Evening Star Newspaper, June 26, 1897, Page 17

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1897-24 PAGES. 17 “S$ HREWS BURY.”. _— BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN. Written for The Even (Ccntinued from: la Leaving me in a seventh heaven of de- Ught, my blood fired by her kisses, my fancy * * * and without t Saturday. one thought. Doubtiess had I been less deep in love (wherein I far overhead), or deep- er in experience, I might have noted it for a curious th that she should be quic few moments, and at the touch of my lips, | from passionate ir to perfect control, both of herself 2 And starting the: on to suspect th share of thé finesse which is alw: man’s shield, a: But as such youth, so are youthful love, ht have gone ea her full | ys a wo- | i sometimes her sword. | suspicions are foreign to | they especially foreign to which takes nothing lower than perfection for its idol. This I can | say for certain, therefore, that they no} more entered my brain than did the conse- quences which were to fiow from my pas- | sion. For the time, indeed, I was in an ecs a rapture, walking a-tip-toe and troubled | by none of the things that trouble common | fol that to this day I lock back to that period of innoe ily with a yearn- ing and a regret the sorer that when | try toa the happiness I enjoyed I fail make nothing of Phat all ould be changed for me, and I be t petticoat and clogs had let me kiss her, and left me to believe that she | eems inexplicable as in- exp! t the daily figu q F ‘et wv pewdering tubs should trans eral garden into a pol, with its de and dripping, and inky nsion of trem a it matter al the power of los ice to Say that from quick to note diffe aner a witch to be, as she mon tour s each her to re ase she I adored met or ¢ ard never save under the kindly shelter of darkness? The obstucle for a time taxed y ingenuity, but in the end I sur- y asking Mr. D———’ io hold the afiernoon cl This, the hot we leave playsround. color to the ngaged in the | hour, and could }| ed, the rest was west class, I would t with their reading, and af! cut at them in a 1 remit them a as d-o-g, dog, and th and the rest of the | is so frequen’ tance and the nh I gave her, others awe! alphabet i the end cf and was ! | i | 1 | nning to €: knows how delicious were th i abby, ragged tree that yard! I spoke to | kered boys who } around me, but I | I applied iny n which I held he at a white he ed w dof the ri sion ny words that y me a low th That you kitchen dr ppear to be. | ant of meani r aught e cried, fixing | mmer- ed into all understanding | her. | ‘Then I think that hitherto we have been | under i she answered, distant] and ina my heart ir | boot. “You were id you of the raid not exist. N furt ress con t I come of be If you would have my story, you. I can remember playin if than th I will tell it after- | £0 | } the | should often revert to the subject and to | Ler pretensions: ard'the hardship of her only to set me some task i | were two of her capr haces” ed ina little inn, where I suppose the man, having made his escape, left me.” Chapter Iv. At that I remember that I cried out in overwhelming excitement and amazement that I knew the man and his story and the place whence she had been taken; that I had heard the tale from my father years aso. “It was Colonel Porter who picked you up—Colonel Porter, and he saved his life by it!” I cried, beside myself at the discovery I had made. “It was Colonel Porter, in the great riot at Norwich!” “Ah?” she said slowly, looking away from me and speaking so coolly ard strangely to surprise and damp me. Yet I ersisted. Yes, I said, “the well known; at le. But—” and there ping. he asked sharply, st that part of I stopped, dum- 3ut and locked at me again, the color risen in her face. ut—you are only war time. I dare say, thimty years f passion. she erled. She turned to me in a sort Well, sir, and what of t “Do you think me thirty “No, inde I answered. And at the most she was nineteen. 2 “Then don't you b me?’ I cried out too at that, but, boy-like, I so proud of my knowledge and acute- the point lie. is that to have ness that I could not let Il I mean,” I explained, veen alive hirty now. And was it I at me in a fine fury about i = en and at Norwich you must y. And © answered, flying out “who said ai ur dirt name I ne I hate you! I hate you y waving me off. and then put them a word about Nor- on me! I never ‘wich. know you did not,” I protested Then why did you say I did? “Why cid you say I did? re wail- You are ntway dissolving in tears and “at one and the same time showed ide of love, and reduced me io of despair: wherce I to eme nor reinstat- of favor until I had fore her, and to curse the day when I first of Porter. Still, peace was nfinite difficulty restored; was cur redintegratio sently ventured to recur inge coincidence ch did not seem so on second me 2 x tus; Ww however, the men she fay ef time rr: seats of a kind of bull in the market plac a dea! of difference a proce s n I had be gest; it was natural that we lot, and th questions ¢' scarcely a some new >a serv’ remembere ardor a ng a fi discussion of my to her