if i get a pint or stay a bit with a mate its because it aint one night in ten that i ve bit or drop to come home to


as for home thou knowst


i aint one


to work like an honest fellow and bring thee what i earn aint a bit o use as too many know


here the degraded womans anger so grew and ber violence was so extreme that joe rising from the dilapidated chair on which he had sunk put on hia hat and having heard the cause of old madges visit bid him follow him some where where they might speak together uninterruptedly


take care where you take him to


or i may follow said the angry woman i may be even with thee some time or another as youll find


you can follow and that tonight missis replied joe


i m going no further than ned bingleys where thee nowadays are not over welcome for rachel be what thou once was missis sober and tidy


he said no more but going forth into the street led the way to bingleys house for the latter had hired a decent place and furnished it neatly as rachel had not come emptyhanded to her hus band


the contrast between this home and his brought tears into joes eyes as he entered it


his grief was all the deeper that he still loved nelly most devotedly and must do so to the end whatever that might be


that it would be a bad one that it would be tragically full of sin and sorrow that it was inex tricably interwoven with much which was sinful and sorrowful to his own destiny weighed like a presentiment on his soul


they sat and talked a long time about many matters and arranged that little dick should begin his service with old frigsby in a few days rachel being good enough to promise him a shirt or two and madge and bingley between them to get him a suit of clothes


the old man was to take the little fellow to his place and all were to hide if possible the exact address as nelly threatened to get the boy away in case he went with out her leave


then they talked over some other of joes troubles touching lightly upon nellys sins for to joes honour his was the tenderest recording tongue of all


bingley could have told him things which would have filled his heart with jealous madness but think ing that they were best unsaid and that they might be untruths nay nothing but the licentious boasting of a coarse bru talised fellow who loved to brag of his understanding with mrs appleshaw in order to stand high in the opinion of his mates he was dumb as to what he knew even to his wife


at the time arranged dick went to his place madge fetched him away whilst nelly was off on one of her visits to a neighbouring ginpalace


at first the little fellow was frightened at his quaint silent master at the droll hook lined shop and at the countless rooms above it story after story all filled with books for mr frigsbys only furniture was books


his table was a board spread with books his bed was ditto ditto he generally smoked his pipe on a pile of folios and little dick down in the mouldy kitchen was accommodated like his master


he had even to grill his masters chop and boil his kettle with the leaves ot dilapidated volumes whose utility was as defunct as their authors were forgotten


frigsby was one of those secondhand booksellers who hoard literary treasures in old street and its neighbourhood and being a man of note in his way as he had been for many years thither bibliomonstis went as to a peru of ancient learning


in a few weeks he liked his calling and would have been very happy could he have sometimes seen his little sister


after he left things progressed worse than before joe stayed out later the pints he had been persuaded to take to cheer his spirits soon grew into a quart


still he did not debase himself as nelly did he did his work bravely and manfully was sober for days to gether and struggling hardly with the evils his wifes viciousness had brought upon him


occasionally nelly took her baby with her to her ginpalace concerts and kept it out for hours there exposed to wet and cold to the fumes of tobacco the vile odours of intoxicating drinks to the bad air of countless gas lights to draughts innumerable as the doors of these palaces of sin swung too and fro and worse than all to sips of gin itself which nelly in her fits of maudlin tenderness poured down its throat no wonder that it pined and pined and ever cried as though in sorrow of the miseries of the world into which it had so lately come


one night when its miserable mother came home after many hours absence and sunk down on the floor like a log of wood or stone deaf to the tender entreaties of ruth and little nell the everweeping baby was still so still that some sweet opiate must have soothed it to its gentle rest


it lay long thus so long that when joe eame home the truth was sus pected at once


by foroe he took it from its mothers arms and when it was raised and its face uncovered it was seen that it indeed restedthat its tears were dry its sobs hushed for everit was dead


happy that it was for few tears were shed for it


debased and deteriorated in every moral sense the miserable mother was dead to the divine maternal instincts which god had implanted in her womans heart and she once so tender and so lavish in her love that had guarded and che rished her infants with such balmy kisses that had hushed them to rest with epi thets so full of rustic grace and tender ness shed but few tears for her little one


neither did joe he had never thought of the baby as he did of those nelly had borne him in her days of sobriety and well doing ad it was shrouded in its little coffin and sent to its pauper grave without one sigh or one tear like those which had hallowed the dust of little sam


the death of her babe seemed to sever the last link between nelly and her home


day and night she was out now getting drink or finding the means to get it for this latter purpose hunting out the place where little dick was and when she found it teasing him inces santly for such weekly trifle as he earn ed for though old frigsby knew how to value his books his payment of service was very fractional indeed


when she had got this she tempted him to give her books to sell so low had she sunk but old madge had already warned him on this point so telling her he dare not she slunk grumbling away


the life of the two little girls at home was miserable indeed


shut up hour after hour or else wandering about the streets they knew both hunger and cold in their full extremity


one afternoon when a cold autumn wind blew and when premature night was sinking on the dull and sloppy streets they were aioused by bernardo the italian who finding their home locked up and nelly away found them together asleep or nearly so on a neighbouring doorstep


their benumbed hands and shoulders their dishevelled hair their little shoeless feet and ragged saturated garments bespoke a frightful history of the sufferings they endured and of the desolation their mothers sins had brought upon them


the poor fellow was much distressed at the change in their appearance as he had not seen them for some time


chapter ii


thus dost thou make proud knowledge bend and crouch while grace lifts up uneven nature


that which was darkened clean with bushy groves pricking the lookers eye vanishd away when faith did change the scene and there appeard a glorious dayherbert


lester soon became a general favorite t school


the masters said he was so obedient and so quick so attentive and so respectfulbut then they added he was a strange ladso reserved and ap parently so sorrowfulwhat ailed him


the boys skid lester eshton was a rightdown good fellow that he was


so feady to make a kite or mend a top to assist in a difficult task or take a work ing part in a pleasure plot but then they added poor fellow


he never cared for play or for himself and he didnt care for his books either he only learnt his lessons because it was a duty to do so and he never tried for a priie


what was the matter with him


lester had obeyed his mother and made a habit of reading a small portion daily of the little bible which she had put into his hand at parting


but in doing so he had grown almost to hate the book


if it had not been for his promise to his mother he would have wrapped it carefully up and imt it away on the topmost shelf of his ookcase


its awful threatenings and calm sweet promises by turns attracted and alarmed him and always kept him in a state of secret agitation


he strove to forget it and not to think of it throughout the day but this was impos sible


then the poor lad took a different course and attempted to make it a moral guide and live up to its precepts


of course in this he utterly failed


first there were the law and the gospel clash ing with each other and he had not the cementing faith which could unite them


again it was impossible to keep the whole law and in letters of fire was written before his eyes the soul that sinneth it shall die


there was no medium between belief and undelief and believe he could not for there was no proof of the book but itself and he had not that spirit of a little child unto which is revealed more than unto the wise and prudent to enable him to ac cept that evidence as sufficient


his health was fast giving way beneath the hidden torture and the settled restless ness which was noticed by all had be come habitual to him


poor lester


it was while matters were in this state that he was one day pacing the garden to and fro with the restlessness of a troubled spirit


once or twice he thought he heard suppressed sobs and at last listening intently he found that they came from an arbour near at hand


he stepped towards it with the instant impulse of a generous nature


entering he found a young lad who had been his most intimate companion lying with his face buried in his hands and weeping with unrestrained fonie


this boy varney vincent was about lesters own age but how very different both in ap pearance and manners


he was a full head shorter slight and lithe and with lovely feminine features and curly light hair he appeared several years the younger


equally elever docile and obedient his tasks were performed with cheerful interest and he joined with boyish pleasure in every amusement that was going


lester had been at tracted to this boys company by his evi dent happiness which had a peculiar charm perhaps the same as sour grapes had for the fox in the fable to his misery


as i said lester found him weeping


varry varry he said what is this for


the bitter sob was checked and varney pointed to a letter which lay upon the ground


lester picked it up


short and cold it ranthat mr begged to acquaint mr henry vincent with the sudden decease of his mother his only parent and that being ap pointed his guardian he judged it expe dient that he should remain for the present at school until such time as he was prepared to enter on some employ ment


with a formal word of advice to submit patiently to the will of god the letter closed with the writers signature


lester dashed it to the ground with an indignant scoundrel bursting from his lips and turned again to his stricken friend my poor varry my dear varry how can i comfort you


he said


my mother oh iny mother moaned the boy unconscious of his friends efforts at consolation


but now lesters eyes dilated and he stood with lips parted and a look of dread terror upon his face


oh my mother he gasped if you too should be taken from me for ever


there would be nothing left in life to care fori could only hope for death and annihilation


varney had raised his eyes as lester spoke so passionately and now he stood pale and tearfully at his side and ex claimed oh lester lester hush


do you know that your words approach to blasphemy


never see the dead again


death only bring annihilation


ob les ter do not say such fearful words again most likely they aie true was the sullen answer


lester is it you that say thisyou


and is it such thoughts as this which make you so gloomy


oh poor fellow p i why do you ever think you will see your mother again


varney winced but even with the fresh gush of tears there came a beam ing holy smile as he pointed up to the skies yes yonder


when


when death leads me from this world to a better


again with the upward tearful glance dear lester do not do not think those dreadful thoughts again it is so sweet even in the deepest grief to know there is a merciful god who rules all things and to be able to say even while we are weeping in anguish gods will be done


why that is what that villain said


exclaimed lester indignantly pointing to the letter


yes lester dear the boy said ei treatingly and i dare say he was in earnest too only he dont know how to put it in beautiful pleasant words


