeing, of hearing, have deserted her but alas! not the power of feeling. To her very heart's core she i feeling now, poor soul, and bitterly! As he lavs nis hand upon her arm, she springs suddenly into an erect attitude and a stifled cry breaks lrom her. Slice looks at him wildly. What, or whom, she had expected to see, is as yet unknown to him. but the expression on'her face he never for gets to his dying day. And her cry, too ! Low as it is, it is almost as terrible as the expression of horror in her large eyes. "Don't look like that,"' said he," shaking her slightlv. It is the gentlest of all shakes perhaps, but afterward well, he never quite forgave himself for it. "Think!" savs he, bending over her. "Collect your self! What is it' What has happened?" 'That man!" says she. Her voice is a mere gasp. She lays her hand on his arm and clings to him as one might to the rock when the raging seas are round him. "For God's sake hide me. Hide rue!" says she. He loosens her hand from his arm. "What man?" "He was there. I saw him." Her (treat frightened eyes are gazing into his; the poor hands he has repulsed are clinging at- irmnieuiy to eacn otner. "Who was it you saw?" asks he, his tone devoid of all kindliness. "Pray remem ber," says lie courteously, but w'ith a cer tain nauteur, -mat in tnis house no one shall harm you. Speak freely then. Let me help you it X can." "Who can help me?" says she. She looks towards the open door. " "Oh, shut it!" cries she: "shut it quickly! Did he " she looks noi at him and her voice falls to a whisper a terrified whisper, "did he see me? Did he? Do you think he saw me? Oh, if he die!" She gizes at him, and see ing him so deadly silent, her face grows stronger. "Speak!" cries she; "why don't you speak? Do you think he saw me?" Once again she lays her hand npon his arm, and once again he repulses her, nar, recoils from her but so slightly so more in thought than deed, that she in her dis tracted state does not notice it "He! Give me his name!" exclaims he, harshly. "Gaston!" says she. "You must have seen him? You why," with sudden return of agonizing thought, "you asked him herel Oh, why why did vou ask him here? He of all men!" Something seems to break within her, and she falls to weeping, not loudly, not aggressivelv, bnt in a most sad fashion, heavily, pitffullv. But in Drayton's heart there is no pity tor her. His face grows' mid. "Gaston Vernerl" He feels choked. He thrnsts her from him. The sickening doubt, the hateful fear of thisjsiternonn is on him once a;ain, and this time past a'.laving. How easy it all seems now; how clear is the explanation. What a mad fool he was to let her beauty dupe him, a few hours ago, into a beliel in her innocence. Even then he had known! That word guilt he had shrunk from it then, he had deliberately put it behind him, but now it cries aloud, it will not be silenced. Guilt! Disgrace! The whole thing is so plain. It is hardly nec:ssary to go ipto it. Verner! Verner of all men! And those diamonds! And her fear her horror! To ask even a ques tion seems superfluous and yet A very passion of desire to' hear her speak, to get the truth if possible from her false lips, possesses him. He turns fiercely upon her. 'What is this man to you?" demands he, in a low, but terrible tone. Her tears cease, but she begins to tremble. "Oh! don't speak to me like that," says she. "Have pity on me. He" looking at him with eves dull with remembered griefs "he had no pity!" "He! be!" repeats he, furiously. The word has maddened him. And then, sub duing himself by a violent effort, "An swer me," says he, coldlv, austerely. "I cannot," faintlv. "You shall!" His tone is almost tyran nical It is sharp, decishe. "1 will have the truth," says he, "whatever it may cost either yon or me. Remain here. I shall be back in half au hour." He goes toward the door, and she, a sudden fresh fear occur ring to her, runs alter him. "You," says she-panting, "vou you are not going to tell him?" "What men vou have known!" kits hi. his lips curling, his voice vibrating with contempt. "No! I go to make certain ar rangements. Jest," bitterly, "anything should make him suspect your presence here." "You will come back?" asks she, fever ishly. "Come back ? Do you wish me back ?" A strange look of surprise, of djsgust, grows within his miserable eves. Was ever woman so dead to honest ieeling? "I have told you I shall come back in halt an hour, to learn the truth !" "Oh ! hurry, hurry, hurry !" cries she vehemently. She has forgotten evervthlng, save the fear of being alone, while Gaston is in the house. Dravton gives licr a part ing glance. What a g'lance it is ! She