memory, y passed but she recovered stail from the past, as at one © of gold plate which she per- she had seen on her tent that had befallen her in her child- . through her father’s coach and six z overturned in a slough. Such s (and others as pertinent and ro- n which I will not linger) gave us nty of her past consequence and her future fortune, were her parents once known, and while they served to augment the respect in wh my love heid her, <iually and almost imperceptibly, led her fo take a higher tone with me, and even on oceasions to carry herself toward me th an air of mystery, as if there were still some things which she had not confid- «1 te me. “This attitude on her part, which in itself pained me extremely, and still more the fear, naturally ar ~ from it, that if she ccme by her own I should immediately lose her, forced me to make the acquaintance ot yet another side of love, by throwing me, I mean, into such a fever of suspicion and e me for a period the most unhappy of men. From this plight my mi xercising the privilege of her s io reiteve me. On the con- trar. ing an increased reserve and asserting r move were watch- ed, she prolonged my doubts; nor when this treatment had wrought the desired end of reducing me to the lowest depths, and she at length consented to meet me; did she entir elent or abandon her reserve or if she did so, on rare occasions, it_w: the price of he! me to some trial ‘otton. or to expe ght prove my de In a word, while I became hop: slaved, even to the flogging of 2 bo: word, or procuring a dress far alov tation—merely that she might see m alth in it and judge of my air, which ces—she appear be further removed from me every and at nied me fewer privileges. Whether t atment had its erigin in natural instinct of a woman erately chosen as better caicu- my su nee, it had and to such an extent that ngth condescended to meet da plan that earlier would me Pave ra! to do her bidd! out the pointing y of her proposal, fell in with it when she communicated It to me, whic ep did the end with an atr of mystery, and the same assumption of a secret withheld that had tormented me be- ed to nothing less than an nto the town on the occasion ching visit of the Duke of to lie one night at Ware on his way to Newmarket. Mr. D. had issued the strictest orders that all should keep the house during this visit, net so much out of a proper care for the boys’ morality , as a litte | (though the gay crowd that followed the A DRESS FAR ABOVE MY STATION. _ child, with a necklace of gold beads in the courtyard of a house In a great city, and wandering out, the side gate being ‘op and the porier not in his seat, into th streets, where,” she continued, dreamily, and gazing aw from me ‘there were great crowd: men firing guns, and people running every way— 1 uttered an exclamation of astonishment. She noticed it only by making a short pause, and then went on in the same thoughtful tone. “As far as I can remem- ber, it was a place where there were booth and stalls crowded together, and among them it seems to me a man was being hunt- ed, who ran first one way and then another, while soliers shot at him. At last he came where I had dropped on the ground in ter- ror, after running, childlike,where the dan- ger was greatest. He glared at me an in- stant—he was running, stcoping down be- low the level of the booths, and they had lest him for the time; then he snatched me up in Tis arms and darted out of shelter, erying loudly as he held me up, ‘Save the child! Save the child!’ The crowd raised the same cry and made a way for him to pass. And then—I do not remember any- thing, until I found myself shabbily dress- t. | court served for a pretext) as because, fn his parts of fanatic and exclusion'st, he | held his highness’ religion and person in eqval abhorrence. Such restriction weighed little in the scale against love, but infatuated as I was I found something that sensibly shocked me in the proposal com- ing from Dorinda’s lips, nor could I fail to foresee many dangers to which a young girl must expose herself on such an expe- dition In the town and at night. But as to a youth in love nothing that his mistress chcoses to do seems long amiss, so this proposal scared me for a moment only, af- ter which it cost my mistress no more than a little rallying on my crop-eared manners, and some scolding, to make me see it in {ts true aspect of an innocent frolic, fraught with as much pleasure to the cavaller as novelty to the escorted. “Yeu will don your new suit,” she sald, “and I shall meet you in the garden at half-past 9. ae che boys may miss me,” I protest- 3 y= “The boys have missed you al she answered, mocking my tone. “Were you ponnees last night? And for a whole hour, I confessed with hot cheeks that I had been—humbly and tamely waiting her pleasure. “And did they tell then?” she asked scorn- fully. ‘Or are they less afraid of the birch now? But, of course, if you don't care to come with me, or are afraid, sir—” “I am neither,” I said, warmly. “Only 1 do not quite understand, sweet, what you wish.” ‘hey lie at the Rose,” she said. “And among them, [ am told, are the prettiest