What's good? Y'all happy new release Friday. Happy holidays. It's Chris from traffic's case breaks calm doing 2022 tops five star eight box case break PYT number one some baseball on this not-so-cold winter day here in Southern California If you are somewhere else, I know the East Coast is pretty bad stay safe. Hope everyone's doing well there PYT style, so we're all good to go all ready to rock and roll here is our case and here are Our teams Nestor with the D-backs did one team random for both PYT one and PYT two So it's our first real break of it Let's do it though Thanks again. Y'all good luck Christmas wrappings to autograph cards per box 22 tops five star first look at it here we go good luck card number one Look sharp six out of 50 Louise Hill Rookie for the Yankees Yankees got picked straight up by Matt Smith. I start Auto number two.  I don't see a number on this No, son completely blind Nothing on the back, but it's a little five star Yes, sir Luke If it doesn't matter how long it takes I don't want people waiting until Tuesday, so I will stay to get it done It's a beautiful product Last and then the y'all if you get it and get ahead you'll you'll see it You'll feel how heavy it is. It's I mean, it's a heavy card stock compared to last year Next up Well, a little golden graphs 18 out of 20 for the A's Jose can say go one of our team random spots going to Dennis Morgan THIC thick Just really pops that gold on that black. Very nice. Auto number two No ma Another blue 10 out of 25 on the Nomar Garcia para Boston Red Sox and Jonathan Kent One of my mom's favorite players Mostly because she thought he was very cute, you know usual suspects Mike Piazza Nomar Andre ether My mom was a type box three first up Former NSI young winner Corbin Burns Milwaukee Brewers guys Sean he said go Brewers in number one. We'll get it Corbin burns gotcha man Another long boy here for the braves five out of 40 silver signings Tom Glavin former Cy Younger I'd got this one straight up Atlanta Braves It's a nice names here. There are some arms. Let's see if we can get a couple bats Another rookie Tyler McGill 66 out of 75 New York Metropolitan straight up to James Very sharp the green kind of comes up on the side there for the Cincinnati Reds another rookie nice one Hunter Green And that team random give away to Ryan H right? I like the signature over the five-star two. I think that's kind of nice All right first half done Let's keep it going here With box five to eight he does I love when the kids kind of take their time with their signatures Hope he doesn't Become impatient like we've seen some guys Have they'll go to the initial after a couple years of signing First up Another rookie for the raise Josh. Hello Matthew slay with the Tampa Bay Rays For the White Sox former envy signed in the middle That's the big hurt Frank Thomas 11 out of 15 Nice one there for the Chicago White Sox Devon one of our team random spots He signed a little high That's where I like to like you like them a belt high 130 I'm not gonna bother So the president start here and end here. I know he's got that tall Signature if we can get a little lower 15 is not the lowest we find out Nice purple golden graphs through at 25 one gone one gone Zala's Texas Rangers Going to Steve Herrick with the team random Rookie for the Kansas City Royals Bobby Whit jr. Rookie ought to go into Ryan games be it's a beaut right there Congrats on O'Neill got a Bobby The penultimate box box seven of eight Good luck everyone Second year there's Dylan Carlson for the St. Louis Cardinals. I'm gonna go to Ed P. He's a beaut cork Old-school Houston Astra. That's Andy Pettit Houston Astros 19 out of 75 Houston going to Aaron Monzone straight up Always love pettit signature to he's got a very nice signature. I think We're talking about it earlier that five-star will kind of throw out some some guys over second or even third teams and Houston Pettit Thank you. It's there for a year maybe two One of those examples. All right last box everyone. Thanks again. We're about to do pYT number two And after this three and four still on the site right now along with five and six Something nice here It was a little wider And that last card would be a little a little thinner. Maybe something nice in there first up Rookie out of for the match Patrick Maseca catcher going to go to James One more for the New York Metropolitan's and the last one Steve wants a five or ten. Hey me too. Let's go with ten or lower So we get that that one day Me a long boy hearing the shadow box. Maybe good luck everyone The 25 penmanship Matt Olson shadow box eight is addition Seven out of 25 the Oakland eight is going to go to Dennis Morgan. I can't read what that says before penmanship It's a little too clear for my liking. I Don't know to read nice first box down First case down, excuse me.  It is What do you think that says huh on the left please be my guest Patrick Maseca And you pet it out of 75 Dillon Carlson Bobby Whit Jr. Nice one right there for the Royals Silver Golden Graff swan Gonzalez out of 15 Frank Thomas right there in the middle five-star Josh Lowe Hunter Green Rookie Auto for the Reds Tyler Miguel green 75 for the Mets Silver signatures out of 40 Tom Glavin Corbin Burns for the Brewers No more out of 25 for the Red Sox Golden Graff's Jose Canseco out of 20. Oh Neo Cruz Rookie Auto and Louise Hill out of 50 to start us off nice. All right Let me come back PYT eight box case break a five-star number two coming up chance with case price calm. Thanks again. Bye. Bye


Right now at Appalachian Wireless, you can get the Samsung Galaxy S7 for just $99.99 and get a second one Service agreement is required on both devices serving you for the last 25 years with better service and bigger savings at today's Appalachian Wireless It's time for mountain music presented by mountain music exchange the heart of music in the mountain Welcome to another edition of mountain music this week down at mountain music exchange We've got a duo all the way from Huntington, West Virginia a duo called the horse traders Let's head into the vinyl exchange room and take a listen Following the footsteps of my grandfather, if you got a grand, please don't bother Most folks in the mountains find their musical influences early in life at either church or at home and the horse traders Well, they're no different. The first time I really got into music was just sort of through church You know playing praise and worship songs things like that In high school. I got really into Oasis on a friend suggestion on a mix CD and that will forever be my favorite band Sorry to learn how to play three-quarter laces rock and roll songs on an acoustic guitar and sort of just went from there For me, my parents had a an old console record player when I was little and I Love music from the time that I was three or four or five years old they had the Cumulation of their records and all my uncles records and so there was everything from early Alice Cooper to Stevie Wonder to the Oak Ridge boys. I mean it was it was everything and you know as a young kid You don't have that bias towards anything. It was just you like what you like. So You know, I went oom bop a Mao Mao just as much as I just as much as I loved my Sharia Mori a Great love can often be a great inspiration for a song But mix that with a great loss You've got something special that song is called cheap wine. That's a song that I wrote that my grandfather died when I was really young and my mom was probably mid-twenties When he passed away and he was a very bad alcoholic. So it's just about Our family overcoming Overcoming something like that. I mean it ended up being a good song, but it's yeah, it's it's a very personal song to me There were several times that Couldn't really get through without tearing up, you know Now so the one that you use for They've got no Twinkle in now and nothing but time Drank cheap wine cure this life


Now, we will hear about something called reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation red. It was presented at 2005 at Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea. It's a way to combat deforestation, and it's a sort of pay for results aid, and someone who knows a lot about this and have followed this for many, many years is Professor Arith Engelsen from Norway. He's a professor of economics at the Norwegian University of Life Science. Welcome. Thank you. I'm going to talk about a particular aspect of red, which is the performance space. There are a lot of other aspects that I will not have time to deal with today. And it's also in the paper that is written, I consider, more than Norwegian, and the experience of that, but it's probably not too smart to come to Sweden and brag about what Norway is doing. So I skip that part for the presentation. No, I'm highly, I'm also quite critical. What is red? And as was said here, red was launched already in 2005, but kind of officially became part of the climate change agenda in 2007 in Bali, action plan, and it defined as follows, policy approaches and positive incentives. Positive incentives means carrots, not sticks to translate. On issues related to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. So that is red. And then comes the plus here, which basically has to do with the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. But it's a bit more here. And, you know, if you want analytical clarity, don't look for political compromises like this. But key characteristics, it's really that it is concerning the actions that we aim to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from forest and also to enhance the sequestration of that. And this incentives and compensation element, paying for environmental services. Not necessarily textbook, but some kind of direct payment and compensation is a central element that has survived. Now, why should we do that? No, the first thing is ready speak about, here comes from IPCC report. They said it's 7.4% of the total emission from the forestry sector, but it's more or less the same tropical deforestation part of it. And we focus on cars and the transport sector. You can compare these two sectors and see it's big. So if you want to reach the two-degree target, we cannot ignore that. Stern report said it's cheap. For example, a lot can be done for less than $5 per tonne of CO2, which is cheap if you compare to other mitigation sectors. It can also be done quite quickly. It has been promised. Not saying it's easy, but it's quickly. And one illustration is the deforestation in Brazil over the last couple of decades here. And since the peak in 2004, more than 27,000 square kilometers down to less than 5,000 last year. Now, this has to do with a number of things, including falling soy and beef prices at least in this period, but also good policies. So you can't change it. Imagine doing such a reduction in fossil fuel emissions, impossible. So you can do a lot with policies. And it's not easy, but the potential, I think, for red is there. The core idea, as I said, well, I'll get to the last point here, the win-win situation, that it's large transfer. We can achieve a lot of core benefits. And it's a way of compensated conservation, that not the conservation where you're creating parks and excluding people. Well, if you do that, the idea, at least, is to compensate their users for the losses of access and use of the forest. So it's a compensated conservation. And the core idea, as we made it in a book that I was part of in 2008, is this multi-level payment for environmental services program. From aid budget, from carbon markets, you pay the countries in the form of a national red fund, for example, like the Amazon fund that you have in Brazil. And you pay down to the land users, or maybe some local government, for example, the province of Acre in Brazil, that receives funding from the Amazon fund. And in return, you get a mission reduction. This is the core idea, simple. Now what we have seen since the early red days, four or five, six years ago, is a few changes. More objectives have been added. And the plus is a very convenient. It's a diplomatic trick, if you want to have, because plus, each of us can interpret in the way so we can grow our own tree under the red canopy. Co-benefits have been added, both reflecting this interest, but also you have to deliver on, say, the poverty, the livelihoods front in order for red to be acceptable. So there are good reasons, and there are more political economic reasons for this broadening of the objectives. The second, the policies, PES is very hard, and I'm going to talk a little bit about that. So you have go to this broad, PAMs, policies and measures, another ingredient in the alphabet, soup, and two more maybe forest narrow policies, because these PAMs are sometimes tricky to bring about. The scale was very much a focus on national. That's another key characteristic. We don't want projects. We don't want to just win a few battles but losing the war, so it should be a national approach. What we have seen is really a dominance of local level projects, red pilot projects, and maybe less action at the national level. The funding was originally launched by Papua Negini and Costa Rica and Brazil and other countries as the rich countries to pay the poor. But what we have seen is also a stronger country commitment, and the Durban platform