the villain repeated lester and then he added oh yarney what a noble fellow you arewhat makes you so


the bible if i am and yarney smiled sadly at his friends compliment


oh i wish i could believe it sighed lester


not believenot believe the bible demanded varney


do i understand you aright


yes and lester blushed with shame as he said it can see no proofs of its truth no proofs


oh lester look tip at yonder blue skyit must have had a cre ator


look round at this beautiful world it must have been fashioned by an all powerful hand


look at the bursting bud of this little flowermust not an unseen power be opening it


peel the beating of your own pulse and tell me gould you prevent it from stopping ot cause it to beat again in the dead body


and must not this being be alive now and dare we disown his authority could we if we would


and lester lester would we if we could


is not the giver of all we possess thu author of all our blessings too many to be num bered


no proofs lester


lester just bowed his head and answered i have sinned


you have conquered mei do believeteach me how to seek the god i have rejected


and the fairhaired lad thrusting asidenot forgettinghis own grief knelt down by lesters side until he had induced him too to kneel in prayer for reconciliation to an offended god all the efforts of his mother had been unavailing yet the few words of a trust ful child had brought the answer to her prayers


verily god chooses his own instruments regardless of the wisdom of man


lester valued his mothers little bible now above all the treasures of this world and a few words addressed to her in one of his letters caused her heart to leap for joy


mother dear the god in whom my soul rests her whole strength and joy be with you through life and to death


eureka mother thy child is saved


to be concluded in our next


chapter iii


indent and must the first who teaches me the form of shrouds and funerals be mine own firstborn beloved


he who taught me first this motherlove


dear lord who spreadest out above thy loving transpierced hands to meet all lifted hearts with blessings sweet pierce not my heart my tender heart thou madest tender


thou who art


so happy in thine heaven alway take not mine only bliss away


mrs


browning


johnny lay tossing in his cot in the height of a feverfit


for the little boys loving heart was not able to bear the parting with poor effie


his mother leant sadly over his bed and watched his restless slumber praying to the god of love to spare her boy her darling boy


soon came the doctor and with grave face leant over the poor child and watched his slumbers


then he sat down and as gravely wrote his prescrip tion


the mother could not bear this silence and she implored him tell her if her childs illness were dangerous


and he said softly that according to mans judgment there was no hope


the grave man gone the mother leant again over her boys cot and let her tears flow unrestrictedly down


one fell upon johnnys brow and he woke directly


he looked up with a feverish quick glance mamma do you think i shall die


i fear so my child take me in your arms mamma i want to talk to you


when he was safely nestled in her arms he said mamma do you remember that i once said i should like to go away


i dont want to go now for you would want little johnny i think and he smiled


gods will be done the mother mur mured


yes mamma johnny said but i shall not die i shall live mamma


the angel will take me to the gate of heaven but i shall not go in now i shall come back to earth again


and the mother felt comforted by the childs prattle and was more hopeful


johnny was right he did not die but lived to be a good and noble man and his boyhood was brightened by the smiles of many a dear little sister


the remembrance of effie became dim and faint in the minds of those she had left on earth but they will surely know her again in heaven


chapter viii


wine is luxurious and


drunkenness is riotous iind liosoever is ddligited therewith is not wise iproivxr


s at thlee iany parth of the neiw e lambht ftither in vlhich drtnikeinnss is condemniettil f many iny iotf


i williead tome of themi


oryou


taikeheed to yoursedves says our


saviour lest your


hearts be overcharged


with surfeitihg aid drunkeh i nesst


and that day come upon you shd lelily luke


st paul tells us that drulkards shall not possess the kingdom of god


cor


vi andi gal


v


s i wonder fiaher how any oneo can be so foolislt as to give up their rightto the kingdom of heaven where


there is ever lasting happiness in exchange for the mo mentary pleasure they niydekive from any intooxicating beverage


f it is indeed my son a cause of wonder to


behold a man possessed of human reason and conscious of his high dignity as a c hild of god becoming a slave to his owh baseanimal appetites and making himself theiobjectof disgustto both god and man but i will now point out to you how a man becomes a drunikard


s i shall be most happy to learn that father


for by knowing the cause i shall be able to guard against the effect


f in the flrst place then you know that ao one is orn a drunkard consequently drunkenness is the result of an acquired habit of selfindulgence


now this habit must be the result of bad example on the part of parents in a special manner and of others in general


you see yourself that those children whose parents are in the habit of cursing and swearing generally practice the same vice in like manner the children of intemperate parents though they have often felt hunger and cold and nakedness from the effects of their unhappy parents extravagance of time and money yet have become by the very force of bad example as wicked and as drunken as their father and mother were


only think what an awful account such fathers and mothers have to renderbefore the judgment seat of god i s oh father i recollect having heard you read from the bible these words wo to that man who gives scandal it were better for him that a millstone had been tied about his neck and that he had been drowned in the sea than that he had ever given scandal


i tremble for those unhappy fathers and mothers


b be concluded in our vnext


literature


the mysteries of paris


continued


svery well


tomorrow at one oclock at the plain of saint denis you understand


yes


ill bring your portfolio


and you shall have five hundred francs


and something on account of the other business if you undertaike it


now do you go to the right we to the left and dont follow nsand the maitre decole and lachonctte disappeared


the two others directed theirsteps to wards the square of notre dame but an invisible witness had been present at this scene it was the chourineur who had crouched among the ruins to shelter him self from the rain


the conversation relative to rodolphe interested him very much he regretted thathe did notknow how to put him upon his guard against the danger which threatened lim


he had forgotten the address of tie pretended fan painter and perhaps he would never revisit the tavern how should he find him


in turning these matters over in his mind the chourineur had mechanically followed the two strangers and saw them get into the coach which waited for them at the square of notre dame


the carriage was driven off


abright idea struck the chourineur he sprang up behind the vehicle which at last stopped on the boulevard of the observatoire


the night was dark and the chourineur could not see anything by which he might re cognise the place next day


so with the sagacity of anuindian he took his knife and made a deep gash in one of the trees near which thecarriage stopped and then re gained his lodging place from which he had wandered a longway


for thefirst timefor a long period the chourineur enjoyed a sound sleep unin terrupted by the vision of the sergeant and soldiers


chapter


v sladoualeuse in tih country


the next morning thestorm had sub sided into a calm and a bright autumnal sun shone out from a cloudless sky although rendered gloomy by the height of the houses the wretched locality we have de scribediseemedscarcely less horrible when seen by the light of a fine day


about eleven ocldck in the forenoon rodolphe might be seen to enter the rue aux feves and turn towards the tavern of the ogresse


he was still dressed as a workman al though distinguished by an air of refine ment his new blouse open at the breast left visible his shirt of red wool fastened with silver buttons the collar of another shirt of white linen was turned negligently over his black cravat carelessly knotted around his neck from his light blue velvet cap escaped some curls ofauburn hair


this costume rather set off the elegantfigure of rodolphe displaying a combination of grace activity and strength


the ogresse was strutting up and down before the tavern when rodolphe ap peared


your servant young man


you have no doubt come for your change of the twenty francs


said she with a kind of deference


theres just seventeen francs due to you thatis not allsome one came to ask after you a large man well wrap ped up he had on his legs immense boots and on his arm there was a little woman disguised like a man


they drank some of my sealed wine withthe chourineur


sah


i they drank with the chourineur and what did they say to him


when say they drank i am mistaken


they only wet their lips


and


i ask you what they said to the chou rineur


oh


they spoke about one thing and anotheribrasrouge the rain and the weather


did they appear to know brasrouge no on the contrary the chourineur explained to them who he was and how you came to fight with himself


never mind i dont care about that


you want your change


yes and i intend to take la goualeusc to pass the day in the country


soh


i impossible replied the ogresse


why


shed never come back her clothes are mine without reckoning ithat she owes me two hundred and twenty francs and ten sous youdont say you are going to pay it hold said rodolphe throwing eleven louis on the counter now how much do you ask for her clothing


the amazed old woman scrutinied the goldclosely


come come


do you think id give you sbad money


send and get it changed and let us finish


how much do you ask for the clothing the ogresse divided between the desire of a good bargain surprise at seeing a workman with so much money and fear ofbeingduped remainedsilent for a mo


ment whenshe said


her dress is sworth atleast a hundred francs


such ras come come


you shall keep the change arid will add a louis nothing more


no said the ogresse ill keep my clothes out of this la goualeuse shall not stir i am free to do with my own as j please


here is your money go and call la goualeuse


the ogresse pocketed the money think ing it must have been stolen and rhen said to him with a leer why dont you go and call her your relfthat will give her more pleasure go and say that i will take her to the country not a word more


i do not wish her to know that i have paid her debt


why not


that is my own business very well id rather she should think herself still under my clutches


will you bejquick and seek her


i go l go


the ogresse wentup and in a few mi nutes descended


the goualeuse will not believe me she became as red ascrimson when i told her youwere here but when i said that i would allow her to pass the day in tlhe country i thought she would have become mad for the first time sho seemed dis posed to throw her arms around my neck


it was for joy at leaving you


at this moment fleur de mlarie entered dressed as on the evening previous she blushed


sis that


monsieur rodolphe


you seem to forget hat l chonette told you she knew your pareritsthat she knew your mother


ohq i have not forgotten that i thought ofit all night and i wept bitterly but it cannot be true


she invented this story to give me pain


it may be that la chouette really knows more than you imagine if it be so would you not be happy to find your mother


alas


if my mother never loved me what good would it be to find her


per haps she would not see me


i would be a disgrace to her


if your mother loved you fleur de ma ric she would pity you she would pardon you she would love you again