men and the most lovely women in the werld. And jewels, and laces, and such @resses! Oh, I am mad to see them! And a popish priest, which is a thing I have never seen, though I have heard of it. And—— x “And do you expect to see all of these things through the windows?” I cried in my superior knowledge. She did not answer at once, but, with her hands on my shoulders, swayed to and fro as if she already heard the music; fle her gipsy face looked archly into mire, first on this side and then on that, and her hair swung to and fro on her shoulders in a roguish abandonment which I found it impossible to resist. At last she stopped, and, “Yes,” she said demurely, “through the window: Master Richard Longface! Do you meet me here at half- pest 9—in your new suit, sir—and you shall see them, too.” After that, though I made a last effort to dissuade her, there was nothing more to be sald. Obedient to her behest, therefore, We Were Like Naugh y Children. I made my preparations, and at the ap- pointed hour next evening rose softly from the miserable pallet on which I had just lain down, and dressing myself with sha ing fingel and in the dark—that my bed- feliows might know as little as possible cf my movements—stole dewn the stati and irto the garden, Here I found myself fi at the ren- dezvous. The night was dark, but an un- usual light hung over the town, and the wind that stirred the poplars brought craps and sounds of music to the ear. I 1 some time ‘to walt, and time, too, to think what I was abeut to do; to weigh the chances of detection and dismissal, and even tasie the qualms that rawness and timidity mingled with my anticipations of pleasure, But, though I had my fears, no ision of the real future obtruded itself on my mind as I stood there listening; nor any forewarning of the plunge I was about to take. And before I had come to the end of my patience Dorinda stood beside me. Dark as it was, I fancied that I discerncd something strange in her appearance, and I would have investigated it, but she whi. pered that we were late, and, evading well rey que: WS as the caress I offered, she bade me help her as quickly as I could over the ferce. I did so. We crossed a neighboring garden, and in a twinkling and with the least possible difficulty stood in the read. Here the strains of music care more plainly to the ear, and the glare of light hung lower and shone more bright- ly. This seemed enough for my mistress, for she turned that way without hesitation and set forward, the outskirts of the town being quickly passed. Between the late hour and- the flux of people toward the center of interest, the strects were vacant, and we met no one until we reached the main thorcughfare, and came upon the edge of the great crowd that moved to and fro before the Rose Inn. Here all the win- dows, in ore of which a band of music was playing some new air, were brilliantly lighted, while below and around the door was such a throng of hurrying waiters and drawers, and such a carrying cf meals and drinks, and a sheuting of 01 Ts, as almost turned the brain. A carriage and six that had just set down a grandee, come to pay his devoirs to the prince, was moving off a3 we came up, the horses smoking and the postilions stooping in their saddles. A little to one side a cask was being staved for the troopers who had come with the duke; and on the whole noisy, moving scene and the flags that s from the roofs and windows, and the shifting crowd, poured the ruddy light of a great bon-feu that burned on the further side of the way. PART I. Chapter IV.—(Continued.) Nor, rare as were these things, were they the most pertinent or the strangest that the fire revealed to me. I had come for noth- ing else but to see—clam at furtim, as the classics say—what was to he seen; with no thought of passing beyond the outermost ring of spectators, But as I hung back shamefacedly, my companion seized my wrist and drew me on; and when I turned to her to remonstrate, as heayen lives, I did not know her! I conceived for a moment that some madam of the court had seized me in a frolic; nor for a perceptible space could I imagine that the fine cloaked lady, wh eyes shone like stars through the holes in her mask, and whose raven hair, so cunningly dressed, failed to hide the brilliance of her neck, where the cloak fell loose, was my Dorinda, my mistress, the cook-maid, ‘whom I had kissed in the gar- Honestly, for an instant I recoiled and hung back afraid of her; nor was I quite assured of the truth, so unprepared was I for the change, until she whispered me sharply to come on. “Whither?” I said, hanging back in dis- may. The bystanders were beginning to turn and stare, and in a moment would have jeered us. “Within doors,” she urged. “They will not admit us!” “They will admit me,” she answered fiercely, and made as if she would throw my hand from her. Still I did rot believe her, and it was that, and that only, emboldened me; though to be sure I was in love and her slave. Re- luctantly and almost sulkily I assented, and sneaked behind her to the door. A man who stood on the steps seemed .at the first glance minded to stop