from the COP in 2011 was really a, I think, a breakthrough in the way that all countries should participate and maybe go for legally binding agreements, so stronger commitments by the countries, and funding from market to the public. So red, a key part of it is red as performance-based aid. Right now, about two-thirds of international funding is from aid budget, so we have been this, what I've termed, the edification of red. In terms of performance-based, what is surprising is that this experience from the other development aid sectors has not really been brought into the red debate for reasons that I've wondered about. One could be that it's not the same agencies really handling it. For example, in Norway, it's the Ministry of Environment in the driver's seat for red and not the Nourad or foreign affairs. So it's simple. A contract for conditional payment is made, and I quote the former Minister of Environment and Development in Norway, who wrote in his preliminary, I mean, the biography so far. I guess he will write more biographies. Politicians tend to do that. He says this, but with result-based payment, I cannot see any large risks, which is kind of an optimistic statement, and I just put some here, some of the experience that was done, particularly from the structural adjustment programs from the 80s, and Paul Collier writes, this is indeed the core of what conditionality is all about. Aid should buy policy reforms, and, fortunately, it does no such thing. Kellogg the same. Jakob Svensson, a good Swedish economist, who looked at the World Bank project and said, is there any difference in disbursement depending on how countries complied, and the answer is no. So you are accusing the World Bank of being tough on conditionality. No, they have not been. They were very lenient. Here's the challenge, and this is the budget spending pressure that Jakob and others have talked about. There is a strong pressure to spend. Why? Politicians are measured by how much they spend. Bureau bureaucrats within the organization how much they spend. How can we change this? Focus on results rather than aid volumes. But it's also to untighten it from the annual project. Maybe aid tournaments have been mentioned. Third parties to handle the money basically create a positive opportunity cost for aid funds. Not spending is a good thing. It's good to save money for an aid agent, because it has a better alternative to use somewhere else. So basically, in a bit of an economics language, create positive opportunity cost of this fund. Otherwise, these threats about performance-based is not credible. The second is to exactly the performance criteria. And you know this log framework, input activities, process, outputs, outcomes, and finally the results in terms of some impacts. And we would like to move to the right here. That's what we think is good. Now, what are the problems? First, there is a timeline between the cost of action and the payments if we are to the very right of this result chain. Measurement tends to be more challenging. One thing is to say that we have approved a policy, the moratorium of Indonesia. But to really go in, what was the change in the area? What are the emission factors? That is the emission per hectare following the land use. And you need benchmark reference levels. And you need a question of allocating the risk as you move to the right in this table. Benchmark is really the thing I worked on quite a bit on on reference levels. So how do you set that? Now, first, benchmark is very difficult because what are you trying to guess? You're trying to guess about the hypothetical world. What will the world be if we didn't implement that project? And we will never know the answer because it's an if than hypothetical thing. And it's even more difficult in red because it's both how to predict deforestation and degradation, the business as usual. But it's also a question about a fair payment. Who should share the cost of reducing it? I looked at one thing for Brazil. Norway signed an agreement in 2008 with Brazil using a baseline average of last 10 years updated every five years. This is what Norway should have paid, 8.4 billion so far if we follow this. We committed just one billion. Now, think of an alternative way of setting. Just last five years and updated every year, we should pay half. A technical issue, like a baseline, is one billion per year in a result-based system. Uncertainty and risk, I speed up a little bit. It's also something that you have to lead. Result-based tend to put a lot of the risk on the service providers and putting money behind this. I mentioned this, Brazil. Is it really credible if we sign an agreement that which over five years should give Brazil 10 billion dollars but you only have a contract for one billion? You have to put the money behind it to make it result-based. Here are the lessons learned in my last slide. First, red is not unique and we can learn a lot and I don't see a lot of learning and drawing on the experience. In fact, we have the same faith in result-based aid and conditionality as the World Bank and others had 20 years ago. It's difficult. Don't be naive and think we have solved the problem if you just sign a contract. There's a lot of devils in the details. Don't promise more than you can keep and be credible about the payments. Mechanisms to increase the opportunity cost of funds to be credible about the performance-based aid and here are some mechanisms I don't. And the last point, don't make all red aid performance-based. You need elements, I think, of fixed payments. Otherwise, it's not credible. It's like your kids, you're saying, if you're not tidying the room, you will not get no food tomorrow. That's not a credible. But if you say, you will not get ice cream tomorrow. That's credible. And it's a bit of the same here. It's the credibility. You don't want to cut it all because you want to maintain a policy dialogue and also their predictability of the countries.


Johnny dollar a Johnny. This is Len Walker. It's shorty mutual insurance out there in the wild in Golden West Yep, they'll hold down a desk out here in San Francisco. How are you Len? What goes these days goes off is more like it Johnny Oh, what's that supposed to mean three neat tidy little explosions that have cost us well over a million dollars a piece Wow What kind of explosions Len rocket fuel type of stuff. Oh, yeah, where? The Baskham development company it's hidden away along the coast a few miles south Baskham So if you want to grab your space suit and pop on out here. Well, who knows? Maybe they'll oblige by sending you a loft on their next blow-up. You make it sound very attractive, Len I'll tell you this Johnny if you can find out the why of this and put a stop to it We'll pay you enough to let you fly high and wide and handsome for a long time to come Now you do make it sound attractive Well, then okay, I'll start practicing on the first plane I can get PS radio network brings you Mandel Kramer in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-pact expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator yours truly Johnny dollar Spence account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to surety mutual insurance company san francisco office Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of The top secret matter That's got item one a hundred and ninety nine twenty seven covers a taxi out to bradley field The hop to new york and from there a one stop flight on out to the west coast At new york international I thought I was the last one aboard before takeoff But just as the big jets started taxing out to the runway a well-dressed gentleman with a well-stuffed briefcase Plunked into the seat beside me Well, looks as though I just made it by the skin of your teeth and you better fasten your seat belt because Hey, hey, hey, George Why it's johnny johnny dollar in person. Well, this is an unexpected pleasure Well, how's the prosperous businessman just fine and you couldn't be better You on your way out to the coast too. No just going as far as chicago to our main planning office Oh, it's been a long time. Johnny.  I certainly am. Oh, that's good You're just the man. I want to talk to I want to ask some questions. Oh, why? Hasn't your company got a hand like all the others in the liquid rocket fuel racket? Certainly has or I should say had Hmm. All right now. We're in the process of trying to turn down a contract. No kidding. How come? Well Well, I I shouldn't have mentioned it. Oh top secrets. No, not quite not exactly Top secret As a matter of fact, it'll hit all the papers in just a few days now So if you want to find out what it's all about But now wait, yeah, didn't you used to have a top security clearance? I still have from osi CIA CIC you want to see my credentials or not?  So kick Here Here And here okay, okay Now what's the big secret that's about to hit the headline a new solid rocket fuel Well, I thought a lot of companies were working on that had even developed some of it They are and they have but johnny We now have a radically different one that was developed in our place through sheer luck. How do you mean? Well, if a young east german fellow or scientist, I don't even remember his name Anyhow, he has an up-degrees in chemistry from european universities a choker horse. Yeah Came to us for just a run of the mill job and one of our labs But a few months ago entirely on his own He came up with this solid fuel formula hand it over to the company lock stock and barrel Big boys checked it now. Thanks to him Well, johnny, it looks like we're gonna be light years ahead of the hammer and sickle competition. That's good Man, that's about all I can tell you about it Whatever you say Now, why'd you tell me i'm just the man you wanted to see? Because maybe you can tell me something about a company out in the coast that is also in this field Oh johnny out there There must be hundreds of them ranging from the big important ones like air search and rocket dine to Little one and two men operations. Now, which is it the bascom development company is somewhere near san francisco Bascom, huh? Yeah What do you know about it? Well, nothing. You sure? No, johnny. I'm afraid I've never even heard of them. Oh, you're a lot of help. I'm sorry All right, what'll we talk about now politics religion women sex or something sensible like fishing Let's travel there wasn't time to talk about much of anything before george got off the plane in chicago By the time I had an afternoon snack and prepared to settle down for a nap We circled and landed at san francisco international item two four seventy for a cab into len walker's office That's across from the chariton palace and my pals at kcbs Now where do you plan to stay while you're here johnny at the huntington up on the hill fine So grab yourself some dinner get a good night's sleep and you can take off first thing in the morning Take off again. Mm-hmm I'll have a rental car sent around to you there at the huntington Len aren't you going to tell me first what this is all about? Bascom development company Yes, you said that much on the phone And I look here on this map You go down here on 101 Then cut over to root one Then down the coast to here A few miles south of big sir. Wait a minute If memory serves me right That highway is chiseled out of the side of a lot of cliffs that rise up out of the blue pacific right So what can be there but a lot of rocks and trees and the ocean? A little well hidden side road that goes down through the trees to a leveled off spot on the very edge of the ocean That's where you'll find the bascom development company Only for security reasons. It's been made to look like a cluster of summer homes You say they've been having explosions Free johnny And as a result of them three deaths That's where we've had to pay off through the nose. Why? Well the men they were chemists or engineers he had working for him All had insurance that bascom paid for a cool million apiece And he was the beneficiary half to him half to the families of those men Oh this common practice where people of great importance to a company are concerned. Yeah Tell me uh Just how much do you know about the explosions? I think you'll do better by getting that from baskin himself I told him you're on your way. Oh Yes Okay, lind Whatever you say Was on expense account. Why not live it up? After a good night's sleep at the huntington I took off After passing through san jose and selenus I cut over through monterey and carmel and hit california's wonderful one Highway number one It took me through beautiful wooded hills and forests and then along the edge of the sea It's a narrow tortuous road with nothing but high cliffs on the left and a sheer drop off on the right Sometimes for several hundred feet to the ocean below and it is a beautiful beautiful drive At point sur that's sur means how The cliffs are almost perpendicular so the highway goes a bit inland for a stretch And then I found the sharply slanting little side road that len had indicated on the map I had to make my way down it in low low gear and there at the ocean's edge was the group of Well, len was right. They did look like harmless summer cottages But there was an armed guard at the entrance gate I showed him my clearances. He made a phone call then directed me to the second building down the