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They will be entitled to 1 in, ,-onlined exclusively to their business, with ~N D 'FE of change. -.y Advertising iti all cases exclusive of sub , ;-;j,tioa to the paper. JOB PRINTING of every kind in Plain and Fan v s, done witli neatness and dispatch. He.nd . .ii'is, Cards, Pamphlets, Jfce., of every va in.i sty'., piiuted at the shortest notice. The p >i; rrt. OFFICE has just been re-fitted with Power , ...... io;d every thing in the Printing line ean in the most artistic manner and at the t r at, s. TERMS INVARIABLY CASH. fportnj. GOING HOIIB. lb .-,!. aids in the door of his cottage— Him with the silver hair— Thinking of youth's lost summer, Whin life sc. mod bright and fair. I'll tn < s an. folding their branches AJ und that gray old roof, Mai the sunbeam merrily mingles lis gt-lti with their sombre woof. lb- thinks as he stands in the doorway, Oi ; sweet ami pure young life I h, i hi had fondly cherished- - His thirling, trusting wife ; W In vviui her in her girlhood. Mid praised her beauty rare ; vntl her silver laughter cheered him When his soul was racked with care. lie thinks of the angels at midnight, St. nlitig o'er the threshhold stone, Taking las treasure from him, And leaving him all alone ; lit thinks of the graceful willow Tin t waves above her form ; And wonders why he lingers, Smce the loved one is now gone. * 1 v.ilight is fast approaching, And closed is the cottage door ; He with the links of silver \\ ill s ami in its shade no more. Like golden drops id music, Like the echo of silver Lt lls, Through tin- trees the wind's low murmur A tide of sadness tells. Aii in in the watches of midnight, Oft r that threshhold stona, Has the Angel been with a message To hi sir the old man home— Hume, where his bride is waiting ; ib me. to that beautiful clime, Where love shall outlive e'en time. THE CHEST WITH THE SILVER MOUNTINGS. was sailing out of Madeira, the good i P,. | > Ml tli Star, a line, trim British vessel, | ! It more lor cargo than for passengers, j .' i v:i'g the latter when she could get | tin-in duller way hoifle from Brazil she ! ,I> is untered a succession oi' bad wea- j i: a, ami had put into Madeira for repairs j i: on visions. Some ol the crew quitted j IHT ineie, and whispers went about that j ! y uvit- afraid of her. Two passengers i Ely had come in her from Bio de Janeiro, j igi nth-man and his servant. At Aladeira j - took on board a Major Gore, his wife, j H\- i-it-gant young ladies, and their maid ! -tiv.int, ail in mourning. The Major's! no aiis wt re straitened, and the moderate j cli.u -of s of the sailing vessel, as compared j wiiii ti.i: papsage-iiioney of the regular pickets, hat I been the inducement to choose j lis > a.th Star. Tiiey had come on board I ..i ill.- ia-t iiiuiifiit and the usual confusion j prevailed. a i down liiere, please; that's the state j c;d-.ii, ok: n belongs to the Don," cried a; . in - t y. ii: a sort of uniform, whose du- i "y m i int tl n. be to show himself in all parts ' i t ship at once. " The Don doesn't I - f-r anybody to go into it" ■ w.t - liie elder-looking of the two young j f : - whose descent he thus interrupted. ' ' Mu d her imperiously handsome face j 1 ' the Lt.y, and lu-r fine dark eyes Hashed ; 1 on the haughty questions, just as plainly \ t> 111 i tollgUe. I a Dun ! \\ ho is the Don? \\ hat do 1 IF- .'ill, hoy ?" it. it's him," said the boy, pointing to a | : i iit oi the deck. "He is as rich MA mines of Brazil knocked into one, j • :. ■ a- good as master of the ship, lor j - v law. If he had nothing else but j ' 1 ! in his cabin he'd be richer than lie i e-'Uiit, for it's full of gold and dia- j Ootids." I -pile of her hauteur, which was nat- ' > h'-r, slie gazed in curiosity. Lean- ; - Mil tlx over the side of the ship was a ; - • nitei man, with a pale line face, and j r |> tbuk eyes. .She remembered to! : - jV ' -ten him there when they came on. 0 : and she had noticed that he never j II turned his eyes towards them, but re- i "t'.i.n! nuerly indifferent to the new com-j - u.tl iln ctimnititioii they were causing ' • u.i- (Kir only cabin passenger,"con- 1 lib'' speaker, "until you come on | We brought him from Kio. He's j - -h horn. >w's his servant Vincent ; a that's always larking. The Don can j ' 'k liiin, though, with half a turn of his ; ' ly'velids You must get a sight of; ' Mich a big one ! It is of carved "i.e. w til silver mountings." d y is he called the Don ?" dt-t ause he's so rich, I suppose. He j *' s wife and child out there, they say, ! 1 1 • s coming home for good. She was i i -.,.-ti or l'oi iugese, and there was some-: .' - | "ld about her, 1 fancy. The sailors, ' ki:>,\v whisper about it, but they won't "■'II IN.