THE WEIRD SISTERS.

A ROMANCE.

By RICHARD HOWLING,

AUTHOIt Off " TnK MVSTBRY OP KILLABD."

CHAPTER XIV,

ON TUB KIVBK,

StiMi calling out for help, Grey reached the Una tie. When he got in front of the chief gateway he paused a moment, and pressed his hiincl over his forehead, trying to collect his thoughts.

The Rodwell had blown up. Yes, that was oicar, And all the people who had not been killed or drowned were now struggling iv the water, and his wife had beon aboard.

No jjood purpnse could be served by alarming the people at the Castle. They could render no assistance, and they had trouble enough there just now. Ths best thin;; to do was to dash across the Island, toll the ferryman to hasten to the scene of the wreck (he could not have seen the steamor from the northern shore of the Island]), jump into a boat, and pull rapidly toward* the fatal spot. drey crossed ihu Island at the top of his speed, paused a moment to recover his breuth, then shouted to the ferryman the news of the disaster, and, bidding him row with all his might to the place, jumped in to another boat himself and pulled rapidly down the river.

Under thu circumstances nothing could liuvc beon better for him than the exertion a.cossary for driving the boat forward. He was a, [m*ci ful man ami a skilful oarsman, He bent forward and flung him self back with swift mid weighty regularity, that made the bjaL ily. He deliberately kept his mind free fiom thought Ho can. ceutratod all his attention upon the physical work. When a young man, he had often pulled in local amateur races, but never before with such strictly undivided atten tion.

" Get all way on the boat ! Make her go through the water !" were the thoughts tbat tilled his mind. Gradually as he warmed to his work he felt his power in crease. He felt conscious of great skill and enormoas strength.

as he drove onward, muscle after muscle of his body seemed to come into sympathy with those ia his legs and back and arms, t> increase his force. 'While the muscles camo into pity their action stole the slug gish blood from his head, sent up his pulse, cooled his forehead, aud cleared hi 3 mind.

"There is no use in thinking now. No use iv my thinking until I am there and know nl(. A Tow; i hava only to make this boat lly."

As he swung; himself backward forward, and plucked the blades through the hissing water, be tolt all things p:) .stole to man were possible to him then.

" I could crush this wherry flat in my arms, or conuuaud a burning ship, or lead. a forlorn hope to certain victory at this moment," ho thought. " But 1 must be careful not to b'Oak au oar. To break an oar now would be fatal. llow they bcud I They are the tivisted ropei of the ca'apult, and the wherry v the bolt, and we me noiiig almost as fast as a Hying bolt.

"That1* the tail of the Island at last. Th'-re is no use in my liokiug round ; it might disturb inc. aII I have to thtnk of now is, Eyes in boat, a clean wake, and give »'«y with a will.

11 Half cb't, by the marks. Give hor a sheer out into mid-stream, and gat the crawl of tho ebb under her. It's only a crawl compared to what we're doing, although it (i a five-knot ebb."

He was out of training, and his mouth became dry, hia tongue parched, and his breathing short ; his muscles, under the unaccustomed strain, tingled and grow heated, and hia joints liery hot. But he felt all the better pleased for this. He took a fierce delight in squandering the magnifi cent ivsouiC'.s of hi.i stieu^th.

"My will," he thought, "is stronger than mv body and my arm? aud my leg-1, and if they fancy they are to get the better of my «vitl I'll show them tti»>ir mistake. On you go 1 ay, faster.' And he tore tho bladeshiseiugfrom tlio water, and feathered, and switched the blades into the water without a sound or a splash.

" Already,' ha continued, " the Island dead astern. The Black Rock nnd tha Witohos' J owei, my Tower of Silence, in a line, and lam out in mid-stream. This mean* I am near."

" Whf-ri an you going? Eh? Wlio'c aro yo» «oin< witli tint wherry?" Grey was hailed from abead.

line ting wator with his right hand and palling with bis left, he swung the boat round, bringing her gunwale under.

He had ulmast run into a four-oared river fishing-boat that had a variety of ll.'iUinj; objesta in tow, and a few small things in tlio liiat. Four or five other biatg were pnlline slowly hither and thither, with a man standtint; up in the bow of each.