road However, as I started to pass the first one A small wide clabbered sort of building it looked like I heard a sharp strange crackling sound like timbers breaking I looked up The side of the building seemed to bulge out momentarily and then Nonetheless my rental car rolled completely over with me inside shook me up a little bit otherwise I was okay From a building down the line several intelligent but very angry looking men came running over hauled me out as roughly as possible Then shoved me unceremoniously into the next door private office of mr. Horace elder worthy baskin Bascom a slight gray haired man of about 60 sat quietly behind his desk Holding a gun on me in a way that indicated he could and wouldn't hesitate to use it if it became necessary Until I produced my credentials and told him why I was there Then he dismissed the others shoved the gun back into the drawer of his desk And said I'm sorry mr. Dollar Rovers a bit on edge these days And no doubt doctors harvey and welcome and young franklin Thought that you had caused the explosion there in unit one Doctors mr. baskin of science chemistry best I've been able to find oh I'll tell you this about them. They not only have brains but muscles. They're all experts in the field of explosives Are they the best I wonder after what just happened You were very fortunate mr. Dollar Had that explosion occurred just a fraction of a second earlier I wouldn't be sitting here would I your body and the remains of your car would have toppled over the edge of that Narrow spot beside unit one and ended up on the rocks some 200 feet below no question of it. I don't doubt it But now aren't you concerned about what's happened to that unit one? From this window it looks like a shambles Yes, like a few others that have gone before it. Do you want to take a look and see if you can figure why it blew up? I know I do I'm afraid it would take far more scientifically knowledgeable minds than ours to determine the cause of this latest misfortune And as you can see dr. Welcome and some of his aides are looking it over very carefully Well, I still want to look of course and I sincerely hope you can accomplish something Thank heaven this time there was no one hurt We've lost three mr. Dollar three of our finest chemists during the past three months So I understand and each of them i'm convinced just 20 was on the threshold of a solution to this tremendously important project of ours Just what is this project mr. baskin? creation of an uncommonly efficient semi-liquid rocket repellent That will I am convinced semi-liquid. Yes. Yes an almost unbelievably powerful gelatinous substance With all the energy of the complicated liquid fuels and the stability of a solid If I can develop it mr. Dollar It will be the greatest triumph in the history of space rocketry and I will have made it I alone will hold the secret of it. Yeah, you're not a scientist Well in the purely academic sense no But without my aims and my ideas without my money to provide the means for their experimentation These men I employ could accomplish nothing and that means that What's the matter mr. Dollar? You are all right aren't you? Oh, yes, sure But as long as this last explosion just happened I'd like to get out there and see if we or maybe your dr. Welcome can pin down the cause of it Oh, yes. Yes, of course Believe me if anyone can determine it welcome again But welcome couldn't Nor could I In spite of mr. Bascom's health in combing through the ruins and we really combed A lot of theories got aired but none that led to any definite conclusions Then early that evening in his quarters I talked at some length of dr. Welcome about not only this but the three previous explosions No, no, I don't think so mr. Dollar It's it's simply that some of the materials the components used are so unstable so highly volatile and shocks susceptible that And yet every possible precaution is taken not only in handling but in the storage of them So unless someone were setting them off deliberately as you suggest might be possible an awful lot of people Don't want to see our national rocketry program succeed. Don't you forget that dr Yes, but but someone here in this closely knit organization. No, I can't believe it another thing mr. Dollar Yeah, williams thornberry and brunner Are those the three who were killed? Yes Now certainly you don't suggest they deliberately caused the explosions that caused their own deaths That's hardly likely I guess not a bit likely and mr. Dollar each of them was entirely alone in the laboratory when the accident occurred You sure of that dr. Welcome. Oh, absolutely Tell me was there anybody in unit one this afternoon when it went off Or anywhere near it. No, you were the only one near it and you sure of that absolutely certain Tell me something else dr. If I can yes How close are you fellows to this? this rocket fuel well, mr. Dollar, I believe that Williams and thornberry and brunner were Very close to it each in his turn Mr. Baskham and a couple of the other chaps and I felt they had found it But now of course, we'll never know So all the rest of us can do is keep on trying You don't sound very confident Well, sometimes it's very discouraging And with the cutbacks in salary we've been obliged to take But it's a challenge and challenges or what make a profession like ours worthwhile They and the opportunity to serve this country Who sparked this whole idea in the beginning? I understand it was a young german chap that mr. Baskham found somewhere abroad. What? Yes What was his name? Um Keller haltz hans keller haltz Keller haltz. I see All right, dr. Welcome Mr. Baskham You found anything anything to indicate what no it uh, it doesn't look as though we have mr. Baskham Not a thing. Oh, what's more? I've suddenly remembered that I'm supposed to be back in san francisco tonight So, uh, I'll have to run if uh, that is my car is still usable. I understand it isn't but if you wait a moment I'll bring mine around. Oh, I appreciate that but your investigation. Oh, don't you worry. I'll be back Well, I certainly hope so There after parking out on the far edge of the highway. I ran up item four $21 even in telephone calls And what I learned from them Figuratively blew this whole case wide open My first phone call was to george langley the man I'd met and talked to on the plane At his home in chicago Thanks for his information. The second call was to the young german chemist who developed the solid rocket fuel that they were about to announce You guessed it. His name was hans keller haltz What keller haltz said to me about his reasons for having left the Baskham project to work at one of america's Big established reputable chemical firms told me more than I'd even hope for And then to top it all Well, let's face it. It was mighty lucky for me that I hadn't taken the drive up to san francisco Because when I stepped out of the phone booth there at the little gas station You know I sure hope you don't need any more of my small change, mr No, that was the last call I had to make and thanks for the use of the phone Uh, don't belong to me belongs to the phone company. Well, thanks anyway Uh say now, uh, maybe you want to drive your car over to this side of the road and fill her up Maybe might not be a bad idea The why you parked along that edge over there so close to that drop off.  Well, yeah, I guess I did must have had a time mechanism Who if that happened the way it was supposed to while I was tearing up this crooked highway on the way to san francisco Nobody would ever have known Uh, listen, yeah, is that your car over there beside the station? Sure. Look here, uh Here here's a hundred bucks for the use of it just for tonight. Okay. Are you kidding? Sure. It's okay. Okay, then give me the keys Luckily the same guard was on duty and he let me through the gate the basket set up without question and more important without announcing me In the darkness then I slipped the lock on the door of baskin's office went inside Pulled down the shades put on a light and looked around And I finally found it A small switch under the syllable window facing out to where unit one had been And if those wires on it had led underground to some kind of a detonator there in unit one this afternoon Mr. Dollar Better come in mr. Baskin And it will just sit down there at your desk anywhere if you like Did you break your way in here? You uh, want to tell me why mr. Baskin? Why what? Great. I don't understand I want to know your reasons for the explosions Well, you're implying that I was responsible for the mr. Dollar entirely And you honestly think that you can prove a wild assertion like that? Yes, I honestly think I could Otherwise instead of sitting here talking with you, don't you think I'd be out and around investigating further? Yes, I suppose you would let's look at some facts Like the explosion this afternoon that nearly killed me because you knew I was coming here The switch I found under the windowsill Well, and your help in combing through the ruins Help? Or careful misdirection so I wouldn't find the detonator you'd rigged up nor a trace of the wiring from that switch Of course Those cutbacks and salaries You needed money didn't you mr. Baskin like all that insurance you collected? Yes, very true And something you said this afternoon I and I alone will hold the secret of this fuel So when you thought that Williams and thornberry and Brenner had it to keep it for yourself you killed them Is that about it mr. Baskin? Just about I guess An old because of a young chemist I brought over here Hans Kellihoff's is I was supposed to be over there in germany on vacation Actually was only in to establish contact with him and hope that I could Capitalize on his knowledge of missile fuels Took a lot of time a lot of money Most of it spent in bribes to east german authorities Finally got him over here. I see him. He was so glad to be free for the first time in his life So grateful for an opportunity to work in this country That he was willing to agree to anything Which means what mr. Baskin? I was to have complete complete control of anything he might create and develop here And what happened? Did he find out you were in this thing only for personal gain?  Well, I thought he'd completed the fuel that I could go ahead and produce it and sell it and make millions Millions mr. Dollar and without having to share with him, but I was wrong He hadn't finished I hired other men the best that I could find from all over in the hope that they could carry on where he'd left off But all it did was cost me money money money And the only way I could think of to get enough to keep going was By collecting that insurance By committing murder. Yes, I know The first one was very difficult for me But the second when I met another five hundred thousand dollars to carry on with and the third Because all the time I kept hoping hoping to get that rocket fuel I suppose I should have known I never would that my misdeeds would catch up with Yes, you should have known Are you ready to leave mr. Bascom here in this open drawer beside my hand is a 38 revolver loaded What are you thinking of bascom? For you or for me Making a difference Would it really solve anything? I mean the length to which some people will go to promote their own selfish interests at the sacrifice of others Don't they know that somehow sometime there has to be a showdown Expense account total including repair charges on the rental car on the trip back to hartford 993 70 yours truly johnny dollar Or to tell you about next week's story next week a tale of the problems at least one of the problems That go with the owning of a gold mine Join us. Won't you yours truly johnny dollar Johnny dollar is written by jack johnstone produced and directed by bruno zirato jr Music supervision by effo huber johnny dollar is played by mandel kramer Also featured in our cast where melville ruegg is bascom court benson is dr. Welcome Frank campanella is george langley and william mason as the gas station attendant Be sure to join us next week same time same station for another exciting story of yours truly johnny dollar art hannah speaking