her, but, look- ing again, smiled and let us pass, and in a twinkling we stcod in the hall among hur- tying waiters and shouting call boys and bloods whose scabbards rang as they came down the stairs, and a fair turmoil of pages and footboys and gentlemen and gentle- Men's gentlemen. - In such a company, elbowed this way and that by my betters, I knew neither how to look por where to look; but Dorinda, with barely a pause, and as if she knew tho house, thrust open the nearest door and led the way into a great room that stood on the right of the hall. Here, on the spacious floor and lighted by shaded candles, stood several tables, round which a number of persons had seats,while others again stood or moved freely upon the floor. The majority of those present were men. Noting, however, three or four women among them, masked after the fashion of my companion, but more gor- geously dressed, i did not doubt that these were duchesses, the more as they talked and laughed loudly, whereas the general company, save those who sat at one table where the game was at a standstill, and all were crying persistently for a tallier, spoke low, the rattle of dice and chink of coin, and an occasional oath, taking the place of conyersation. I saw piles of guineas and half guineas on the tables and gold lace on the men’s coats, and the women a dream of silks and furbelows and gleaming shoulders and flashing eyes, and between awe of my company and horror finding myself i gueh @ place, I took at & real that gilt ered. Wheré, erefore, @ man of exper- {ence would have discerned a crowd of rakes and rustic squires tempting fortune for the benefit of the groom porter—whose privilege was ambulatory—I fancied I gazed on earls and barons; I saw a garter on every leg, and, blind to the stained walis of the common inn room, supplied every pully who cried the main or called the imps, with the pedigree-of a Howard. This was not an unnatugal delusion, and @ prey to it. I expected.each momeht to be my last in thato company. But the fringe of spectators that stood behind the players favoring usq-We ,fell into line at one of the tables, and ngfhing happening and po ong sayingy-us way, i presently breathed tore freel could see that my companion’s beauty,.:though greatly hid- den by her mask, was the subject of gen- era! remark, and that. it drew on her looks and regards more orjess;insolent. But as she took no heed of these, but, on the con- trary, gazed about her unmoved and with indifference, I hopedifor the best; and, ex- cited by the brilllanae.anq movement of a scene so far above my wildest dreams that I already anticipatedithe pride with which I should hereafter describe it, I began to draw a fearful joy..from our escapaie. Like Aeneas and Ulysses, I had seen men and cities! And stood among heroes! And seen sirens! To which thoughts I was pro- ceeding to add others equally classical, when a gentleman behind me diverted my thoughts by touching my companion on the arm and very politely requesting her to lay on the tabie a guinea which he handed to her. She did so, and he thanked her with a low-spoken compliment; then added, with bent head, but bold eyes: “Fortune cannot surely have been unkind to one so fair!” “I do not play,” Dorinda answered. “And yet I think I have seen you play,” he answered. And affecting to be engaged in identifying her, he let his eyes rove over her figure. Doubtless Dorinda’s mask gave her cour- age; yet, even this considered, her wit and resource astonished me. “You do not know me,” she said coolly, and with a proud atr. “T know that you have cost me a guinea!” he answered, bluntly. “See, they have swept it off. And as I staked it for nothing else but to have an excuse to ad- dress the handsomest woman here—” You do not know what I am—-behind my mask," she retorted. he replied, hardit; am going—~? my mistress answered, with S that both surprised and de- lighted me. ‘Good night, good spendthrift! You are going, and I am going.” “Well hit!” he replied, with a grin, “And well content if we go together! Yet Lthink I know how I could keep you “Yes?” she said, indifferently. “By he answered. “You called me a spendthrift On that I do not know whether she thought him too forward or saw that I Was nearly at the end of my patlence— which it inay be imagined was no little tried by his badinage—but she turned her oulder to him outright and spoke a word to me in a low tone. Then, “Give me a guinea, Dick!” she said pretty loudly. “I think I'll play. “and therefore z Chapter v. She spoke confidently and with a grand air, knowing that I had brought a guinea, so that I had neither the heart to shame her nor the courage to displease her. Though it was the ninth part of my in- come, therefore, and it seemed to me sheer madness to stake such a sum on a single card, and win or lose it in a moment, I lugged it out and gave it to her. Even so, knowing her no more skilled in the game than I was, I was at a stand, wondering what she would do with it; but, with the tact which never fails a woman, she laid it where the gentleman had laid his. With better luck, however, for in a twinkling, and before I thought it