if she has forsaken you her shame would be your revenge


and why should i be revengedi


if i were revenged it seems to me that i should no longer have the right to think my self unfortunate


sperhaps you are right let us speak no more about it


will you come and pass the day with me in the country my child


oh willingly replied la goualeuse


they immediately departed and aftvr traversing two or three streets entered a carriage which had evidently been prepared for them


the horses started the sun was radiant the sky cloudless and the air circulated briskly through the open windows of the carriage


i hold a womans cloak


said la goua leuse remarking that she was seated on one


which she had not before perceived


syes it is for you my child i brought it fearing you might be cold wrap your self up well


unaccustomed to any sch care the poor girl looked at rodolphe with astonish ment


the carriage drew near st ouen at the junction of the road to st denis and the rue de la revolte


notwithstanding the monotonous cha racter of the country fleur de marie was so delighted at seeing the fields that for getting all sad thoughts her charming face brightened up she leaned out of the win dows clapped her hands and cried what delightfields


and thickets


i f i could only alightthe weather is so fine


i would like so much to run in the meadows


we will take a run my child


coach man stop


how


you also monsieur rodolphe


i also


yes we will make it a holiday


what happiness


and rdolphe and fleur de marie walked and ran over the new mown field until they were out of breath


to attempt to describe the gambols the joyous shouts the delight of fleur do marie would be impossible


poor gazelle i so long a prisoner


she breathed the pure air with intoxication she came went ran and stopped always with fresh transports


at the sight of some tufts of daisies and marigolds spared by the first frosts of ap proaching winter she could not repress new exclamations of delight she would not leave one of the flowers but gleaned the whole meadow


soon tired however being unaccustomed to exercise the young girl stopped to take breath and seated herself on the trunk of a fallen tree near a deep ditch


maries fair and transparent comolexion ordinarily too pale was now heightened with a lively colour


her large blue eyes shone sweetly her rosy mouth half open disclosed her pearl like teeth and her heart throbbed under the little orange shawl with otne hand on her bosom as if to compress its pulsations she with the other extended to liodolphe the


flowers she had gathered


nothing could be more charming than the innocent joyous expres sion whichshone on her lovely face


as soon as she could speak she said to ro dolphe with touching innocence


howkind is the good god for having given us such a fine day


a tear came to the eye of rodolphe at hearing this poor abandoned despised


crea ture without home without breadbffering a cry of joy and thanks to the creator for having enjoyed a ray of sunshine and the sight of a meadow


srodolphe was aroused from his medita tions byan unlookedfor incident


all at once a man shaking off the straw with which hewas covered rose out of the adjoining ditch with a terrible shout of laughter


fleur de marie screamed with aflright


it was the chourineur


dont be afraid mydear said heseeing her terror


here is a lucky meeting hieu


master


rodolphe you did not


expect it


nor i neither then adding in a serious tone look here master do you see people may say what they please hut there is something in the aira providence over our headsfor it seems as if he has ordered you here


what are you doing said rodolphe very much surprised


i was watching for your interest my master but how strange it is that you shlould come to this very spot


hold


there is something in it


but once more i ask you what areyou doing there


syou shall know all about it directly justgive me time to seeif the coast is clear


he ran towards the carriage got up and took a rapid glance over the plains and quickly returned to rodolphe


a short time sufficd to put rndolphe in possession of the flacts that occurred at the tavern after his departure and the subse guent conversation between the seytons tand the maitre decole and la chouette whom they had appointed to meet at this place


alter deliberating upon the best means of preventing the meeting rodolplie snaid you must discover yourself and parley with la chouette


li


the old shedevil


id


much rather fight the maitre decole


then you will spoil all


what is it then that must do


la lhouette will be outrageous at the windfall that has escaped her you must endeavour to soothe her by hintinc that you know of some good business to be done that you are waitinig for an ticeont plice and that if the lmaitre dtecole has a nlind to join there is rich booty to be gained


s liatc go on master


alter waiting about un hour you must say that your cutinrade ihas disuppointed you the you must irranige a retndlezvous fur tomorrow with la cliouetto and the maitre decolo


do you understand


i comprehend


sand this night i will see you at the corner of the champs elysees and the alice des veuves i will then tell you the rest


yes but take care


the maitredecole is an evil spirit yon have struck him he would thifik nothing of killing you be not alarmed


thunder


it is strange you can do with me as you please


something seems to tell me that there is nice broth to be cooked for the maitre decole and la chouette yet one word more master rodolphe speak


si dont think you capable of setting a trap to have the maitre decole caught by the police he is a scoundrel who has me rited death a hundred timeshut to have him arrested isnot my way of doing busi ness


nor mine but i have an account to settle with him and la chouette since they are plotting anaint me and withyour assistance well have asettlement


oh well i consent


and it we succeed said rodolple in a solemn manner which startled the chouri neur


you will be as proud as when you saved rom the fire and water the man and woman who owe you their life


how strangely you skeak master ro dolplie


i never saw you look so serious but quick quick i see something in the distance it must be la chouette


go ill creep into my hole


to night at ten oclock


at the corner of the champ elysees i understand


pleur de marie had not heard the con versation


she got into the carriage with her companion


for some time afterwards rodolphe re mained thoughtful and abstracted at length he informedfleur de marie that lhe was conveying her to a farm to spend the dayit would be impossible to describe the eflect of this pleasing information upon the poor goualeuse or to recount the thousand artless observations she made during the journey to her gratified com panion


the holy mountain of la salette a pilgrimae of the year


by the right rev bishop ullathorne


chapter iii


devotions on la salette


four happy days we passed on this moun tain this mountain sanctified by mary sanctified by the perpetual sacrifice of the altar sanctified by the indulgences from the sovereign pontiff sanctified by the piety and preaching of its missioners sanctified by innumerable pilgrimages and sanctified by countless prayers and repent ances


the sanctuary of the church is alone completed


it is in form a basilicia in style rornanesque


on one side of it rises the residence of the missionary fathers on the other that for the sisters of the apparition who have care of the female pilgrims


these edifices are in character with the church and are all built of black marble obtained from the side of mount gargas


every other material is brought up the whole ascent from corps on the backs of mules


the cost of erection is very great and funds are yet wanted for commencing the nave while the hospice with its cloisters for the reception of pil grims is still but a plan on paper


mean while the fathers do their


best to accommo date those persons who come from great dis tances and a temporary structure of wood has been erected for the reception of ladies


to their accommodation the religious sisters look with a kind and affectionate solicitude


they are almost literally in bivouac and you see ladies of various countries and of all ranks packed together but the charity which reigns on this holy mountain compensates for everything


the season had scarcely commenced when we arrived and snow had covered the mountain from a passing storm the day before


but in the second week of june there were seventyfive gentlemen at the table of the fathers and a still greater number of ladies


with the sisters


from june to the end of september the average of arrivals is sixty persons a day whilst on sundays this number is augmented by a thousand or twelve hundred pilgrims from the neigh bouring parts of the country


the kind ness and attention shown by the fathers at all times and to all classes of persons is one this spirit extends even to the least of the domestics of the mission


and lest this should be supposed to be mercenary i ought to add that these domestics even when it was pressed upon them in private resolutely refused to receive any gratuity


it was a forbidden thing they said


though pilgrims were arriving at all hours yet their wants were immediately attended to and no confusion was manifest


ask for what we can give and what we can do for you at all times was said to one of my fellow travellers you know when you come to see your mother you are at home


we arrived a little before vespers and after the psalms were sung in ihe temporary chapel the procession filed out first the women then the men then the clergy


they sung the magnificat and the salve iiegina forming two choirs beside the foun tain


then urged by the fathers the pil grim stood by the well and in a language to which he was unused and which came imcouthly from m mouth he gave utter ance to his emotions and his fellowpil grims wept around him


then they returned for the benediction of the


most holy singing canticles


the confessionals were much engaged


and the fathers commenced giving a retreat in which they preached the great moral truths with force and eloquence


on the sunday six hundred pilgrims came up the mountain at early morning


of these three hundred and fifty communicated


after a considerable number of masses in the little temporary chapel the last was said in the open air on the scene of our ladys ascension


blocks of marble lay all about and served for seats


canticles were sung


the mountain is always re sounding with canticles except in the long winter


and then the long list of notices for prayers were given out


these notices are given daily to the pilgrims morning and evening and the invitation to pray for the conversion of england conies even before the one for france


france is everywhere devoted to prayer for england especially in the south


the nuns make a weekly com i munion for us and in many parish pulpits the recommendation is said every week


it was curious and wakened more than one serious reflection in me when pere sibillat gave out that recommendation for england to hear the echo from the mountains dis tinctly reply priez pour la conversion de vangleterre


the sermon followed


in the interval between mass and vespers groups of pilgrims were singing canticles others the litany of our lady


some were praying at the fountain or drinking of its waters


others were performing the way of the cross along the path along which our lady trod


all seemed most contented and full of cheerfulness


at vespers the long procession filed on to the favourite fountain


on one side the ravine into which it flows the women sat on the hill apart round the banner of the blessed virgin and behind the banner stood the nuns on the other side the men were arranged


there was a wide interval between


the clergy occupied the two sides of the altar placed on the verge of the ravine and by the site of the ascension


as verse followed verse of the psalms hill responded to hill the women to the men


then a canon of the diocese of meaux standing by the fountain preached an elo quent sermon and the benediction was given in the chapel


after which the pilgrims of a day snatched from their weekly toils began to descend