When Mr«y ceased to pull it was growing dusk. For a moiuont he sat with his oars peaked. «tario« around him. Taen he tried to spvak, but when he opened his mouth bin touguo rattled like a bone against hU teeth, and his throat felt dusty dry. Not withstanding that the water heic wu strong and brackish, be loaned out of tbc boat, ami filled his right band and drank. Then his longuo became ilexiblo aijaiu, and although lik voice was hoarse and ragged, he could spunk.

"You wore here soon after it happened ; how long is it now?'

Notwithstanding the gloom, tho men in the fishing-boat recognised him, and their manner o,'iauged to civility at onco.

" Cloho upon an hour ago, fir. I did not Jcaow your buck, Mr Gray ; and you wera ruoniug right into us, and with such way on too." '

" One, two, three, four, five, nix, ' counts Grey. "Six boats?1'

" Yes, air, six boats. It's the awfullest thing ever happeued on the river iv ray time ; and I'm on the Weeslade, man aad boy, upward of forty year." , "An hour ago. 1 did not think it whs so long, I came as quickly aa I coutd."

"I saw you pull a punt-race twenty-live years ago, sir, and you'd hive beaten your pulling in the punt then by your pulling in tho wherry this evening. Ay, sir you'd have pulled that wherry round the punt." ■' llow many are saved f

"About forty." " Were they lauded at one or both side of tlifl river?"

"They were all landed at Aaharton's Quay over thero." "Do you know—did you sec any of the saved ?"

" Most of thorn. I helped to bring in somo thirtben."

" 'lucre is, if it is au hour since she blew up, no chance of any mor.j being alive in the water, even clinging on to any ihiug." "No, Mr Grey."

"Do you know " His tongue waß dry again, and he dipped his hand into the brackish water and drank out of his Aim,

The fisherman shuddered at this. " It's brackish at best," thought the man; "but after what has happened -ugh 1 He must be drunk or queer in his head." Grey drew in both oars before completing the question, " Do you know—Mrs Grey —my wife ?" " Yes, sir, I know her well. I often told her salmon, and saw her with you on the Kodwell I humbly hope, sir, she wasn't abroad this cveniog 1" "You did not see her among the sared ?'*

" Mr Grey, I maybe mistakeu " " Answer me, man, or —" Ho suddenly sprang up in the boat, and, whirling an oar in his hands, threatened the fisherman in the other boat. " Answer, man, or I'll brain you. d'ye hear ? And it you tell me a Ho I'll coma back and brain you whoa I find it out. Is my wife paved?"

"I did not see her," answered the man, shoving off the wherry. But Grey hooked the fishing-boat to the wherry with bis foot, aud, brandishing Ihe oar aloft, whirled it over the head of the cowering man, and shouted out in a voice that crossed the waters and crept up the hushed nhores : " Damn you, man, don't you see I mean to brain you if you won't speak!" " aho was not saved. No one on the after-deck or iv the saloon was saved. It was tho boilers i>lew up, and all afc were killed or drowned."

Grey unhooked his foot from the tiahing boit, and with his foot pushod off from her. Then throwing down the oar in the boat, he folded his arras tightly across his chest, and, ttill standing, drifted down tho river, bis large Jigure standing out in black against the fading purple of the west, his facn turned towards tho blickemng ea*t. •'Only that he lost his reason with his wife," said the fisherman, " I'd take the law of him."

"Ay," answered another man in the boat, " it's an excuse for a maa to do any wild thing to lose his wife like this."

They had drifted a bit, aud were now pulling buck towards ihe spot where they had first hailed Grey.