well begun, the deal was over, the p 's sat back ard sighed, and the banker, giving and taking here and there, thrust a guinea over to our guinea. I was in a sweat to take both up before any one cheated ug, but she nudged me, and said with her {nest air: “Let it lie, Dick! Do you hear? Let it Me.” This was aimost njere than I could bear, to ree fortune in my gresp, and not shui my hand upon it, buf she.was mistress and I let tt lie, and in 4; moment, hey, presto! as tne Egyptians say, the,two guineas were four, and those who played next ns, secing s ‘gan tp pags remarks on her, making nothing of debating who she was, and discissing her shape and complexion in terms that m. yy cheeks burn. Whether this open admiration turned her head or thetr freedom coyfused her, she let the money iie on the tgble, and when I would have snatched it-up, not regarding her, the dealer prevented me, saying it was too late, while she With an air, as if I was a servant, tugyed and sharply rated me for a fool. This caused a little dis- turbance, at which. all the company laughed. However, the event proved me no fool, but wiser than most, for in two min- utes that pretty sum, which was as much as I had ever possessed at one time in my life, was swept off, and for two gufneas the richer, which we had been a moment before, we remained one—and that my only one—the pocrer! For myself, I coull have cried at the misadventure, but my mistress carried it off. with a shrill laugh, and, tossing her head in affected contempt—whereat, I am bound to confess, the company laughed again—turned from the table. I sneaked after her, as miserable as you please, and in that order we had got half-way to the door when the gentleman who had ad- ssed her before stepped up before her. uty so reckle: he said, speaking with a grin and In a@ tone of freedom, “needs some one to care for it. Unless I am mistaken, mistress, you came on foot.” And with a sneering smile he dropped his eyes to the hem of her cloak. Alas, I looked, too, and the murder was out. To be sure, Dorinda had clothed her- self very handsomely above, but, coming to her feet, had trusted to her cloak to hide the deficiency she had no means to supply. Still, in spite of this, all might have been well if she had not, in her chagrin at los- ing, forgotten the blot, and, unused to long skirts, raised them so high as to expose a foot, shapely, indeed, but stockingless, and shod in an old, broken shoe! Her ears and neck turned crimson at the exposure, and she dropped her cloak as if it burned her hand. I saw that if the stranger had looked to ingratiate himself by his ill-mannered jest he had gone the wrong way about it, and I was not sur- prised when she answered in a voice quiv- ering with mortification, “Yes, on foot; but you may spare your pains. I am in this gentleman’s care, I thank you.” “Oh,” he said, “this gentleman!” And he Tooked me up and down. I knew that it behooved me to ruffle it wit him, and let him know by outstaring him that at a word I. was ready to pull his nose. But I was a boy, in strange com- pany and utterly cast down by the loss of my guinea; he a court bully in sword and lace, bred to carry it in such. and worse places. Though he seemed to be no more than thirty, he had a long and hard face under his periwig, and eyes both tired and melancholy, and he spoke with a drawl and a curling ip, and by the mere way he looked at me showed that he thought me no better than dirt. ‘To make a long story short, I had not looked at him a moment before my eyes fell. “Oh, this gentleman?” he said again, in a tone of the most cutting contempt. “Well, I hope that he has more guineas than one—or your ladyship will soon trudge it, skin to mud. As it is, I fear that I de- tain you. Kindly carry my compliments to Farmer Grudgen, And the pigs And smiling—not laughing, for a laugh seemed alien from his face—at a jest which was too near the {ruth not to mortify us exceedingly, my Icrd—for a lord I thought he was—turned away with an tronical bow, leaving us to get cut of the room with what dignity we nfight, and such temper as remained to us., For, myself, I was in such a rage, both af thé'loss of my guinea and at being so flouted, that I could scarce- ly govern myself; yet ta my awe of Do- rinda I said nothing, expécting and fearing an outbreak on her, part, the consequences of which It was not easy’ to foretell. I was proportionately pleased, therefore, when she made no more, ado,, but, pushing her way through the crowd ff the street,turned homeward arid’ took th road without a word. . This was so unlike her that I was at a loss to understand it, was fain to con- clude—from the fact that she two or three Umes paused to listen and look back—that she feared pursuit. The‘ thought, bringing to my mind the risk which I ran of being detected and dismissed, a risk that came home to me now that the pleasure was over, and I had only for prospect my squalid bed room and the morrow’s tasks, filled me with uneasiness. But I might have spared myself, for when she spoke I found that her thoughts were on quite other things. “Dick,” she said, stopping abruptly in the road, “‘you must loan me a guinea.” “A guinea?” I cried eghast, and speak- ing, jt may be, with a little displeasure. Why, have you not just now—” “What?” she said. “Lost my only one.’