-." | -And pray w ho arc you ?" demanded the | ' ■- lady, resenting the familiar manner.! () I|, I'm a middy. That's what they 'is, at h asi ; and a precious sham it is, ! vwe don'i kieiw it before we sail. The j s kipper— lo tiie temporary surprise of his listener, >"U"g gentleman suddenly vanished. ■ •' f-uig 11 quid, she saw the "skipper" ad- 1 1 ' ii g, along with the gentleman passen-1 ilit; captain stopped as*he came up, j •d ly thinking it was his duty to intro "h i tLein to each other. -Ir. \ aleiicia ; Miss Gore." 1 \ ah-neia raised his straw hat and Ihc Ikuilfttd Ikpvfct', K. O. GOODRICH, Publisher. VOLUME XXVI. bowed. Sin- bent also, but haughtily, as if in resent incut of what the captain bad done, and her voice carried a sound of scorn to that huietionary's ear, as she corrected his mistake : " 1 beg your pardon, sir ; it is as well to be correct. Mrs. Glytton, not Aliss Gore." " I beg your's, ma'am," replied the cap tain. " 1 had understood you were the Ma jor's daughter." Vouchsafing no explanation, Mrs. Glyt ton turned away, drawing her flowing black-and-white muslin gown around her slight and stately form, and carrying with her the remembrance of a stern face when in repose, nut of a wonderful attractive one when a smile illuminated it —the face of Mr. Valencia She was accosted by the maid. What do you want Simms ?" "If you plea e, ma'am, Aliss Auta is waiting to know which of the two berths you would be pleased to choose?" Airs. Glytton descended to 'he cabin, one with two berths in it. A young lady,quite as elegant in form as herself, hut with a lace of little beauty, save what lay in its lair blue eyes and its sweet expression, stood there, patiently waiting. " Geraldine, will you be so kuid as to choose your berth ?" " Which is the most comfortable ?" " I think that one ; it seems more airy than this." " I'll take it, then," said Mrs. Glytton.— And the younger lady meekly began to put her own things upon the other. For a few days there was no great ap proach to intimacy, Mr. Valencia holding himself aloof, lie was deferred to in every way, the new passengers found ; and per haps if there was one thing held in more reverence on board than Air. Valencia Liim self it was Mr. Valencia's ebon}' chest that he kept secluded in his cabin, and before which a handsome curtain was generally drawn It was of curious value in itself, that chest with its elaborate carvings and the adjuncts of silver. The Gores had left their only son in a grave in Madeira, whither they had gone a year before, hoping to prolong his life. So much depended on it. Had he lived but two months longer he would have come in to a large fortune, and could have willed it to his family. He died, and it went front them ; and the Major was returning to En gland a bitterly disappointed man ; return ing to poverty aud debt, and all sorts of humiliations, for he had fully counted on this coming money for years, and had lived accordingly. Mrs. Glaytton, his only daughter, had been a wife for six months only, and had been back under her father's roof, a widow, these three years. She was five atid-twenty now, and had no fortune whatever, but plenty of pride. Auta Gore, an orphan and the Major's niece, lived with them ; she possessed about a hundred a year, ninety of which the Major and Airs. Gore took, leaving her the rest for clothes and pocket-money. Tolerated as a depen dant more than a relative, poor Auta had been taught the lesson of humility, and had learned it effectively. Certainly the ship did not appear to be a lucky one. Contrary weather pursued it after quitting Madeira, just as it had pre viously ; violent head-winds one day, utter cairn the next ; and the voyage promised to be unusually prolonged. It seemed to Mrs. Glytton, who was a remarkable shrewd observer, that some sort of dissat isfaction reigned amidst the sailors which was not allowed to transpire beyond them selves. Meanwhile an intimacy sprang up between the Gores and the Anglo-Spaniard, rather remarkable from his previous cold ness. They were together always ; be paced the deck with one or other of the young ladies—generally Mrs. Glytton—at his side, or sitting under the awning in the autumn sun, while he told them tales of Brazillian life. And Geraldine Glytton had begun to think the wealthy Don worth her notice. The hidden treasures of that chest, filled to its lid with diamonds and jewels, floated before her in a dazzling vision by night and b}- day. Simms had craftily thrown out delicate questions on the sub juct to the servant, Vincent, and he respon ded without reserve. They were almost priceless jewels, he affirmed ; necklaces, rings, armlets, all lit for a queen ; one tia ra of diamonds was said to be worth eight thousand pounds. Geraldine Glytton turned half faint with delirious hope as she gath ered this, and made up her mind, in the consciousness of her irresistible charms, to be George Valencia's second wife. Nor for himself did she care ; but to be the mis tress of such gems she would have well nigh bartered her soul. The chest was ol curious shape, beautiful as it was, very long and narrow ; and Mrs. Glytton some times saw the sailors look askance at it, more in dread than admiration. That some mystery, and not a pleasant one, was con nected with it in their minds was evident, and she wondered greatly. Did they fear temptation? Not-so she. "1 would give all 1 am worth to lift the lid !" she passion ately murmured, gazing in at it one day from the cabin door, as it stood revealed behind thu undrawn curtain. " And I'd not go aiiigli it to be made skipper to-mor row," slmdd' red a passing sailor, in whose hearing she had unwittingly spoken. " Have you been long in the Brazils?" asked Major Gore one day, as they were all, except Mrs. Gore, who suffered from sea sickness, sitting on deck, Mr. Valencia leaning over the side in his customary man ner, while he watched the waves. " Ten years." "Teu years of exile! A short while, though, to make a fortune in ; which you have done, I believe?" " A larger fortune than I shall know how to spend," said Mr. Valencia. "We were originally Spaniards ourselves, and have j connections still in Brazil, so that 1 went out under good auspices. The lady I mar ried was also very rich." " She must have died young. You can not be more than forty." " I am thirty-six; 1 dare say 1 look forty.' Geraldine