does not see it, having shrunk back into the gloom of the room, and it is well she does not As he hurries toward the garden to ar range the movements of his guests so as to leave himself tree tor the interview he has not only sought, bnt commanded, he tells himselt that probably she will be gone when next he seeks her. Thirty minutes is a long time there are many possibilities in it when one is flying lrom from shame I CHAPTER XXV1X I am weary of days amftiours, Jtlown buds of Darren flowers. Desires and dreams nn i power And everytnlns but sleep. She is not gone, however. Insomuch, he has to admit, he wronged her. She is here, and there is even something in the eager manner iu which she goes to him as he enters her room, that tells him she has been waiting, not only waiting, but longing for his return. ' I. "Well?" said she, quickly. It Is a ques tion. She has stopped, about a yard, lrom him, and is lbolrfng at him anxiously. She lias'-evidently been tutoring herself into calm during these last interminable 30 minutes, and her lovely eyes, tear-saddened, are fastened upon his. Dark shadows lie beneath those eyes sad, bitter shades that speak of grief, too great to be subdued. "Well?" repeats he sternly. He is in no whit moved by her most moving face. "You have seen him?" "If by 'him' you mean Sir Gaston Verner, yes." "Yes, I mean him," says she, growing very white again all the serenity, the strength, she had been praying for during the past dreadful half hour (and she had prryed very liard), now forsaking her. "It was he then!" she says, in a despairing tone. AH at once she seems to grow ten vears older God knows what wild hopes had held her up during his absence ! The hope, for one, she might have been mis taken. That her eyes deceived her I "Ah, ves; it was. Why "did you ask him here ? Were there, ""lifting piteous eyes to his, "not enough men in all this miserable world that you should choose him among them for your guest?" "Why bhould I not choose him ?" asks he. "True, true I" Her lovely meekness touolies liim In no wise. "But," she gazes at him imploringly, all her heart in her beauteous eyes, "he cannot be of any use to you, in any way. It is impossible that you and,he can have one thought in com mon, and, therefore, I entreat ot vou to get rid of Mra. Do," rising and coming nearer to him,t"do get ridot him I And at once. Promise me," with a touch of passion, "that yon will send him away to-night. To-night I Oh, if not to-n'ght, to-morrow. It," with a wild sob, "dill be so easy for you to do this, while lor me" her voice tails into a sad whisper, "lor me, it he stavs, it will mean ruin 1" "Kuinl" The word falls like a fresh con firmation of his fears upon his heart. He turns from her, leaving her standing there, alone, crushed, outlawed as it were, aud crosses the room to the window. He seems to breathe more freely or so he tells him self when the whole length of the room lies between him and her. Some horrible sounds are beating against his brain Those old ones guilt, disgrace, and now this one, "ruin," and with all these a newer one still befooled. No. She shall not befool him, though she w ere though she is the loveliest thing On earth she shall not befool him. Vernerl If It had been anyone but he a man with a reputation so vile, even among men, that many of his own class give him the cold shoulder. A man who, if he (Dray ton) had a sister or mother staying with him, he would never have asked'inside his doors! Somebody bad suggested Verner to him as a good shot, and he asked him down to Kingslands, no arnere pensee in his mind. He had met Verner7 in town some months ago, but had kuon nothing of him, being anything in the world bpt a society mau. But he had heard a great deal since and that she she should Once again be sees her, a he saw her an hour ago crouching in the corner, her large eyes wild with fear; of such fear come tlidis honor. She had entreated him to hide her to hide her from what? And those dia monds! Great heavens! How slow be was to read the truth. And how she had seemed to delight in them. The very wearing of them had seemed to lend her a special light, a new spiritual brilliance. She had sparkled, she and those cursed diamonds, together; she had even His thoughts break off, her voice dispels them. "You will send him away?" savs she. She has not moved. She ha? not attempted to go to him. Her sad request comes to him from the other end of the room. M1E STAGGERS BACK, AN AtVFUL "No," says he, with decision. "No?" repeats she, as if hardly believing. She lifts her hand suddenly to'her throat. "And yet'you said vou were my friend?" "Then!" coldly. ""Now" "Yes, and