* She laughed recklessly. ‘Well, you have got to find another one,” she said. “And one to that! ‘ “Another guinea?” I gasped. “Ye another guinea, and another gul- nea!’ she answered, mimicking my tone of consternation. “One for my shoes and | for three whole da’ stockings. Oh, I wish he were dead!” And she stamped her foot passionately. “And one—’ “Yes I said, with a poor attempt at frony, “And one?” “For fhe tq stake next Friday, when the nis way op his road home.” at) passes “He does not!’ I cried. “He does! he does!” she retorted. “And you will do, too, what I say, sir! or—” “Or what?’ I cried, calling up a spirit for once. and she raised her voice a little But alas, when I wake and no Phylis I find, How I sigh to myself all alone! “You never loved me!” I cried, in a rage at that, and the threat. “Have it your own way!” she answered, carelessly, and sang it again; and after that there was no more talk, but we walked with all the width of the road be- tween us, I with a sore heart, and she ti- tupping along, cool and happy; pleased, I think, that she had visited on me some of the chagrin which the stranger had caused her, and for the rest with God knows what thoughts in her heart. At least, I Iit- tle suspected them, yet with the’ little knowledge I had, I was angry and pained, and for the time so far freed from Miuston that I would not make the overture, but hardened myself With the thousht of my guinea and her selfishness, and coming to the gap in the first fence, helped her over with a cold hand and no embra Was usual between us at such junct In a word we were like naughty chi returning after playing truap’ have parted in t! very best thing that could have hzppened to me—who had no guinea and knew: not where to get one—though I would not go so far as to say that, in the frame cf mind I was then in, it would have saved me. But in the article of parting, and when the garden fence already rose between vs, yet each remained plain to the other by the light of the moon, which had just risen, Dorinda on a sudden raised her hands, and, holding her cloak from cher, stood and looked at me an instant in the most ing fashion, with her head thrown b: and her lips parted and her eyes shining and the white of her neck and her bare arms and the swell of her bosom showing. I could have sworn that even the scent of her hair reached me, though that was im- possible. But what I saw was enough. I might have known that she did it only to tantalize me; I might have known that she would show me what I risked; but on the instant, and oblivious of all else, I owned her beauty, and, resentment alike forgotten, sprang to the e, 0 blood on fire and words bubbling to my lips. Another second and I should have been at her feet, but she turned and, with a backward glance that only the more in- flamed me, fled up the garden and to tae house, whither I dared not follow her. However, eaough had passed to seni to my bed to lcng and lie awa the morrow come, to the gray tesks and dull drudgery of school- time: insomuch that the hours seemed days and the days weeks, and Mr. D.'s ig- norant prosing and infliction too wearisome to be borne. What my love now lacked of reverence it made up in passion, and pas sion’s offspring, impatience; on which it is to be supposed mi ess counted, for she kept within, and though evecy evening 1 flew to the rendez- yous and thers cooicd my heels for an hour she never shcwed herself. Once, however, I heard her on the fur- ther side of the fence, singing: But alas, when I awake, and no Phyllis I ind, How I sigh to myself ail alone! And, sick at heart, I understood the threat and her attitude. Nevertheless, and though the knowledge siioutd have cured me, by convincing me that she was utterly un- worthy and had never loved me, I only con- sumed the more for her, and groveled the lower In spirit before her and her beauty of body; and the devil presently putting in my way the means where he had already Provided the motive, it was no wonder that I made but a poor resistance, and in a short time fell. It came about in this way. In the course of the weck and before the Friday on which the duke was to return that way, Mr. D. announced an urgent call to London; and as he was toc wise to broach such a pro- pesal without a quid pro quo, Mrs. D. must needs go with him. The stage wagon,which traveled three days in the week, wouid serve next morning, and all was ha: preparation; clothes were packed and mai got out; a gossip, one Mrs. Harris, was cn- gaged to take Mrs. D.’s place; and the boys were intrusted to me, with strict instruc- tions to see all lights out at night and no waste. That these injunctions might be more impressed on me, I was summoned to Mrs. D."’s parlor to receive them but, un- luckily, with the instructions given to me were mingled housekeeping directions to Mrs. Harris, who was also present, so that when T retired from the room I carried with me the knowledge that in a certain desk, perfectly