Olytton's lips parted as she i waited for more. She had become anxious Ito know somewhat of his first wife. Major Gore continued : " What did your wife die of, Mr. Valen -1 cia." Mr. Valencia extended his arm. "See! Is that a petrel ? We shall have bad weath ! er again " Major Gore took his glass. " I think it's j only a sea-gull. Your wife, Mr. Valencia— ! has she been dead long ?" TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., FEBRUARY 22, 1866. Mr. Valencia turned round and faced the Major ; his countenance stern, his lips drawn in. " Pardon me, Major Gore, but I would prefer to speak on some other sub ject. That is a petrel." Major Gore stared and bowed. He was not gifted with superfluous delicacy, and he presently entered on his questions again. " Why do the sailors call you the Don ?" Mr. Valencia burst into a laugh. ''They know, I suppose ; 1 don't. Perhaps they take me for a Spaniard." "Nothing less than a Don—whatever that important title may imply—would t *av el with a chest of jewels such as yours," in terposed Geraldine Glytton in a tone be tween jest and earnest ; as <he moved to his place at tha ship's side, and looked af ter the bird, the harbinger of storm. The words seemed to surprise Mr. Valen cia. " Who told you I travelled with a chest of jewels, Mrs. Glytton ?" " Who told mef Oh, it's the talk of the ship. That large, beautiful ebony chest, you know, in your cabin." Had his face turned pale? or was it only Mrs. Glvtton's fancy, as she closely watched him. It changed ; and the next moment sarcasm was pervading its every liue. " Joking apart, though, Air. Valencia," she persisted, " does the chest contain jew els ?" "It does. Valuable jewels." " And what shall you do with so many?" "Bestow them on my wife when I marry again," he replied, looking full into her handsome face. Had he divined her seeret thoughts? For once Mrs. Glytton showed that she was an noyed ; she turned to her cousin, speaking tartily, " Auta, how neglectful you are ! Poor mamma keeps her cabin, ai d you sit here, never looking after her !" Auta Gore, meek as ever, and lovely in her meekness, was hastening away, when Mr. Valencia offered his arm. She blushed as she took it. " Your cousin is curious as to my jew els, Miss Gore. It does seem strange, I suppose, for a single man to possess so many. They were my wife's. Had my child lived, they would have been hers; but she likewise died. Aly wife had a passion for costly gems. Many of them were heir looms." " But do not talk of your wife if it pains you to do so," said Auta simply, remember ing the recently passed scene. "We ean uot always bear to speak of the lost when they have been very dear to us." "True. But my case is an opposite one. I did not love my wife, Aliss Gore. Her memory is painful to me ; I had almost said hateful." " Oh !" exclaimed Auta. " She gave me cause to hate her," he con tinued, iu a low tone. "It was not a hap py marriage from the first ; she was older than I by some years, and we did not assim ilate. 1 married her for money, not for love, more shame to me ; still I—l—tried to do tny duty by her. There's a confi dence for you, Aliss Gore. But I'm sure 1 don't know why I've told you ; unless it is that you seemed to belong to me since 1 knew your name was Auta ; it was my child's ; let the confidence rest between us." She blushed again in the prettiest man ner possible, byway of answer, and glanced up an assent from her blue eyes, as Air. Valencia resigned her at the stairs leading to Airs. Gore's cabin. And the contrary winds continued, inter spersed with dead calms ; and the sailors looked gloomy as death. How long was the voyage to last ? One thing it favored —and that was the close and ripening in timacy betwen the passengers ; and Airs. Glytton might always be seen by the side of Air. Valencia. For hours together they would pace the deck, her arm in his.— Whispers went abroad in the ship that he surely meant to make her his second wife. It might be so. Air. Valencia was not the first man who lias succumbed, spite of will, to the charms of an attractive woman. Was it a dream ? Mrs. Glytton sat up in her berth, the drops ot horror gathered On her brow. The ship was tossing about in a fearful storm, and she suspected they were in danger. Not at that was her ter ror awakened, for she was constitutionally brave, but at the whispered words of two of the crew who had comedown to secure something or other that had broken from its fastenings close by her head. Snatches of wolds, at the best, but tfieir import all distinct and terrible. The ebony chest which had been the subject of so much covetousness to her, did not contain jewels but the wife of Air. Valencia ; the wife who he was stronglv suspected of having mur dered The remains had been smuggled on board in that chest, out of the way of the South American authorities, and he himself set afloat the false report that it held jewels: There had lain the cause of all the ill the ship had encountered ; it had led to the desertion of most of the crew at Aladeira ; and these two sailors lamented in rather strong language that they had not deserted too ; and tiny spoke mutin ously of the captain for not hauling the chest overboard, instead of keeping it there to curse the ship and put their lives iu dan ger. Geraldine Glytton's hair stood on end as she listened, and her face turned cold and damp with faiutuess. The storm subsided. Not so the tu mult in the brain of Mrs. Clytton. Over and over again she asked herself, did she really hear BUCII words, or were they the fancies