"HAND AND RING,"

By Anna Kathkrine Grkkn

Author of "Tho Leavenworth ilurdor," "Tha Sword ofJDamodoe," "Tho Defonoo of tho Prude," oto. CHAPTER XXXII. HICKORY. Wickory, dickory, dock! The mouse ran up Iho clock! Tho clock struck one. And down he run! Hickory, dickory, dock! —Motiibk Goose Melodies* Hickory's face was no new one to the court. Ho had occupied a considerable portion of one tiny in giving testimony for ithe prosecution, and his rough manner and hardy faco, twinkling, however, at times with nnirrepressiblehuinourthat redeemod it and him from all charge of uglinoss, were! well-known not only to the jury, but to all tho habitues of the trial. Vet, when he stepped upon the stand at tho summons of Mr Orcutt, every oyo turned toward him with curiosity, go great Was tho surprise with which his name had been hailed, and 450 vivid the interest aroused in what a I detoetivo devoted to the cause of tho pro- ' eecution tnight havo to say in the Wfty of supporting the defence, Tne first question uttered by Mr Orcutt served to put them upon the right track. ■ " Will you tell the court where you havo been to-day, Mr Hickory?" " j " Well," replied tho witness in a slow and ruminating tone of voice, w ho cast a look at Mr Forris, half apologetic and half reassuring, "I have been in a good many places " " You know what I mean," interrupted Mr Orcutt. "Tell tho court where you wore between the hours of oleven and a quarter to ono," he added, with a quick glance at the paper he hold in his hand. " Oh, than," cried Hickory, suddenly re laxing into his drollest self, " WeU, then, I I was all along tha routo from Sibley to Mon telth Quarry Station. I don't think I was etationary «t any one minute of tho time, sir."

"In othor words " suggested Mr Orcutt, severely. "I was trying to show myself smartor than my betters ;" bowing with a groat show of respect to the two experts who sat near. " Or, in other words still, I was try ing to mako tho distance uetwoon Mrs Clemmons's house and tho station I havo mentioned, in time sufficient to upsot tho defence, sir."

And tho look he cast at Mr Ferriß was wholly apologetic now, " Ah, I understand, and at whose sug gestiou did you undertake bo do this, Mr Hickory ?" " At tho suggestion of a friend of mine, who is also somewhat sf a detective." " And when was this suggestion given ?" " Aftor your speech, Bir, yesterday after noon." "And where?" " At the hotel, sir, where I and my friend put up." "Did not tho counsel for tho prosecution ofder you to make this attempt ?" "No, sir." "Did ho not know you were going to make it?"

"No, sir?" "Who did know it?"

" My friend " "No one else?" "Well, sir, judging from Iny present nition, I should say there Feems to have n some one else," the witness slyly re torted. * * The calmness with which Mr Orcutt carried on this examination suffered a momentary disturbance. " You know what I m.jan," ho returned. ••Did you tell any one but your friend that you wero going to undertake this run!" "No, dr." "Mr Hickory," the lawyer now pursued^ " will you tell us why you considered your self qualified to succeed in an attempt where you had already been told regular experts had failed ?" "Well, sir, 1 don't know unless you find the solution in tho slightly presumptive character of my disposition." " Had you ever run before or engaged in athletic sports of any kind ?" "Oh, yes, I have run before." " And engaged in athletic sports ?" " Yes, sir."

"Mr Hickory, have you ever run in a race with men of well-known reputation for apeed ?"

"Well, yea, I have." "Did you ever win in running euth a race ?" "Once." "No more?" t€ Well, then, twice." The dejection with which this last assent came forth roused the mirth of some light hearted, feather-heided people, but the officers of the court soon put a stop to that. "Mr Hickory, will you tell us whether on account of having twico beaten in a race : requiring the qualifications of a profes- . sional runner, you considered yourself qualified to judge of the feasibility of any other man'» making the distance from Mrs Clemmens's house to Monteith Quarry Station in ninety minutes by your own ability or non-ability to do so ?" " Yes, sir, I did ; but a man's judgment of his own qualifications don't go very far, I've been told."

" I did not ask you for any remarks, Mr Hickory. Tin's is a serious matter, and de mands serious treatment. I asked if in un dertaking to make this run in ninety min utes you did not presume to judge of the feasibility of the prisonor having made it in that time, and you answered, ' Yes.' It was enough."

The witness bowed with an air of great Innocence.

"Now," resumed the lawyer, "yon say you made a run from Mrs'Clemmens's house to Moateith Quarry Station to-day. Be fore telling us in what time yon did it, will you be kind enough to say what route you took?"

"The one, sir, which has been pointed oat by the prosecution as that which the prisoner undoubtedly took—the path through the woods and over the bridge to the highway. I knew no other."

"Did yon know this?"

"Yes, sir."

" How came you to know it ?"

111 had been ovor it before."

11 The whole distance ?"

"Yes, sir."

I "Mr Hickory, wereyou well enough ac quainted with the route not to be obliged to stop at any point during your journey to see if you were in the right path or takine the most direct road to your destination?

" Yes, sir."

" And when you got to the river ?" " I turned straight to the right and made for the bridge." " Did you not pause long enough to see if yon could not cross the stream in some way ?" "No, sir. I don't know how to swim in my clothes and keep them dry, and as for my wings, I had unfortunately left them at home."

Mr Orcutt frowned. " These attempts at humour," said he, "are very mal a propos, Mr Hickory." Then, with a return to his usual tone: "Did you cross the bridge at a run ?" "Yes, sir." "And did you keep up your pace when you got to the high road ?" "No, I did not." "You did not!" "No, Bir." " And why, may I ask ?" "I was tired." "Tired?" "Yes, sir." There was a droll demureness in the way Hickory said this which made Mr Orcutt pause. But in another minute he went on.

" And what pace do you take when you are tired ?"

"A horse's pace when I can get it," was the laughing reply. " A team was going by, sir, and I just jumped up with the driver."

"Ah, you rodo, then, part of the way ? Was it a fast team, Mr Hickory 1" " Well, it wasn't one of Bonner's." " Did they go faster than a man could run ?"

"Yes, sir, I am obliged to say they did." "And how long did you ride behind them ?"

" Till 1 got in sight of the station." " Why did you not go farther ?" "Because I had been told the prisoner was seen to walk up to the station, and I meant to be be fair to him when I knew how." '■ " Oh, you did ; and do you think it was fair to him to steal a ride upon the high way ?" " Yes, sir." "And why!" " Became no one has evev told me he didn't rido down the highw; y, at least till he came within sight of tho -uition." "Mr Hickory," inquired the lawyer,! severely, "are you in possession of any knowledge proving that he did ?" "No, sir.'

Mr Byrd, who had been watching tl» prisoner breathlessly through all tftiS, saw or thought he saw the fainted shadow of nn odd, tusdainfiii ertillo cross hia sternly composed features at this moment. But ho could not lie sure. There was enough in the possibility, however, to make the de tective thoughtful ; but Mr Oroutt pro ceeding rapidly with his examination, left him no time to formulate his sensations in to words. " So that by taking this waggon you aro cortain you lost no time ?" "Yes, sir." '' Rather gained some ?" " Yes) sip." " Mr Hickory, will you now state whether yoU put forth your full speed to-day in going from Mra Cleminens's hou<*9 to' the Quarry Station?" "I did not." "What?" " I did not put forth any thing like my full speed, sir," tho witness repeated, with a twinkle in the direction of Byrd that fell just short of being a decided wink. '' And why, may I ttsk? What restrained you from r«M\tng as fast as you could? Sympathy for tho defence ?" Tho ironical suggestion conveyed in this lAst question gave Hickory an excuso for in dulging in his peculiar humour. "No, sir; sympathy for the prosecution, feared the loss of one of its most humble but valuable assistants. In other words, I wna afraid I should break my neck."j "And why should you have any special feat's of breaking your neck?" " The path is so uneven, sir. IN'o man could run for much of the way without en dangering his lifo, or at least his limbs." "Did you run when you could ?" "Yea. «r." " And in those places where you could not run, did you proceed as fast as you knew how }" " Yos, sir." " Very well; now I think it is time you told the jury just how many minutes it took you to go from Mrs Clemmons's door to the Montcitii Quarry Station." " Well, sir, according to my watch, it took one hundred and five minutos." Mr Orcutt glanced impressively at tho jury. " Ono hundred and five minutes," ho re pented. Ho then turned to tho witness with his concluding questions. "Mr Hickory, wore you presont in the court-room just how when tho two exports whom I nave employed to make tho run gavo their testimony ?" "No, Bir." "Do you know in what time they mado

" I boliove I do. I was told by tho per son whom I informed of my failure that I had gained five minutes upon theW || And what did you reply ?" "That I hoped I could mako something on ttm'i but that five minutes wasn't much when a clean fifteen was wanted," ro turnod Hickory, with another droll look at tho experts and an askance appeal at Byrd, which being translated might read : " How in tho douce could this man have known what I was whispering to you on the othor side of tho court-room ? Is he a wieard, this Orcutt ?"