accessible, my employer left three guineas, to be used in case of emer- gency, but otherwise not to be touched. It was an unhappy chance, explaining as well as accounting for so much of what follows that were I to enter into long de- tails of the catastrophe it would be use- less; since the judicious reader will have already informed himseif of a result that was never in doubt from the time that my employer's departure at once provided the means of gratification, and by removing the restraints under which we had before labored, held out the prospect of pleasure. Nor can I plead that I sinned in ignorance; for as I sat among the boys and mechani_ cally heard their tasks, I called myself “Thief!” a hundred times, and a hundred to that: and once even groaned aloud; yet never flinched or doubted that I should take the money. Which I did, and—to cut a long story short—before Mr. D. had been three hours out of the house, and that evening humbly presented the whole of it to my mistress, who rewarded my _ com- Plaisance with present kisses and future pledges, to be redeemed whenever she should have once more tasted the pleasures of the great world. T» tell the truth, her craving for these, and to be seen again in those haunts where we had reaped nothing but loss and morti- fication, were a continual puzzle to me, who asked for nothing better than to enjoy her society and kindness as far’as possible from the world. But as she would go and would play, and made my subservience in this matter the condition of her favor, it was essential she should win, since I could then restore the money [ had taken. Whereas {f she lost, I saw no prospect be- fore me but the hideous one of detection and punishment. Accordingly, when the evening came, and we had effected the same clandestine exodus as before, but this time with less peril, Mrs. Harris be- ing a sleepy, easy-going woman, I could think of nothing but this necessity; and far from experiencing the terrors which had beset me before when Dorinda would enter the inn, gave no thought to the scene or the crowd through which we pushed, or any other of the preliminaries; but had my soul so set upon the fortune that awaited us that I was for passing through tic door in the hardiest fashion, and only paused when a hand gripped my shoulder and a pun ‘oice eer in my ear: “Softly, ungs‘er; who are you that pok boldly? I don’t know yor foe “I was in last week,” ing with eagerness. “Then you were one too many,” the door- Reopen retorted, roundly, thrusting me This is not a tradesman’s ordinary. It % Dee betters,” ey “But was in!” I cried des; tely. “ ies last week.’ piee ee “Well, you will not go in again, swered coolly. for the lady it is different. Pass in, mistress,” he continued, withdraw ing his arm that she might pass, and look- ing at her with an impudent leer. “I can never refuse a pretty face. And I will bet @ guinea that there is one behind that mask!” On which, to my astonishment, and while I stood agape between rage and confusion, my mistress, with a hurried word—that might have been a farewell, or might have been merely a request for me to wait, for I could not catch it—accepted the invitation, and deserting me as lightly as possible, passed in and disappeared. For a moment, I could scarcely, thus abandoned, believe my senses or that she had left me; then, the fron of her ingratitude entering into my soul, and a gentleman tapping me on the shoulder and saying that I blocked the way, I was fain to turn aside and plunge into the darkness to hide the sobs I could no longer restrain. For a time, leaning my forehead against a house in a side alley, I called her all the names in the world; reflecting bitterly at whose expense she was here and at what a price I had bought her pleasure. Nor, it may be thought, was I likely soon to find excuses for her. But a lover, as he can ‘weave his unhappiness out of the airiest so from very gossamer can he spin comfort. Nor was it long before I consid- ered the necessity under which we lay to play and win, and bethought me that in- stead of finding fault with her for entering alone I should applaud the prudence that at a pinch had borne this steadily in mind. After which, believing what I hoped, I soon ceased to reproach her; and jealousy giving way to suspense—since all for me now de- pended on the issues of gain or loss—I has- answered, gasp- he an- ANHEUSER-BuscH BREWING ASSN, THE LEADING BREWERY IN THE WORLD. Brewers of the Most Wholesome and Popular Beers. The Original Budweiser The Michelob The Muenchener The Faust The Anheuser The Pale Lager Served on all Pullman Dining and Buffet Cars. Served on all Wagner Dining and Buffet Cars. Served on ali Ocean and Lake Ste mers. Served in all First Class Hotels. Served in the Best Families. Served in ali Fine Clubs. Carried on nearly every Man-of-War and Cruiser. Served at most of the United States Army Posts and Soldiers’ Homes. The Greatest Tonic, ‘‘Malt-Nutrine” the Food-drink, is prepared by this Association, apS-s,m&w39t door, ng her ome tened to return to the about it in the hope of = This she did not do for s the inte and my thought by a recontre as unexpected. In my made so few acqu ple mean conc ntances as in that I fancied I stood in no fear of 5 a dress- nt on the . let his second a sour at place. ok fright, n of good 0 had two ag being by 1S no little taken in! recognized. 1 therefore, when a gentleman p' ed, happening to pause an ins’ threshold as he issued from the in glance rest on me, and, after stepped directly to me, and with pect, asked me what I did in t Then, when it was too iate, recognizing him for a gentlem estate in the neighborhood, w! nd enjoy er, the most important of his patr belonged to the fanatical p common with most of that sect, a violent exclusionist, I as little -e him in that company as h terward—to rescue a tim were di tion I ha Hertfor But, whereas he was his own ma. arn oung relative, ty ghts while Nell’s a migaty She was not t = (How Mrs. Lannigan and her daughter Ann mistook the meaning of the at Kilgallon’s.) A porty at Kilzallon’s, Mary Ann; winders all con sit t Vaz Po want ty Zo'n" to, us no invil her hush with me, proud to know moe, Mary Ann, ch excuse, he hac hing wh set him up to haul 9 ss aie I had no such excuse, he had rothing to * fear and I all. I found myself, therefore. Hut this wew rm.on the Fiver ready to sink with confusion, and ev aa i nese es, Meal tote we when he repeated his challenge could find ae in which to answer. ne very well,” he said at’ last, nodding | There's a * round o” lanterns, Mary Ann; grimly. “Perhaps Mr. D. may be able to] Alt Louse men have turned out, I ex a1swer me. I shall take care to visit him : : ; vhether he is s party: tomorrow, sir, and learn whether AS aware how his usher employs his nights. Gcod evening.” So saying, he left me horribly startled, and a prey to apprehensions, which were not lessened by the guilt that already lay jon my conscience in anoiher and more se- the common a man, I mii now saw not one ridge of trouble only lay before me, but a second and a third; and no conse- For such is to plunge the rious matter. course of ill doing, mean, deeper and deeper in visible way of escape from the qvences of my imprudence. An’ la To add to my fears the gentleman, on leaving me, joined the same courtier who had spoken to Dorinda on the occasion of our former visit, so that to my prepossess- ed mind nothing seemed more probable tell him in whose company he had seen me and the de- tails of our adventure. As a fact it was from this person’s clutches my master’s patron was here to rescue his nephew. I did not know this, and, seeking in panic to be reassured, I asked a servant than that the latter would beside me who the stranger was. “He?” he said. from the temple. and he looked at me askance. “No,” I said. “Oh,” he answered, “the better for you.” “But what is his name?” I urged. “Who does not know Matt. ing. Still this, seeing that I did not know the name, relieved me a little, and the next mo- ment I was aware of Dorinda waiting for Deducing from the smile that played upon her countenance the hap- piest omen of success, I forgot my troubles in the relief which this promised, and I sprang to meet her. Guiding her as quickly as I could through the crowd, 1 asked her the instant I could find voice to me at the door. speak what luck she had had. - “What luck!” she crie shoes, will Why, none! “What! You have not lost? “Oh, he is a gentleman Been piaying with him?” Smith, es- quire, is a country booby—that is you man retorted, quickly, and went off laugh- 3 and then, pet- tishly, “There, clumsy, you are puliing me into that puddle. Have a care of my new you? What luck, did you say IT exclaimed, The But my glass. the I don't care for that she Gus? 1 | Come up closer. Killed earts Even if she thinks fer me it’s tov select, its What's that you're cailla” to wey Ca wanted at Ki night at S t heame in the wants me? God forgive the words T've said. aa — coe Do We Get Thin To him, Mary Aun? Billy's dead? idin” ood he's died in— r From the Chicago Times-Hereld. “pai cocktail” is made in this wiser The manufacturer takes a long thin glast# and a spoon. ed ice, and across the top he lays a sprig of mint. of pulverized sugar, then transfers ft to the The glass he fills w crack: He dips the spoon into a bowl Two heaping ontuls of the “pol” are added as well as a fow drops of ab- sinthe. sparkling apolli is accomplished. ral for Queen The gla is then drawn full of ris and the work of mercy Paul Nevmann, attorney Litiuo’ . advocated of if they but ta time and r r nowith a ike a ou 4 the counte r glasé before the artist has given tinal loving touches which he would Pot forega if his customer sank to the focr before nis eyes. The taro root, in 2 state of other | wich fermentat ing, and whence it der ing’ and thrice blessed power no 1 vs. It is there, theugh, of a sure re are one or two plac where it may be obtained, a ho been to the islands and feel its need call for it, but to the mass of the people on the Pacific c beneficent qual are as little known as to those who live in Chicago. It is one of the many case wherein tr vel is an Ucn, === — 2 From Life, It is the correct thing in driving to sit firmly, your feet close together, whatever may happen.