There's the war all heading by the bins. I don't need a bacon butte after eating that. Look at that! Give me a second. Hello and welcome to Monday the 20th of January, quarter to nine. It's just took us about 35 minutes to do a 15-minute journey, hasn't it? It's made in Karstik. Something's going on in town today, the traffic's bonkers. You could tell they made me Karstik because I'll just get roasted in the comments there. So today's job is digging. We're putting a garden wall with engineering bricks from here up to there.  So now we can start digging and it took us that long to get here. The skip ride before we got here and the skip should be here. So we just need to speak to the customer next door. It's a joint venture and then see where they want theirs to go to. Gonna be a pillar at each end, about 800 high with blue engineers on the top. We just got these delivered last week because the customers sorted them out. They just got here a bit early that's all but all systems go now. We're currently being battered by storm Asia. I think it's the 9th the 9th main storm of the year. I'm running in January so that's the plan. Alex sorted the van out last night so we've got all the digging stuff. That's our motor speed which hasn't been used for a long time obviously. We haven't had a full weekend since December and I can't remember when that full week was. It's been a long time so we need to get some work done. So yeah let's get digging. Let's get the skip move first then digging. So I'm very impressed with that. We're down about 350. We're gonna put 300 concrete in it for 50 wide and then obviously the tarmac's gonna be patching back the tarmac. I can't find a virgin cave if I don't think the customer's got a virgin. So after so far not found any weeks so they made a cracking job of getting either a hedge or there goes Hodgson's up there. Yeah it's nice digging. A lot easier than I thought it would. As easy as it is when you... I won't mention it again. Yeah it's basically dry top soil that's digging out and putting in a skip unfortunately but needs to go. As I say once we're done this whole driveway is going to be redone I suppose because it's just piled it but it's a bit cheeky that isn't it when the landscape is coming all the way. So we'll get rid of our bit and then if it's left over just lay it out. We're going to have to honeycomb all these bricks because you can see where the paper the paper's wet so they're wet right through a bit of a pain. We were discussing Blackmortar but I did explain to the customer that Blackmortar doesn't stay black it'll always end up pale gray so we'll just need them to decide on that. I did just get it red because red will fade to pink which was nice with the red brick. So yeah we're going to have a break now. I'm on the long spade so I'm not bending and that's going to be taken back and I've got the lace level out and the 40mm higher at that end and then it's at this end so this is our minimum. I'll sell those points basically so all our levels go off this as we start at the highest point you could have looked at your concrete come up higher than your actual pavement and we're going through three of the concrete and a block flat and then the facework. It's going to break a little bit but it can be better this time because I put the mic on before I never switched it on. I've got this on for the wind so while Alex is carrying on with digging this is how I'm up to. This shows you how wet the brick is. These were wrapped. The wrapping did have a hole in it and that's split halfway down through the stack so they're wet now. Right down. Paper's wet though. Basically once the paper's meant to protect it but once that paper's wet it doesn't let it dry out. It keeps it wet. Yeah. Same as having the wrapped, the packs wrapped. To get wet in the wrapped they'll never dry up so I'm spending half an hour 40 minutes doing this. Customers did those ones for us very kindly because they were in the way of the skid which was going to go there but anyway they just had a bit of a breeze over it. Well it's had storm ice over it overnight. Yeah. So they were covered up on the top. You never cover the sides up so when you can get through. So they're pretty much there that stack was covered up but the sides are covered so that hasn't dried up yet. The van's drying out inside. Great. It's dripping a lot of them, isn't it? You dribbled it? Yeah. They've wet boards in there so that just evaporates into the roof and then yeah I've just got this little core in the middle to do. I'm doing it like a courtyard if you like so the air can circulate and it's doubling the stack up. That side's doubled up a little bit but there's a gap in there and we've just got the heat in there doing what it can. Every little helps. Every little helps. It's a good one that, isn't it? Anyway yeah I'm going to get the rest of these stacked up back on there with Alex because we can't leave this because they're unusable. You cannot use them. They're engineering bricks. Well it's class B's engineering bricks so they get unusable unless you're in a foundation. So I'm going to get the rest of these honeycombs out and they've got all day today and all day tomorrow to dry out. All you have to do is make sure the top's covered so the water can't get into the top. As long as the wind can blow through them they will dry out pretty quick because they're engineering bricks. So there you go. Don't let your bricks get wet. Of course this is to people who I don't know. Obviously most people do know what's the channel. So yeah see the end of the pack starts to dry out but as you go into it. If any of you's watched Blues Brothers, that scene where they're both in that big pile of bricks. Almost nine o'clock. I tried to slow that down to show what I was getting at. That side went and took me with it and then it was like a dominoes. Miraculously the van didn't get hit, the radio didn't get hit and the lead got a little dinger on the edge. So all that stuff's fine. Dad is okay at the moment so he's just going to have to restack these somewhere else. It doesn't know that the ground's not firm and we don't really have any spare pallets anymore but I'll probably bring the camera over to me now while I'm dead. So now I'll, well I can see how I'm doing. I'm just trying to carve my way through this part now to find the edge of the pavement. What's cool is you can actually see the old cobble path over me. As you can see from here. So obviously when these routes have come up some of the parmac is like being dragged back so as long as I find that cobble pavement it should be good and like I said I'm just trying to carve my way through here. So there you go. There's our finished level so I just need to get that across. I'm going to put a big dint in here first, maybe get to the end just so I can then go through properly then. Hopefully by then dad might be finished. Moving on then. Gaze this one time, that's for a bit and then we will catch you in a bit.   Obviously you've got where the bricks touch each other but they have completely covered so the wind can't get at them.  So after getting buried by them they're all dry so we're ready to go. We've set the custom of the list of the stuff we need so we're going to order that lot and that gives us a chance to get this finished tomorrow morning, get this concrete in tomorrow morning to crack on on Wednesday but Wednesday I've got pre-op in the morning so I only have a chance to come and get Alex set up because the pre-op's at the quarter past now. Just going to go and get that done then we'll both come in the afternoon and get started on this. And see how the weather takes us. So back to time that's in a bit. Back at the extension job to pick our loads up which we're going to use our garden wall job to cover the trench up so I know we don't have any people falling down the trench and putting claims in so we're going to whack these in the back of the van and then head back to the job. Here sorry about that, just slammed the door and the camera went dropped on the floor. You're going to have to excuse the wind, I can't find the mic because it's too dark but I'll try and shield you. There you go. We actually got that dig finished today. It's about half five so not too bad and we've got it all done. You can't even see. It's done believe me. There's just that route to get rid of and obviously we're covering up with the boards picked up from the previous job so I hope you can hear me. So that means we're going to hopefully get concrete tomorrow.  The rest of the brick's in the sand so that's the plan. That's how windy it is. But yeah, we'll see you for the next part whenever that'll be whether it's tomorrow or whenever they'd bring the concrete to us. Right after a very stressful journey to work again the lads just got here before us bringing them around up this morning, managed to fit us in this morning, got us to space a lot. So Alex is just taking the route out. They're just hanging, waiting for him. And then I've set the lads level and should be doing it. That was in one cube. I was a bit worried it was going to be more than a cube for a minute but you know that's okay. I think you see it's 100 mil down from the pavement so that gives room for a concrete block flat and then face work from there. Face work which is still covered. Storm jostling coming this afternoon because it's the 20, I think it's the 23rd today. Yeah, 23rd, pre-op's tomorrow. Lovely weather tomorrow but I can't come in the morning because I've got to go to the busy hospital. Typical. We've apparently got a good day tomorrow, good day Friday. So what Alex is doing? He put the last bar where it took us high so we're first going to take it out, throw it in the skit which we've done with a little bit of it but then I thought what's the point? We're not working to any particular level so we're just dragging it through and leveling it. So we've just got a nice level foundation. Instead of throwing it away. I'm just sorting that now. I don't have explained in the video or not but we've got a, how? We have a, we set the bottom of the tamp, lift it up so I can see it. We set the bottom of the tamp to 300 for 300 concrete that's the laser line so now we know that's level so we're still missing out trying to get nails and screws into soil which just use the tamp as our guide. So once you've dragged it through and got it all level again, we did have it level right to the end but then I've dragged it back again now just to raise the whole thing up. So next after this it's going to actually pour down later the wind's going to get up so we need to make sure these bricks are covered properly and head off to Bersko to fail to pick the cement up because the cement's in paper bags so you don't want to get it delivered. We're going to put it in the van so it stays dry and we've got a couple of jobs to do this afternoon running down so we're going to get that done while we've got some spare time. Clive Hurt. Anyone who, anyone who recognizes Clive Hurt will know they're owned by Fox, Fox Brothers. They were good friends with Asheville so you'll see Hurt machinery down in Asheville so you can see that kind of stuff up in the northwest. So yeah once this is done taking off from baking butty because we dropped everything like that out the house this morning to make it here.  Little back story to this job so we're all set for tomorrow. Everything's covered, hopefully it'll stay covered during storm jostling. Skip's full, ready to go. I need you to bring it up like that and the regulars don't recognize this one, you won't recognize it yet until I show you this bit. Remember this is the gate that collapsed and nearly hit me on the head. But these are lovely, these are aluminium. Lovely gates and then as you can see the customer has been busy since we were here. And there's real fast cobbles here. I love the looks on the gates there. Oh wonderful stuff. Very clever. Yeah, did all the flagging himself, porcelain obviously. And this is my favourite bit where he's done. There's the wall hidden by the bins. As you can see it's a utility wall, he's not bothered by putting any finishing out or for now. He might do eventually but he's doing a job at the moment. And then we've got this. He's done this little bit that runs into the gully. So when he's washing the dog with the tacks the water gets away down straight down to the gully. That's a lovely little touch that. So this is the job where we're doing the front wall at the end of the garden between them and the neighbours. So there you go. Oh yeah, now we're in the van. Another little item for the back story is, just unwrap a little bit. My friend might as well get my piece out, I'm having mine. This is the place where Alex lost his mind over a piece of lemon cake. He had a revelation. So we've just been made a nice piece of a gluten-free chocolate cake. So I'm all up for that. Alex had his bacon butter first but I'm straight into this. It's lovely. Look at that. I could do some deadlets for that. I don't need a bacon butter after eating that. Look at that. Give me a second. Yes. I'll put the Instagram in the above the picture so you can see what the Instagram is. If in the area, check them out for your fancy cakes. Oh God, I'm not used to this. I think because I'm on the phone. All right. You didn't get to see much unfortunately because of our camera problems but there you go. It's in. So that was a very, I'm sure Dad told you. I woke up, got my clothes on and we were out despite the best efforts. There you have it. So that's ready for... Just making out for this Tuesday of January 2024. It went perfect. I pick up no problems, no moaning. It's about half-time and we're going home. If you haven't got. It doesn't have to often. So this is the end of this part. Next part will be the brickwork. So thank you very much for watching. If you enjoyed be sure to like and if you're new to the channel and you want to see more hit subscribe. I've not done this for a while. Tap on that bell so you're always notified that way. Yeah tap on that bell that way you'll be notified when we upload. That's a massive help and we appreciate the support. Any additional support you'd wish to give there's the super thanks just under the video and then there's a link to Dad's PayPal in the description. Not necessary but greatly appreciated especially because he's getting his pre-op soon again tomorrow. So we're not lying he is getting his hip done. This has been Brooklyn with Stephen and Alex with an actual smooth day for once and we'll see you in the next one.