He forgot that a Rucrossful lawyer is al ways more or lew vt a wizard.

CHAPTER XXXIII,

A LATH DISCOVERY,

Oh, torturo me no more; I will oonfess, —Kino Lisas,

With the cross-examination of Hickory tho cefenco rested, and tho day being far ad vanced, tho xiourt Adjourned. During tho iHistle occasioned by the do parture of the prisoner, Mr Byrd took oc casion to {.'lance at tho faces of those moat immediately concerned in the trial, His first look naturally fell upon Mr Orcutt. Ah ! all was going well with tho great lawyer. Hope, if not triumph, beamed in his eye and breathed in every movement ef his alort and nervous form. He wns looking across the courtroom at Imogens bare, and his features woro a faint smile that indelibly impressed it self upon Mr Byrd's memory. Perhaps be cause there was somothing really peculiar and remarkable in its expression, and per haps because of tho contrast it offered to his own feelings of secret doubt and dread. ffis next look naturally followed that of Mr Orcutt and rested upon Imogeno Dare. Ah ! she was under tho spell of awakening hope also. It was visible in hor lightened brow, her calmer and loss studied

aspect, her eager and eloquontly speak i"Si gazo yet lingering on tho door through which the prisoner hnd departed. As Mr Byrd marked this look of hers and noted all It revealed, he felt his emotions rise till they almost confounded him But strong ns they were, they deep ened still further when in another moment he beheld her suddenly drop hor eyes from the door and turn them slowly, reluctantly but gratefully, upon Mr Orcutt. All the story of her lifo was in that change of look ; all tho story of her future, too, perhaps, if . Mr Byrd dared not trust himself to follow the contingency that lurked behind that if, and, to divert his mind, turned his attention to Mr Ferris.

But ho found small comfort ther«. For the District Attorney was not alone. Hickory stood at his sido, and Hickory wag whispering in his ear, and Mr Byrd, who knew what was weighing on his colloague's mind, found no difficulty in interpreting the mingled expression of perplexity and sur prise that crossed the dark, aquiine fea tures of the District Attorney as he listened with slightly bended head to what the de tective had to say. That look and the deep, anxious frown which crossed his brow as he glanced up and encountered Imogene's eye, remained in Mr Byrd's mind long after the court-room was empty and lie had re turned to his hotol. It mingled with the smila of strange satisfaction "which he had detected on Mr Orcutt's face, and awakened such a turmoil of contradictory images in his mind that he was glad when Hickory at last came in to break the spell. Their meeting was singular, and rovealed, as by a flash, the difference between the two men. Byrd contented himself with giving Hickory a look and Baying nothing, while Hickory bestowed upon Byrd a hearty " Well, old fellow !" and broke out into a loud and by no means unenjoyabls laugh. "You didn't expect ts gee me monnting the rostrum in favour of fche defence, did ou !" he asked, after he had indulged him self as long as he saw fit in the display of this somewhat unseasonable mirth. " Well, it was a surprise. But I've done it for Orcutt now!"

"You have!"

" Yea, I have." "But the prosecution has closed its case ?"

"Bah! what of that?" was the careless reply. "The District Attorney can set it reopened. No Court would refuse that.'

Horace surveyed his colleague for a moment in silenco.

"So Mr Ferris was struck with the point you gave him ?" he ventured at last.

" Well sufficiently so to be uneasy," was Hickory's somewhat dry response.

The look with which Byrd answered him was eloquent. "And that makes you cheer/ul?" he in quired, with ill-concealed" sarcasm. "Well, it has a slight tendency that way," drawled the other, seemingly careless of the other's expression, if, in deed, he had noted it. " You see," he went on, with a meaning wink and a smile of utter unconcern, " all my energies just now are concentrated on getting myself oven with that somewhat too wide-awake lawyer." And his smile broadened till it merged into a laugh that was rasping enough to Byrd's more delicate and generous sensibilities. "Sufficiently so to bo uneasy!" Yes, that was it. From the minute Mr Ferris listened to the suggestion that Miss Dare had not told all sho knew about the murder, and that a quostion relative to where she had been at the time it was perpetrated would, in all probability, bring strange revelations to light, he had been awnkened to a most uncomfortable sense of his position and the duty that was possibly required of him. To be sure, the time for presenting testimony to the court was passed, unless it was in the way of rebuttal; but how did he know but what Miss Dare had a fact at her command which would help the prosecution in overturning the strange, unexpected, yet simple theory of the defence ? At all events, he felt he ought to know whethor, in giving her testimony, she had exhausted her knowledge on this subject, or whether, in her sympathy for the accused, she had kept back certain evi dence which if presented might bring the crime more directly home to the prisoner. Accordingly, somewhere toward eight o'clock in the evening, he sought her out with the bold resolution of forcing her to satisfy him on this point. He did not find his task so easy, how - ever, when he came into direct contact with her stately and far from encouraging presence, and met the lo»k of surprise not unmixed with alarm with which she greeted him. Sho looked very weary, too, and yet unnaturally excited, as if she had not slept for many nights, if indeed she had rested at all since the trial began. It struck him as cruel to further disturb this woman, and yet tho longer he surveyed her, the more he studied bor pale, haughty, inscrutable face, he became the more assured that be

\V6uld never feel satisfied with himself if he did not give her an immediate opportunity to disporse at once and for over these freshly awakened doubts. *

His attitude or possibly his expression must havo betrayed something of his anxiety if not of his resolve, for hor counten ance fell as sho watched him, and her voice sounded quite unnatural as she strove to ask to what sho was indebted for this un oxpectcd visit. He did not kpop her In suep^bse. " Miss Dare," said he, not without kind ness; for he was vory sorry for thia woman, despite the inevitable prejudice which her relations to tho Accused had awakened. "1 Mould haVo given much not to havo been obliged to disturb you to-night, but my duty would not allow it. There is a quee tion which I have hitherto omitted to ask

He pausod, Bhoekodi sho was swaying from sido to side before his eyes, and eccm'ed indeed about to fall. But at the outreaching of his liand she recovered her self and stood erect, the noblest spectacle of a woman triumphing over the weakness of her body by the mere force of hor in domitable will, that he had ever beheld. "Sit down," he gently urged, pushing toward her a chair. " You have had a hard and dreary week of it; you are in need ofrest." She did not refuse to avail herself of the chair, though, as ho could not help but notice, she did not thereby relax one iota of the restraint sho put upon herself. "I do not understand," sho murmured ; "what question?" "Miss Dare, in all you havo told the court, in all that you have told me, about this fatal and unhappy affair, you have never informed us how it was you first came to hear of it. You were " " I heard it on tho street corner," aho interrupted, with what seemed to him an almost feverish haste. "First?" " Yos, first." "jlliss Dare, had you been in the street long ? Were you in it at tho time tho murder happened, do you think ?" " I in tho street ?" "Yes," he repeated, coiiscioub from tho sudden strange alteration in her look that he had touched upon a point which, to hor, was vital with eorae undefined interest, possibly that to which tho surmises of Hickory had supplied a clue. " Were ycu in tho stroet, or anywhere out-of-doora at tho timo tho murdor occurred? It strikes me that it would bo well for mo to know." "Sir," she cried, rising in her sudden indignation, "I thought tho time for quoa tions had passed. What moans this suddon

inquiry into a matter wo havo all con sidered oxhaustcd, certainly as far ns I nm concorned?"

"Shall I show you?" ho cried, takinu hor by tho hand and leading her toward tho mirror near by, under ono of those im pulses which sometimes effect so much.

'' Look in there at your own face, and you will soe why I press the question upon you."

Astonished if not awed, she followed with her oyes the direction of his pointing linger, and anxiously surveyed her own imago in tho glass. Thon, with a quick movement, hor hands went up boforo her face—which till that moment bed kopt its counsel so well—and, tottering back against a tablo, she stood for a moment communing with hersolf, and possibly summoning up hor courage for the couiliet she evidently saw before her. "What is it you wish to know?" she faintly inquired, after a long period of sus pense and doubt. " Whero woro you whon tho clock struck twoho on tho day Mrs Clemmens was murdered?" Instantly dropping hor hands, sho turned toward him with a sudden lift of her majestic figure that was as imposing as it was unexpected. "I was at Professor Darling's house," Sho declared, with great steadiness. Mr Ferris had not expected this reply, and he looked at her for an instant almost as if ho felt inclined to repeat his inquiry. "Do you doubt my word V sho quoriod. "Is it possible you question my truth at a time like thw!"

"No, Miss Dare," he gravely assured hor. "After tho great sacritico you havo publicly made in the interests of justioo, it would bo worso than presumption in mo to doubt your sincority now." She drew a deep breath, and straightened herself still more proudly. "Thon nm I to understand you aro satis lied with tho answer you have received ?" " Yes, if you will also add that you wore in the observatory at Professor Darling's houeo," ho responded quickly, convinced

there wai somo mystery hore, and seeing but ono way to reach it. " V«ry well, then. I was," she averred, without hesitation.