of a troubled dream ? In the broad light of day, in the reassuring bustle of so cial life, she laughed at the utter absurdity of the strange tale ; nevertheless, down deep in her heart lay a doubt —true or un true? Aud she saw the sailors exchange discontented whispers one with the other, and heard them say, as they glanced around with ominous faces, that they should never see land again. " I cannot stand this suspense,"she mur mured 011 the evening of the second day. "Yet how end it ? It is not a thing I can speak about. The ship would conclude that the fright of the storm had turned me mad —" " A regular gale, ma'am, that last, was it not? llut we shall go along well, I hope now. The weather seems to have cleared." " Vincent, tell me !" she cried out, lay ing her hand upon the man's arm in her fe verish impulse—for the interruption had come fiom him, as he was passing her. " Tell me truly, as though you were speak- REGARDLESS OK DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER ing for your life, what is it that your mas ter really has in that ebony chest ?" "My m ister has jewels in it, ma'am," was the ready and evidently truthful ans wer. " Beautiful gems that belonged to his wife. They were to have been her child's but the little lady died too. When Mr. Valencia was packing them in the chest lie said he had half a mind to leave them Behind, so little does he care for them. Only there were no relatives to leave them to."* She heaved a sigh of intense relief. " I heard the sailors whispering the night of the storm, Vincent. They said the ship could not get along for what was in the chest ; ihey spoke of a dead body. Of course I knew it was nonsense." Mr. Vincent swayed himself to and fro in a perfect delirium of laughter. It was some moments before lie could beg pardon for it, or speak at all. " That was my doing, Mrs. Glytton. When we were getting on board at Kio it somehow came out to the sailors that the chest had jewels in it. Knowing what a light-fingered lot Jack is ou occasions, I thought it well to put them on another scent, and confided to them, as a weighty secret, that the chest really contained the ashes of Mrs. Valencia, which were being brought home for interment. Aud they have believed it all this while. What soft fellows sailors are." Entirely reassured, thoroughly convin ced, Mrs. Glytton forgave the man's famil iarity and laughed with him, forgetting her dignity. She dismissed the subject from her mind from that moment. Vincent en tered on a description of some of the treas ures of the chest, and she listened until her pretty mouth watered Two whole hours that evening was she chatting by the side of Mr. Valencia. The ship did arrive in port, aud safely, in spite of the prognostics of the sailors ; and the passengers parted at Southampton, only to meet again early in December, for Mr. Valencia had given a cordial invitation to the Major and his family to meet him in his paternal home in Norfolk—his, now—and spend a long Christmas with him. And they arrived early in December, nothing loth, finding a home replete with every con venience,every luxury,and a worm welcome from Mr. Valencia, who in his turn hail been wariuly we.coined by old friends around, lt was an old-fashioned house,full of winding passages, in which Mrs. Glytton and Auta Gore hist themselves perpetual iy " It is a perfect home 1" cried the Major, in a rapture of admiration. " You have given it everything, Mr. Valencia, that can assure happiness and comfort." " Not quite perfect yet," dissented Mr Valencia. "It wants one thing more, Ma jor, which I suppose I shall have to give it -- a mistress." " Shall you add that ?" inquired the Ma jor, his eye resting, perhaps unconsciously, on his daughter. " I hope so. The happiness denied me me in my first wife may be mine in the sec ond. What do you think. Miss Auta ?" Auta Gore colored so vividly at the un expected question, that she was glad to escape in very self-consciousness ; aud Mrs. Glytton, full of contemptuous pity, said Auta was growing more absurdly shy every day. The days went on for all parties in a sort of Elysium. Alajor and Airs. Gore had nev er been so luxuriously off' iu their lives ; Geraldine was indulging blissfull visions, their whole basis, gold ; and Auta was in the mazy depths <>f a first love-dream,whose idol was George Valencia. Her heart had gone out to him in those days when they were on the broad sea, when he had talked to her in low tones, unexpected by any body, and gazed into the depths of her blue eyes. And the ebony chest ? It was in Air.Val encia's private rooms in the west wing of the house, its contents (as was understood) as yet undisturbed. Geraldine Clytton's desire to see those priceless jewels, so shortly, as she hoped, to be hers,was grow ing ii resistible, fevering her spirit with its excitement. Why could he not show them to her ? The question began to torment her more than was good for her equanimity, ami it gave rise to tiioughtsnot justifiable. But, let us hope that accident alone led to the step she finally took. Oil Christmas Eve they were sitting out of door, when Air. Valeucia in taking something from his pocket, let fall a key, with a small silver chain attachedlo it. He did not perceive the loss, and Airs. Glytton steathily secured it It was one of the mildest days ever known at that season, thu sun shilling, the air balmy as in spring,the violets ami prim roses raising' their modest heads. Nothing of the unusual beauty saw Geraldine Glyt ton ; that key, lying unsuspected in her hand, was