oh said a venerable english


catholic layman who stood hy me that england knew such things as these


protestantism he added is a cruel un belief


i have spoken of the great beauty of the scene around the sanctuary


all the lines of the mountains which descend upon it even where steepest are soft and flowing and covered with greensward


there is neither bush nor tree but the surface is end lessly varied


flowers are abundant chiefly blue in colour


there is the spring gentian and the stemless gentian the moun tain violet and the alpine forgetmenot and the mountain polygola and mixed with these is the rockcystus the alpine


soldanella and a small cowslip


several kinds of ferns show themselves and higher up the dwarf juniper is occasionally met with


v


but it is from the top of gargasjjsere one looks down a depth of ffvpon the sanctuary that the beauty of ttw chosen spot is best appreciated ound is a vast and almost unlimited tffcipect of wild and barren ranges whilstxhat high ele vation the scene of the jitirition closed in with its own mounjms like an amphi theatre exhibits fro the terrace of the fountain to theojainits of the enclosing mountains oiephst carpet of green varie gated with ihjrowers and is alone adorned with a verdjge so rich and with an aspect so soft


on the opposite side of gargas and chamoux the precipices are sheer walls of naked rock descending for a depth of some two thousand feet


and beyond lie chains of mountains confused and helped in all directions on to the verge of the horizon as dark as bronze or iron and without a leaf or a blade of grass apparent on their surface


two or three narrow val leys sunk to immense depths are the only relief of this terrible wildness


there said the brigadier of the cantonal gendar merie who had ascended the mountain with us pointing on the side of the sanctuary is a picture of paradise and there he added pointing to the other side is


a picture of hell


the broad and broken chasm which on the opposite side leads down to corps offers a contrast of another kind


what a fine taste our lady has


how well our lady has chosen


such are the exclama tions one often hears as the pilgrims give utterance to the admiration which the place inspires


the sanctuary itself has not been erected on the immediate scene of the ap parition


the ground was unavailable and for better reasons it has been judiciously left in its natural state


but a small monu i mental chapel will soon rise on the site of lour ladys ascension


we will now proceed to the history of the


apparition


chapter iv


the two children befohethe apparition peter maxim giraud was born at corps on the th of august of poor parents


his father is a wheelwright


in september his father sent him for a week as an act of kindness to guard the cows of his friend peter selme a small farmer at the ablandins one of the hamlets of la


salette the boy in his service being ill at the time


at that period maximin was eleven years old


he was small for his age but healthy and active


he was


utterly without education could neither write nor read and when brought to the church for instruction would escape to play with his comrades so that as he had not received any religious instruction he could not be admitted into the class preparing to make their first communion


his father declared that it had taken three or four years to teach him and that with difficulty to say the our father and the hail mary


peter selme describes him before the commission of en quiry as he knew of him during the short time he was in his employment to be c an innocent without malice without foresight


before lie started with the cows to the mountain we gave him his breakfast and supplied his blouse or his sack with pro visions for the day


and to be sure it has happened that we have come upon him on the way and found he had already eaten his provisions and given a large share of them to the clog and when we said to him but what will you eat the rest of the day


maximin has answered but i am not hungry


when asked some time after the event of his life maximin i am told that before the apparition of la salette you were somewhat of a story teller


he smiled and honestly said they have told you true


i told lies and i swore when i fixing stones after my strayed cows


such was miiximin giraud


frances melanie mathieu was also born at corps on the th of november


her parents were of the very poor est and at an early age she had to earn her bread by guarding cattle


she rarely entered a church for her employers kept her at work oh sundays and festivals as well as ion week days


she had scarcely any


know ledge of religion and


her ungrateful memory could not retain two lines of her catechism


for theninp months


before the apparition she had been in the employment ot jtjaptist pra another small farmer of the ablandins


when this worthy man was interrogated as to her character he described tier as ex cessively timid and so careless oil herself that on returning from the mountain drenched with rain slie never thought


of changing her clothes


sometimes and it was a part of her character she would sleep in the cattle sheds and at others if not ob served she would have passed the night under the stars


baptist pra also ob served that before the apparition melanie was idle disobedient and inclined to pout even so far at times as not to answer what was said to her


but after the apparition she became active and obedient and she said her prayers better


i must now extract from the formal depositions which the two employers of the children made in the year


they are drawn up by mon


dumanoir doctor


in law and iudae suppleant in the court of monte liniai this gentleman had repeatedly visited la salette and had taken the


most exact and minute informations on all that concerned the apparition


the uprightness and character for truth of the deponents is attested both by the cure of la salette and by the mayor of corps


peter selme deposed that maximin came to the ablandins on the th of sep tember


he went on that and the following days to


guard four cows in my property on the top of the mountain aux jjaisses a little distant from the summit where the cross has recently been planted the whole of the slope belonged to


private proprietors


but the commune of la salette possesses the property of the level on which the events passed of which maximin and jmelanie speak


as i feared little maximin might not be careful enough of the cows since they might easily fall into one of the numerous ravines i went and worked in that field on monday the th tuesday wed nesday and friday of that week


i declare i that during all these days i never lost the boy out of sight for an instant


it avas easy to observe him from any part of my field for no elevation of the ground intervened


i ought however to add that on the first day i took him to the level of which i have spoken and pointed out to him a little stream where he waa to take the cows to drink


he took them there every day at midday and immediately returned under my own eye


on friday the th i saw him playing with little melanie mathieu who guarded the cows of baptist pra my neighbour whose field joined mine


i know not whether the child was acquainted with her before he came to me or whether or not he had made her acquaintance at the ablandins


i never saw them together before


they both went very early in the morning to their fields and did not return until night when after having their sup pers they went to bed


on saturday the th i returned to my field as usual with little maximin


towards eleven oclock or half past eleven in the morning i told him to take the cows to the spring on the level on the north side of the mountain


the child then said i will go and call melanie mathieu and we will go together


oil that day he did not return to me in the field after taking the cows to drink


i only saw him asain that night at the house when he brought them back to the sheds


i then said to him why maximiri you didnt come back to me in the field


oh


he said to me you dont know what has hap pened


and what has happened


i asked he said we found by the stream a beautiful lady who ammed us a long time and talked to me and melanie


i was afraid at first i did not dare to fetch my bread which was by her but she said to us fear not my children come near i am here to tell you great news


and the child then recitedto irie what he has so often repeated since to all who question him upon it


next morning i and my neighbour sent the two children to the cure of la salette who the same day at mass made known to his parishioners


what they had seen and heard this my neighbours told me for i did not hear mass at la salatte but iv took little maximin to his father at corps as i had promised him to do


the child did not return asaih to our harnlet where melanie continued to remain until the month of de


h wlv massed through when he accompanied the numerous piignhis vnv went to the mountain


i further declare it to be my conviction that the children in relating what they say they saw and heard do not recite a lesson they have learnt


during the four days and a half that the tittle boy guarded my cows and during which i never lost him out of sight i never saw either priest or layman come near him or speak to hinr


little melanie went several times to guard cows in her masters field whilst maximin was with me


i saw her always alone and if any one had come and spoken to her i certainly should have seen it for my field and baptist pras are one beside the other on the same side of the mountain and they have both a plain surface and it is enough to stand up to see over and into every part of both of them


i ought to add that on one of the days of the week maximin guarded my cows in the field called babou he was not alone that day but was watched as on other ciays either by nry wife or myself


this day appears to have been the thurs day


i need scarcely remind the reader that there are no hedges or fences on those moun tains


baptist pra deposed that melanie ma thieu entered my service in the month of may and she remained in the hamlet of the ablandins until the commencement of december of the same year


during the six days that maximin giraud of corps guarded the cows of peter selme my neigh bour i did not observe that these children were acquainted with each other


they might have met either in my field which joins that of peter selme or whilst taking the cows to drink on the north of the moun tain at the baisses


on saturday the th sept they both cairie and told me what they had seen and heard on the level


inext morning tlvey went together to the cure of la salette who the same day at


mass told it from the pulpit to


his parishioners


little maximin the same day returned to corps


ho returned no more to our hamlet little melanie remained and she has been interrogated since then


by a great number of persons


i ought to add before sighing that for some days at first i did not believe the statement of the chil dren and i several times tried to induce t lit tie melanie to take the money


offered her to keep silence


the child constantly refused the money offered to her


she has ways persisted in spite of threats as well as promises of reward


the mayor of la salette amongst others tried all sorts of means in vain to put the child in contra diction with herself he could not succeed


jte then offered her money she refused it aud


she replied to his menaces that she would always and everywhere repeat what the blessed yirgin had said to her


these depositions were signed the th of november


the abbo llousselot adds from the notes of mons


largicr that maximin and melanie could scarcely have seen each other at corps their parents lived at the opposite extremities of the town and melanie before her service with baptist prabad


been in service two years at quet and two years at st luce


the children have always asserted that they were not acquainted with each other until the two days before the apparition and then saw each other but for a short time


indeed


maximin could


have been little more than six years old when melanie not eleven left corps and went to service


it must be ob served that these children neither spoke nor understood much of the french language


their own is a singular paiais having a re semblance to the italian and some affinity with the spanish


thus they knew not the french for so common an object as the potato


to give the characters of the two children more completely


i must anticipate a little


several months after the great event of their lives they were both placed at school under the care of the respectable superioress of the convent at corps


after they had been


there a year the superioress was called upon to give her opinion of them before the com mission of enquiry appointed by the bishop of grenoble


she said maximin has but ordinary abihties he is suirlciendv obedient but iisrht


ibnd of


xvc never speaks to us of the aiaair of la sslette and we avoid the subject with him thai lie may