" You wore I" ho echoed, advancing upon her with a slight flush on his middle-aged cheek, that evinced how difficult it was for him to pur.suo this conversation in face cf the haughty and repellant bearing she had assumed. " You will, perhaps, tell me, then, why you did not see and respond to the girl who cama into that room at this very time, with a massage from a lady who waited bolow to ceo you ?" "Ah I" she cried, succumbing with a suppressed moan to the inexorable destiny that pursued her in this man, " you have woven a net for me I"

And she sank again into a chair, wber« she sat like one stunned, looking at him with a hollow gaze which filled his heart with compassion, but which had no power to shake his purposa as a Diatrict Attorney. "Yes," ho acknowledged, after a moment, " I have woven a not for you, but only because I am anxious for the truth, and desirous of furthering tho ends of justice. I am confident you know more about this crime than you have over re vealed, Miss Dare; that you are acquainted with some faot that makes you certain Mr Mansoll committed this murder notwith standing the defence advanced in his favour. What is this fact ? It is my offico to inquire True," he admitted, seeing her drawback with denial written on every line of her white face, " you have a right to rafuse to answer mo here, but you will hare no right to refuse to answer me to-morrow when I put the same question to you in the presence of judge and jury." " And "—her voice was so husky he could but with difficulty distingiush her words—" do you intend to recall me to the stand to-morrow?"

" I am obliged to, Miss Dare." . " But I thought the time for examination was over; that the witnesses had all testi fied, and that nothing remained now but for the lawyers to sum up." " When in a case like this the prisoner offers a defence not anticipated by the prosecution, the latter, of course, has the right to meet snch defence with proof in re buttal." "Proof in rebuttal? What is that?" "Evidence to rebut orjprove false the , matters [advanced in support of tho de fence." "Ah!" " I must do it in this case—lf I can, of course." She did not reply. "And even if the testimony I desire to put in is not rebuttal in its character, no unbiassed judge would deny to counsel the privilege ef reopening his "case when any new or important fact has como to light." As if overwhelmed by a prospect she had not anticipated, she hurriedly arose.and pointed down tho room to a curtained re cess.

•' Give me five minutes," she cried; " five minutes by myself where no one can look at me, and where I can think undis turbed upon what I had better do." " Very well," he acquiesced ; " you shall have them." Sho at once crossed to the small retreat. "Five minutes," she reiterated huskily, as she lifted the curtains aside ; " when the clock strikes nine I will come out." "You will 1" he repeated, doubtfully. "I will." The curtains fell behind her, and for five long minutes Mr-Ferris paced tho room alone. He was far from easy. All was so quiet behind that curtain—preternaturally quiet. But he would not disturb her; no, he had promised, and she should be left to fight her battle ,alene. When nine o'clock struck, however, ha started, and owned to. himself some secret dread. Would she come forth or would he have to seek her in her place of seclusion ? It seemed he would have to seek her, for the curtains did not stir, and by no sound from within was any token given that she had heard the summons. Yet he hesitated, and as he did so, a thought struck him. Could it be there was any out let from the refuge she had sought ? Had she taken advantage of his consideration to escape him ? Moved by the fear, he hastily crossed the room. But before he oould lay hi* hand upon the curtains, they parted, and disclosed the form of Imogene. "I am coming," she murmured, and stepped forth more like a faintly-breathing image than a living woman. His first glance at her face convinced him she had taken her resolution. His second, that in taking it she had drifted into a state of feeling different from any he had ob served in her before, and of a sort that to him was wholly inexplicable. Her words when she spoke only deepened this impres . sion.

"Mr Ferris," said Bhe, coming very near to him in. evident dread of being over heaMfc "I hare decided to tell you all. I

hoped never to be obliged to do this. I thought enough had been revealed to" answer your purpose. I—l believed Heaven would sparo me this last trial, let mo'keop this last secret. It was of so strange a nature, so totally out of tho reach of any man's surmise. But the finger of God is oil mo. tt has followed this ci'imo from tho beginning, and there is no escape. By some strange means, soine instinct of penetration, perhaps, you have discovered that I kndw something concerning this murder of which I have never told you, and that tho hour I spent at Professor Darling's is accountable, for this knowledge. Sir, I cannot struggle with Providence. I will toll you all I have hitherto hidden from the world if you will promise to let me know ii my words will prove fatal, a.nd if he—he who is on trial for his life—will be lost if I give to the court my last evidence against him 1" "But, Miss Dare," remonstrated the Dis trict Attorney, "no man can tell- " Ho did not finish his sentence. Something in the foverish gaze she fixed upon him stopped him. He folt that ho could not palter with a woman in the grasp of an agony like this. So, starting again, he observed : " Lot me hear what you have to say, and afterward wo will consider what the effect of it may be; though a question of expediency should not come into your consideration, Miss Dare, in telling such truths as the law do wands." "No!" she brokoout, giving way for one instant to a low and terrible laugh which curdled Mr Ferris's blood and made him wish his duty had led him into tho midst of any other scene than this. But before he could remonstrato with hor, this harrowing expression of misery had ceased, and sho was saying in quiet and suppressed tones : " The reason I did not seo and respond to tho girl who came into tho observatory on tho morning of Mrs Clommens's murder is, that I was so absorbed in tho discoveries 1 was making behind tho high rack which

shuts o!T oiio end of the room, that any ap peal to mo at that timo must have passed unnoticed. I had como to Professor Dar-

ling's liouso, according to my usual custom on Tuesday mornings, to study astronomy with his daughter Helen. I had como reluctantly, for my mind was full of tho eecret intention I had formed of visiting Mrs Clemmons in tho afternoon, «nd I had no heart for Btudy. But finding Miss Dar ling out, I felt a drawing toward tho seclu sion I know I should find in tho obsorvatory, and mounting to it, I sat down by myself to think. Tho rest and quiot of tho place wore soothing to mo, and I eat still a long timo, but suddenly becoming impressed with the idoa that it was growing late, I went to the window to consult the town clock. But though its face could bo plainly seen from tho observatory, its hands could not, and I wa» about to withdraw from tho window when I remembered tho tuleecopc, which Misa Darling and I had, in a moment of caprice a few days beforo, to ar ranged as to command a view of tho town. Going to it, I peered through it at tho olock." Stopping, she surveyod tho Dis trict Attorney with breathless suspense " It was just five minute* to twelve," sho impressively whispered.

Mr Ferris felt a shock. "A critical moment I" he exclaimed. Then, with a certain intuition of what she was going to say next, inquired : " And what then, Miss Daro ?" " I was struck by a desiro to see if I could dotect Mrs Clemmens's houso from where I was, and shifting tho telescope slightly, I looked through it again, and

" What did you see, Mies Daro?" " I saw her dining-room door standing ajar, and a man leaping headlong over the fence toward tho bog." Tho District Attorney Jstnrted, lookod at her with growing interest, and inquired: " Did you recognise this man, Miss Dare ?" Sho nodded in great agitation. " Who was ho?"

"Craik Mansoll."

" Miga Dare," ventured Mr Ferris, after a moment, " you say this was five minutes to twolvo!"

" Yos, sir," wne tho faint reply. "Sive minutes later thun tho time designated by tho defonco a3 a poriod mani festly too Into for the prisoner to hare loft Mrs Clommens's houso nnd arrived at the

Quarry Station at twonty minutes past ono ?"

"Yes," she repeated, below hor breath. Tho District Attorney surTeycd hor earnestly, porceiving sho had not only spoken the truth, but realisod all which

that truth implied, and drew back a few stops, muttering ironically to hirasolf : "Ah, Orcutt I Orcuttl" Breathloscly sho watched him, breath lessly she followed him step by step like some white and haunting spirit. " You boliove, then, this fact will coat him his life?" camo from hor lip.3 at last. "Don't ask mo that, Miss Daro. Yon and I have no concern with the consequences of this evidence"

"No concern!" sho repeated, wildly. " You and I no concorn ? Ah I" she went on, with hoart-piercing sarcasm, " I forgot that tho sontimonts of the heart havo no placo in judicial investigation. A criminal is but lawful pr«y, and it is every good oitizon's duty to push him to his doom. No matter if one is bound to that criminal by the dearest ties which can unite two hearts j no matter if tho trust ho has bestowed upon you has been absolute and unquestioning, the law does not busy itself with that. Tho law says if you have a word at your command which can destroy this man, give utteranco to it; and tho law mint be oboy»d."

" But, Miss Dare " the Digtrict At torney hastily intervened, startled by tho foTorish gleam of her hitherto calm eyo. But sho was not to bo stopped, now that her misory had at lost found words.

"You do not understand my position, perhaps," she continued. " You do no see that it has been my hand, and mine only, which, from the first, has slowly, re morsolessly pushed this man back from tho point of safety, till now, now, I am ealled upon to drag from his hand tho" ono poor bonding twig to which ho clings, and upon which ho relics to support him above the terrible gulf that yawns at his feet. You do not see —•"

"Pardon me," interposed Mr Ferrii again, anxious, if possible, to restore her to herself. "I see enough to pity you pro foundly. But you must allow me to remark that yout hand is not the only one which has been instrumental in hurrying this young man to his doom. Tne detec tives—- "

" Sir," she interrupted in her turn, " can you, dare you say, that without my testi mony he would hare stood at any time in a really critical position ?—or that he would stand in jeopardy of his life even now, if it were not for this fact I have to toll ?"

Mr Ferris was silent.

'Oh, I knew it, I knew it!" she cried,

"There will be no doubt concerning .whose testimony it wan that con rioted him, if hois sentenced by tho court for this crime. Ah, ah, what an enviable position is mine! What an honourable deed I am called upon to porform ! To toll tho truth at the ex-

penso of the life most dear to you. It is a Roman virtue ! I shall be held up as a modol to my sex. All tho world must shower plaudits upon tho. woman who, sooner than rob justice of its due, delivered her own lover over to the hangman." Pausing in her passionate burst, she turned her hot, dry eyes in a sort of despora-

tion upon his face, "Do you know,' she gurgled in his ear, "somo womon would kill themselves before they would do this deed ?" Struck to his heart in spito of himself, Mr Ferris lookod at her in alarm—saw her standing there with her arms hanging down at her sides, but with hor two hands clinched till they looked as if carved from marble—and drew near to her with the simple hurried question of: " But you ?" "I?" she laughed again—a low, gurgling laugh, that yet had a tone in it that went to the other's heart and awoke strange sensations thnre. "Oh, I shall live to re-

spond to your questions. Do not fear that I shall not bo h the courtroom to-morrow."

There was something in her look and manner that was new. It awed him, while it woke all his latent concern.

" Miss Dare," he began, " you can believe how painful all this has been to me, and how I would have spared you. this misery if I could. But the responsibilities resting upon me are such " He did not go on ; why should he ? She was not listening. To be sure, she stood before him seemingly attentive, but the eyes with which she met his were fixed upon other objects than any which could have been apparent to her in his face; and her form, which she had hitherto held upright, was shaking with long, uncontrollable shudders, which, to his excited imagination, threatened to lay her at his feet.

He at once started toward the door for help. But she was alive to his movements if not to his words. Stopping him with a gesture, she cried: " No—no !do not call for anyone ; I wish to be alone ; I have my duty to face, you know; my testimony to prepare." And rousing herself she casts a peculiar look, about the room, like one suddenly intro duced into a, strange place, and then moving slotjly toward the window, threy back the curtain and gazed without. "Night!" she murmured, "nightJ" and.

after a moment added, in a deep, un earthly voice that thrilled irresistibly upon Mr Ferris's ear: "And a heaven full oi stars I'1

Her face, as she turned it upward, wore so strange a look, Mr Ferris involuntarily left his position and crossed to her side. Sho was still murmuring to herself in seem ing unconsciousness of his presence. "Stars I" she was repeating ; "and above them Gtod I" And the long; shudders shook her frame again, arid she dropped her head and seemed about to fall into her old abstraction^ when her eye oncountered that of tlie District Attorney, and she hurriedly aroused herself.

" Pardon me," she exclaimed, with an ill concealed irony, particularly impressive after her tone of the moment before, " have you anything further to exact of me ?" "No," he made haste to reply; "only beforo I go I would entreat you to bo calm

"And say the word I have to say to morrow without a balk and without an un necessary display of feeling," sho coldly interpolated. " Thanks, Mr Ferris, I understand you. But you need fear no thing from mo. There will be no Rceno— at least on my part—when I rise before tho court to give my tostimony to-morrow. Since my hand' must strike the fatal blow, it shall strike—firmly !" and her clenched fiat fell heavily on. her own breast, as if the blow she meditated must strike there.

The District Attorney, more moved than he had deemed it possible for him to be, made her a low'bow and withdrew slowly to th« door.

"Ileavoyou, then, till to-morrow," he said.

"Till to-morrow."

Long after ho had passed out, tho deep meaning which informed those two words haunted his memory and disturbed his heart. Till to-morrow ! Alas, poor girl ! and after to-morrow, what then ?

(To be Continued.)

MUSCLE-READING EXTRA ORDINARY.

Stuart Cumberland's Experiments.—A Strange Scene.

(FROM OCR LOKDON OORBESPONDBNT.)

London, May 31. Mk Stuart Cumberland, tho well-known "muscle-reader" whoso experiments at Vienna created suoh a stir in spiritualistic circloa, returned to London last week, and was at once invited by the enterprising editor of tho "Pall Mall Qaaetto" to give

some experiments before a company of rep rcscntativo savants and prctismon. Tho result oxceeded tho most sanguine ex pectations of tho guests, the majority of whom arrived on the scene in the requisite condition of healthy scepticism. Almost the only out-and-out boliover in the company woa Colonel Olcott, of tho Theosophical Society, but he took no part in the proceedings beyond that of a passive spectator, As Colonel Olcott woro on his linger a ring which JMdme. Blavatsky, by hor occult power, had oaused to grow in tho middle of a rosebud, and carried In his pocket a portrait of a seer which tho fume remarkable woman had willod out of the "astral light" upon a piecoof cardboard, Mr Stuart Cumberland's divinations naturally appeared to him somewhat insignificent. Loss favoured spec tators found them remarkablo enough, for, as was observed by one of our guests, " Mr Cumberland does all that Mr Bishop over professes to do, and makes 110 fuss about it." Among those present wore representatives of American, Conti nontal, London, and provincial preen, Pro fessor Kay Lunkestor, Professor Edmund \Vi Gosse, Mr Grant Allon, Dr Donkia, Mr and Mrs Ernest Hart, Mdmo. de Novlkoff, Mr Andrew Carnegie, Mr Oscar Wildo, Mr W, Wildo, and eoveral memb ra of tho staff.

Before describing tho experiments, we mny as well give a few oxtracts from our letters. One eminent scientist maintains that Mr Cumberland should bo blindfolded with pads of cotton wool. Mr Edmund Ournoy, a well-known authority upon all those mnttors, wrote to say that " this powor of dolicato music - reading is a fur commoner faculty than ie or dinarily supposed, 1 havo soon friends of my own give decidedly more startling exemplifications of it than those which have stood Mr Irving Bishop and Mr Stuart Cumberland in such good stead. Tho worst of it is Jthat the public go away -with tho idea that theso performances aro ' thought-roading.'" To true thought reading, ; which takes place with out contact, and to tho reality of which Colonel Olcott boars emphatic teotimony, Mr Stuart Cumberland lays no claim. Mr Maskolyno wrote to say that, in tho absence of trickory and collusion, he relics solely upon muscular indications given by tho subject. This thought - roading is not at all difficult with practice. Mr Labouchero wrote :—".Thought-reading may easily bo accounted for. It simply moans that with certain persons an indica tion of their thought may be obtained by —or rather through—the muscular notion of thoir hand. In order, howevor, to mako any uso of those indications it is noconsary for tho ' reader' to be sharp and to fish for indications. What I mean Is this. Suppose you wore speaking, you would probably uso some gesture, and tho gesture would precede the word. 80 Twhon you think 'thia is right,' or 'this is wrong,'just as tho words half form thernflolves in your brain, or on your lips, so does tho thought produce muscnlar contraction in the hand."

Yesterday afternoon, about five o'clock, everything was ready for Mr Cumberland's oxporimonts. Ono gentloman had two now brand-new £5 notes, fresh" from tho Bank, and sealed up in an envelope. But those wore not used, as Mr Cumborland became too oxhausted during the hour and a-half that the sitting lasted. Lying on a shelf was r bundle of cotton wool, with which it was suggested that Mr Cumberland's sharp ears should be stuffed and Jiis piercing eyes padded. Not only did a boltt poraon make this suggestion, but he actually naked that the subject should be cotton-woolled in tho rame manner. Mr Cumberland, however, objected to those suggestions as unnecessary precautions, "although so far as I.am con corned I don't think it would make any difference." "Now, Ido not profess,"said i Mr Cumberland, "to give any illustrations, of tho supernatural. I simply claim that it is possible to read persons' thoughts under certain conditions — not abstract thoughts, mind you; that is impos sible, absolutely impossible. If a portion will concentrate his or her mind entirely and earnestly on ft given object, I claim that the thought is conveyed to any person of suffi cient quieknesß of perception by the action of tho. physical syseein, which, I maintain, is the only channel through which thought can possibly bo conveyed. Of course there j is a percentage of failures. Somo subjects aro not sufficiently sensitive. Everything, depends on the absolute concentration of the subject, and the absolute giving up of ; oneself to tho conditions of tho experiment." Some professors of the art pretend to the power of thought- reading without contact, but that Mr Cumberland says is quito im possible —a doctrine which Colonel Olcuto, who was present, denied in Mo. Somo thirty ladies and gentlemon com posed the audience, all of whom wore seated round the room. Mr Cumberland stood at one end, braced himself up, looked round, and opened the ball by asking Mr Oscar Wildo to be operated upon. Mr Wilde, however, shook nis head, and declared he was not a good subject. Mr Cumberland looked round once more, and his oyos fell on the face of the chairman, who was quite ready. "A good subject," said Mr Cum berland. ''Now, sir, please look round theJ room, and think of some object which is possible to get at. Don't try to resist any ' attempt to think of it, but surrender ybur eelf entirely, concentrating all your thoughts upon tho object." The chairman did as he was bid, and apparently concen trated all his thoughts. Mr Cumberland's eyes having been bandaged with a white silk handkerchief, he took the subject's left, hand into his own, put it on his forehead, and darted across the room, going first to a shelf on which were a number of books and papers. He stopped short suddenly, darted back, made another circuit of the room, and halted suddenly before a gentle man standing with his back to the mantel piece, tore off the bandage, and pointed to the glasses of the welPknown London correspondent of the " Neue Freie Presse." "Right," said the subject. "Now, why did I take you to the book-shelves before going to tho eyeglasses?" "Well," con fessed he, " I must tell you that I had first thought of the Gazetteer which caught my eye. The glasses were the second thought. ' This was over in a few seconds, thirty, per haps, and was quite satisfactory. It may be worth noting that Mr Cumberland always desires his subject to think of the direction or the route to the article thought of rather than the artiole itself. " I now propose," said Mr Cumberland, "to dis cover the seat of pain in one of you. I wonder whether Mr Earnest Hart would consent to go out of the room, to stick a pin in some part of his body, and to return with a pain manufactured and ready to be discovered." Mr Hart declared that his

mission was to relieve pain, not to produce it, and asked whether it was necessary to stick the pin far in—up to the head, for instance. After n little pleasant trifling, Mr Carnegie, the famous American million aire, and proprietor of English newspapers, declared, with a trace of melancholy pleasure in his voice, that ho had a pain ready made, and should bo only too happy toj place It at Mr Cumberland's disposal. That is, if lie could find it. Tho muscle reader gladly assented, again resumed the white silk fillet, arid stood itp to Mr Car negie. Mr Cumberland's hands traversed his subject from top to toe, running ner vously down, and eventually stopping at the finger. "Tho finger it is," said Mr Carnegie, as ho took his seat amid applause. After a short rest, up spoke the gallant Cumberland again. '' Professor Ray Lankes ter, you and I are old friends. Will you be my next subject ?" Professor Ray Lankes-

ter smiled and .grimly said, " Well, you won't bo successful with me, I know." "If

you make up your mind that I shan't do anything, 1 admit that my experiment will be useless." "I will give you every chance," said the Professor gaily. Mr Cumberland lsft the room, and a pin was fastened in the lapel of Mr Aaron Watson's coat. Mr Cum berland was summoned, blindfolded, and took Mr Ray Lankester'a hand, dragging him here, pulling him there, with much vigour. After a couple of minutes he evinced an affection for an easy-chair, which ho thought contained the secreted pin. Kneeling down, he probed and poked un availingly until at la^t it was evident that the muscular indications of the subject were not sufficiently violont. Mr Oscar Wilde, who had seen whero tho pin was hidden, then took Professor Ray Lankestor's place, and Mr Cumberland struck a bee-lino and had the pin in no time at all, " Pro fessor Ray Lankester's individuality is too great," said Mr Cumberland, resting after his labour, "If I don't do a thing imraodi-

ately I can't do it at all." Mr Cumberland's

pulso was not belting very fast, he ad mitted, At one sitting in Vienna it reached 175 beats in tho minuto, when he fainted.

A lady, who was tho next nuljjeet for Mr

Cumberland's experiment, was asked to to think of some object in tho room, and to

givo it mentally to tho audience. The thought-reader and the lady went round the circle deliberately and sedately. Suddenly they stopped, Mr Cumberland's hand was stretched forth, ho seized a little vase of rhododendrons from a number of others. "Right," said his subject. "Now you have to give it to some one." Hn groped round once or twice, and then handed it to a lady in tho audience " Right again," said his subject; "you havo read my thoughts admirably." Mr Cumberland was then allowed to take a respite, during which Mr Oscar Wilde discoursed in his free-and-easy way on art, poetry, and culture. The confessedly modest decorations which were put up to hide tho inkpots, the paste, and tho scissoi|i wero, ho suid, unworthy of the darkest ages. The poet and apostle has a pleasant way of being disappointed. Thoro was somothing wrong with tho Atlantic, and Niagara was not quito.up to the mark. Now he was disappointed with the arrange ment of a few 'simple flowers of the field and a rather striking harmony in curtains which wore brought in for tho occasion. How ever, a locturo on art from one so distin guished and so' eccentric as Mr Oscar Wilde is worth hoaring. And above all, he is a candid critic. " Your decora-

lions," ho said, "aro absurd. Thero in no system obeyed. One thought, like

harmony in music, should pervade the whole. Docs it ? No. They chow no soul. Cum you exist without a soul ? No foul, no

harmony, and no " "Sunflower?," auggested some ono. "No. A flowor is but an incident," In critical rein jslr Wilde shook his shorn and curling locks, and, fanning himsolf with an expansive page green silk pocket handkerchief, proceeded to doscent on the

maps which hung round tho walls. " A map should bo a work of art, with azure oceans limned on its surface, laden with golden galleys, with poops of beaten gold and purple sails. Lot each continent snow

iU rugged mountains, its stretching plains. Look at those seething seas of grjen hued calico, seas of erysipelas, with big blobs for mainlands, and small blobs for islands." And thus was nbuso showered upon those offending sheets. Mr Wilde waved his hand with an attitude of despair, and brushing off a fly from his forehead with tho sage green pocket-hand korchiof, he lowered his slim form gracefully into tho bosom of a yielding couch.

Strengthened by half an hour's rcposo, and cooled by ices, Mr Cumberland con sonted to try a much moro difficult feat.

"It has boon suggested," ho said, "that something chould bo hidden out of tho room. I think if the subject is sufficiently favourable it would be as easy to find a pin

in Regent's Park ashore. Somoonoofyou has thought of an object out of this room. I don't know whether it is in the next room, or, indeed, in any room. So I am seeking for an unknown object altogothor." Sir Grant Allen then agreed to act as tho subjoct of the final experiment. Ho was taken out of tho room, and an objoct and a hiding-place wero fixed upon. Mr Cumberland wa3 told that the object was hidden without tho precincts ot the

" Pall Mall Gazette " office, but ho refused to put on his hat, as it might possibly bo in tho way. This crucial trial of skill then began, after ho was onco more carefully blindfolded. Ho, of course, wont straight for tho door, dragging Mr Grant Allon after him. Ho turned tho handle, and wont down a short passage, followed by tho more de voted spirits of tho assembly. Down tho narrow steps the pair stumbled and into Northnmborlnnd-strect, much to tho as tonishment of the passers-by. Hansoms, foot-passenpers, policemen, open-monrhed Baiters, stopped to look at the strange pro cession. Tho windows of Northumberland street wero shot up with a rattle, maids and matrons in all of them, wondering if tho hatless Mr Oscar Wilde was trying to effect tho capture of a now pair of Siamese twins. Heedless of scorn, tho Siamese twins went on until they camo to No. 7, Northumberland-street. Herethey^toppod. Mr Grant Allen afterwards explained that he was wondering how they, would got in,

whethor Mr Cumberland would ring the boll or knock at tho door. Instantly Mr Cumberland responded to his thought by ringing tho boll and knocking at the door. It was timidly opened by a sor rant who, seeing a blindfoldod man fol lowed by a small crowd, promptly shut tho door in his face. Tho only other person in tbo secret stopped up to Mr Allon, and whispered to him*, " Have you forgotten the houso?" "Is this not it?" he replied. "I thought it was the third door down." "No, it is next door." Tho conversation Csod in a whisper inaudible to Mr Cum land. No noonor, however, had Mr Allen thought of No. 0 than Mr Cumborland dragged him up the street to the door. Upstairs they went, and straight into a room; usually tised as the reception room by tho interviewing tstaff of tho paper, on tho first floor. Mr Cumberland at onco went to a drawer in a writing-table, but closed it in a second, and camo round to an ottoman standing near the window. He lifted tho lid, put his hand down, and brought out the hidden obji c L. A curious ono enough. It was a dusty glass elnde, under which'was a brownish substance not unlike in shape a goodly hunch from a gocdlyloaf. Lifting tho glass shade off and examining it closely, its identity was revealed. It was a hunch of bread, an ho;r loom of (ho "Pall Mall Gazette." Tho

" Amateur Casual" who slept a night in the casual ward of a workhouse received this piece of bread for his supper eighteen yoars ago. A famous article exposing tho ways of casual wards was written, caused such a sensation throughout"the civilised world as no single article had ever done before, and finally led to grtat re forms. Tho bread was not to be thrown away. It was set up on wire, covered with glass, and though a little hard, a trifle cob webby, still finds a snug corner in tho office whither it was brought from Lambeth workhouse same eighteen vears ago. This concluded tho experiments, much to everyone's satisfaction. Mr Stuart Cum berland is likely to appear on a public plat form before long, but ke will find it difficult to give more conclusive demonstrations of his ability to " read thought " by tho deli cate muscular action of the hand.

OUR LONDON FLANEUR.

SOCIAL, THEATRICAL, and LITERARY

GOSSIP.

[By the Special Correspondent to tot

Auckland " Star "]

Pne c i s

Tnn GitEAT "Horsby" Week ok the London SBASoiir—At the Derby—From tub Top of the Grandstand—Tnu Cask, ok Lokd St. IjEONA'RDS—" BLtrfD WILL OUTI'—A MEETING with ins Bankrupt Lordship-"Lacrd" Champagne—Trra Alleged Assault-Did it Occur?—Disastrous Outcome of a " Spree ' on the River—The Girl's Story —Found Guilty—" Called Back" at tjib Princes Theatre — TriK author—Diver gences BETWEEN" TTiE PLAY AND THE NOVEL —The MuRDEfR Scene—Miss Lingird as Pauline — Striking Success — Beerbohm Tree as Mac ari—Theatrical Gossip- Charles WVNDIIAM AND TOOLE — TBE " Sachkd Lampofßurt.esque"—Re-opening oftheLyceum—Forthcoming Pieces—New Books —Some New Novels—Cheap Edi tions, &c, &c.

London, May 31

With the decision of tho Oaks, this af ternoon, the great " horsey " week of the Londos season comes to an end, and after "society" has duly discussed the race, congratulated the winners and condoned with the losers, people will forget all about Epsom, and once more settle down to the milder delights of driving, dawdling, din ing, and dancing. I must say I don't think

many of us would relish two Derbies in the

year. Wo scarcely go as mad as tho Mel bourne* folks do when Cup Day approaches, but during tho fortnight immediately pre ceding our great race of tho year, the

" horse talk " fever runs tolerably high. This anniversary, owing to several equine oelelnities (notably St. Simon, Archiduc, Duko of Richmond, and Busybody) not having been entered, t.he epidemio was at first milder than usual, but ris Wednesday approached the excitement increased, and I can quite imagine that people who abhor horse-racing and loathe anything in the shapo of sporting jargon must have suffered much. Nevertheless, the crowd on the Downs on the afternoon of the 104th Derby was something to see and remember. As I stood on the top of the grandstand and watched the assemblod tons of thousands waiting breathlessly for the start—all oyes on the little white flag—it seemed to me aa if the veriest Stoic must catch the infection of tho moment—"They're off." What a shout it was. The coloured specs in the distance fly round. In another moment tho winner will be here. Tho murmurs of the crowd swell into a great shout, ringing cheers fill the air, the horses flash past, and the race is over !

The case of Lord St Leonards, who was charged at the Central Criminal Court last week with improperly assaulting a maid servant, has raised quite an outcry against the creation of hereditary peerages. This youngman's grandfather was a small trades man, his father became a famous lawyer and Lord Chancellor of England, now he himself shows a dist;n :t inclination to rovert

to the social status of hie ancestors, and become roturier again. The first Lord St. Leonards did not, by all accounts, leave his heir much besido the tide and a certain amount of native shrewdness—cunning, nasty peorilo call it. With this capital, however, the present peer has managed to livo up to his rank, and plunder the London tradesmen for lifteen years. About twelve months ago he was diclared bank rupt. I remember the fact because I met him just then at a lawyer's in the city. Ho wanted my legal friend to arrange some business connected with his; insolvency, but the latter had been warned against the young "rip," and politely declined. I must confess there is something very fascinating about the man. Everybody seems to like him, even tho tailors and to bacconists whom lie lias victimised. On the occasion I mention we adjourned from the lawyer's office to an adjacent Bodega for liquid refreshment. Asked what ho would t*ko (it was about 11.30 a.m.), Lord St. Leonards ordered a pint of champagne in a pewter, which he " laced " (I think that was the elegant expression) with a stiff glics of " old Cognac." The lawyer's face, as lie put down half-a-sovereign to pay for the drinks was a picture. It seemed to say, "I would believe anything of him now," and, indeed, the drink cost His Lord ship more than it was worth, for when a few minutes later he asked Mr Solicitor if ho had "any loose gold about him," the worthy man buttoned up his pockets, and declined to "part" even a "fiver."

As regards the assault case, I understand Lord St. Leonards is, comparatively speak ing, innocent. The true story (much opposed to the police reports) runs thus :— A few Sundays ago the young man, who can row a fair oar, went for a day on the river. In the evening he stopped at Eel Pie Island, where Andy Anderson, the ready-money bookmaker, has a swell establishment. Now, although Andy would never dream of noting down a bet to his lordship without re ceiving the stake in cash, he (Briton-

like) venerates a title, and welcomed his guest with effusion. Several other betting and rowing men were there, and the whole party dined " not wisely but too well," and spent a very jovial evoning. Towards cloven o'clock, Lord St. Leonards, accom panied by a Mr Crawford and another man, started for Twickenham. Mr Crawford is a gentleman, and throughout tho evening he had felt slightly irritated at the air of free-and-easy patronage assumed by the young lord to himself and other mem bers of tho company. When .there fore the three of them reached

is houso at Twickenham he murmured

"Good evening," and prepared to leave his companions to their own devices. Lord St. Leonards, however, said, " Come, old man, you promised us a drink," so that there was nothing left for him but to ask them in, Once in the house, it is feared that his lordship, who was half-tipsy, behaved badly. Mrs Crawford (it transpired later she v not Mrs Crawford at all, but a Mrs Knowles) came downstairs to make herself agreeable to her noble guest, and so effectively did she do this that Mr C. got jealous, and after say ing "Good night," followed his Lordship out of the house with hideous imprecations.

Three or four days afterwards Lord St. Leonards called in tho afternoon, and OBked for Mr and Mrs Crawford. On this occasion too, tho young fool hud dined, and when the servant told him her master and mis tress were out, he (not believing tho state ment) pushed past her into the house. She followed him to the sitting-room, and thoro, he observing she was rather a pretty girl, stole a careless kiss. Presently the gar dener came in and asked him to clear out, which he did without paying much attention to the man's words. Later on he came back, and got the girl to give him his pipe which he had left on the table.

That same ovening tho girl complained to the gardener that " that there Lord " had taken liberties with her without so much as giving her a sixpence. Sho fur ther announced her intention of telling the

"missus," as, "lords or ijo lords," sho wouldn't stand such couduct. Mrs Craw ford mentioned the matter to Mr Crawford, who jumped at the idea of bringing Lord St. Leonards to griof. Against tho girl's wishes he sent for tho police, first warning her that she had made a serious charge which she must fully substantiate, or she would get into trouble herself. Lord St. Leonards seemed paralysed with surprise and horror when ho was arrested. He at onco admit ted he had bedn tipsy, but repudiated even the possibility of his taking liberties with " a common slavey." At the trial the girl's antecedents were proved to be extremely shady, and the whole affair looked so like a got-up job that everybody expected an acquittal. The Judge summed up strongly in favour of the prisoner, pointing out that charges of indecent assault are easy to make ana diffi cult to refute. In this instance, certainly neither the prosecutrix nor her suppirters came into Court with clean hands. The jury nevertheless found Lord St. Leonards "guilty," ' and though eon tence has been postponed, he will pro bably get twelve months' imprisonment. This case should be a warning to young men not to fool about in strange houses. In your part of the world, no doubt, hospi tality may be safely accepted, but here in London the man who allows himself to be beguiled into a house without knowing the character of the inmates deserves what ever may befall him. The "dodges" for extorting hush-money are innumerable, and oftener than not they succeed. The production of thedramatic adaptation of "Called Back," at the Princes Theatre, has saved Mr Edgar Bruce from bank ruptcy—at least, it is to be hoped so. The piece was received with thunders of ap plause on the first night, and the papers all prophesy a long run. The history of " Called Back," and its'author, is almost as remarkable as the book itself. "Hugh Conway " is the mom de plume of a wealthy Bristol merchant named Furgus, who some years ago saved one of the lads belonging to the training ship " Conway " from drown ing. Hence the name "Hugh Conway." Mr Furgus has long been a contributjr to Blackwoods "Magazine," but "Called

Back" made him famous. It carao out 1 as a "Christmas Annual" issued at 6d by Arrows.niths, of Bristol, and IY attracted very liitlo notico at first. M. Labouchere took it up ono day to beguile a short railway journey, and was much struck with, the plot. He wrote a ** favourable notice of the' tale in " Truth," and very soon everybody beean to ask for it. Within the la?t four months, 75,000 copies of "Called Back" have been sold, >x and the demand is still considerable. The >f story of the novel has been slightly altered t. In the play. For one thing, Gilbert >a Vaughan is made to have a knowledge of 3 Pauline before the murder. The first scene '" indeed takes place at Vaughan's home, * where we find him iri bitter despair [ B about the blindness which has over tt . taken him., Hither Pauline (whom he ;L has met and loved the previous ls year in Italy) comes to aek for help and m succour. She is mixed up with a lot of - miserable Polish and Italian conspirators, B and withe's to escape from them. Vaughan 0 wants her to stay then and there, but she ™ says she must return io acquaint Dr. Ceneri (her guardian) of her intention. He forth with insists upon accompanying her. -At first Pauline demurs, but upon her blind . lover promising to remain out in the garden '" at Ceneri's till he is sent for, she reluctantly e agrees to the plan. r From this point the story of the novel is fairly adhered to. At Ceneri'a lodgings the '■> Italian conspirators are supping, amongst 1 them being Macari the spyT Young j. Anthony March (Pauline's brother) arrives, and angrily demanded from his guardian, 9 Ceneri, his sister's and his own fortune. - Ceneri, who has spent the money for " the Causa," tries to pacify him. Macari endea vours to kiss Pauline. Her brother slaps the 3 spy's face. Iq another instant young . Anthony lies stabbed to death at the feet of the horrified girl, who in her turn falls ' swooning to the ground just as the blind ■ man gropes his way -through the window 3 into the midst of the aghast conspirators. This murder scene is capitally worked up. j The curtain descends precisely at the right moment. Macari, his knife still gleaming ! and bloody, rushes at the supposed witness l of his crime. 'Another conspiritor holds \ him back. Ceneri flashes a candle before I Vnughan's eyes, cries "He's blind," and . down comes the drop scene. ) The rest of the story is so well-known I that it would be ttfaste If time to detail it. Miss Lingard'a representation of . "Pauline" after the girl has lost her senses is really very fine. She must, as the papers said, have studied this form of mad nesa from life. The vacant far-away look, fie placid childishness, the fitful gleams of memory, the pained endeavour to recall something of the piist, the shriek of repul sion on being brought accidentally face to face with Macdri, all these were ad mirable. Truly artistic, too, was her acting at the moment when through Macuri's persecution she is suddenly "called back" to memories of the past. Altogether, I den't think I have ever seon'Miss Lingard to greater advantage in England. She is a very painstaking actress, and excels in an elaborate study such as "Pauline." Her failures have usually arisen through at tempting highly emotional characters. Mr Kyrle Bellew does not altogether satisfy as the heroVaugban, neither is Mr An sona good Dr. Ceneri. The succsss of the play is Mr Beerbohm Tree's Macari. It doesn't seem like acting. The real man, the sky, the monk patriot, the writhing, watchful, knife fumbling Italian stand before you. One of the best scenes of the play is where Ma curi traduceß Pauline to poor. Vaughan. His malicious glea and mo ok sympathy are fiendish. After a most successful season of six months, pretty Minnie Palmer leaves the Strand Theatre to fulfil sundry American engagements, but she will come back again next year. Meanwhile, Mr David James has taken the house, and opens to-morrow night with the long • promised revival of "Our Boys." I doubt if it will "go" as well as it used. The oublic seem to care more for screaming farces like "Nina's First" and "Confusion," which is ap proaching its 400th night. I went to see Charles Wyndhom in the "Great Divorce Case" last Tuesday, and laughed heartily throughout the evening. To my mind this volatile gentleman is the best comedian living. His art lies in con coaling art. Nine out of ten men wonder as they leave the theatre whatever they have been laughing at. You feel vexed at being so easily moved to "giggle," and yet the next time you see Wyndham you succumb as before. Now, Toole appears to me always the same. When you've seen him in In on Paris Fraitcais or " The Steeplechase " you know his method. '' Nell Gwynne" which drew big audiences to the Avenue Theatre, has failed com pletely at the Comedy, and on Friday last the ever popular "Mascotte" was revived, with Florence St. John in Violet Cameron's old part. The "sacred lamp of burlesque " has been flickering for some time at the Gaiety, and a few days ago it went out altogether. Terry was opportunely at tacked with the gout, and Nellie Farren took to her bed with bilious fever, bo Hoi lingshead shut up the house, the first time he has donftsuch a thing since it opened 13 years ago. A season ot French plays com mences at the Gaiety next month, and in the autumn another attempt will be made to restore the " sacred lamp to its pristine brightness. George Kignold has moved from the Olympic to the Holborn Theatre, where he is playing "Amos Clarke" to indifferent business. An impression prevails that he will have to try the colonies again. Kate Vaughan is very ill, dying some say, but sho ttill manages to play occasionally in " Lallah Rookh." Haverley's Mammoth Minstrels appear at Drury Lane on Whit Monday. With regard to the future,but few novel ties are underlined. Irving and Ellen Terry open at the Lyceum to-morrow evening in " Much Ado About Nothing," when one of those furores for which the theatre has become noted may be expected. Ac cording to the Savage Club gossips, Irvine, after paying all expenses, cleared £25,000 on the American tour, and Ellen Terry, £8,000. Laurence Barrett's season at the Lyceum has been most disastrous. Before hand, Mary Anderson offered him £1,000 to relinquish the theatre to her. He now wishes he had accepted the offer, for not only has he lost £5,000, but his reputation as a " star "is imperilled. Yankee actors, who fail completely in London, unquestionably lose caste at home. When "Devotion "is taken off at the Court Theatre, Robertson's " Play " will be ventured on. It was the one •of the series that only partially suc ceeded at the old Prince of Wales's Theatre.

And now for a few words about books. Tbo "Queen's Journal" has, from a pub lisher's point of view, been such a success that a popular edition is to be issued almost immediately. The " Letters of the Frinceas Alice " is also gelling well, though many think the book is pnced too high. Mr Thomas Hughes has given a strong impetus to emigration on the part of gentlemen's sons by the publication of a series of letters from his nephews, who went out some years age to settle in Texas. The volume is ca'led "Gono to Texas," and published by Macmillan. at 4s 6d. It ttrongly resembles both in form and su v 'tance Mr Delisle Hay's "Brighter BritaL but "Tom Brown's" sponsorship will give it a publicity denied to the N.Z. work. Austey's "Giant's ftobe" was published on Monday, and is in great demand just now. James Payn follows him as writer of the serial in the " Cornhill." The story will bo called "The Talk of the Town." Florence Marryat, who turns out three novels a year on the average, has just com pleted " Under the Lilies and Roses.'' It is very poor stuff, not even up to the level of "Peeress and Player" or "Pbyllida." Some of this writer's earlier works were, if not exciting, at least fairly readable. I remember thinking "Petronel" pretty erood, but of late she has scribbled far too much. Walter Besant's "Dorothy Forster" should have been procurable at Mudie's yesterday, and Ouida's "Princess Nap raxine" is said to be just ready. "St. Mungo's City," by Sarah Tytler, and "A Drawn Game," by Basil, whose "Love tho Debt" was so successful, are announced for immediate publication. Amongst other forthcoming works of fiction may be men tioned_ "Berna Boyle," by Mrs Biddell; "Lucia, Hugh and Another," by Mrs. Needell, author of "Julian Karelake's Secret," and "A Roman Singer," by Mr Crawford, of "Dr. Claudius" fame. Two of the most remarkable novels published last year can now be procured at 2s, viz., Mr Christie Murray's • "Joseph's Coat," and Mr H. W. Lucy's " Jideon Fleyce. " Hawley Smart's sporting story, "Hard Lines," J«etin McCarthy's clever "Comet of a Season," and Miss Harriet Jay's "Through the Stage Door" are also just out in the cheap form.

PovKRTf and Suffjsring.—" vi as dragged down with debt, poverty, and Buffering for years, caused by a sick family and large bills for doctoring, which did them no good. I was completely discouraged, until one year ap;o, by »ho advice of my pastor, I procured Hop Bittors and commenced their use. and in one month wo were all well, and none of us have seen a sick day since; and I want to say to all poor men you can keep your families well a year with Hop Bitters for 1083 than one doctor's visit will cost I know it."—A Working Man. Read. FLIES AND BUGS, tootin-luMhVwbM, ant».twi b-jjrs, vaUJniice, gophere, thiimuuks, cleared out by " Bu'Jkli on ...'■^Ut. K«Bptbra», IW»K*Co., Ascats, AucUmd

NOTES FOR THE LADIES.

(From our LondoS Oo3KESK>ndent.)

Dhscribint. one of the most fashionable weddings of the season, " Madge " writes:— "T)oar oM Sr, George's has seldom con tained Biioli a crowd an assembled to sea Mrs £dn-'irda married to Sir Greyille ; Smyth, Bart. No one would have imagined from the bride's dress that she was a widow. | It was made of cream-coloured satin and a new sort of brocaded velvet, called by the uiodi3tes velours frise. The lace on the ' petticoat was quite lovely, being a mixture of point de gaze and point de Venise. The bonnet was a little gem, and I have no doubt that half the women in the church made up their minds to have one as nearly like it as their circumstances would permit* The crown was covered with brocaded! velvet, like that in tho dress ; the brim was edged with pearls, tho strings were made of , lace, and the trimming consisted of tho '": softest possible white ostrich-feather tips. "We saw the trosseau at Madamo Swaebe's, and admired some of the dresses very much. A quite delicious tea-gown : was made of pale canary-coloured eatin, covered -tfith gracefully-draped white lace, of the kind that is sold in the piece, like dress fabrics. The design was really lovely, consisting of bunches of grapes and vine leaves. Frills of lac© rippled down tho front and round the edges c.f the dress, which was confined round the waist by means of a large sash of canary-coloured satin. Another tea-gown was of soft brown cashmere, opening over pink satin. "Two dinner'dresses, one of pale blue satin, with bodice and train of brocaded velvet, and trimmed with groups of pale blue ostrich feathers, and the other of pale mauve satin and velvet, were very hand some. We fell in love with an evening dross of pale blue satin, trimmed with Mauresque lace of a deep coffee-colour, in which the design was picked out in gold thread. The harmony of tints in this dress was psrfect. "Have I forgotten to tell you what the bride's golng-away dress was ? Dark green velvet, very gracefully made, with a few pleats down the front, and on either side ol them a thick fringe of green chenille, tipped with gold. A cape to match was lined with gold-coloured satin. The bonnet was of dark green straw, dotted with stars made of gold beads. The strings were of tulle, spotted with chenille and gold." "lima" writes in the "World":— " At last the great gates are open, and the 'Grfinde Madame,'so long beleaguered by the harsh wlndß, has come forth to tellus of all the nouveautes whieh her inventive genii have matured. We have long been ' ~. accustomed to brilliant bead embroideries, in which latterly pearls lmve taken a prominent place j but now we have exceeded even these. Imagine a Royal blue Genoa velvet of saperb quality; it has a pattern over it, spotted on at intervals, and tho pattern is composed of real diamonds, in little flower clusters, with a tiny ring on all four sides, by which it Is button-holed down to the velvet with silk of the same colour.

It may interest our male belongings to know that the flame extravagance of stories was seen also on a ucershaum pipe, the bowl of which was carved into a negress's. head, in whose turban wore twined real diamonds, earrings being of emeralds'. (Query: How would it smoke7} A-very beautiful creation of Pingnat's was wen in a navy-Mae velvet, sprinkled over with little brick-Shaped spots of half ruby velvet and half cream. The back of the bodice

«nd train were composed of this dark velvet, also the upper part of the bodice in front, as far as where a band of ruby velvet,

studded with out steel buttons, passed from one shoulder diagoflally across the front to the opposite side of the waist, where it terminated in the folds of the blue. From under this red band came a rich cream fejngaline that-, without being shaped to the figure, wfus kept in place bra similar red band starting from the side seams, and causing the thick silk to make lovely round folds that, again issuing from under this second band, were allowed to droop.v

Monstrosities to Order.

Recently I paid a visit to an artisan in tho East End of London whose peculiar busi ness Is the making of monstrosities. I found him in a dimly-lighted roim, the> walls, ceiling, and floor of which were liter ally covered with parts of curiosities, some being stuck up to dry, and others for the purpose of show. " What is wanted," the man explained to me, as he added a daub of glue to the dorsal fin of a mermaid, "is something the show men can put on the canvas that will draw folks ifi. The side shows are getting r§ady to start out, They have their fat women, albinos, Brazilian apec, big snakes, and that sort of thing, but they won't draw, Folk will stop and look at the canvas, say that they have seen snakes, monkeys, and fat woman enough, and will pass on. But if the side snow can hang out a mer maid, or a sea-serpent, or an alligator boy, folk will pay their money and step in." Usually they, find that the monkeys alone are worth" the price of ad mission, and they are not disposed to find fault, because the mermaid is not alive.

Cutting a three-cornered piece out of ft cod-fish skin and neatly drawing it 'down around the papier-macho body of the mer maid, the artisan went on: "lused to be in the magic line, but magic doesn't pay any longer. IfcLpleases the intelligent public, but the public is small."

" How came you to go into the manufac ture of monstrosities and curiosities 1" I asked.

" Well, one day I saw'in a show-window one of these Japanese mermaids. The price was £50. . In the north, a little while after that, I saw a mermaid adver tised at a sid^ show. It wasi one of Japanese make. ,1 thought if the Japs could get fSO for mermaids, I could get £15 or £20 for them, and I knew I could manufacture them profitably, at those figures." '. ( ' Here the artisan gave the mermaid's tail an upward and sidewise twist, put on some glue, and put it by to harden, "This mermaid," he said, "is made to fit some expensive canvas that a man has got hold of cheap. Here isa sketch of it." It was a rough pencil' sketch of ii mer maid sporting in the ocean; /and' a lasso descending over her head from ,a boat. In the distance was the ship from which the boat came. The. scene represented the capture of the mermaid" ; iu.'the Pacific Ocean, 400 miles off San Francisco. "It isn't a bad way," said r the artisan, "to make the curiosities fit the canvas that is to be displayed outside. : In that way the sights fill the bill, and the public is not deceived." >

"For what is the chief,demand this spring!" ■ ■ ; ' ' > "'¥'■ . ■ fwj "Mermaids, ttlligator-boys, sea-serpents, and double babies. ' ' ' : - ■■■■■ <

"What doesan.alligator-bojrcost?"; ;' "Here is oftoi" leading the way to an inner room and pointing to a creation which he had recently finished, " that Costs £15. You see it is about four feet long, and covered with leather. The monstrosity is supposed to have been born by negro parents in Louisiana, to have made its eßcape into a lagoon when about seven years old, and to have been found dying on the bank after a fight with a bull alligator. I got the idea from the scrofula patient thdt was on exhibition as an alligator-boy." ' " And the double babies ?"

"They are modelled after tho one that was born of Italian parents here last year. I wont to see it, as I go to see all monstrosities that I hear of. Double babies have vtwo heads, four arms, four legs, and only one body. It is a job to get them upas they should be, and they are rather expensive."

" About how large do the sea-serpents run?"

'The biggest I ever made was about 20 feet long; with a sort of dragon's head and tail. There is a good deal of latitude in the matter of sea-serpents, descriptions of them differ so much. I get my best ideas from the stories of sailors on the Dutch trading vessels from Holland ports. A pretty fair sea-serpent can bo got up for £10. • ,;, ,

"A while ago," the artisan continued, "I advertised, 'Send your orders, fora firtt-class mermaid, alligator-boy, sea serpent, Egyptian mummy, or double baby.' Here are some of the letters I have got" <-.-.■ -■■ One of the letters said : "Is your 'sea serpent in good condition? How large will he grow, and what does he eat ? If he is the right thing, and not too expensive to keep, I think we can striko up a bargain Please Dame lowest price, delivered healthy, and warranted sound." . 4 " I will give the alligator-boy a- homej" ' wrote a woman, "if you tbink he would appreciate kindness and a chance to get away from evil surroundings. It is a shame * to make his misfortune a source of profit." : "I couldn't help answering this letter" the artisan said, "though most of the letters of this kind I leave unanswered. I told the woman that the alligator-boy, though but seven years old, drank whisky, chewed tobacco, and had twice heen arrested for stabbing his widowed mother; that if there was anybody who needed reforming it was :* tho ajligatorday, and that if she was will ing to take him in hand she conld let nje ' .=" know Jjy1 return mail. I haven't got her •»' reply.",.::, • . -

Tfifi AUCKLAND EVENING? STAR, SATURDAY, JULY 36, 1884.

3



OrPIOIALTR«I§-KB?AL THE AS Observatory, February 20th. lfc'Bo. Several of thoreto curvos respond tothechunKc In the. barometer in a way that Bhowa tho ißOchronal properties of their balance springs aro not quite perfect. Looking down tho curves, it becomes at onee evident that Watch No. o. which is No. 670,068, second grade, of the American Waltham Watch Company, is re markably free from these defects, and presents the beat rate of all the watches tested. Amongst the cheaper watdheß tested, No. 6, which is No. 1,231,338 of the American Waltham Watch Company, Is worthy of notice; it is a watch ol the sixth grade, yet its performance has been hotter than that of many very expensive and otherwise first-class watches tostcd. Such a watch sneaks volumes in favour of the syatem under which it was made, and is the best com ment upon the accuracy oftho machines mat produced it. H. C. Russell, 8.A., F.R.A.8.. Astronomer-Royal, Sydney Observatorj-." ---[Advt.J



"Bite^Jl*" js,j£«g£ip WMI «CO., AgenU, Auckland.