obscuring her vision physically and mentally. Instinct had told her it was the key of the chest, and she had resolved to take a siv peep for herself, like Blue beard's wife. She had to wait for the opportunity, and some delay there must necessarily be ; yet her mind was in that feverishly excited state that brooks it not. At the dinner ta ble that evening an excuse was made for Mrs. (Jlytton ; she was " lying on her bed with a violent headache, and must on no account be disturbed." Half an hour of impatient waiting yet, that they might be fairly settled into the dinner, and then she stole away on her expedition. She hated to lose her dinner : but what was dinner, even though taken by the side of George Valencia, compared to the gratification of that irrepressible longing-the sight of those glorious gems. The moonlight was streaming in at tin corridor windows as she made her way to the opposite wing of the house, shielding with her hand the candle she had brought. Iler heart was beating, her veins were throbbing : not at the dishonor of the act she was about to commit; not at the dread of detection, but with the morbid eager ness for the sight she had so long and ar dently coveted. Of detection there was little fear at that hour. Mr Valencia was heading his own table, and Vincent was safe behind his master's chair. Opening the green baize door that shut in the wing, and closing it softly after her, she turned into the second room on the left. There i*. was 1 the long, beautiful ebony elms! ; it stood against the wall, opposite the large ; window, in the moonbeams, which glittered jon its mountings of silver. There was no I time to go to work deliberately ; for inter- ruption, involving the awful agony of de tection and shame, was not impossible, though unlikely ; and she hastily put the key into the lock. Even as she did so a tremor shot through her whole frame ; for, in that moment, she knew not how or why, the whispers of the two sailors, that mem orable, stormy night on boaid the South Star, flashed into her mind. What if the chest should contain, not jewels, but ? As she turned the key the lid shot back with a spring, startling her well nigh to death. Surely so large a lid had never so shot back before ! But Geraldine Glytton was not one to yield needlessly to supersti tion, und she took a good look in at the chest. It was about three parts filled, and evidently hud been unpacked, perhaps set in order, since its arrival at its present rest ing place Numbers of small parcels, cov ered respectively with paper, with cotton wool, cardboard boxes, as the case might he, completely lined the chest all round, to the width of some inches ; they were, no doubt the jewels ; but Mrs. Clytton's atten tion was caught by what was lying in their midst. Nearly all down the middle of the chest was laid a snow-white damask cloth, lightly covering what might be underneath. Futures of diamonds no doubt ; and she picked oft'this cloth with so impatient a jerk that the current of air whifl'ed against the candle, and put it out But not before she bad eaugnt a glimpse of what looked like a human face lying there, with wide open, flashing, black eyes. At first, she could see nothing, the moonlight being so faint as contrasted with the recent light of the caudle, and a superstitious terror as sailed her, and turned her heart to sick ness. " What a fool I am !" she ejaculated, in a few minutes, "I am thinking of what the sailors said. Those two things that looked like eyes must be gleaming jewels. And the candle out !—and I not to have the sense to bring matches with me !" She put out her hand ; she meant to pull them forth, those gleaming jewels, and look at them ; hut her lingers came in con tact v ith—what? A face. A dead face, beyond a doubt, for it was cold and stiff.— A cry of awful terror broke from her, echo ing in the silence of the dead room ; and Geraldine Glytton flew away, she knew not how or where. Instinct took her towards her own chamber, and near it she ran against Simms, the maid " Ma'am ! whatever is the matter ?" Seizing the astonished servant by the arm, she pulled her into the chamber, and closed 'he door. She clung to her as though she would never let her go again. She crouched down in the warmth and light of fire, her teeth chattering, and her breath coming in gasps. "But what is it ?" reiterated Simms, more and more amazed : "has anything frighten ed you, ma'am ?" " I—thought—l—saw something in the corridor," came the evasive answer, "Per haps an owl had got in, Simms." She caused uerself to be dressed ; she was alive to the importance of diverting all suspicion from herself, when Air. Valen cia should come to discover the raid on the chest : and she descended to the drawing room. Mrs. Gore, its only inmate, was asleep by the fire ; the Major was sure to be in the dinning-room, for he liked to sit long and enjoy a private cigar ; but where were Auta and Mr. Valencia? A soft, sil very,'happy, laugh seemed to answer from the conservatory, and Geraldine Glytton turned to it ; the mirrors, as she passed them, reflecting her own seared face, into which the warm bloml hud not come. Auta was indeed there, with Mr. Valeii-j cia. But how ? Her hands were clasped j in his ; his face was all close to her bent j an<l blushing one. For one blissful moment j Geraldine Clytton truly thought she saw some deceptive vision that had no place in f reality—that could have none. The next, j she had awakened to the truth, and stood j there spell bound. She had never dreamed i of this. Auta his love ! when she had | surely thought—But whispered words were | stealing distinctly on her ear : words that \ well-nigh drove her mad, and turned the I current of every pulse she possessed into ' one living anger. j " My hear! went out to you from the first, j Auta ; and I think you Could not have mis- j vnderstood me. Geraldine? Nonsense I < She sought nie ; 1 did not seek her. i nev er had a thought of love but for you. My j darling ! My darling !" Auta Gore started from his arm with a. ' cry. That angry woman, with inflamed face J and haughty mien, was bearing down upon Jj them like one possessed of an evil spirit.