not take any iamomuoe so himself


after uiiejmeag those long and frequent ques tionings so which he is snbjeeied he never


tsslu us


ar the other children or any one


vfho it


is thai asks for hnii or what ones tions lure been put to him


afte hs vis to la sdetse


slid after his hitemvatloiis he cosies back a simple sal as well behaved as if aoudng had passed which ctdceraei him


it is not r


wish tor him to receive the rsoaey cha


scene pilgrims oner hin vfhsn at a dbau


m time it has beea forced upan him he brings sx faithfully i ise


a way tcoabies biisek whether eitaihv kfor himself or tot hs yarms


a o olrcis f piety such as ivoks crosses beads a


if he racaves vrs cf them he never eves w ke them


he ofiea pves mn jjbrav j she nrst smirjsasik he eims


ai lie as cvnu farg ot jixis dera


fvsm dse ajsiurol ieviry of m chorsuei maximic s tst sthrdly iruikk vpu


y yet he like n har mss rm iirrriir


savs his pavers vrhjs he is le mrkei of kas ofosy


in a ttvri ihe hilii shaves hisif is no vi cvcisuk iit he is tti


nbvci o le vhiny


she ttisnit the acolii


i


id uirr vf srh great kirrlurs f


ij n j sarns dsjpas


xgte taiclj iikrj risf si m raii ix h iach s


rtit isv


las tnt i rv


f a


wril cc hi fas j ri chiidy iliti i cjie ire sibv rvo clerj by usi


mm riij h u


mu hsi tiuikf i


n oil ik ilat pccoc cj


ho ti ijtt t lz hcfij ihv ajwar ornr ar if lrj no he said they did not talk about anything religious they did not talk much about anything he amused himself


ll and how i asked did you amuse yourself


chiefly


he replied by taking aim and pitching my knife into the turf


i was struck with the same dark lustre in the eyes of maximin


when i first saw him that i had observed in melanie


they re mind me of the eftect of tropical climates


his eyes are prominent his brows well marked but somewhat depressed at the top of the arch


his forehead is clear his general appearance is frank and he prepos sessed me favourably


his manner is free and easy but still rustic


he answers rea dily when questioned but his hands are rest lessly employed about his knees


his voice has an independent drawl in it


and he has not an atom of mere human respect in his composition


all reports agree that he has made but a very poor way in learning for he is both slow of mind heedless and volatile


kate staffobd


chapter


v clown


fear not thoa man thon shalt loose nothing here


auiolyous


i hope bo sir for i have about me many parcels of charge


wiwtbks tale


the cottage which kate had visited on the day of the flood was of a superior description to those commonly inhabitd by persons of the class of small settlers


it was well shingled had a verandah round the posts of which were planted geraniums and passion flowers pump kins and melons were trained over the fence


a small garden and wellstocked poultry yard shewed the neatness and activity of the worthy old couple vwho dweltthere


dame parkhurst was preparing her husbands dinner


it was about the hungry hour of noon


youre before your time tooday master said she without looking round


and yell have to wait for though the asher be done the greens they be as tough


how soon things do get old in this here country


that they do dame was the reply in


a different tone to that which she expected


she turned hastily rmed with a fork with which she had been as sh said testing the impracticable greens and recognised the stranger who stood with a huge pair of saddle bagsunder his ann


well well if it isnt mr wragsby


kindly welcome sir


i thought it were my old man


sit ye down and ill have a few eggs into the pan


you sara


you was partial to them when you was here wore


nothing in the world like em dame


it was partly remembering them and your fine flitch brought me so far to day r the dame was gratified


her honre j cared bacon waa lier weak point and compliment to


her own or her husband society would hare been lightly esteem ed in comparison with one to her flitch


parkhurst made his appearance


should ha been here sooner master wragsby but staid to ive your olb mare a cob or two f corn


much obliged master parkhurst dont think theres such a hut that is a cottage for mans fare and horses faredn the district


by this ytime the bavory sinner was placed on the tble


dame nade tea and her hospitable heart rejoiced to see the honour which her guest rendered to her preparations


while her master smoked his pipe dame parkhurst produced her knitting


have you got ever a bit owire about ye master wragsby that would bend that is straighten into a knitting needle


well thats just what i have and no mistake was the answer as wragsby f produced from one of the many pockets which disfigured his coat a greasy roll of leather and exhibited to the dames admiring eyes a complete assortment of working materials


just a iew little articles i bought for my own use being unfortunately a batclaeaore but for you mrs parkhurst whita bia ve treated me so handsomely i will dblige you


mrs parkhurst made long inspec tion of the invaluables chose and rejected priced and bargained till masters patience was quite exhausted


why dame all your cheese wont cover that


cheese said mr wragsby thats a very cumbersome article and ill con i renient like on horseback particular after the load old nancy lias been carry lag this day and that was partly on your account master parkhurst


on my account hey mr wragsby


how dye make that out unless it wor for old parkhurst was something of a wag in his way unless it wor to favour us with your good company


well thats neither here or there im very happy to be in your company and your good womans too but re membering your garden and i hope them seeds i got for you give satisfac tion


they was no go about coming up but theres no certainty in them things


well as i said remembering your garden


ive brought a rake or so which perhaps will suit you mr park hurst


well well to see how folks will cumber theirselves


theres our parson mr cresner as good a gentleman as ever was and theres no one i like better


but to see the bag of stones hell load himself with and if he aint a horseback why hell carry em a foot


and heres you mr wragsby fairly murdering of your poor old mare not but what we take it very kind all the same with that heap of old iron


why if i may make so bold how far have you carried em


well not far dame


twas a queer chance the way i got em


you know a rough wild place say four miles down river on the old road that is just off it


among the creeks where a queer fellow of a blacksmith used to live and whats he but vanished


his wife or widow owns it now it seems and though she was crusty at first and bounced a bit she came to and we made it up and she told me that her husband had went off without givingther no warning


parkhurst who had been smoking his pipe knocked out the ashes and groaned deeply


what ails ye matter i hop bo didnt go off owing you anything


not


a farthing growled parkhurst


cahill was a rough customer and a queer fellow but he was a just man according to his knowledge and a deal too good for her


he hasleft


well i didnt much like the woman and her conversation for she began by as much as hinting that he had made free with more than his own which was the cause why he had bolted and it wasnt what a wife should do after my notions


being a bachelor myself im no judge but i should think mrs park hurst


the dame agreed


well he resumed we had a deal and that was how i came by these very useful articles heres a file mr park hurst you might find handy


the old mare was too tired to proceed any farther and wragsby was easily persuaded to remain where he was fdr the night a stretcher with a clean straw bed was provided for him in a lean to at the side of the hut


dame soliqis ed as she went through the business of putting all in order


i wonder why master makes such a groaning over that goodfornothing lizzy cahill


but that wore just the way he went on when our old sow wore robbed in the night sind he were judging ont and judging ont groaning like he does now and ho was right sure enough


he judged it to be andit was


give bim time and hell judge out anything


master will


the disappearance of cahill had excited some surprise in the neighbourhood pecially as he was supposed to be accom panied by a young man who though frequent visitor at his house had not appeared to be on good terms with him


this man has been described in oui first chapter as was also mrs cahill


they were no other than the inhabitants


f of the hut in which aylmers party had taken refuge


when wragsby retired to rest he took a careful survey of the articles whereof he had relieved the widow


among them was a vellumbound pocketbook to which he had been attracted by the silver clasps and mounting


several leaves had been torn out and no vestige of writing remained


paste in a new lining put on some new paper said wragsby to himself it will bring me a couple of halfcrowns from some fool or other


i wonder where it has been


theres no name that i can see and these wild cats and spear heads wont tell much for one


the holy homes


silverfen


continued from page


chapter xxiv


bertha


maggy nursed bertha very tenderly through several weeks of severe indispo sition during which nothing was heard of the yorks


bertha indeed saw no body and heard but little of her friends generally for most of them were out of town or incidentally away from home


she was rather glad of this than other wise it enabled her to still more ef fectually conceal the deep shadows of poverty through which she had to strug gle for whilst her pen thus lay idle the fountain of supply was necessarily stayed


with the barest return to con valescence she had to resume it and working when she best could in this way made progress


one day mrs austin called and herself broached the subject of the yorks


the abrupt discontinuation of mr yorks story she said has been a sad loss and perplexity to us more particu larly as the last few chapters were so much more powerful than the first


it was curious too how much they resem bled your style bertha indeed as mr e austin several times remarked bat that the handwriting was undoubtedly mr yorks own he should have said that all the latter portions of the story were by you


even the question of mere hand writing might puzzle some for mr yorks handwriting and yours are not unlike


that cireumstance has been remarked before replied bertha quietly and effec tually repressing any look which might betray her connection with the author ship of mr yorks story


but the point is not rare as there may be coincidences of handwriting as of countenance voice or manner


but it is strange certainly that the manuscript was in mr yorks handwriting as understood that he was only capable of mere dictation of matter


well there appears to be something a little mysterious in the whole matter replied mrs austin


and i only hope bertha that you have not in reality been doing this mans work from motives of charity


i really hope not though i know you are far too noble to make con fession of the generous things you do


i know something of the matter i confess replied bertha though please not to press me


but what are the yorks doing


have seen neither some time for i have sent word so often down by the servant to say that i was engaged that they do not often trouble me


it may be all for the best for your prudence has generally a good founda tion


as to the yorks new place of abode cannot tell you for they have shunned us since the expression of our strong opinion on account of the story


have they then left their old lodg ings


it was at a jewellers in street


yes though quite recently


when mr austin called the other day they had but just left and the landlady was full of some long story she had to tell of mrs yorks proceedings to which of course he did not stay to listen