" He's standing up still in that wherry. With a big man like him standing up in a cockleshell of a craft like tbat, the swell of a steamboat wouldn't think much of twist ing her ftorn under hia feet," said the first speaker. " And maybe he wouldn't much mind it it did, poor gentleman," ia kindly tone, said thu nun whom Grey had threatened, tfijThe wherry drifted ou, but for a time Grey never altered his position. He was without his coat without hia hat; his whito sleevos were rolled up above the elbows, and hia power ful arms tightened across his wide chest. Gradually die boat, as it drifted, swung round, and brought his face to the fading east. There was not a ripple on the river, not a murmur ia the trees ; a faint thin rusitle ot the water where it touched the Bhore waa the only Bound. Night was coming, with its healing dew and spacious Bilence for uuivorsal sleep. Upright he stood still. The hoot began to swiug round oncti more. He did not move. Again his face was turned towards the darkening east. At length the wherry g-ive a sudden lurcli; it had encountered something, and had almost ivip.-izert. He instinctively brought vim boat to an even keel by throning tlio weight of his wh )le body on tuo rising side. In a few momenta the boat wa» still as of old. With a audlon shake and shudder he came back to a con-ciousness of where he was. " That is the red No. 4 liuoy 1 ran foul of; it nearly cap-tiz*:d mo," he thought. Then shading his eyc9 with his opoa right hand, h« stared bick into the eastern gloom long and fixedly. "My wife and the Kodwoll are bith gone," he whimpered. Bee and mjr live thousand. My wife and my live thousand pounds are gone. She brought me about live thousand when she came to me, long ago. It was to have gone to her children, if she h:i i any, aid away from me if she had none. Now she is gone, and that five thousand and another five; and I am saved I Saved ! "Saved!" He sat down ia the boat, and, keeping his logs wide »part, rested his elbow* on hii kuces ami liir head on his hands His shirt-collar was open, and yet ho fell hiH throat tighten, -and put hia hand to it. When ho found it free he muttered : "It is only the hangman untying the knot; for in npirit I was a murderer. And yet I remember the day I saw her first, 1 can tall you all al>.>ut the day I told hor I loTed hor. I could show you the way she looked ; pretty, and with her head this way. Then I knew that she was mine. She was small, Kiju was small; and I lifted her up and kissed her —not ofteD, but once ; once, and I felt weak for joy at that kiss ; and something happened in my head or heart, and I saw all my lift) before me, and folt her always on my arm. And after that I was culm, ft seemed we had known one another always, and had been manied yearn. " And I remember the first thing I said after that was not anything wild or roman tic ; it was : "Ia the hick of the Bank-house tlioro is a bay-window like this, but there arc creepers ou it.' And she asked me what kind the cronp?ri were ; i>nd I laughed and said I did not know ■ Hut.,' I said, a kind of foolish pun, ' my B -c : kill come and tell me, won'c she ?' and Bso said, ' May bo so.1

" Aud 1 remember when I bought the en gngcd riQ!.', ami bow aho kissed me then tho lirnt time of her o^vn accord.

" And I remember how when we wore married first she clung to me, and Beamed to grudge her eyes fur anything but me. Ana I rotnember how I used to walk around liar and abiut nor through the streets, if anythiutf seemed to threaten her with disturbanos — a dog, or a draught, or a cab, or a——"

Ho suddenly threw up his f»co to the deep purple aky, an d ciied out, in a hoarse whisper :

"And to-night, by God, lam not mau enough to weep that she is dead ] 1 aui not man enough, to wish her back again I" lie looked around tho water, as though ho expected to see some form of temporal or eternal veajjeaiuu approaching him. As his eyes full on the water, something carno very slowly (bating towards him. Something which was almost wholly sub merged, and, owina; to that fact, drifted more quickly than the boat. As tho thinp drew nearer it gradually settled down in the water, and, before he could touch it, sank.

" It looked like a cloak," ho whispered "What have I ber- doing hero? I-.nnst get ashore, and see if the ." He could not bring himself to say "body," and without thought sat down, and began row ing rapidly towaula Ashcrtou's Quay. CHAPTEK XV. TFIV: IVi'LTKK AM IT SEEMED. WHEN Grey's ! >at cum: alongside tho little quay lie jumped out, aad went hastily to a crowd of peoplu assembled round the bodiea and wreckage landed already. Hia niauner was highly excited, and tho questions put by him came in such an In coherent torrent the people did not know where to begin the answers,

Some of the survivors, some of those who had been on the fore-deck, stood near: then ho asked if they know Mm Grey. _ Yes, some of them knew Mrs Grey. Had they seen her eithar before or after tho boat went down? Did they see her go aboard ? She was to have been on board, and be was to have gone too, but he bad been called away. Then he was to have joined the steamer off tho Island; but she slipped him by, and he was not able to go on board. Could it ba possible no one had seen his wife, Mrs Grey ? Could no one Rive him any tale or tidings of his wife ? No. No one could tell him anything about her. No one had seen h« ; but then that was not to be wondered at, for all tho people who survived had been on the fore dock, and from the fore-deck it was im possible, or nearly impossible, to sac tho people on tho after-deck.

But surely some of those who had been savod knew whether hid wife had or had not gone on board at I/aneford! That was simple enough,

They could not say ; they only knew they had neither seen her nor heard of her that evening on the Rodwell, or in connec tion with the Kodwell.

Among that sad group on the shore, Grey was the first who came enquiring for friend or relative, and those who knew him pitied him with all their hearts ; for they recollected his marriage had l>ae» the lesutt of a lovt!-mat>;b, aud that he was reputed to be the kindest, moat generous, and must loyal buoband iv the city. His constant good-humour and kindly actions, his gener osity, and his great importance aad useful ness to the people of D-intford, added in no alight way to increase the sympathy and respect of those who stood on the little quay that night and heard his excited ques« tion.o, and answered him back gently and witu tears in their hearts.

For his own pare he bad not yet been able to bring the result* of the disaster sharply before his miud. The fact that the disaster had occurred was never clearly with in his apprehension. As soon as he removed his eyes from the salvage and the dead, and looked out upon the broad peaceful river, it seemod impossible that at the very spot he had recently rowed over scores of people lay dead, and among the dead his wife.

The news of the catastrophe spread quickly, and gradually the crowd gathered and swelled. From the neighbourhood, gome who bad friends in the unlucky boat came, and found the friends alive in houses around the landiug-place. Others found friends or relatives beneath the cloths which had been spread over the dead. Others were ia a condition similar to Grey : could find no trace of those whom tli'sy supposed to be in the boat at the time she blew up.

Among the la3t-named searchers was a man who lived on the b»nk* of the river, and had heard the explosion and hastened to the spot. He had reason to fear his only son had been in the boat, but he could not bo certain, as the young man lived at Daneford, aud often, though not invariably, took the boat on a Friday evening. The father was distracted, and at lost came to Grey, whom he knew slightly, and, under the impression that the banker had been a passenger, asked for tiding of his son.

After a few half-incoherent replies from Grey, the father patherei the facts of the latter's case, and found they were both cir cumstanced in the same way. For a moment the old man felt u'terly helpless and desperate. Theu his mind seemed to clear up suddonly, and, turning to Grey, he said :

" Neither of us is sure he is a sufferer by this awful calamity, nor can we be certain as long as we stay here, unle39 our worat fears come true." Ha pointed to the rivor end shuddered, " lhsy have already begun dragging, but it will be days before all are found, if all ara ever found. Bach of us may hope still. Suppose, instead of this sickening waiting here, we drive back to the city? There we may find those whom we fear to find here. Is not that better than watching each boat, and bend ing over eaoh poor body tbat is landed I"

" You are right!" cried Grey eagerly, all hi» faculties suddenly starting into life, and his mind tor the first time seizing upon the idea of getting certaiu knowledge speedily. The torpor which had fallen upon hia intellectual faculties at the moment of the explosion left him, and he not only warmly seconded the old man's plan, but before the other could speak had secured and was seated in one of the many Hyt which had already begun to arrive with helpers and friends at the scene of the wreck.

la a few seconds the fly was spinning along in the direction of Danefcrd. Bothjthe men in the vehicle were too much occupied with their own concerns for con versation. Grey's thoughts ran on ; " She it dead. Beyond all doubt she is dead. Poor Bee 1 .Poor Hoe ! I wonder did she think of me with her last thought. I wonder was she glad or sorry to go. And now that sho is gone, my poor Bee, I don't ku»w how I feel.

'' Poor Bee, I shall miss her. T'.. re been unkind and unjust to her. I have treated her cruelly, cruelly. My being unkind and scornful to her did no one any good. It hurt her, and it hart me. Poor thing! " The house will be so strange now. The rooms where she has beou will feel so quiet, so useless. What U a house for but a woman ! A man* does not want a house of many rooms. Least of all does he want a house of many rooms haunted by a memory. A man wants only two rooms, one to eat in and one to deep in. When a, childless man's wifo dies he ought to giva up housekeeping. What v tho uso of hollow rooms all round a miin'* head ? They are only chilling storehouses of recollection,"

Hero his mind halted a lone; time. When he resumed at the point where he had left off, he added but one more thought: " I'll sell the Manor."

He paused much longer, said to himself, as though he were familiarising himself with the whole situation by repeating the words forming the key to it:

" I'll sell the Manor."

After going over the words ao often that they began to lose their meaning, ho started suddenly :

"No. 1 cannot sell the Manor. I can not sell tho Manor House. A mau in my position must hive a house. A man in my position

"My position ! My position I My posi tion I

"Curse it, why can't I keep my head clear ? lam not going mad, I should hope. What an amusing maniac I should make just now I The people would gather from all side 9to hear honoat Wat raving about stealing the property of the baronet. It would be town talk. ISevec was madman so mad, they would say. But let me get

" Of course a man in my position ought to have a house, I must have a place to scj my friends in. I must entertain a little; !iud "

His thoughts piused again a while, aud then he ahan^onod thinking on tho line he had been following with the mental exclama tion : " No, No ! I must not think of that now. I must not think of that—over tho open grave of poor Bee !"

He shook himself and endeavoured to fix his mind on matters of the hour, and to keep it free of the future :

" How the purely business aspect of things has altered within these awful twenty-four hours! Sir Alexander has b■■como powerless to alter that will, ana still lives. The longer he lives now. the better for me. While he retained his facul ties there was always great dancer be might make some change. Now there m o luneer any fetr of that.

" What a Wrribla saene that was at the bedside 1 If I had known anything of the kind was abont to occur, I don't think I should have had the courage to faoe it. I fear I would have gone the fatal length before I wo&ld have knowingly encountered it It was so awful to hold her hand and swear s»ch thing* in the face of tha Uct*. Bat It is all over, and lam well out of it. Perhaps, after all, it is better the scene ithould nave taken place, " I suppose I shall be much at the Caitle now. la tuot I don't know who is to give any orders now if Ido not. It will be all thrown on me, I can plainly see that. Often at the Castle means meeting her often, and meeting; her often means that we shall be good friends. " How Ion!? did we stand hand in hand thid evening 'i >iot long. I did not note her bsauty then, bat now I can call back the (ace and change the surround ings—- " No, no I I must not sell the Manor. A man in my position must h*ve a house for—l may marry again." He «et tiit* teeth and clenched his hands, and drove the nails of his fiugers into his palms. Then he faced the position re solutely : " A while ago I shirked looking into the future across an open grave. But my own grave is open too. Can I fill it up ? I think lean. Self-preservation id the first law. I cannot get back my five thousand pound - from the liodwell. I cannot get back mv wife from the Weeslade : can I get back my life! That is the question of ques tions, and it is idle out ot feeble gentimtn talism to defer looking at such grave business in a straightforward and caudid way.

" I must marry, and I must marry this girl. Nothing else cai save m:, ai?d I think nothing can prevent my doing it. I hold the winning cards ia my hand at last, and I mean to win."

The old gentleman here broke ia upon the banker's reverie with : " We are pass iog your house, Mr Grey." " Ah, so we are : thank you. Drop me here; I'll walk up, and yoa take the fly on. I hope you will nod tout son all safe. " God grant il I I hope you will find your wife at the hoise." " Thank you; good Bight." "Good night." Grey turned into the Park, and walked slowly in the direction of his honse.

Twice he paused and faced round, as though the place were new to him, and he wished to fix indelibly on his memory what oould be »een in the dim light. Or waa it that he now looked at tha Park in a new aspect, from anew standpoint? Or was it that he wanted to gain time and composure before reaching the house 2 He could not have told himself why he stopped, in fact he was perfectly unconscious of having ceased to move forward; and .although his eyes passed deliberately from tree u> tree, and seemed to be dissatisfied with the want of light, he was not aware his thought was occupied with the scene. *. The pause in his walk indicated merely a pause in his thought. While he moved towards the house he had but one idea.

" I mast marry, and I must marry this girl. Nothing else c»n save me." With this thought beatikg through his brain he shook himself, straightened his figure, and coll«cted his faculties far meet ing the servants and formally ascertainiug If his wife had left the house and taken pas sage ia tha ill-fated Hodwell. With a steady stride, and head erect, he walked up to the front door and into the ball.

He looked round hastily, and then linked :

" James, wkere is your mistress 7" Ttiu man blinked in surprise at seeing his master and being asked sued a question. Mrs Grey had told the servants that morn ing the and Mr Grey were going to Seacliff Hut evening, and bow here was his master come back alone, and asking in a startling manner where the mistress was. He had better be guarded in his reply. ■"' I dou't know, sir,'"was his answer. " Is °he in the house, J«mes ?"

"Ho, sir." "Areyou quite sore?" " Quite sure," "When did she g» cut f " I did not see her go oat, sir ; but at luncheon she sold she wai going out, and I iiuve not Hsen her alnoe."

"Did she say where she was going '!" " Y«a, air. She said it anyone called I was to tell thorn she bad gone to Soacliff with you this eveafwj." " Are you quite sere of all this ?" " Quite aura, sir. The cook was in the dining-room at the time, and heard the mistress tell me. Mistress had the cook up to giro her orders about to-morrow." " Jtimes, yo« v!'l »ever see your poor mistress again. Tun tW trail ble it np, and ■he was not among the saved." " Good God 1" eiclaimtd the old soldier, starting back and involuntarily bringing his hand to his forehead, in though he fouad himself thrust Into the presence of the general of the enemy. He fell back two paces, and, dropping his hand to his mouth, uttered a sob. B Good God I' ex claimed the near-sighted servant, whose heart was full of damn gratitude and desolate sense of loss. ' The last words she said to me were, ' Thank you /or the dowers, James ; I know it was *ou put them fresh in the rases. Thank yon, James.' That's what she said to me as she went down the passage to her own room. When she was in the passage she.turned bacK, and said so that I shouldn't forget it, 'Thank you, James ; and recollect it any one calls I'Jl be back to-morrow.' And now to think that she is dead t" He h»d forgotten the presence of his master, who stood irresolute a moment, and then with a heavy sigh walked into, the inner hall and disappeared up the gloomy unlit staircase.

Neither master nor mistress having been expected home, there was no light in any of the rooms or passages on the first floor. With heavy slow step Mr Giey proceeded to his own bedroom and lit the gas.

How cold and dreary and desolate it looked !

Ho poured out some water and bathed his fac?. This revived and invigorated hlni. Then he rang the boll. The chamber maid answered it

"Jane. I suppose you h&ve heard the awful news from James ?"

" Yes, sir." The girl burst out crying.

"Do you know the exact time at which yonr ioor mistress left the house far th-; boat ? :l

"No, sir. None of us saw her go ; but none ac us were in the front of the house after luncheon. We dioed at three, jusl: after the mistress had her luncheon ; and we all think she must have gone ont while we were sitting down." .

" That will do, Jane, thank you,"

"Thank you, sir; and if yoa .Tfc we're all very sorry for her and fS '''i oryui,. '• She was a good kind S".' and never took any o f 6 ua U n i.^sg, fused us aoythiag i n reason!" **• She was a good kind m i ßtM .. I Uatil now there had liuLraH 5 « "' a haunting doubt. He 3? ft UfU the evidence before him n Bot beli «ft I simple and intelligible * ow »1 Wt» He sommenced 10 d»» b .l first hi, .t»p was fitmanVL^S- 1 weighing mighty thooghS. °W" fle «•' Gradually the past ,«««, j » him like a cope R? t^ **' arras on his breant, -He th™ folde* Ml into the air, m k fancy h. Op Ul »»3 the threshold of fc ltoW« •Si i came loto his cheeta "i 1 ~,Tlu! ""ow t^to his «ye. He jtTod. v he "Wkte arches, and heard aff bJ n*Btt WnmnS muUi'udesiahUeat, Oats o( ""Jtlag Ye', the past was now »»„• l ~ darkneas, which V^edinto fte explored, be visited, hT" "gwn be Let the past bury iu d ,*J at"llPl»ted, look at the future. 4" Ut It was brighter now than position of the B«k was sZw'^ Th* chances of assault. He .hSSdi S\?"( girl, aad by that marriage ro^V ever tho crime he had comE**> . reputation of her fortur.e would wS.** 1 increase the secadty and buCTtl possibly rise to place; if lh j, rJ™BU considering he should have the X«*' of great wealth, and fora wif o tK"boa tul daughter of a baronet^f fl!S* went bacic to the Conqw ! t 9JJ\ t more possible than that there ,ffl bs in a few years, ir D.S bejhe name of Sir Henry \TrtSft Tke ir j spec; was not nnreauonabta. Wh.i intoxicating probabilities were Jhaei Wt He would like a, little brandy m» n. did not care to go downstairs fat it JJ? ling again. ■> here was some, do drnkt v the to*er eopbMtd. Yes, tlwtwonW I Here was the key in his pocket. Wiiha radiant face and anelMtleitenV, left the room, carrying a lighted ouiSiß his hand, v fle stalked back in a tew miaatei hnM ing the candle oat at arms' length' bZ» him. "" " The other key is at the other sU a ti the door. The door is looked on thsbiM side, and my wife is there !"• CHAPTER XVT. THE PBSSBJJT AS IT WAS, Htf put the candle on the dressing-table and sat down in front of the daw B» placed one elbow on the table, bent Us'heJ low, and catching his hair, boftlv rested Mi head on the b&U of hia hand. * ** His brows' were knit His eye« beotm the toilet cover, were vacant, rayless: they carefully explored the pattern of the doth! id is mind was a blank. It showed Bothitj, It was as incapable of reflection &g she waters of the middle sea battered by the »inds ■ beneath the tawny clouds, ffii rea*pa was not with him, and the machinery of his mind,ha<tetopped. Therewerenoidea! in his imagination. His mind floated free in unoccupied space. .. For a while he sat thus. Then he raised his head and looked firmly into the glass.

" What has happened to me f hj thought, with his eyes fixed on the' eyes in the glasi " A moment ago, whb I discovered she still lived, I felt in despair; and now lam calm, What has happened to me*

" What has happened to me? " acre is the situation :

" The servants think she went to thai boat. She knew on-such occasions I always took charge of whatever little . lnggage we required, They have not seen her since luncheon. They Mere she was in the Rod well. It is scaicelj possible anyone can say the was not in the Bodwell; all the people and crew who were on the after-deck are dead.: Anj one who heard ot my visit to Aahertons Quay, or met one of the servants, would regard me as a widower, I imt a widower at Asherton's Quay. I was a widower while I drove up from Asherton's Quay to this. My servants assure ma 1 am * widower. " To-morrow all Daucford will regud tat a widower, "To-morrow mornina; Mand Midharst will thick of me as a widower—Mani Midharst, who will one day own that chest, .which when opened will be found to contain the bones of a' thiet and t suicide, not the fortune of a .great heiress.

•' To-morrow morning Maud MiduHt will think of me as a widower; what will he thinkot me as -at nkht?'

,c lurtu ... nuji*. Suddenly tbe fixed expression left nil faoe. A thought that seat the blood tingliaz througa his veins had rushed k upon hia. . S '^ perhap!," he said, breathless, " I ams widower! She may be dead 1" He rose nimbly, and, taking up the candle, once more weni into the pawagi leading to the first-flwr room of the Tower of Silence. ' H« looked caraluUy round, and wan going to the end of the passage further from i the tower, closed the two doors and locked ihe iuner one. He proceeded cautiously back to the door ; leadina to the tower. This was a single- < door. He held the candle io his left ha»d, knocked with his right, and bent bis ear to- j wards the door.

No reply. , ~ He knocked again, this tuna mote loudly* Still no reply, j ~.,,. . . t Holding the candle behind him, ha bent low a.ad looked ioto the kejhole. . Undoubtedly there was the end. ot tae shaft of the key ahiaiae against his eye. Ha paused awhile ia deep thoueht; thea shauiog himself up. knocked more loudly, battering with his clenched firt.

No answer. . , ~ Hj looked at the candle he carried. It was w«, and io his moving to aad fro Hie wax had overflowed tie flame-pan and run down the side, mating a long thmrldgs. He took a piece of pencil from his pocket, stripped off the ridge of wax, «*ened ttfr wax at the flame, aad stuck a lump the size of a pea on the end of the pencil. Then he heated the free end of the wax, and when it had jut begun.to run. tost it cautiously into the keyhole, and steadily thus for a few minutes. Witt -X^U'e^SpeS : slightly one way, then the other. The key moved slowly in the loc*. Be tried aoic w« i- Fare dk the pencil IB and fell on the floor within.

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, JUNE 80, 1883.

2