— 1 Auta never distinctly remembered what 5 followed. There were raised voices, recrim j mating words and some strange charge jj that lifted her very hair from her head. Ma- | jor Gore stood holding his daughter back - r r, and Mrs. Gore, only half awake, was star- j ing with her cap hanging to one ear by a. j single string. Mr. Valencia alone remained j calm and cool. The first consecutive words ! came irom him. " 1 do not understand it any more than. ! you do, Major. 1 do know that this is j the happiest hour of my life, for your niectr j has promised to become my wife ; but what ; it is Mrs.Clytton would accuse me of I real ly don't know." " She can never be your wife," retorted Mrs.Clytton. ' You marry again ! Would j you take a second wife, to murder her as you did your first ?"' Mr. Valencia's sleepy eyes for once were ! opened as wide as his antagonist's. " Murder in/ first wife !" he quietly re joined. "Thank you. I was not aware that I had done anything of the sort." " You know you did," came the panting answer. " You know that you have got tier concealed in that ebony chest ; that you had her in it on board while falsely pretending it was filled with jewels. The sailors knew what was in the chest, and nearly broke out in a mutiny ; they said it I brought a curse on the ship. 1 accuse you, George Valencia, though you have escaped accusation from others. I have seen the chest and its horrible burden ; 1 have touched it—the cold dead face of her you keep concealed there." The bewilderment in Mr Valencia's coun tenance gave place to a sudden smile ot light, as if the puzzle had cleared itself.— We will go and Bee this dead face, if you please. Major, all of us. Mrs. Clyttou, 1 must particularly request your company. it will not alarm you, believe me, Mrs. Gore. Auta, my dearest, do not tremble so ; 1 will ! take care of you." pei* Annum, in Advance. It lay in the ebony chest, exposed at once to their view—cairn, peaceful, infinite ly pretty. Not the dead face of a once liv ing women, but the waxwork model of a lovely child, its dark eyes wide open, and a rose-leaf color on its smooth cheeks. " When my child died, my little Auta, — ! who was more precious to me than any thing I have yet possessed on earth—l was fond and foolish enough to have a wax mod el taken of her," said Mr.Valencia, in a low tone. " I brought it home in my treasure chest. As you may perceive, 1 have not yet disturbed it. Mrs. Clytton ; she died peacefully in her bed, surrounded by .ser vants and friends, and she lies buried in Brazil. May Ibe allowed to inquire, mad dam, what can have given in your mind to so extraordinary a delusion ?" Ah, they were soon to know. The culprit was Vincent. The explanation he had giv en to Mrs. Clytton,on board the South Star, was the simple truth, though not quite all the truth. In his propensity for joking— and perhaps really wishing to guard the chest from sacrilege—he had whispered the foolish invention(of the body, not the ashes, and hinting at foul play) to the sailors, as the ship sailed out of port at Rio Janeiro ; hence the disaffection and fear that arose among them—Mr. Vincent himself being perfectly aware of the state of things, but enjoying the joke too greatly to contradict it. Geraldine Clytton listened to the man's shamefaced explanation to his master, and rather wished the boarded floor would give way and let her in. And those were jewels, the parcels lining the chest ! And as Mr. Valencia took them out, parure alter parure, and tried their glittering beauty upon the shrinking, timid, happy girl, so soon to be his wife, she — tiiat other one—had to stand and bear it. "But what shall you do with them all, Mr. Valencia ?" asked Mrs. Gore. "I never saw so many precious stones in my life !" " They are Auta's irom this hour," he re j plied. "I did not intend to give them to j her until our wedding day. Mrs. Clyttmi | has obligingly caused me to forestall the j gift. Some of them must be reset." j " 1 don't believe they are so very valu- j | able, after all," burst forth Mrs. (Jlytton.her agitated voice vascillating between a tear : and a sob ; and—no, munnna, there's no necessity for you to say it ! it's not a case ! ! of sour grapes." | "Of course not," said Mr. Valencia, the j j faintest shade of a smile at the corners of j his sleepy eyelids. " But the next time j you accuse a man of murder, Mrs. Clytton, ! I'd make sure beforehand, if I were you, ' that it did not end in wax work." "SOME FOLrS FAILINGS." | " Mercy knows," said Aunt Jerusha, as i she settled herself in her small rocking 5 chair, and wiped her steel bowed specs on ; j her apron before placing them astride her j nose, " mercy knows I never slander my j neighbors I've enough to do to take care iof uiy own afiuirs. Now there is Dorothy •' Ann, always knows just what every one , jj has on at church ! The idea of looking at ! people's dress in church ? But that is some folk's failiugs. We all