since then we have had a very humble sort of letter from mr york apologizing for the abrupt termination of his story placing it to the account of serious headaches pleading extreme poverty and asking for the place of subeditor in the staff of the new paper the flag of liberty for which mr austin is to write a weekly leader


we can procure him the post we do not like to act in a spirit of retali ation by refusal and we feel how hard literary bread is at beststill if he treat the duties that would be his as lightly as he has the interests of our jouriial we should be even still more chagrined as seeming to have knowingly recom mended a wort hi


ess and inefficient person


i would at least give him the chance spoke bertha kindly for whilst he may fail in the requisite nerve that is needful for the daily carrying out any lengthened work especially of a literary kind he may be found efficient in a more mecha nical class of work and where the dic tum comes from one of capacity


i would do this because it would be a final test and save him from the destitution which may be otherwise his


this is what we think and so it shall be


mr austin said yours should be the casting voice and i only hope he may be found worthy of your generous recommendation


hope so


of one thing am very glad that they have left their lodgings at the jewellers as i want to call and see a very excellent woman that lodges there


bertha then proceeded to tell mrs austin about emma and margaret pool


mrs austin was intensely interested


she asked bertha to tell her in ore of margaret pool when she could and what was her intention respecting emma


at present she is in an excellent asylum for the rescue of young women and the matron speaks highly of her con duct


still as i do not like burdening the funds of the charity for too long a period and that my bad success as re lates to the girl returning home makes her now rather wish to avoid it than otherwise i think i shall when i next visit her recommend her to emigrate and should she be willing i will at once take steps to give effect to my proposal


mrs austin thought the plan the wisest that could be adopted and after some further conversation she withdrew


that very evening mrs york called upon bertha


though word was sent down that miss floring was busy the woman persisted in forcing her way upstairs


her object was to borrow some of ber thas valuable musicbooks for the latter was a good player though of late years she had missed the luxury of a piano


iii sobbed the ugly little wo man for her tears were always as ready as those of the fabled crocodile im going to study music i know something j of it and my ability is very great that way


as poor mr york so fails in health and as the loss of the austins journalwork is so disastrous to us i must do something


so i shall study music and with my capacity i shall soon be able to give lessons


mrs yorks capacity for anything be yond crying and giving way to fits of ill temper had never struck anybody


ber tha however said nothing more than that mrs york was welcome to the use of the books though their contents were only fitted to advanced performers


she then intimated that she should be greatly obliged by the return of a considerable number of very valuable books which mrs york had borrowed from time to time and of which all application for their return had hitherto proved fruitless


the books are perfectly safe miss flaring said mrs york pertly they have been made into a parcel some time and would have been returned but for poor dear mr yorks illness


you shall soon have them and as for these music books they shall be again in their place in a few days


i shall soon have gone through their contents


saying this with as much nonchalance as though her musical gift were that of a haydn mo zart or beethoven she hurried away and better let this much of the truth be known in half an hour they were safe in a secondhand booksellers shop and the tenth part of their costly value invested in some expensive luxury for mr yorks supper this in combination with a five shilling bottle of very sound port


the wit of sterne the genius of scott the pungent brevity of rochefoucault the commentaries of blackstone and the wisdom of countless authors did not stand carefully imprisoned in brown paper but had gone weeks before to give supplies to mr yorks plate glass and pipe


some weeks went by and on the evening of the day on which bertha had been first abroad after her illness mrs york again appeared and sent up a message by the servant


please ann said bertha say at once that i positive ly cannot be disturbed


i am not only fatigued but have some work of impor tance in hand that cannot be put off


please say this firmlv and at once though if mrs york hag brought any parcel of books pray take it as i am most anxious to regain some of value i have lent


bertha resumed her work but presently the maid reappeared


mrs york maam is making great fuss in the hall and crying harder than ever


missis thinks you had better see her for she says she is in deep trouble


bertha laid down her pen in despair and said quietly let her come up


the room door was presently opened and in came slowly mrs york who looking up as she approached berthas table seemed a little awed by the latter austere look


i hoped that you would have been contented with the message i sent down she said really cannot submit to these interruptions of my privacy night by night


mrs york was always abject when she had to beg


dear lady she said falling on her knees hiding her facs on the table and sobbing as loudly as a whipped urchin forgive me forgive me i will never do so againi never will


butbutpoor dear mr york


and i are in the deepest distress we have no one to sympathise with or care for us and knowing your generous heart and there was so much that was theatrical and got up in mrs yorks manner that it struck even bertha naturally un suspicious as she was of fraud in others and ready as she was almost weakly so to believe iu and aid distress if it lay in her power


i cannot comprehend this distress she said


mr york has greater ability than i and as a man far more oppor tunities of securing literary work


so that wifh his learning and mrs york was going to say something here as though in surprise but checked herself


and great ability continued bertha


he might with the exercise of only the commonest prudence and industry place himself far above want


perhaps in her heart his little vulgar wife might think so for she sighed deeply


but all she saidthis very piteously and very humblywas that miss floring must not judge hastily from the appearance of things that mr york had been ill had in consequence lost his work in the austins journal and that their distress was very deep indeed


so much so wound up mrs york in a low and infinitely pathetic voice that i we havent tasted bread since sunday and this is thursday


and so miss floring my object is to ask you to lend us five shillings


mr york has been all day seeking for work amongst the book sellers without successtomorrow he may be more fortunate


there was such an air of truth in the womans words their probability was so great that berthas heart was touched


her suspicions vanished and ber genial and acceptive manner at once returned


im truly sorry for your troubles my dear mrs york she said as she laid her hand kindly on those of the kneeling and weeping little woman more particularly as i am at this time at a very low pecuniary ebb myself


i am sorry to have to make such a revelation even to you but such is the case


one shilling


i can alone give you though more may come in a day or two and then i will readily lend assistance


oh thank you thank you said mrs york you are really very kind and noble


i will take the shilling though certainly it wont go far for we have coals and everything to buy to say nothing of poor dear mr york being so low and ill for want of food that


i tell you what i can do interrupted bertha


as your distress seems so ex treme and that this is the last and only shilling i possess i can go out with you i as far as my butchersfor my credit is i very good and i should not like the servant to know of this circumstance and get you some meat and also to the bakers to get you some bread


tea i can give you likewise for of that i always keep a store


the woman assented for anything she probably thought was better than nothing though such a sum as a sovereign or two would have been more acceptable there fore when bertha had made up a well sized packet of tea and sugar she dressed herself and went quietly out with mrs york


the butcher and baker lived near so that when mrs york was supplied with about three pounds of mutton chops off the loin and two small french rolls more of the latter she would not take entertaining as it seemed such portional ideas between bread and meat as the renowned mynheer van dunk of water and brandy viz in his potations a pint of the first to a quart of the latter daily she took her rapid departure to her new lodgings


bertha hurried back and in a few minutes was again seated quietly at her work


she might have been writing about an hour and was deeply absorbed in what was destined to be one of the most celebrated of her contributions to periodical literature when a low tap was made at her door which in her earnest ness she did not hear


almost as in stantly the door was slowly and quietly opened and mr york had glided in and closed it before bertha was in the least aware of his presence


startled by the deep shadow which fell upon the paper she hurriedly looked up and there was this man very pale and clammy looking in his rusty black and dilapidated tutors suit his clerical cravat and holding a small paper parcel in his hand


his sensual glance was fixed on berthas small bending figure with the fixity of that of a hawk and with the voracity of those huge lipped ogres we read of in childrens fables though his attitude im plied pain sorrow and wounded pride


without giving time to bertha to express the surprise she felt at being thus fa miliarly intruded upon mr york laid the parcel on the table and said coldly nay almost haughtily you gave my wife these rolls did you


perhaps you will take back the gift


it has been my lot a few times in my life to have my feelings deeply wounded never so deeply as tonight


wounded said bertha in a tone of infinite astonishment


if so i was not primarily the cause i was engaged but your wife intruded on my presence though not so unpardonably as you now have done to ask me for assistance


money i had but the merest trifle to give but as she said you wer both starving indeed had scarcely tasted food for seve ral daysi went out and procured her meat and bread as i did not wish to re veal the distress of a friend to my house hold nor did i like to refuse a mere trivial assistance such as it was


i rare ly go out of an evening and the servant always officiates between me and those who supply my small needs


i was only sorry i could render no greater assistance and am sorry too that such as it was its result is an interruption and a re buke meat


exclaimed mr york did my wife have meat


bread was all i saw


i was engaged in deep study when she came into the room and laid these rolls on the table


i was indignant at what i fancied was an insult though i certainly ought not to have thought that dear miss floring was capable of wantonly distress ing any ones feelings


but i see iti see itit is as usual that dreadful wo man my wife


here mr york sunk on to a chair close by bent down his head covered it with his hands and affected to weep


to this bertha said striving to believe his humi liation was sincere that sbe was sorry she should have been the unintentional cause of giving him pain


ah it is that woman repeated the man the misery the bane the discredit of my life


but happier days may come


a day of liberty a day i shall hail as a day of heaven itself


ah that day


and here mr york raising his head looked sentimentally and imploringly


bertha still remained standing as she had risen from her writing table more and more conscious as the man went on that what he had hitherto said was but the preliminary of some more subtle pur pose


so she said nothing but patiently waited


he lowered his voice to a whisper


miss floring i have a secret


strong as my wife is she is very diseased very consumptive when she was ill little while ago and i had eminent ad vice for her it was imparted to me with great feeling that her lungs were seri ously affected were as to hopes of cure seriously impaired andandthatbe fore very long i shall be free


his voice as it reached this last word was sunk to the most loverlike whisper that could be compatible with the emphasis laid upon it


then looking at bertha eagerly and imploringly he waited as though for an answer


i am sorry for it said bertha with great gravity and austerely repressing any sign that she read his real meaning or understood the looks cast upon her


and it should be a matter of regret to you


now as i am really busy you will perhaps withdraw


the hour is late


he affected to be deaf to what she said and to have only just concluded the last word for reaching out his hands im ploringly he repeated yes free free


and then it may be my fate to call you mine


nay nay he said passionately as starting to his feet and throwing his arms about bertha before before even theu


i passionately love you bertha floring love you as i never loved be fore or can love again my adored


my gifted soul my life my all


let us put aside the rubbish of convention let us act in the spirit of a newer day


let us be worthy of thoss philosophic truths in which i believe and which partially i have revealed to you


he kept his arms about her with iron strength he tent his head he sought to cover her face with his polluting kisses as he thus strove to poison her ear with his infamous proposal


let me go let me go she said vehe mently before he had half done let me go or ill raise the house now i know you to be incredibly baser than even what others suspect you to be


he sought to detain her to sue with glowing words but at length afraid of her vehemence he let her go and re treated a step or two towards the door with bitter chagrin painted on his face that he should have so unmasked himself and with a success so opposite to what he had plotted for and expected


go


repeated bertha with haughty and indignant contempt i only bitterly regret that the friendly footing in which i received you the assistance i strove to render you the noble estimate i had formed of your capacity and attainments have been so utterly mistaken as to lead you to thus grossly insult one whom you have had no other cause than to re spect and honour


and never enter this place again


if you do the austins and others shall know what you are and of what you are capable


he slunk scowling to the door yet with a sardonic grin upon his evil face that revealed more than words


no woman ever yet repulsed me with impunity no more shall you


the truth may be one thing but the world may be led to believe another


theu laughing with a low chuckling laugh he went very slowly out


once there he held the door ajar for a moment put back again his evil face on which was written lust and hate and vengeance then pulled the door roughly too and could be heard tramping down the staircase


berthas indignant vehemence though not its import had been heard down stairs


so that when york had left the house


berthas kind and excellent land lady came up stairs


the former told her in part how grossly york had in sulted her how his wife had come begging how this had been made a mere pretext for the fellows visit at so late an hour and that she peremptorily forbid that either man or woman should be suffexed to enter the doors again


this they shall not replied the land lady for both are amongst the most evil looking people i ever saw


the mans looks are those of a consummate villain


indeed i only wonder that a lady and gentleman so good and noble as mr and mrs austin should be taken with them


we have all been deceived said ber tha and i only fear that he will carry on his plots for yet a time before others see as clearly as i do what the man is


however their knowledge shall as yet not come from me


the austins are i believe about to recommend him to the subeditorship of the new newspaper the flag of liberty and therefore he shall have time to prove himself


his need of bread shall not come from me


it is very good of you miss floring few would be so merciful


now dismiss the people from your thoughts they can not harm you


but bertha had been too deeply moved to let such a circumstance pass lightly by


however in this as in so many battles her work was the true consoler and a few days restored her equanimity


the ministers wooing


a tale of hbw enolakd


by mrt e b stove


gontinved from tht age of june


chapter iii


a q lint maidenlilto place was uarvd little room


the window looked oat uador tbc over arching boughs of a thick applj orchard now ell in a blush with blossoms an i piaktippel buds and ihu light came golden green sprained through flickering leaves md an ever gentle rubtle and whirr of


branches and blossoms a chitterjof birds aad an indcquite whisperiug motion ub hi long heads ol orchard grass nodded and bowed to each other under the trees seemed to give the room the quiet bush of some little side chapel ic a cathe dral where green and golden glas softenb the sun light and only the sigh and rustle or kneeling worshippers break the stillness of the aiales


it was small enough fur a nulls apartment and dainty in its neatness as the waxen cell of a bee


the bed and low window were draped in spotless white with fringe i of marys own knotting


a small table undor the lookiugglaes bore the library of a well taught yourg woman of those times


the spectator paradise lost shakspeare and bobinaon crusoe stood for the admitted recu lar literature and beside them the bible and the ivorka then published of mr jonathan edwards


laid a littlu to one bide aa if of doubtful roputa tiod was the only novel which the stricter peoplo in thosfi days allowed for the reading of their daughters that sevenvolnmed trailing tedious delightful old bare sir charles grandison a book whose influence ia those times was so uni versal that it may be traced in tbe epistolary style even of the gravest divines


our little he roine was mortal with all ber divinity and had au imagination which sometimes wandered to the things of earth and ibis glorious hero in lace and embroidery wbo blended rank gallantry spirit knowledge of the world disinterest ednest constancy and piety sometimes wlked before her while bhe sat fpicning at her wheel till she sighed ebe hardly knew why that no such men walked the earth now


yet it is to be confessed the occasional raid of the romantic into marys balanced and wellordered mind was soon ener getically put to rout aud the book as we have baid remaiued on tier table under protebt pro tected by being her fathers gift to her motber during their days of courtship


the small looking glass was curiously wreathed with corals and foreign shells so disposed as to indicate an artis tic eye and skilful hand and some curious chinese paintings of birds and flowers gave rattier a piquant and foreign air to the otherwise homely ueiuiiesb of the apartment


here in this little retreat mnry spent those few hours which her exacting conscience would allow her to spars from her busysngered household life here she read and wrote and thought aud prayed and here che stands now arraying her self for the tea company that afternoon


dress which iu our day is becoming in some cases the whole of woman was in those times a remarkably rtuiple affiir


true every person of a certain degree of respectability had state and festival robes aud a certain camphor wood brass bound trunk which was always kept solemnly locked in mrs katy scuddero apartment if it could have poken might have given off quite a catalogue of brocade satin and laces


the wedding suit there slumbered in all the unsullied whiteness of its stiff ground broidered with heavy knots of flowerb and there were scarfs of wrought india muslin and embroidered crape each of which had his history for each had been brought into tbe door with beating heart on some return voyage of one who alae should return no more


tbe old truuk stood with its histories its imprisoned remembrances and a thousand tender thoughts seemed to be shaping out of every rustling fold of silk and em broidery on the few yearly occaaious when all were brought out to be aired their history re lated and iben solemnly locked up again


never thelfisa the poisessiou of these things gave to the women of an establishment a certain innate dig nity like a good conscience so that in that larger portion of existence commonly domomiuated among them every day they were content with plain suff and homespun


marys toilet tbtiefori was poonermade than those of newport belles of tbe present day it simply consisted in changing her ordinary short gown and petti coat fur anoiher of somewhat uicer materials a skirt of india chintz and a striped jioonet phort gown


her hair was of the kind which always lies like satin but nevertheless girls never think their toilet complete unless tbe smoothest hair bus been shaken down and rearranged


a fuw mo ments however served to braid its shining folda aud dispose them in their simple knot on the back of tho bend and having given a final stxoks


each mde with her little dimpled haudsshe cut down a ranmoin at the window thoughtfully watching where the afiernoin sun was creeping through the slates of the fence in long linos of gold among the tall tremulous orchard gnips a hi unconsciously bhe began warbling iu a low guging voice tb words of a familiar hymn whose grave earnestness accorded well with the genenl tone of her life and education life is tho tirao to serve tho lord the time t iusora the great reward


there waa a nwish and rustle iu tho orchard grah and a tramp of elastic steps then the branches were biuabed aside and a young man suddenly emerged from the trees a little behind mary


h was apparently about twentyfive dresd in the holiday rig of a sailor on shore wbicb well set off his fine athletic figure and accorded with a eort of easy dashing and confident air which fat not unhandsomely on him


for thereat u high forehead shaded by rings of the blackest hair a keen dark eye a firm and de termined mouth gave the impression of one who had engaged to do battle with life uot only with a will but with shrewdness and ability


he introduced the colloquy by stepping delibe rately behind mary putting his arms round her meek and kissing her


why james said mary starting up and blushing come now


i have come havut


i said the young man leaning his elbow on the windowseat aud looking at her with an air of coiriirj determined frankness which yet had in it such wholesome honesty that it was foaroely possible to be angry


tbe fact is ivlary be added with a sudden earnest darkening jf the face i wont utaad this nonsense any longer


aunt katy has been holding meat arms length ever since i got home and what have i done


havent i been to every prayer meeting and lecture and sermon since i got into port jast as regular ns a psalm book and nor


a bit of a word c ii


id


i get with you and no cbance even so much ei to give you my arm


aunt katy always comes between us and says here mary you take my arm


what docs she think i go to meet ing for and almost break my jaws keeping down the gapes i never even eo to sleep and yet i am treated in this way


i its too bad


whats the row


whats anybody been saying about me


i always have waited on you ever since you were that high


didnt i always draw you lo school on my sled


didnt we always uso to do oar sums together


didnt i al ways wait on you to singingschool


and ive been made free to run in ad out as if i were your bro ther and now she is as glum and stiff and al ways stays in the room every minuie of the time that i am there as it she was afraid i should be iu some misohief


its too bad ob jamep i am sorry that you only go to meeting for the sake of seeing me yon feul no real interest in religious things and besides mo ther thinks now i am grown bo old that why you know things are different novv at leasf wo mustnt you know alwaye do as we did when we wero children


but i wish you did feel more in terested ia good things


lam interested in one or two gocd things mary principally in you who are tbe beat i know of


beside he said quickly aud scanning her faoo attentively to see the effect of his words dont you think there is more merit iu my silting out all tbeso meetings when they bore me so confound edly than there is in your and aunt katys doiug it who really eeein to find something to like iu them


i believe you have a sisth sense quite un known to me for its all a maze i cant tind top nor bottom nor side nor up uor down to it its ynu can


and you cant you shall and you shin t you will and you wont


james you neednt look at me eo


im not going lo say tho rest of it


but seriously its all anywhere tuid nowherd to me h dont touch me it dont help me and i think it


rather makes me worse and then they tell me its


because im a natural man and the natural man underetaudeth not the ibiugs of the spirit


well t


rinta


uriutri eiwfaeths n ftllvvr to mi u


well james why need you talk everywhere as you dc


you joku and jwt und trifle till i bcernk tn


everybody tl at you do


believe in any thing


j m alraid motbi r thinks p taie an infidel


bit i know it cant be yet wo hear all sorts oi things that you bay


i inppoe you mean my telling deacon twiti hel that i had seen as good chritians among the mahometans as any in newport


didnt make him open his eyes p


its true too


in j every nation be that feareh god aod worketh righteousness is accepted of him said mary i and if there are better cbriatians than us among the mahometan i am furel am glad of it


but after all the great question i are we chris tiiu duraelves


oh jamea if you only were a real true noble christian


well mury you hnvo got into that harbor


uirougli all the band bars and rooks and crooked channels and now do you hink it right to leavu a fellow beating about outside and not go out to help him in


thu way of drawing up among your good people and leaving us sinners to our selves isnt generous


you might oare littla for the btiil of an old friend anyhow f and dont i care james


how many days and nights have ben one prayer for you


if i could take my hopes of heaved out of ray own heart aud give them tio you i would


dr h preached last sun day


oh the text i could wish myself accursed from ohrist for my brethren my kinsmen and he ent on lo show bow wo mubt be willing to give up even our own salvation if necessary for the good of others


people said it was haid deutriue but i could feel my way through it very well


yg l would give ray soul for youra i wish i could


there was a folemnity and pathos ia marys manner which ckecked the conversation


james was the mort touched because he felt it all bo real from one whoso words were always yea and nay so true so inflexibly simple


her eyes filled with tears her face kindled with a sad earnestness and james thought as he looked of a picture he had once seen in a euro pean cathedral where the youthful mother of sor rows is irep evented radiant and grave n pitying mans decline all youth but with an aspect bcrond time mournful but mournful of anothers crime she looked ns if she eat by edens door and grieved for those who ahould return no more


james had thought ue loved mury he had ad mired iiqr remarkable beany he had been proud of a certain right in her before that of other young men lier associates he had thought of her as the keeper of bis home he bad wished to appro priate her whollyrto himself but in all this there had been after all only the thought of what she a ab to be to him and this for this poor measure of what he called love she was ready to offer an in liuite tacrioce


as a subtle flash of lightning will enow in a moment a whole landscape tower town wind ing stream and distant aca so that one subtle ray ot feeling seemed in a moment to reveal to james the whole of bis past life and it seemed to him poor so meagre so shallow by the side of that childlike woman to whom the noblest of feelings were unconscious matters of course that a sort of awe awoke in him


like the apostles of old he feared aa be entered into th oloud it seemed as if the deepest titring of some eternal sorrow ba vibrated between them


after a moments pause he spoke la a low and altered voice


mary lam a sinner


no psalm or sermon evor taught it to me but i bee it now


your mother is quite right mary you are too good for me i am no mate for ou


oh what would you think of me if you knew me wholly


i have lived a moauj miserable shallow unworthy life


you are worthy you are a saint and walk in white


oh what upon earth could ever make you care bo much for me


well then james you will be good


wont you talk with dr h


hang drh said james


now mary i beg your pardon but i cant make bead or tail of a word dr h says


i dont get hold of it or know what he would be at


you girls and women dont know your power


why mary you are a living gospel


you have always had a strange power over us boys


you never talked religion much but i have been high fellows come away from being with you as still and quiet as one feels when oae goes into a church i cant understand all the hang of pre destination aud moral ability and natural ability and gods efficiency and mans agency which dr u is so encased about bul i can understand vou


you can do ma good ob jamea can i v mary i tun going to confess my sing


i saw that eomehow or other the wiud was against me iu aunt kityv quarter and you know we fellows who tnkh up the wirld in both luts dont like to be beat


if theres oppontiou it sets us on


now i confess i never did oare much about religion but i thought without being really a hypocrite id just let you try to save my soul for the bake of gelling you for theres nothing surer to book a woman than trying to save a fellows soul


its a dead shot generally that


now our ship sails onight and i thought id just come across this pttn in the orchard to speak to you


you know i used always to bring you peaches and juneatings acroaslhiswayand once i brought you a ribbon


yes ive got it yet james


well now mary all this seems mean to me mean to try and trick and snare you who are so much too good for me


i felt very proud this morning thatl was to goout first mate this time and that i should cominaad a ehip next voyago i meant to have asked you for a promise but i dont


only mary just give me your little bible and ill promise to rend it ull through soberly and fee what it all comes to


and pray for me and if while im gone a good nun comes who loves you and is worthy of you why take him mary thats my advice


james im not thinking of any such things i dont ever meau to be married


aud im glad you dont ask mo for any promise because it would be wrong to givo it mother dont even like me to be much whu you


but im sure all i have said to vou to day ia


right i shall tell her exactly all i have said


if auut katy knew what things we fellowa are pitched into who take the world head foremost she wouldnt be so selfish


mary you girls and women dont know tbe world you live in you ought to be pure and good you are not as we are


you dont know whit men what women no theyro not women


what creatures beset us in every foreign port and boardinghouses that are gates of hell a id then if a fellow comes back


from all this and dont walk exactly straightyou just draw up the hems of your garments and stand close to the wall for fear he ehoald touch you when he passes


i dont mean you mury for you are dif ferent from most but if yon would do what you could you might save us


but its no use talking mary


givu me ihebible and please be kind to my dove for i had a had time getting him urob the water and i dont want him to die


if mary had spoken all that welled up in her little heart at that moment she might have eaid too much but


duty bad its habitual seal upon her lips


slid took ber little


bible from ber table and gave it with trembling hand and james turned to go


iu a moment ho turned back and stood irresolute


mary he said we are cousins i may never come back you might kiss me this once


the kiss was given aad received in illeaoe and james disappeared among the thick trees


come child snid aunt ktty looking in there is deacon twitchela chaise in sight


aro you ready


ye mother


to he continued


kidnainni children


james moabbin a middleaged man of a most unprepossessing counte nauco wua charged at the ararat poliae court thursday with kidnapping children


the children stolen were five in number the first a bey three years old named charles bilson next three children of john dabin aged from two to six years and lastly a child five years of age named doncaster


it appeared from tho evidence given that the children all lived near to each other a short distance frein commissioners hill and near the oldkonia lead and wero playing together about the middle of the day wednesday when tho man came and enticed them away


ho led them to a spot among tho holes on the upper part of the black lead opposito the lower end of tbe township


tho man was seen leading the children nway carrying one of them in his arms and tbe four others following


on the children being missed the parents and tho neighbors started in all directions in search of them and in about two hours time they wore found the prisoner having very shortly before their discovery ltft them and proceeded to the town ship ho was followed and found iu the bull and mouth and given iuto custody by the parents


tim prisoner was unite srkber


on his own request he i was remanded for two days for tboj prediction of wltrwsmfmuls tuftttbttttfsltfctl


life and adventures of malttin chuzzlewt by c


dickiis


esq


chapter xxxix


containing sohb


fciitheb iarticulahs of tik domestic economy of tub pinches with stiiakgii news ltom the city xauwlv contilllniku tom


pleasant liitle ruth


cheerful tidy bust ling quiet little kuili


no dollshouse iver yielded greater delight to ils young mistress than little kulli derived from her glorious dominion over the triangular parlour and the tun small bedrooms


tu he toms housekeeper


what dignity


housekeeping upon the commonest teiins associated itself with elevated responsibilities nf nil sorts and kinds but housekeeping for tom implied he utmost complication of grave trusts and mighty charges


well iniulit she take the keys out of the little cheffonnier which held the tea and sugar and out of the two little damp cupboards down by the fireplace where the very black beetles got mouldy and had the shine taken out of their backs by envious mildew and jingle them upon a ring before toms eyes when he came down lo breakfast


i


well might she laughing musi cally put thcin up in tbat blessed little pocket of liers with a nifrry priile


for it was such a grand novelty to be mistress of anything that if she bad been the most relentless and despotic of nil little housekeepers she might have pleaded just that much for her excuse aud have been honourably acquitted


so far from being despotic however there out the tea which tom quite revelled in


and when she asked him what he would like to have for dinner and faltered out chops as a reasonably good suggestion after their last nights successful supper tom grew quite facetious aud rallied her desperately


i dont know tom said his sister blushing


i am not quite confident but i think i could make a beefsteak pudding if i tried tom


in the whoe catalogue of cookery there is nothing i should like so much as a beefsteak pudding


cried tom slapping his leg to give the greater force to this reply


yes dear tints excellent


but if it should happen uot to come quite riht the first time his sister faltered if it should happen not to he a pudding exactly hut should turn out a stew or a soup or something of that sort youll not he vexed tom will you the serious way iu which she looked at tom the way iu which join looked at her and the way iu which she gradually broke inio a merry laugh at her own expense nuulil have enchauted you


why said tom this is capital


it gives us a new and quite an uncommon interest iu the dinner


we put into a lottery for a beerslenk pudding and it is impossible to say what we may get