The speaker beg to lead the following motion standing in my name, resolution standing in my name, whereas it is provided by section 63.1e of the Public Finance Management Act, cap 51.0 on the act that a minister financed me by an affirmative resolution of parliament borrowed from a bank or the financial institution for the capital or current expenditure of government and whereas it is further provided on the section 64 of the act that money borrowed by the government must be paid into and form part of the consulated fund and whereas the minister of finance considered it necessary to borrow an amount of special joint rights 30,500,000 the loan from the International Development Association, the fund to finance the solution sustainable recovery development policy financing and whereas the service charge is three-fourths of one percent per annum on the on the on with joint financing balance and whereas the loan is payable in 40 years commencing from the date of disbursement of the loan inclusive of a great period of 10 years and whereas the loan is repayable in semi-annual installments on the first day of april and first day of october of each year after the great spiel breed resolve that a parliament of arises a minister of finance to borrow an amount of special joint rights sdrs 30,500,000 the loan from the International Development Association to finance the solution sustainable recovery development policy financing breed for the resolve that the service charge is three-fourths of one percent per annum on the joint credit balance the maximum commitment charge is one-half of one percent per annum on the on with joint financing balance the loan is repayable in 40 years commencing from the date of disbursement of the loan inclusive of a great spiel of 10 years the loan is repayable in semi-annual installments on the first day of april and first day of october of each year after the great spiel this resolution is taking approval from the honorable house to borrow the sum of 30.5 million or us dollars 40 million is a speaker one sdr is worth 1.35 million us mr speaker so in total mr speaker the loan that is being sought from the agency is 108 million us dollars mr speaker i will not be speaking i will not be saying too much this morning because this loan is a policy based loan and it's meant to finance governments operations in the upcoming budget the upcoming policy debate which will happen on the 26th 23 of april next year next month mr speaker again next month next year so mr speaker the government had to had to meet certain what we call pillars so that the agency would be satisfied that solution made the threshold and the solution economy could accept or could handle such a loan mr speaker albeit the loan is to be paid in 40 years time a 10-year grace period and the interest rate of 0.75 percent and mr speaker in these times of rising interest rates upon 75 percent interest rate is considered very concessory mr speaker mr speaker um briefly the loan is going to be used for budgetary support it's going to finance governments projects in the upcoming budget mr speaker and there's the loan is going to be broken long as follows budgetary support 35 million and five million us dollars to complete the activities under the oecs regional tourism comparative project so this development policy loan mr speaker that's how it's going to be used part for budgetary support and the other part for the tourism comparinus project mr speaker as that mr speaker i will be speaking a lot more on this loan instrument but i will say to you that's a new shows debt to gdp ratio is still higher than well what you want it to be with the ectv is stated that we have a 60 percent debt to gdp i think our calculations as we speak should see um we spoke we probably around 70 percent in the speaker but the final figures you're going to head at the policy at the policy discussion mr speaker so mr speaker as i said this is a policy development it's not the first time we've had a policy base loan all governments have taken the last government did take one a policy base loan it's a loan that will help in the financing of the government's budget but there was one after covid and this one is is to so it's a cushion the effects of the the covid the problem in ukraine the increase in oil prices and the and also the increase in interest rates so you will hear a lot more about how the money be used but it basically is a budgetary support loan mr speaker i urge members to support this resolution thank you mr speaker


CHAPTER XV. A HAPPY RETURN. Before I left Miss Maddie at Cranford, everything had been comfortably arranged for her. Even Mrs. Jameson's approval of her selling tea had been gained. That oracle had taken a few days to consider whether, by doing so, Miss Maddie would forfeit her right to the privileges of society in Cranford. I think she had some little idea of mortifying Lady Glenmire by the decisions she gave at last, which was to this effect. That whereas a married woman takes her husband's rank by the strict laws of precedence, an unmarried woman retains the station her father occupied. So Cranford was allowed to visit Miss Maddie and, whether allowed or not, it intended to visit Lady Glenmire. But what was our surprise, our dismay, when we learned that Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins were returning on the following Tuesday? Mrs. Hodgins? Had she absolutely dropped her title, and so in a spirit of bravado cut the aristocracy to become a Hodgins? She, who might have been called Lady Glenmire to her dying day? Mrs. Jameson was pleased. She said it only convinced her of what she had known from the first, that the creature had a low taste. But the creature looked very happy on Sunday at church. Nor did we see it necessary to keep our veils down on that side of our bonnets on which Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins sat, as Mrs. Jameson did, thereby missing all the smiling glory of his face and the becoming blushes of hers. I am not sure if Martha and Jem looked more radiant in the afternoon when they too made their first appearance. Mrs. Jameson soothed all the turbulence of her soul by having the blinds of her windows drawn down, as if for a funeral, on the day when Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins received collars, and it was with some difficulty that she was prevailed upon to continue the St. James's Chronicle, so indignant was she with its having inserted the announcement of the marriage. Miss Maddie's sale went off famously. She retained the furniture of her sitting-room and bedroom, the former of which she was to occupy, till Martha could meet with a lodger who might wish to take it, and into this sitting-room and bedroom she had to cram all sorts of things, which were, the auctioneer assured her, bought in for her at the sale by an unknown friend. I always suspected Mrs. Fitzadam of this, but she must have had an accessory, who knew what articles were particularly regarded by Miss Maddie on account of their associations with her early days. The rest of the house looked rather bare, to be sure, all except one tiny bedroom, of which my father allowed me to purchase the furniture for my occasional use in case of Miss Maddie's illness.  Tee and bright green canisters and confets and tumblers, Miss Maddie and I felt quite proud as we looked around us on the evening before the shop was to be opened.  The wholesome smell of plaster and whitewash pervaded the apartment. A very small Matilda Jenkins, licensed to sell tea, was hidden under the lintel of the new door, and two boxes of tea, with cabalistic inscriptions all over them, stood ready to disgorge their contents into the canisters. Miss Maddie, as I ought to have mentioned before, had had some scrupules of conscious at selling tea, when there was already Mr. Johnson in the town, who included it among his numerous commodities, and before she could quite reconcile herself to the adoption of her new business, she had trotted down to his shop, unknown to me, to tell him of the project that was entertained, and to inquire if it was likely to injure his business. My father called this idea of hers great nonsense, and wondered how tradespeople were to get on if there was to be a continual consulting of each other's interests, which would put a stop to all competition directly. And perhaps it would not have done in Drumble, but in Cranford it answered very well, for not only did Mr. Johnson kindly put at rest all Miss Maddie's scrupules and fear of injuring his business, but I have reason to know he repeatedly sent customers to her, saying that the teas he kept were of a common kind, but that Miss Jenkins had all the choice sorts. And expensive tea is a favorite luxury with well-to-do tradespeople and farmers' wives, who turn up their noses at the Kongoo and Sushong prevalent at many tables of gentility, and will have nothing else than gunpowder and pico for themselves. But to return to Miss Maddie, it was really very pleasant to see how her unselfishness and simple sense of justice called out the same good qualities in others. She never seemed to think anyone would impose upon her, because she should have been so grieved to do it to them. I have heard her put a stop to the aceravations of the man who brought her coals by quietly saying, I am sure you would be sorry to bring me wrong weight, and if the coals were short measured that time, I don't believe they ever were again. People would have felt as much ashamed of presuming on her good faith as they would have done on that of a child. But my father says such simplicity might be very well in Cranford, but would never do in the world. And I fancy the world must be very bad, for with all my father's suspicion of every one with whom he has dealings, and in spite of all his many precautions, he lost upwards of a thousand pounds by roguery only last year. I stayed long enough to establish Miss Maddie in her new mode of life and to pack up the library which the rector had purchased. He had written a very kind letter to Miss Maddie saying how glad he should be to take a library so well selected as he knew that the late Mr. Jenkins's must have been at any valuation put upon them. And when she agreed to this with a touch of sorrowful gladness that they would go back to the rectory and be arranged on the accustomed walls once more, he sent word that he feared he had not room for them all, and perhaps Miss Maddie would kindly allow him to leave some volumes on her shelves. But Miss Maddie said that she had her Bible and Johnson's dictionary and should not have much time for reading, she was afraid. Still I retained a few books out of consideration for the rector's kindness. The money which he had paid, and that produced by the sale, was partly expended on the stock of tea, and part of it was invested against a rainy day, i.e., old age or illness. It was but a small sum, it is true, and it occasioned a few evasions of truth and white lies, all of which I think very wrong indeed, in theory, and would rather not put them in practice, for we knew Miss Maddie would be perplexed as to her duty if she were aware of any little reserve fund being made for her while the debts of the bank remained unpaid. Moreover, she had never been told of the way in which her friends were contributing to pay the rent. I should have liked to tell her this, but the mystery of the affair gave a pecancy to their deed of kindness which the ladies were unwilling to give up, and at first Martha had to shirk many a perplexed question as to her ways and means of living in such a house, but by and by Miss Maddie's prudent uneasiness sank down into acquiescence with the existing arrangement. I left Miss Maddie with a good heart. Her sales of tea during the first two days had surpassed by most sanguine expectations. The whole country round seemed to be all out of tea at once. The only alteration I could have desired in Miss Maddie's way of doing business was that she should not have so plaintively entreated some of her customers not to buy green tea, running it down as a slow poison, sure to destroy the nerves, and producing all manner of evil. Their pertinacity in taking it, in spite of all her warnings, distressed her so much that I really thought she would relinquish the sale of it, and so lose half her custom, when I was driven to my wit's end for instances of longevity entirely attributable to a persevering use of green tea. But the final argument, which sealed the question, was a happy reference of mine to the train oil and tallow candles with the excumose not only in joy but digest. After that she acknowledged that one man's meat might be another man's poison, and contented herself thence forward with an occasional remonstrance when she thought the purchaser was too young and innocent to be acquainted with the evil effects green tea produced on some constitutions, and an habitual sigh when people old enough to choose more wisely would prefer it. I went over from Drumble once a quarter at least to settle the accounts, and to see after the necessary business letters. And speaking of letters, I began to be very much ashamed of remembering my letter to the Aga Jenkins, and very glad I had never named my writing to any one. I only hoped the letter was lost. No answer came, no sign was made. About a year after Miss Maddie set up shop I received one of Martha's hieroglyphics begging me to come to Cranford very soon. I was afraid Miss Maddie was ill, and went off that very afternoon, and took Martha by surprise when she saw me opening the door. We went into the kitchen as usual to have our confidential confidence, and then Martha told me she was expecting her confinement very soon, in a week or two, and she did not think Miss Maddie was aware of it, and she wanted me to break the news to her for indeed Miss, continued Martha, crying hysterically, I am afraid she won't approve of it, and I am sure I don't know who is to take care of her as she should be taken care of when I am laid up. I comforted Martha by telling her I would remain till she was about again, and only wished she had told me her reason for the sudden summons, as then I would have brought the requisite stock of clothes. But Martha was so tearful and tender-spirited, and unlike her usual self, that I said as little as possible about myself, and endeavored, rather, to comfort Martha under all the probable and possible misfortunes which came crowding upon her imagination. I then stole out of the house door, and made my appearance as if I were a customer in the shop, just to take Miss Maddie by surprise, and gain an idea of how she looked in her new situation. It was warm May weather, so only the little half-door was closed, and Miss Maddie sat behind the counter, knitting an elaborate pair of garters, they seemed to me, but the difficult stitch was no weight upon her mind, for she was singing out in a low voice to herself as her needles went rapidly in and out. I call it singing, but I daresay a musician would not use that word to the toonless, yet sweet humming of the low-worn voice. I found out from the words, far more from the attempt at the toon, that it was the old hundredth she was crooning to herself, but the quiet continuous sound, told of content, and gave me a pleasant feeling, as I stood in the street just outside the door, quite in harmony with that soft May morning. I went in. At first she did not catch who it was, and stood up as if to serve me, but in another minute Watchful Kitty had clutched her knitting, which was dropped in eager joy at seeing me. I found, after we had had a little conversation, that it was as Martha had said, and that Miss Maddie had no idea of the approaching household event. So I thought I would let things take their course, secure that when I went to her with the baby in my arms I should obtain that forgiveness for Martha, which she was needlessly frightening herself into believing that Miss Maddie would withhold, under some notion that the new claimant would require attentions from its mother, that it would be faithless treason to Miss Maddie to render. But I was right. I think that must be an hereditary quality, for my father says he is scarcely ever wrong. One morning, within a week after I arrived, I went to call Miss Maddie with a little bundle of flannel in my arms. She was very much awestruck when I showed her what it was, and asked for her spectacles off the dressing-table, and looked at it curiously, with a sort of tender wonder at its small perfection of parts. She could not banish the thought of the surprise all day, but went about on tiptoe and was very silent. But she stole up to Martha and they both cried with joy, and she got into a complimentary speech to Jem, and did not know how to get out of it again, and was only extricated from her dilemma by the sound of the shop-bell, which was an equal relief to the shy, proud, honest Jem who shook my hand so vigorously when I congratulated him that I think I feel the pain of it yet. I had a busy life while Martha was laid up. I attended on Miss Maddie and prepared her meals. I cast up her accounts and examined into the state of her canisters and tumblers. I helped her, too, occasionally in the shop, and it gave me no small amusement and sometimes a little uneasiness to watch her ways there. If a little child came in to ask for an ounce of almond-confit and four of the large kind which Miss Maddie sold weighed that much, she always added one more by way of make-weight, she called it, although the scale was handsomely tuned as before, and when I remonstrated against this her reply was, the little things like it so much. There was no use in telling her that the fifth confit weighed a quarter of an ounce and made every sale a loss to her pocket. So I remembered the green tea and winged my shaft with a feather out of her own plumage. I told her how unwholesome almond confits were and how ill-excessing them might make little children. This argument produced of some effect, for henceforward instead of the fifth confit she always told them to hold out their tiny palms in which she shook either peppermint or ginger lozenges as a preventative to the dangers that might arise from the previous sale. All together the lozenges' trade, conducted on these principles, did not promise to be remunerative, but I was happy to find that she had made more than twenty pounds during the last year by the sale of her tea, and moreover, that now she was accustomed to it, she did not dislike the employment which brought her into kindly intercourse with many of the people round about. If she gave them good weight they in their turn brought many a little country present to the old rector's daughter, a cream cheese, a few new laid eggs, a little fresh ripe fruit, a bunch of flowers. The counter was quite loaded with these offerings sometimes, as she told me. As for Cranford in general it was going on much as usual. The Jameson and Hodgins feud still raged, if a feud it could be called, when only one side cared much about it. Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins were very happy together, and like most very happy people, quite ready to be friendly. Indeed, Mrs. Hodgins was really desirous to be restored to Mrs. Jameson's good graces, because of the former intimacy. But Mrs. Jameson considered their very happiness and insult to the Glenmire family, to which she still had the honor to belong, and she doggedly refused and rejected every advance. Mr. Mulliner, like a faithful clansman, espoused his mistress's side with ardor. If he saw either Mr. or Mrs. Hodgins he would cross the street, and appear absorbed in the contemplation of life in general, and his own path in particular until he had passed them by. Miss Pohl used to amuse herself with wondering what in the world Mrs. Jameson would do, if either she or Mr. Mulliner or any other member of her household was taken ill. She could hardly have the face to call in Mr. Hodgins after the way she had behaved to them. Miss Pohl grew quite impatient for some indisposition or accident to befall Mrs. Jameson or her dependents, in order that Cranford might see how she would act under the perplexing circumstances. The weather was beginning to go about again, and I had already fixed a limit, not very far distant, to my visit, when one afternoon, as I was sitting in the shop parlor with Miss Maddie, I remember the weather was colder now than it had been in May, three weeks before, and we had a fire and kept the door fully closed. We saw a gentleman go slowly past the window, and then stand opposite to the door, as if looking out for the name which we had so carefully hidden. He took out a double eyeglass, and peered about for some time before he could discover it. Then he came in, and all on a sudden it flashed across me that it was the aga himself. For his clothes had an out-of-the-way foreign cut about them, and his face was deep brown as if tanned and retanned by the sun. His complexion contrasted oddly with his plentiful snow-white hair, his eyes were dark and piercing, and he had an odd way of contracting them and puckering up his cheeks into innumerable wrinkles when he looked earnestly at objects. He did so to Miss Maddie when he came in. His first glance had caught and lingered a little upon me, but then turned with the peculiar searching look I have described to Miss Maddie. She was a little flustered and nervous, but no more so than she always was when any man came into her shop. She thought that he would probably have a note, or a sovereign at least, for which she would have to give change, which was an operation she very much disliked to perform. But the present customer stood opposite to her without asking for anything, only looking fixedly at her as he drummed upon the table with his fingers, just for all the world as Miss Jenkins used to do. Miss Maddie was on the point of asking him what he wanted, as she told me afterwards, when he turned sharp to me, Is your name Mary Smith? Yes, said I. All my doubts as to his identity were said at rest, and I only wondered what he would say or do next, and how Miss Maddie would stand the joyful shock of what he had to reveal. Only he was at a loss how to announce himself, for he looked round at last in search of something to buy, so as to gain time, and as it happened, his eye caught on the almond confets, and he boldly asked for a pound of those things. I doubt if Miss Maddie had a whole pound in the shop, and besides the unusual magnitude of the order, she was distressed with the idea of the indigestion they would produce, taken in such unlimited quantities. She looked up to remonstrate. Something of tender relaxation in his face struck home to her heart. She said, Is it—Oh, sir, can you be Peter?—and trembled from head to foot. In a moment he was round the table and had her in his arms, sobbing the tearless cries of old age. I brought her a glass of wine, for indeed her colour had changed so as to alarm me and Mr. Peter, too. He kept saying, I have been too sudden for you, Maddie. I have, my little girl. I proposed that she should go at once into the drawing-room and lie down upon the sofa there. She looked wistfully at her brother, whose hand she had held tight, even when nearly fainting, but on his assuring her that he would not leave her, she allowed him to carry her upstairs. I thought that the best thing I could do was to run and put the kettle on the fire for early tea, and then to attend to the shop, leaving the brother and sister to exchange some of the many thousand things they must have to say. I also had to break the news to Martha, who received it with a burst of tears which nearly infected me. She kept recovering herself to ask if I was sure it was indeed Miss Maddie's brother, for I had mentioned that he had grey hair, and she had always heard that he was a very handsome young man. Something of the same kind perplexed Miss Maddie at tea-time when she was installed in the great easy-chair opposite to Mr. Jenkins in order to gaze her fill. She could hardly drink for looking at him, and as for eating, that was out of the question. I suppose hot climate's age people very quickly, said she, almost to herself, when you left Cranford you had not a grey hair in your head. But how many years ago is that? said Mr. Peter, smiling. Ah, true, yes, I suppose you and I are getting old. But still, I did not think we were so very old.  I suppose I forgot dates, too, Maddie, for what do you think I have brought for you from India? I have an Indian muslin gown and a pearl necklace for you somewhere in my chest at Portsmouth. He smiled as if amused at the idea of the incongruity of his presence with the appearance of his sister, but this did not strike her all at once, while the elegance of the articles did. I could see that for a moment her imagination dwelt complacently on the idea of herself thus attired, and instinctively she put up her hand to her throat, that little delicate throat which, as Miss Pohl had told me, had been one of her youthful charms, but the hand met the touch of folds of soft muslin in which she was always swathed up to her chin, and the sensation recalled a sense of unsuitableness of a pearl necklace to her age. She said, I'm afraid I'm too old, but it was very kind of you to think of it. They are just what I should have liked years ago when I was young. So I thought, my little Maddie, I remembered your tastes. They were so like my dear mother's. At the mention of that name the brother and sister clasped each other's hands yet more fondly, and although they were perfectly silent, I fancied they might have something to say if they were unchecked by my presence, and I got up to arrange my room for Mr. Peter's occupation that night, intending myself to share Miss Maddie's bed. But at my movement he started up. I must go and settle about a room at the George. My carpet bag is there, too. No, said Miss Maddie in great distress. You must not go. Please, dear Peter, pray, Mary, oh, you must not go. She was so much agitated that we both promised everything she wished. Peter sat down again and gave her his hand, for which better security she held in both of hers, and I left the room to accomplish my arrangements. Long, long into the night, far, far into the morning, did Miss Maddie and I talk. She had much to tell me of her brother's life and adventures, which he had communicated to her as they had sat alone. She said all was thoroughly clear to her, but I never quite understood the whole story, and when in after-days I lost my awe of Mr. Peter enough to question him myself, he laughed at my curiosity and told me stories that sounded so very much like Baron Munchausen's that I was sure he was making fun of me. What I heard from Miss Maddie was that he had been a volunteer at the Siege of Rangoon, had been taken prisoner by the Burmese, and somehow obtained favor and eventual freedom from knowing how to believe the chief of the small tribe in some case of dangerous illness. That on his release from years of captivity he had had his letters returned from England with the ominous word dead marked upon them, and believing himself to be the last of his race he had settled down as an indigo planter, and had proposed to spend the remainder of his life in the country to whose inhabitants and modes of life he had become habituated. When my letter had reached him, and with the odd vehemence which characterized him in its age as it had done in its youth, he had sold his land and all his possessions to the first purchaser and come home to a poor old sister, who was more glad and rich than any princess when she looked upon him. She talked me to sleep at last, and then I was awakened by a slight sound at the door, for which she begged my pardon as she crept penitently into bed. But it seems that when I could no longer confirm her belief that the long lost was really here under the same roof, she had begun to fear, lest it was only a waking dream of hers, that there had never been a Peter sitting by her all that blessed evening, but that the real Peter lay dead far beneath some wild sea-wave, or under some strange eastern tree. He so strong had this nervous feeling of hers become that she was feigned to get up and go and convince herself that he was really there by listening through the door to his even, regular breathing. I don't like to call it snoring, but I heard it myself through two closed doors, and by and by it soothed Miss Maddie to sleep. I don't believe Mr. Peter came home from India, rich as a Nabob. He even considered himself poor, but neither he nor Miss Maddie cared much about that. At any rate he had enough to live upon very gentile at Cranford, he and Miss Maddie together. And a day or two after his arrival the shop was closed, while troops of little urchins gleefully awaited the shower of confets and lozenges that came from time to time down upon their faces as they stood gazing up at Miss Maddie's drawing-room windows. Occasionally Miss Maddie would say to them, half-hidden behind the curtains, my dear children, don't make yourselves ill, but a strong arm pulled her back and a more rattling shower than ever succeeded. A part of the tea was sent in presence to the Cranford ladies, and some of it was distributed among the old people who remembered Mr. Peter in the days of his frolicsome youth. The Indian Muslim gown was reserved for Darling Floor Gordon, Miss Jessie Brown's daughter. The Gordon's had been on the Continent for the last few years, but were now expected to return very soon, and Miss Maddie, in her sisterly pride, anticipated great delight in the joy of showing them Mr. Peter. The pearl necklace disappeared, and about that time many handsome and useful presence made their appearance in the households of Miss Pole and Mrs. Forrester, and some rare and delicate Indian ornaments graced the drawing-rooms of Mrs. Jamison and Mrs. Fitzadam. I myself was not forgotten. Among other things I had the handsomest-bound and best addition of Dr. Johnson's works that could be procured, and dear Miss Maddie, with tears in her eyes, begged me to consider it as a present from her sister as well as herself. In short, no one was forgotten, and what was more, every one, however insignificant, that had shown kindness to Miss Maddie at any time, was sure of Mr. Peter's cordial regard. CHAPTER XVI. PEACE TO CRANFORD It was not surprising that Mr. Peter became such a favorite at Cranford. The ladies vied with each other, who should admire him most, and no wonder, for their quiet lives were astonishingly stirred up by the arrival from India, especially as the person arrived told more wonderful stories than Sinbad the sailor, and, as Miss Pole said, was quite as good as an Arabian night any evening. For my own part I had vibrated all my life between Drumble and Cranford, and I thought it was quite possible that all Mr. Peter's stories might be true, although wonderful, but when I found that, if we swallowed an anecdote of tolerable magnitude one week, we had the dose considerably increased the next, I began to have my doubts, especially as I noticed that when his sister was present the accounts of Indian life were comparatively tame, not that she knew more than we did, perhaps less. I noticed also that when the rector came to call, Mr. Peter talked in a different way about the countries he had been in. But I don't think that the ladies in Cranford would have considered him such a wonderful traveler if they had only heard him talk in the quiet way he did to him. They liked him the better, indeed, for being what they called so very oriental. One day, at a select party in his honour, which Miss Pole gave, and from which, as Mrs. Jameson honoured it with her presence, and had even offered to send Mr. Mulliner to wait, Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins and Mrs. Fitzadam were necessarily excluded, one day at Mrs. Poles, Mr. Peter said he was tired of sitting upright against the hard-backed, uneasy chairs, and asked if he might not indulge himself in sitting cross-legged. Miss Pole's consent was eagerly given, and down he went with the utmost gravity. But when Miss Pole asked me in an audible whisper, if he did not remind me of the father of the faithful, I could not help thinking of poor Simon Jones, the lame tailor, and while Mrs. Jameson slowly commented on the elegance and convenience of the attitude, I remembered how we had all followed that lady's lead in condemning Mr. Hodgins for vulgarity, because he simply crossed his legs as he sat still on his chair. Many of Mr. Peter's ways of eating were a little strange amongst such ladies as Miss Pole, and Miss Maddie, and Mrs. Jameson, especially when I recollected the untasted green peas and two pronged forks at poor Mr. Holbrook's dinner. The mention of that gentleman's name recalls to my mind a conversation between Mr. Peter and Miss Maddie one evening in the summer after he had returned to Cranford. The day had been very hot, and Miss Maddie had been much oppressed by the weather, in the heat of which her brother reveled. I remembered that she had been unable to nurse Martha's baby, which had become her favorite employment of late, and which was as much at home in her arms as in its mother's, as long as it remained a lightweight, portable by one so fragile as Miss Maddie. This day to which I refer, Miss Maddie had seemed more than unusually feeble and languid, and only revived when the sun went down, and her sofa was wheeled to the open window, through which, although it looked into the principal street of Cranford, the fragrant smell of the neighbouring hay-fields came in every now and then, borne by the soft breezes that stirred the dull air of the summer twilight, and then died away. The silence of the sultry atmosphere was lost in the murmuring noises which came in from many an open window and door. Even the children were broad in the street, late as it was, between ten and eleven, enjoying the game of play for which they had not had spirits during the heat of the day. It was a source of satisfaction to Miss Maddie to see how few candles were lighted, even in the apartments of those houses from which issued the greatest signs of life. Mr. Peter, Miss Maddie and I had all been quiet, each with a separate reverie from some little time, when Mr. Peter broke in. Do you know, little Maddie, I could have sworn you were on the high road to matrimony when I left England that last time. If anybody had told me you would have lived and died an old maid then, I should have laughed in their faces.  It was Holbrook, that fine manly fellow who lived at Woodley, that I used to think would carry off my little Maddie. You would not think it now, I daresay, Mary, but this sister of mine was once a very pretty girl. At least I thought so, and so I have a notion did poor old Holbrook. What business had he to die before I came home to thank him for all his kindness to a good-for-nothing cub as I was? It was that that made me first think he cared for you, for in all our fishing expeditions it was Maddie, Maddie we talked about. Poor Deborah, what a lecture she read me on having asked him home to lunch one day when she had seen the Arleigh carriage in town, and thought my lady might call. Well, that's long years ago, more than half a lifetime, and yet it seems like yesterday. I don't know a fellow I should have liked better as a brother-in-law.  Said he, putting out his hand to take hold of hers as she lay on the sofa. Why, what's this? You're shivering and shaking, Maddie, with that confounded open window.  I did so, and then stoop down to kiss Miss Maddie, and see if she really were chilled. She caught at my hand and gave it a hard squeeze, but unconsciously, I think, for in a minute or two she spoke to us in quite her usual voice, and smiled our uneasiness away, although she patiently submitted to the prescriptions we enforced of a warm bed and a glass of weak negus. I was to leave Cranford the next day, and before I went I saw that all the effects of the open window had quite vanished. I had superintended most of the alterations necessary in the house and household during the latter weeks of my stay. The shop was once more a parlor, the empty, resounding rooms again furnished up to the very garrets. There had been some talk of establishing Martha and Jem in another house, but Miss Maddie would not hear of this. Indeed, I never saw her so much roused as when Miss Pole had assumed it to be the most desirable arrangement. As long as Martha would remain with Miss Maddie, Miss Maddie was only too thankful to have her about her. Yes, and Jem too, who was a very pleasant man to have in the house, for she never saw him from a week's end to a week's end. And as for the probable children, if they would all turn out such little darlings as her goddaughter Matilda, she should not mind the number if Martha didn't. Besides, the next was to be called Deborah, a point which Miss Maddie had reluctantly yielded to Martha's stubborn determination that her firstborn was to be Matilda. So Miss Pole had to lower her colors and even her voice as she said to me that, as Mr. and Mrs. Hearn were still to go on living in the same house with Miss Maddie, we certainly had done a wise thing in hiring Martha's niece as an auxiliary. I left Miss Maddie and Mr. Peter most comfortable and contented, the only subject for regret to the tender heart of the one, and the social friendly nature of the other, being the unfortunate quarrel between Mrs. Jameson and the plebeian Hodginses and their following. In joke, I prophesied one day that this would only last until Mrs. Jameson or Mr. Mullener were ill, in which case they would only be too glad to be friends with Mr. Hodgins. But Miss Maddie did not like my looking forward to anything like illness in so light a manner, and before the year was out all had come round in a far more satisfactory way. I received two letters from Cranford on one auspicious October morning. Both Miss Pole and Miss Maddie wrote to ask me to come over and meet the Gordon's, who had returned to England alive and well with their two children now almost grown up. Dear Jesse Brown had kept her old kind nature, although she had changed her name and station, and she wrote to say that she and Major Gordon expected to be in Cranford on the fourteenth, and she hoped and begged to be remembered to Mrs. Jameson, named first as became her honorable station, Miss Pole and Miss Maddie. Could she ever forget their kindness to her poor father and sister? Mrs. Forrester, Mr. Hodgins, and here again came in an allusion to kindness shown to the dead long ago, his new wife, who as such must allow Mrs. Gordon to desire to make her acquaintance, and who was moreover an old Scotch friend of her husband's. In short, everyone was named, from the rector, who had been appointed to Cranford in the interim between Captain Brown's death and Miss Jesse's marriage, and who was now associated with the latter event, down to Miss Betty Barker. All were asked to luncheon, all except Mrs. Fitzadam, who had come to live in Cranford since Miss Jesse Brown's days, and whom I found rather moping on account of the omission. People wondered at Miss Betty Barker's being included in the Honorable List. But then, as Miss Pole said, we must remember the disregard of the genteel proprieties of life in which the poor Captain had educated his girls, and for his sake we swallowed our pride. Indeed, Mrs. Jameson rather took it as a compliment, as putting Miss Betty, formerly her maid, on a level with those Hodginses. But when I arrived in Cranford nothing was as yet ascertained of Mrs. Jameson's own intentions. Would the Honorable Lady go, or would she not? Mr. Peter declared that she should and she would.  But Mr. Peter was a man of resources. In the first place he persuaded Miss Maddie to write to Mrs. Gordon and tell her of Mrs. Fitzadam's existence, and to beg that one so kind and cordial and generous might be included in the pleasant invitation. An answer came back by return of post, with a pretty little note for Mrs. Fitzadam, and a request that Miss Maddie would deliver it herself and explain the previous omission. Mrs. Fitzadam was as pleased as could be, and thanked Miss Maddie over and over again. Mr. Peter had said, leave Mrs. Jameson to me, so we did, especially as we knew nothing that we could do to alter her determination if once formed. I did not know, nor did Miss Maddie, how things were going on, until Miss Pole asked me, just the day before Mrs. Gordon came, if I thought there was anything between Mr. Peter and Mrs. Jameson in the matrimonial line, for that Mrs. Jameson was really going to the lunch at the George. She had sent Mr. Mulliner down to desire that there might be a foot stool to put the warmest seat in the room, as she meant to come, and knew that their chairs were very high. Miss Pole had picked this piece of news up, and from it she conjectured all sorts of things, and bemoaned yet more. If Peter should marry, what would become of poor dear Miss Maddie, and Mrs. Jameson of all people? Miss Pole seemed to think there were other ladies in Cranford who would have done more credit to his choice, and I think she must have had someone who was unmarried in her head, for she kept saying, it was so wanting and delicacy in a widow to think of such a thing. When I got back to Miss Maddie's I really did begin to think that Mr. Peter might be thinking of Mrs. Jameson for a wife, and I was as unhappy as Miss Pole about it. He had the proof sheet of a great placard in his hand. Senior Brunoni, magician to the King of Delhi, the Raja of Ud, and the Great Lama of Tibet, etc., etc., was going to perform in Cranford were one night only, the very next night, and Miss Maddie, exultant, showed me a letter from the Gordons, promising to remain over this gaiety which Miss Maddie said was entirely Peter's doing. He had written to ask the senior to come, and was to be at all the expenses of the affair. Tickets were to be sent gratis to as many people as the room would hold. In short, Miss Maddie was charmed with the plan, and said that to-morrow Cranford would remind her of the Preston Guild, to which she had been in her youth, a luncheon at the George, with the dear Gordons, and the senior in the assembly room in the evening. But I looked only at the fatal words, under the patronage of the honourable Mrs. Jameson. She, then, was chosen to preside over this entertainment of Mr. Peter's. She was perhaps going to displace my dear Miss Maddie in his heart, and make her life lonely once more. I could not look forward to the morrow with any pleasure, and every innocent anticipation of Miss Maddie's only served to add to my annoyance. So angry and irritated, and exaggerating every little incident which could add to my irritation, I went on till we were all assembled in the great parlor at the George. Major and Mrs. Gordon, and Pretty Flora, and Mr. Ludovic were all as bright and handsome and friendly as could be. But I could hardly attend to them for watching Mr. Peter, and I saw that Miss Pohl was equally busy. I had never seen Mrs. Jameson so roused and animated before.  I drew near to listen. My relief was great when I caught his words that were not words of love, but that for all his grave face he was at his old tricks. He was telling her of his travels in India, and describing the wonderful height and size of the Himalaya Mountains. One touch after another added to their size. Each exceeded the former in absurdity. But Mrs. Jameson really enjoyed all in perfect good faith. I suppose she required strong stimulants to excite her to come out of her apathy. Mr. Peter wound up his account by saying that, of course, at that altitude there were none of the animals to be found that existed in the lower regions. The game, everything was different. Firing one day at some flying creature he was very much dismayed when it fell to find that he had shot a cherubim. Mr. Peter caught my eye at this moment and gave me such a funny twinkle that I felt sure he had no thoughts of Mrs. Jameson as a wife from that time. She looked uncomfortably amazed. But Mr. Peter, shooting a cherubim, don't you think I am afraid that was sacrilege? Mr. Peter composed his countenance in a moment and appeared shocked at the idea, which, as he said truly enough, was now presented to him for the first time. But then Mrs. Jameson must remember that he had been living for a long time among savages, all of whom were heathens. Some of them, he was afraid, were downright dissenters. Then seeing Miss Maddie draw near, he hastily changed the conversation. And after a little while turning to me he said, Don't be shocked, Prim Little Mary, at all my wonderful stories. I consider Mrs. Jameson fair game, and besides I am bent on propitiating her, and the first step towards it is keeping her well awake. I brined her here by asking her to let me have her name as patroness for my poor conjurer this evening, and I don't want to give her time enough to get up her rancor against the hajanses who are just coming in. I want everybody to be friends, for it harasses Maddie so much to hear of these quarrels. I shall go at it again by and by, so you need not look shocked. I intend to enter the assembly-room tonight with Mrs. Jameson on one side, and my lady Mrs. Hodgins on the other. You see if I don't. Somehow or another he did, and fairly got them into conversation together. Major and Mrs. Gordon helped at the good work with their perfect ignorance of any existing coolness between any of the inhabitants of Cranford. Ever since that day there has been the old friendly sociability in Cranford society, which I am thankful for because of my dear Miss Maddie's love of peace and kindliness. We all love Miss Maddie, and I somehow think we are all of us better when she is near us.