have our failings, 1 J s'pose," and a sigh finished the sentence, j Whether this harangue was addressed ; to the world in general, or was for the es ' pecial benefit of a tall young lady seated at : : a table near by, inserting a sharp pair of i shears into a piece of cloth, we do not j j: know. The young lady made no reply, but J i mischievous smile flitted over her face, j and a silence followed, unbroken save by i the vengeful snap of the shears as they closed over the cloth, and the loud tick of ] the clock in the corner Suddenly Aunt ; Jerusha peered out of the u uidow. j "Look, Minerva Jane-- ain't them the ! j Carpeuter girls going by " Yes." was the laconic answer. "Do see how they are dressed! They j j came sailing into church during prayer j time last Sunday, looking like peacocks. II watched them down the aisle clear to their ; seats. They wore green silks, velvet cloaks, ' arid their bonnets looked like flower gar f dens. 1 notic '<l their furs in particular, ; j they were new and fashionable. Much ; ' cause they have to be proud ! 1 should j thuik a glance at home would lower their ! j feathers some. But there comes Mrs. l>a- j i ker 3 Oh dear ! She is a regular gossip, j i and we shall have to listen to her !<mg j yarns all the afternoon. W hat a bore sh< i -1" ; i A vigorous knock at the door was follow ;ed by tie entrance of the lady in question. I Aunt Jecusha rose with a beaming face to j greet her. I "My dear Mrs. Baker, how do you do? f 1 was just thinking about you. Lay aside jj your things and spend the afternoon. Min * erva Jane, bring out tlie rocking-chair for jj Mrs. Baker." j The two ladies were soon seated with r, their sewing, and Aunt Jerusha asked : J " Have seen Mrs. Nase recently ? I | wonder if her husband is as bat? as ever ? j \ 1 declare, that woman has a time of it 1 f s'posi you know he stole the pork from Mr. j j Brien's cellar a few weeks ago ?" " Yes I heard of it." " Have you seen Mrs. Slocum riding with the young doctor ?" "To he sure ; some folks say lie's her cousin, but 1 don't believe it." " Well, now, 1 do say," replied Aunt Je -1 ruslia, "I don't slander my neighbors; but | that's pr-eUy doings anyhow. Did you ever ; hear what a wild girl she was before she | was married ? My sister's husband's cous j in used to know her before, and she said ' she was perfectly independent ; didn't care what folks said about lior. But 1 suppose j you have heard of Mr. Este's failure? For i my part I don't wonder at it, his wife was so extravagant ; you've no idea how much i wasto there was in that house ; 1 don't slander my neighbors, but I do say I'm not surprised that her husband has tailed. They say he drinks ; 1 should think Mrs. Smith would feel dreadful bad to have Su , sau marry hinj ; they're engaged, I'm told, j I wouldn't have him courting Minerva Jane for anything ; but then Susan aint any bet ter than she should be ; I don't slander my neighbors, but I must say I should not want a daughter of mine doing as she does. Why, Mrs. Baker, you aint putting up your work ; do stay till after tea. Well, it you can't, good-bye ; come again soon, continued Aunt Jerusha. " There !if I aint relieved. Did you ever hear a woman go on so about her neighbors ? The idea of slandering every body as she does ; to be sure, 1 have to talk with her when she's here ; but mercy knows 1 don't slander my neighbors ! THE ONE SPOT- One single spotou the fair face of a sheet of the best letter-paper will cause its rejec tion when the manufacturer assorts it for "ale. In obtaining recruits for the army, a single blemish in the eye, a little defect in hearing, the loss of a linger or toe, the slightest limp or halt in the gait, is the one fatal spot which causes rejection, however perfect the health in other respects. A faultless specimen of m. Ny vigor offers himself lor examination, lor the purpose of obtaining au insurance on his life, but at the very first trial of the pulse under the surgeon's finger, the certificate is perempt orily deli ed, because there is a fatal heart disease lurking under that fair exterior.— Here is a man who for a life-time has had uniform good health ; never dreamed but that he was perfectly well, but noticed for the first time, an hour before, a little white pimple about the mouth, surrounded with several red ones giving a dull hurting, cuasing, however, not the slightest appre hension ; but meeting the family physician accidentally en the sireet, he inquires very carelessly : "What is it ?" On a close in spection, the experienced practicioneer de tects the existence of a "malignant turber cle," which he knows will rapidly spread with a discoloration, and end in death with in twenty-four hours ! as in the case ol Miss M. A. B last week ; of Mr. Hen field, six months ago ; and of Mr. Casey, awhile before that, all of Brooklyn. NUMBER 39. These, are spots physical and fatal, all ! There are moral spots just as fatal to char acter, health, and life itself. I know a young wife, first at Rockaway, who could boast of family, fortune, education, health, i and great personal beauty ; fascinating in ; her intercourse with society, and of a be j nevolence so hearty and so free, that it was : impossible for her neighbors not to love her ! with their whole hearts. But there was j one spot, only one ; that not known, even i to her husband ; she would take opium,and i died of its over-ute at 28. I have beeu de lighted by the hour in listening to the reci ! tations and reading the manuscript poetry | of Mrs. L , of Kentucky. Neither beau tiful nor