now?" It is she who is ques tioning him this time. "Now, I am not that I don't know what I am now. I can only recollect what I wa." "My friend I" she puts in, quicklr. "Ah, if you recollect that, you will do this thing forme." He makes her no reply. To tell her that he had loved her that "he had, in his own mind, called Jiimselt her lover to what end would it be? Let her believe he meant onlv friendship. , He is so lost in his sad, miserable, angry thoughts, that when her voice breaks on his ear -again, he starts violently. She bas crossed the room, and as he turns he finds himself face to face with her. "You ire angry with me," says she tremulously. Her eyes are reading his, with so evident a desire to understand how it is with him to propitiate him to gain him over if pos sible to grant her request that he, misjudg ing all this sorrowful entreaty, still further hardens his heart against her. "Whv should I be angry with you?" says he, coldly. "By what right should I pre sume to ferl any sentiment toward you whatsoever?" - "Don't speak so coldly to me," says she. "Do not Not now, w"hcn 1 want h'elp so badly. Be kind to me," pressing her hands against lier breast, "for this one little time. It is so much to me, so small a thing to you. I can leave here, of course. I know that but this is such a safe harbor for me; and to face the world ncain to lace him!" She stops. Her eyes fill with tears; such lustrous eyes, in such a piteous face. Drayton's soul sickens within him. Was ever beauty so deceptive? Surely to look at her, one might well believe There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple. Her face that so, many fools have called the index, of the mind shines pnre as pure as truth itself. Her eyes are full of hon esty; her mouth, how innoccntl And vet, to believe in her! What? Would'at thou have a serpent sting theo twice? He turns his eyes away. "I am atraid I can be" of no use to vou here," says he, in a frozen tone. "Sir Gas ton is my guest; whilst vou "What are you to me?"- "Notniagr Nothing!" says she hastilv.'- Bntshe whitens to the link as she sars it. She falls back shfl turns aside. Aloofcofthe, mosi. poignant anguish covers her lace. She moves slowly, li.tlessly awav, to where she bad first stood, at the farthest end of the room. There she stands with head up lifted it is true, but with her eyes staring blindly at the opposite wall, and her hands, loosely clasped, hauging Ijelore her a pic ture of Despair. It would be impossible to describe Dray ton's feelings at this moment AIf he has up to this been cursing her in his mind, he is now cursing himself a thousand fold more. Great heaven! What a Ijrute he is what a brute, to bnug such a look as that to any woman's face. And to bring it to hersl He crosses the room. He catches her arm. No, now he will learn the truth. He will have it placed before him in plain lan guage that there will be no disputing. Ho knows at this moment that he would go through death itself to learn it "Tell me!" says he; and now his tone is altogether changed it is stern still, but pasiionatelv imploring. "Tell me, I en treat you, the truth ot all this." "Don't ask me that," says she. She shrinks lrom. him, but he holds her firmly, with a firmness ot the strength of which he is perhaps hardly aware. She is trembling in every limb. "I must," says he. "I cannot live unless I know it. Answer me, I beseech you." "It it my own secret," says she piti fully. "Ah! It has gone beyond that," says he. "I have kept it all -this time; will you now compel me to reveal it?" "Yes," says he remorselessly. "If you refuse to tell me" "Then " "Then I shall know what I now -suspect!" "Suspect! you suspect?" "The worst And even if the worst lies before me, still I uoul 1 hear it." Something in his eyes warns her that now she must betray hersecret or lose his esteem for ever. The choice rests with herself. The blood mounts 'to her brow; she under stands iu a vague sort ot way that every thing must be made clear to him, though she never quite knows what were his real thoughts about her at that time. "What are yon thinking?" eries she sud denly. "What? Must I speak then? Well, I will, and you shall judge between us. But," she hesitates, and draws back from him. "Oh! you will not forgive me," says she. "I know that," returns he, slowly. "Already you condemn me. And you," mournfully, "are right, t have deceived you. I " she breaks off, as though it is impossible for her to go on. "Must I tell you?" whispers she in a tone that is scarcely audible. "You must go on, until I get an answer to the first question I have put to you," says he, sternly. "If you do not remem ber it, I will repeat it This man Giston Verner what is he to you?" Her head falls upon her breast "My husbandl" said she faintly. CHAPTER -XXVIII. When first we met we did not guess Tnac love would prove so hard u master. There is a dead silence! A silence well named, for it carries death with it Death to so many hopes. And yet, not an un kindly death, for from it springs a goodly resurrection. Marriage, although it blocks for ever the way to her, has destroyed that worst of all terms, dishonor. Tnough all his life -be laid iu ashes at her feet, still this sweet Pnronix, 'Hofcor,' rising from them, restores a faint touch of beat to his dead heart In the first moment Drayton hardly knows whether it be joy or grief he feels. Both, perhaps but surely joy joy gre at and imperishable rises above all the grief and despair. Married! She is married to him 1 "Your husband?" stammers he. "Yes-' "You are his wife?" She bows herhead. "You'are Lidy Verner?" ICY TOTJCH UPON HER HBABT. She makes a little vehement gesture. "I had put that name behind me," she says. But he lie had not put it behind him. Now, indeed, a fresh wave of memory re minds him that he has been hearing a good deal of Vomer's wife of late. And for the last time he distrusts her. "That is impossible," savs lie. "I have beard something of Lady Verner." "What things?" "That she ran away with Lord Wvvis." "Did she?" She has recovered h'erself now; her tone is haughty in the extreme as she replies to him. "I know nothing of the Lady Verner to whom you refer. I am here." "I big your pardon," savs he humbly. Then, and forever, his doubts of her die, though it cannot be said that he has any thing to kill these doubts, save her own word. "If," says he, "you have hard thoughts of me, as of course you must have, remember how strange, how improbable all things seemed to me; and that," with a melancholy smile, "a man whose one hope in life is blotted out forever, may well be forgiven by even his dearest enemy." "I am not your enemy," says she, in a low voice. Lower and lower falls the light; through the open window the last faint sleeping song of the birds comes drowsily. Over there in the east a great, pale star is shin ing. A little wind coming in makes shiver the leaves of the roses resting on the rose wood table in the corner. "So you are not a widow," says Drayton. She makes a little imploring gesture. "I knew it all along, I think," says he. "Though I tried to believe otherwise. You should have told me " "I know that," she lifts her head and looks steadfastly at him. "That is why I said I had deceived you that I feared vou would not forgive mt. Yes I should have told you. You condemn me about that but," fitmly, 'Sou shall condemn me about nothing else." "There is nothing else. It is all over," says he. ""No; there is this. About this matter of Lord Wyvis. There shall be no more con cealments. You shall hear alL Listen to me," says she, quietly. "I wish you to know, to understand everything. You can believe me or not, as you" will; it is only my own word." "1 shall believe you," gravely. "Lord Wyvis, who was nothing to me, but who, I think imagined he was in love with me, happened to leave town, almost as 1 decided on leaving Gaston! I knew Lord Wyvis was going, and it was madness on my part, but I had suffered suf fered so much that that I thought of nothing, but how to lay the whole wide world between me and Sir Gaston. It was majuess, of course, but I thought ot nothing then exeept how to get away, to hide mvself to never see him again. A great cnance just then came in my way. I took it, 1 came here. You," a littlo miserable laugh breaks, from her, "you can compare dates, if if " ""I want no dates," says he. "Other people will," however, if 1 should appear again; but I shall not You have refused to send Sir Gaston away, and if he should chance to see me Well," with a long, heavy sigh, "even if he should, I shall not go back to tho old life. I shall not appear again with him." "Verner shall go," says he. "Ah!" She smiles a little; but it is a most joyless smile. "Well let me finish," says she, with a sigh. , "Both Lord Wyvis and I disap peared from town almost at the same time. That fact gave him my Sir Gaston a chance of destroring my good nam He did not lose that chance. He made the most rf it Tnis is all," says she. "This," her eyes beginning to burn feverishly, her lips trembling, "this is the truth. As I told you before, there is only my word mine only." "It is enough," says he. "It is true it is true it is truel" cries she, suddenly and then she bur.ts out cry ing. "You av that," she sobs, "bnt you will be like all the rest you will not be lieve." "Not believe? I believe in you with all my soul," says Drayton, who is very pale. "Are you sure?" cries she. "When did you begin to helieve? You did not believe In me just now. Bnt in this case you must believe. I can find out the exact dav Lord Wyvis left England, and I am sure I came down here a day or two before that I can verify every word. I " "Don't," says he, as if hurt "Do yon think I want erification? Are you bent on punishing me? Have I not been pun ished enough alreadv? Have Tone good thine on earth to look forward to?" "You have no doubt, then?" She smiles as if iu a measure satisfied, bnt her smile is heartbrokeu; she looks white and ex hausted. "Not one," says he. "I would to heaven I had!" Yes. This is the end of it, he tells him self. He would now, so strange is human nature, have gladly grasped the doubt that would once more have made her free to give herself to him. But that is all over! Thou shalt foir Waklne, and sleeping mourn upon thy bed; Trul v there seonn no comtort anywhme. "Well there Is no more to say." Bis voice is very low, aud fraught with dull despair. "No. No more. There is no more, at all" She lifts dejected eyes and looks around the pleasant little room where she had refuge found, and sighs. "I shall leave this to-morrow." There is a long pause. "I have another, a better plan," says he. "Why should you leave? Why should you abandou the spot that has so far sheltered yoa that I like to think has grown pleas ant to yon. No, you shall stay here, and 1 shall go away." "Oh, no, no, no." "I pray you not to deny me in this mat ter," entreats he, carnestlv. "I," looking at her, "shall like to think of your being here, when I am" He pauses." "Where?" She draws nearer to him, gazing at him with pallid lips. "I shall go back to my old work," says he with a rather forlorn smile. 'You know how dear the delights of travel are to me. I shall get up an exploring party. I shall find great pleasure in it I " "Oh!" She checks him by a gesture, and then covers her face with her hands. Poor hands that tremble so miserably. "It is not true," cries she. "There is no pleasure henceforth, for you or for me." And, so saying, the tears of her eyes Foil without noise. Thev dron silently on bv oris ttirnnirTi her slender fingers, but not oue sob escapes her. The near approach of death renders all meu silent, and is not this like death? "Pleasure no," says he. "But I would have you take comfort. There are other things besides pleasure. Bhoda. will you add to my bitterness? Do you think your tears are nothing to me? "For the short time we still have together before I go " "A short time!" Her hand drops, she looks at him fearfully. 'You cannot go," says she. "There are" your guests you can no't forsake them, though" She flushes deeply and makes a deprecatory gesture. "Oh, no, I did not mean that," says she. "I know it." He is answering that un spoken apology of hers. If he is forsaking her. it is not for her good, and to his own undoing? "As for my guests, I can arrange for them. I did not think Of them, indeed; I" be hesitates, and lays one hand against his forehead. "This is the end P' says lie suddenly. "The end!" His tone has startled her. She lays a little white hand with a nervous clutch upon her bosom. "The end!" "Yes. It is our last moment together." He has crown deadly white, but his tone is firm. "We part now, lihoda. Now ! We shall never meet agaiu. "Never?" She looks at him and sud denly breaks into a most pitiable little laugh. "Oh, no," says she, "you forget. you torgct J.nere win be to-morrow. "There will be co to-morrow for us; we part now here; I shall not tee you again." "Not once again? Not in the" morning?" A look of terror is growing in her wide gray eyes. "You don't know what you are saying," says she. "Do yon mean that you are going away now now, forever ! Ob, no, j ou cannot mean that; you," with an at tempt at a confident smile, "you are only trying to frighten me ! To-morrow to morrow I shall see you again " here, gazing at him all the time, she sees some thing in the anguish of his eyes that bids her despair: "to-morrow, for the last time." she breathes faintly, desperately. She is now clinging to him. "Are you mad?"sav he, hoarselv. "Why will you' tempt me like this? Is it for my sake tor mine that I go? Khodn! my soul! my beloved! Have pity oa mc, and on yourself." "Ah! how can you talk of pity?" says she. "What pity is there in vou?" Her voice gives way, "You will go?" asks she, in a dving tone. "Yes; I shall go." If ever she had doubted his love for her, it is not now. 11 is voice, his haggard face betrav him. "I shall go," repeats he mechanically. "We part here for ever." "Do you know what that means?" His onlv answer is a long, long look into her tear-dimmed eyes those eyes to be so soon only a recollection. "-h! you do not know," cries she. -wnen you go, wnat snail be lert me then?" "Memory," Bays he, sadly, "and the knowledge that you trusted me, and that I did not betrav that trustl" "Is that all?" asks she. "Oh! how poor a thing is knowledge! Where is the conso lation in it? You," looking at him, with ineffable reproach in her lusttous eyes, "you will, then, go?" "Bhoda!" He grows suddenly verv white. "Ask me to stay and I will' slay!" And then, womanlike, her object "at tained, she shrinks from the consequences of it "Oh, no," says she, with a smile sadder than any tear.', "I shall not ask you to stay. Go, go! Yes; I see it You must go." "For your sake," says he, unsteadily. "For yours alone!" "Well, go!" says she. But even as she gives the fatal command her hands closet upon his sleeve. "A minute!" says she, attrightedlv. He lays bis hands over hers. "You will not forget me," entreats he in a whisper, alive with passionate fondness. "Forget you!" Her glance is eloquent "Then goodby!" He removes her hands from his arm, and holds them with a wild clasp iu both of his, "Goodby my love!" For a second thev look into each other's eyes, and then how is it? They have swayed toward each other. He has caught her to him; she has throwu her arms around his neck. , There is a last sad embrace; a mad cljng ing a little smothered heartbroken crv. Alone indeed! The lonliest creature the earth holds at this moment 2b tit continmd next Sunday. Uopyrl(tht,.lS3:, by tne author. A GOOD BOY'S REWARD Howard Fielding 1 ells of a Clirislmas lie Can iNever Forget. HE PLAYKD THE LITTLE AKGEL Mh'Io a rig-, lubberly l.iar Got All I rcaeuts in . Ight the CHURCH RIVALRY IK GOOSE FALLS IWWTTKf FOR TIIR DISPATCn.l About a dozen distinguished people, in cluding myself, were invited by a publisher to write the stories of our most memorable Christmas days for use on the present festal occasion. I accented the invitation and at once began work on a story left over from last Fourth of July. I took out the fire crackers and substituted snowballs, and was engaged in changing the character of George Washington into that of Santa Clans when I received this note: Never mind your Christmas story. Have decided to have them all strictly truthful. Can j ou surest a man. who can tell the truth, to take your placa in the symposium? Will you hunt around for a day or twi mid find a man! We can afford to pay him $10 more than wo oirered you. if ho amounts to anything, and won't taice less S.irry that there's nothing la it for you, but another time, etc., etc. This came by messenger, 55 cents, collect; and I knew by that and bythe'handwritlng, and by the modest, kind aud charitable nature of the sentiment, that it must be from the publisher. I do not think that even the loss of the 35 cents which I paid in the belief that the note contained a check hurt me worse than the assault upon my veracity. It was very unjust; and, to prove that it was, I sat down and wrote the follow ing yarn which bears the stamp of truth upon its face. The itlches or Lite. , The events which I shall describe were driven into mv memory particularly bar I because they were of the sort that children are supposed to forget immediately. In the days ol which I write the care of me, as is usual with orphans, had devolved upon that one of mv relations who was least able to bear it My Aunt Martha had seven chil dren of her own to provide for, and the eighth was a child of calamity, the writer of these lines. I didn't mind poverty much in those dayi. Most of the things I wanted were free. The essentials of life.as they appear to a ueauuy uoy, are nun ice and frozen snowballs in the winter, a pond with deep holes in it as a place to acquire the art of swimming in the summer and another boy to fight with all the year around. I had these simple necessaries, and seldom craved the luxuries ot life. True, at Christmas time I would have been glad to get more presents, but as some of my more fortuna'e companions were mnch smaller and weaker than myself I was able to use their toys almost as much ns they could. But I grieved along with the other chil dren, when, in bleak November, it began to be whispered about that there would be no Christmas trees in Goose Falls. The churchei had sworn off. But as Christmas approached there was a general feeling" of uneasiness lest somebody should break the boycott, tor, of course, it any church bad a tree all would be forced to do it There were rumors of tree plots immediately after Thanksgiving, and every society suspected the others ot tecret preparations with the design of capturing for its Sunday school those children whose love of religious in struction could be awakened onlv by the hope of spoils. However, nothing definite was done, and the young Goose Fallcrs viewed the cheerless prospect with dismay. A Genins for the Emergency. At this point Providence raised up lor us (i ptujiuei. in me mrra oi William Jennings. He was 14 vears old, as big as the side of a house and as awkward as a young calf. When he sat down he looked as if he had been poured from some gigantic receptacle over all the neighboring furniture. This peculiarity ha) earned him the name of "Sloppy." He was a bov to be envied at Christmas time, for he held more candy than any ten of the others. But he was the only one of us who showed no sorrowat the prospect of Christmas without trees, and we couldn't understand it. Urged to explain his calmness in misfortune, he uttered, on the 15th of December, these memorable Something Kiel for Howdy. words: "Fellers, there'll be more Christ mas trees in Goose Falls this year than ever you see before. You leave it to me." We lelt it to him because we couldn't do otherwise; and he showed himself not un worthy of our confidence. His plan was very simple. He went to Aunt Sally Clarke, who was, perhaps, the most influ ential person in the Unitarian Church. "Aunt Sally," said he, "I saw Deacon Huduut Uown at the Head to-day." Beacon Hudnut was Orthodox, and the Head was a point heavily wooded with spruce trees with Christmas trees, in lact. "Did vou, Willie?" said Aunt Sally. "What was he doing there?" Sloppy Worked It Smoothlr. "Dunno.'' replied Slopuv. "He had an ar, an' he chopped down a tree, abont the size o' the one they had at their church last Christmas. But lie, le.'t it layin' there. I guess he only chopped it down lor fun." "Fun!" exclaimed Aunt Sally. "Well, yon are a stupid boy. Those Orthodox are sly, but I'm a match for 'em. They're goin' to have a tree. Very well, so are we; an it'll bat theirs out o' siiht." :Tm thinkiu' o' comin' bact to your Sunday school cla Aunt Sally." 'said Sloppy, "but, somehow, I think I'm most too big." "Don't you worry about that," replied Aunt Sally promptly; "the bigger the boy thefhiggcr'the present he gets at Christmas. That's my way o' thinkin'." "Aunt" Sally," said the gigantic young humbug, "you're my idea ot a Christian woiran, aud Solomon wa'n't wiser nor more Juit than yru are." It i, perbjpf, needless to say that the story of Deacon Hntnut and the spruce tree was as trne as "Jack nnd the Bean stalk." It is also unnecessaay to state that everybody in town had heard of it inside of twenty-four hours. The Methodists instantly decided to have a tree, and they let it be ccncrallv known, as an in ducement to early piety that candy bigs would be larger that year, and that the con tents would have more "chaw" to it than ever before. Mora Traps Than Ever before This news gave great satisfaction to the rising ceneration; and the feeling rose to wihl enthusiasm when it became known that the Epworth Leagne had decided to have a tree, and that its decision had lorced the Christian Endeavors, the Kl.ig's Dan-h-trs, the Unity Club, the Masons, the Old Fellows and the Sons of Temperance to take similar action. As Sloppy had said, we were to have more Christmas trees than had ever been seen before in Goose Fall?. Most of my dearlittle playmates promptly joined all three of the Sunday school! I did not. Jnt at this point in my career, I was attacked by one of those better im pulses which have so frequently prevented me from enjoying things. I determined to remain true to my convictions and stand by the Unitarians for better or for worse. Other boys might violate the dictates of their consciences for the sake of a lev bags of mere transitory candy, but not L This resolution wis highly applauded bv my Sunday school teacher,' and I figured that the state-of her teelingt ought to be worth at least a new pair of skates to me. It was given out openly that every scholar should have something'on the tree, and that the traditional bag of candy, consisting Iareely or musty popcorn, snould not count as a present The iree festivities began in the morning of the day before Christmas, and lor 36 hours there were at least three in simul taneous operation iu various parts of the town. Children passed through the streets laden with Methodist prenents on their war to get some out of the King's Daughters. Orthodox children who thought that it was wicked to go in the Unitarian Church werit in just the same, and the prospect of eter nal punishment Jent an added zest to their enjoyment of the exercises. How the Genius Fared. Our friend Sloppy, after visiting all the tree-mentioned hitherto, d'scovered that the Conking Club was entertaining the very smallest children in the attic of !h village school building. The stairs groaned under his enormous weight, nngmented bv vast quantities of candy ot three different creeds and he was so exhausted with the ascent that they hadn't the heart to turn him away, and they used him as the recep tacle for all the delicacies contributed bv unskillful members, nnd judged by the more judicious to be fatal to the little ones for whom the entertainment was originally intended. .. Meanwhile I had centered my virtupns mind upon one tree. I had run errands, and, in short, had done a week's work, to make the Unitarian tree a success. I, ex pected that about four of the largest boughs ol the tree would be required to hold the reward; of my virtne. I did not know the actual state of the case: that it had been de- ItiNiM- I 5flWU jA'2fsl -ft J&& J, , , 3 fie Keuard of the tTicled. cided to give educational presents to those boys who had nobody to buy them anything worth having; that "garrets had been ran sacked lor old books, and that mine had been selected by an.otd .lady who had left her glasses at home and knew no more than that the book bad pictures in it. "He won't care What it is, "she said,"he'il like one thing just as well as another at his age." And so it happened that I waited till Santa Claus had nearly stripped the tree, ana mat j. snea some tears oi uisajpoint ment as skates, trumpets, tin swords and other glitterintr treasures went to boys who were already laden, with tributes from- the other churches. At Z.ast the Beward of Virtue. But at last a package was put into my hands. Its shape made me fear the worst. It must be a boot. Well, even so. It might be an Indian fignting story, or a sea yarn full of lee-shores and topsails taken aback; I opened it with trembling hands. There was a picture on the enter. It represented the sacred bird of Chicago, and above was the title, the promise of an enthralling narrative to stir a boy's heart and make him dream: "Harris on the Pig;" That was all. Even mv bag of candy missed me. But I was too young to mind it, and it I cried it " must have been from natural perver sity. I did not read "Harrison the Pig." I have since learned that it is an exhaustive. technical treatise, containing almost every thing which anybody would care to know about the pig, except the motive which led some individuals ot tbat species to treat me so, on that old Christmas Day. As for Sloppy, he has never had so good a time in his lite before, and the day alter Christmas he obtained permissou to strip all three of the trees of their popcorn streamers, and as a reward for his work, he was allowed to eat 780 yards of thepoporn, including the woolen twine on which it was strung. Howam) Fielding. BEEAKIKG AN IHFAHIBY EQTABZ. The French In Dahomey .t Urged to Uavo Used a Kcw Method. London Truth. A discussion seems to be going on as to whether an infantry square can be broken by a charge of men on loot or on horseback. To the non-military turn ot mind this would seem impossible, provided that the square is properly formed. But I read the other day that theFrench in Dahomey cast melinite bombs into an intrenebment of the enemy, with the result that the assailants them selves had to fall back in or..er not to be destroyed bv the sufibcating fumes. Is this a fact or an effort of the journal istic imagination? If the former, what is to prevent melinite being fired into any deuse mass oi men ou a battlefield, whether in square or in any other lorniation, and emit ting such lumes that the square would cease to exist? Admitting the truth of the state ment it seems to me likelv to render war so exceedingly dangerous a pastime tbat few sane human beiugs will be -Killing to engage in it $ JJBOSpCH. A GUINEA A BOX." t rrJraV-TV science MEDICAL SCIENCEj has ach evei great triumph the production of j BEECHA'. DBfj B 5 which will cure Slek H B BcxlsaskiS Headacho and all Jtfor- voo Disorders aralar from Impaired iDlsettlnn. Cunttlpntlon nnd Dlsor- dercd Liver f end tier will nolcsly re- store wcaea to couplets hcsllh. Covsrsd trith a Titleless & Soluble Coatinj. J Of all dru!s:s. Pries 25 cer.t3 a bo-u S New York Depot. i? Canal St. Physician notneeded. I wIllirhuMy send (sealed) CBrr to sufferers a prompt.rjerrtxrencrnre fnrMST inCl. TrriXlTT, VIRIItMIIJt. KKtTorS SSM11TT. MISMOSS, C. 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