ugly, but the spoiled and educa ted child of a rich father. She had a ge | uius and a power which won all hearts, purely. One morning I learned she was , dying, although in perfect health the day j before. At intervals of a year, the dem n of a drunken debauch came over her. It ' killed her husband, one of nature's noble j men. The one spot ! I knew a wife, liv- I mg yet I think, a model of personal purity, j of domestic industry, system, order and ( thoroughness. A slave to the care of her \ family of healthful beautiful children, there ! was no sacrifice, no sell denial which she i was not ever ready to make or practice for j their comfort. Her husband, as the world | goes, was all that could be desired as to j industry, system, temperance, regularity, i and order. It ought to have been a su : premely happy family. It was wretched, j The one spot was her insufferable ill na | ture. It would be untrue to say she seldom ! came to the table without some expression lof dissatisfaction. In twenty-six success ! ive weeks, during which 1 daily sat at the i same table, she never failed once to emit I some venom either against the children, the servants, the food, or the weather, or something else. The whole house was kept in a turmoil; no single day ever pass led without it ! Her only son was driven to an engine-house, did not sleep at home " once in two years thence to the gutter; her daughters married for a home, and she went to an asylum in her old age. There are many young men with whom you can not help being pleased, frank, courteous, magnanimous, and kind; they always meet you with a smile and a welcome, and you knew it is cordial and sincere. On inqui ry, they "drink." The one spot ! It blasts all things else. The daughter is beautiful, amiable, and courteous : in all she says or does there is nothing to hang an adverse criticism upon. The moment she passes from her father's door, dressed in faultless tast", go to her room, and every article it contains has impressed upon it the one spot of an incorrigible sloven. Let the reader this moment inquire, What spot have I ? and begin on the in stant to wash it out at any and every sac rifice, for they only who are admitted to the | mansions of the blessed are those " not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing " Hall's Journal of Health. FUN, FACTS AND FACETIJE. A RICHMOND paper says matrimony is as i prevalent as measles and whooping eongh, and seems to be twice as contagious. A MICHIGAN soldier, arrested for stealing i a goose, said he found the bird hissing at tje Am ' eriean flag and arrested him for treason." A BURGLAR was once frightened out of his ; scheme of robbery by the sweet simplicity of a sol | itary spinster, who, putting her night-capped head 1 out "of the window, exclaimed: "Go away! ain't ' you ashamed ?" MRS. GRUNDY is opposed to gambling 1 . She ; calls for a Red Sea, like that of old, to destroy Faro and all his hosts. ! THE sugar wedding, thirty days after ! marriage, is the newest thing out. ONE OF THE MAXIMS OF BAKIN'. —WI en does a baker's wife become one ol the fixtures of his shop?— When she is a littie-loviu' little ov en.) A BARBF.R in England durinsr the preval ence of the cholera, expressed the opinion to a customer on which he was operating, that after all . cholera was in the hair. "l'lieu, jam ought to be I very careful what brushes yeu use." "Oh. sir." ! replied the barber laughing, "I didn't mean the ! 'air of the 'ead, hut the hair of the hatmosphere." " WHY, Bill,what is tin- matter with you ? i You look down in the mouth." "Well, Pete, I I guess it you had been through what I have you'd | io v k so too." What's the matter?" "You know Sarah Snivels, don't you, Pete?" "Yes," "Will, | I discarded her last night." "You did ! What ?" "Well, I tell you. She said she wouldn't marry I me. and I'd discard any gal that would treat me in j that sort of way." A BOY'S idea of having a tooth drawu ' may he summed up as follows : The doctor hitch i eit Vast on to uie, pulled his best, and just before it j killed me the tooth came out. A GOOD deacon making an official visit to i a dying neighbor, who was a very unpopular man, | put the usual question : "Are you willing to go ;my friend ?" "0, yes," said the dying man. " I ! am glad of that," said the deacon, "forall the neigh | bors are willing." A WRITER beautifully remarks that a man's I mother is the representative of his Maker. Mis i fortune and mere crime set no barriers between her i and her -on. While his mother lives, a man has 1 one friend o l earth who will not desert him when ;he is needy, ller affection flows from a pure foun tain, and ceases only at the ocean ol eternity. THOUGHT IT WAS A CONUNDRUM Tlie last effusion of the renowned Artemus, we have not vet ■ seen in print. It is said that A. W., being at one of the New York churches, recently edihed the au " dieuce by his very unexpected reply to the preach ' | ers text which was. "How are the mighty tallen. - After a short pause, Artemus looked up inquiring : ly, and said meekly, "1 11 R lv o R nP t WHAT is the use of sighing and weeping as we float down the stream of time? Why make i ' the voyage of lite a ttxtiling voyage ? 1 Ir you were obliged to swallow a man ' ! whom would you prefer to swallow ? A little Lou j don porter. THE Russian telegraph through Liberia will be ecouomical on account of the number of Poles on the ground. ADAM'S wife was called Eve because when she appeared, man's day of happiness was drawing to a close.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers