"HAND AND RING,"

By Anna Katherine Green, Author oi "Tho Leavenworth Murder," "The Sword of DamodOß," "The Defence of the Prude," etc.

CHAPTER XL (continuei>). IN THE PRISON, " You didn't sec her strike the blow ?" Mansell roused indignantly. " No, of course not !" he cried. "You did not sco her with your aunt that moment you fled from the house im mediately beforo the murder I" "I didn't see her.'' That emphasis, unconscious perhaps, was fatal. (Irycc, who never lost anything, darted on this small gleam of advantage as a hungry pike darts upon an innocent minnow. "But you thought you heard her," he cried : "her voico, or her laugh, or perhaps merely the rustle of her dress in another room '!" " No," said Mansell, "I didn't hear her." " Of course not," was tho instantaneous reply. " But something said or done by somebody—a something which amounts to nothing as evidence—gives you to under stand she was thorc, and so you hold your tonrruo for fear of compromising her." "Amounts to nothing as evidence?" echoed Mansell. "How do you know that : "Because Miss Dare was dot in the house with your aunt at that time. Miss Dare was in Professor Darling's observatory, a mile or so away." " Does sho say that?" " We will prove that." Aroused, excited, the prisoner turned his flashing blue eyes on the detective. "I should be glad to havo you," he said. "But you must first tell me in what room you were when you received this in timation of Miss Dare's presence ?" "I was in no room ; I was on tho stone step outside of tho dining-room door. I did not go into the houso at all that mornj ing, as I bolievo I have already told Mi- Ferris. " " Very good ! It will all bo simpler than I thought. You enmo up to tho house and ■wont away again without coming in ; ran away, I may say, taking the tlirection of the swamp." Tho prisoner did not dony it. " You remember all the incidents of that short flight?" The prisoner's lip curled. "Remember leaping the fence and stumbling a trifle when yon came down ?" "Yes." " Vory woll; now tell me how could Miss Dare sco you do that from Mrs Clemmens's house ?" "Did Miss Dare tell you she saw me trip after I jumped the fence ?" "She did." "And yet was in Professor Darling's observatory, a mile or so away ?" "Yes." A satirical laugh broke from the prisoner. " I think," said he, " that instead of my toiling you how she could havo seen this from Mrs Clcmmons's house, you should toll me how sho could have seen it from Pro fessor Darling s obsorvatory." " That is easy enough. She was looking through a telescope." ""What?"

" At the moment you were turning from Mrs Clemmens's door, Miss Dare, perched in the top of Professor Darling's house, was looking in that very direction through a telescope." „ "I—l would liko to believe that story, said tho prisoner, with suppressed emotion. "It would " , " What?" urged the detective, calmly. " Make a new man of me," finished Man sell with a momentary burst of feeling. '•Well, then, call up your memories of the way your aunt's house is situated. Re call tho hour, and acknowledge that, if Miss Dare was with her, she must have been in the dining-room" " There is no doubt about that. "Now, how many windows has the dining-room ?" "Ono."

"How situated?" " It is on tho same side as the door. " There is none, then, which looks down to that place where you leaped the fence ?" "No." . ~ . " How account for her seeing that little incident, then, of your stumbling?" "She might have come to the door, stepped out, and so seen me." "Humph I I see you have an answer for everything." Craik Mansell was silent. A look of admiration slowly spread itself over the detective's face. "Wo must probo the matter a little deeper " said ho. " I see I haveahard head to deal with." And, bringing his glance a little nearer to tho prisoner, he remarked : "If she had beon standing there you could not have turned round without seeing her?" " No " it " Now, did you see her standing thero? "No-" , ' A» " Yet you turned round. ««I did ?" «'Miss Dare says so." The prisoner struck his forehead with his

«' And it is so," he cried. " I remember now that some vague desire to know the time made me turn to look at the church clock. Go on. Tell me more that Miss -pare saw." , ... V:« manner was so changed—his eye . ,"so brightly— the detective gave him *™™** -,f decided self-gratulation. sell a tap c hun , y oyer t}3e bog) B t o p "She saw .« __. { tbg WQod takfi _ Jook at at the entrance . , witb renewe dspeed your watch, and pi. o into the forest." nJ tQ haye geen We ßrn^ve S°hadtn--Wof ft tele- SC^„en she describes your ap^~ She says you had your pants turned "l> the ankles, and carried your coat ony.«r left arm." " Left avraf "•« "Yes." " I think I had it on my right." " It was on the arm toward her, she de clares. If sho was in the observatory, it was your left side that she saw." "Yes, yes; but the coat was ontne other arm. I remember using my left hand in vaulting over the fence when I came up t0" I? I°a vital point," said Mr Gryce, with a quietness that concealed his real anxiety and chagrin. "If the coat was on the arm toward ler,_ the fact of its being on the "Waitl" exclaimed Mr Mansell, with an ah- of sudden relief. " I recollect now that $ changed it from one arm to the other after I vaulted the fence. It was just at the moment I turned to come back to the side XT and, as she does not pretend to have seen me til after I left the door, of course tto cort was, as she says, on my eft arm. •'I tLughtyou could explain it," returned Mr Grycel with an air of easy confidence. "But what do you mean when you say that you changed it at the moment you turned to come back to the side door? Didn't you go at oium to fa djPing-ropra door from the swamp?" ' "No. I had gono to *be front dopr on mv former vixit, and was going to it this timo- but when I got to tho corner .of the house I saw tho tramp coming into the eate, and not wishing jfco encounter anyone, turned round and came back to the dining room door." , , "I see. And it was then you heard

" What 1 heard," completed the prisoner.

gr <MVIr Mansell," said the other, "are you »ot sufficiently convinced by this time that Miss Dare was not with Mrs Clemmens, but fn the observatory of Professor Darling's house, to tell me what that was?" "Answer me a question and I will reply. • Can the entrance of the woods be seen from ' the position which she declares herself to h^ltcan PieNoitwo hours ago I tried the •™V myself using tbe same telescope in the same place where £~ ff I found I could not^only trace the ttl wi ere you paused, but could detect spot vIIBTJ(J°* movement of my man : quite «adUy every iougl laC ed • tho motions. I should! fcrhave gcome l°h Uefe If I tad not made my self certain on that point ■ toJSSft must believe Miss Dare was what you heardlf mystery, though «>^* th ready doubt if youean. lam aU v* _ :_^___i___i

as she has done from the beginning of my trial. All but tho fact of her denouncing herself yesterday; that I cannot compre hend."

"A woman in love can do anything," quoth Mr Gryco. Then, admonished by the flush of the prisoner's cheek that he was treading on dangerous ground, ho quickly added : "But she will explain all that her self some day. Let us hear what you havo to tell me."

Craik Mansell drooped his head and his brow became gloomy."

"Sir," said he, " it is unnecessary for me to state that your surmiso in regard to my past convictions is true. If Miss Dare was not with my aunt just before the murder, I certainly had reasons for thinking she was. To he sure, I did not sec her cr hoar her voice, but I heard my aunt address her distinctly and by name."

"You did?" Mr Gryco's interest in tho tattoo ho was playing on his knee became intense.

"Yes. It was just as I pushed tho door ajar. The words wero theso: 'You think you aro going to marry him, Imogene Daro ; but I tell you you never shall, not while / live.'"

" Humph !" broke involuntarily from the detective's lips, and, though his face be trayed nothing of the shock this com munication occasioned him, his fingers stopped an instant in their restless play. Mr Mansell saw it, and cast him an anxious look. Tho detectivo instantly smiled with great unconcern. "Go on," said he, " what else did you hear?" " Nothing else. In the mood in which I was, this vory plain intimation that Miss Dare had sought my aunt, had pleaded with her for me and failed, struck me as suffi cient. I did not wait to hoar more, but hurried away in a state of passion that was little short of frenzy. To leave tho place and return to my work was now my one wish. When I found, then, that by run ning I might catch the train at Monteith, I ran, and so unconsciously laid myself open to suspicion."

"I sco," murmured tho detective; "I see,"

"Not that I suspected any ovil then," pursued Mr Mansell, earnestly. " I was only conscious of disappointment and a desire to cscapo from my own thoughts. It was not till next day "

"Yes—yes," interrupted Mr Gryce, abstractedly, " but your aunt's words ! Sho said : ' You think you are going to marry him, Imogeno Dare; but you never shall, not whilo I live.' Yet Imogene Dare was not thorc. Let us solve that problem.''

" You think you can ?" " I think I must." " How? how?"

Tlie detectivo did not answer. Ho was buried in profound thought. Suddonly ho exclaimed :

'' It is, as you say, tho key-note to tho tragedy. It must bo solved." But tho glance ho dived doep into spaco soemed to echo that " How ? how ?" cf tho prisoner, with a gloomy persistence that promised little for an immediate answer to the enigma before them. It occurred to Man sell to offer a suggestion.

"There is but one way / can explain it," said he. "My aunt was speaking to her self. She was deaf and lived alone. Such people often indulge in soliloquising." The slap which Mr Gryco gave his thigh must havo made it tingle for a good half hour.

" Thero," ho cried, "who says extraordin ary measures are not useful at times ? You've hit the very explanation. Of course, sho was speaking to herself. Sho was just the woman to do it. Imogeno Dare was in her thoughts, so she addressed Imogene Dare. If you had opened tho door you would have seen her standing there alone, venting her thoughts into empty space." "I wish I had," said the prisoner. Mr Gryco becamo exceedingly animated. "Well, that's settled," said he. "Imogeno Dare was not there, save in Mrs Clemmens's imagination. And now for the conclusion. Sho"said: 'You think you aro going to marry him, Imogene Daro ; but you never shall, not while I live.' That shows hor mind was running on you." "It shows more than that. It shows that, if Miss Daro was not with her then, she must have beon there earlier in tho day, For when 1 left my aunt tho day before, sho was in entire ignorance of my attachment to Miss Dare, and the hopes it hod led to."

" Say that again," cried Gryce. Sir Mansell repeated himself, adding : "That would account for tho ring being found on my aunt's dining-room floor " But Mr Gryce waived that question asido.

''What I want to make sure of is that your aunj: had not been informed of your wishes concerning Miss Dare." " Unless Miss Dare was there in tho early morning and told her herself." "There were no neighbours to botray you ?" "There wasn't a neighbour who knew anything about the matter." Tho detective's eye brightened till it vied in brilliancy with the stray gleam of sun shine which had found its way to the coll through the narrow grating over their heads,

"A clue!" ho murmured; "I have re :eived a clue," and rose as if to leave.

The prisoner, startled, rose also. ' " A clue to what ?" ho cried. : But Mr Gryco was not the man to answer j such a question. "You shall hear soon. Enough that you have given me an idea that may eventually ' load to the clearing up of this mystery, if ' not to your own acquittal from a false ' charge of murder," ' " And Miss Dare ?" '_ "Is underno charge, and never will be. ' " And Mr Orcutt?" " Wait," said Mr Gryce—" wait." ' CHAPTER XLI. A LINK SUPPLIED. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear A precious ring. —Titus Andronicus. Make me to sco it; or a* the least so prove it That the probation boar noJiingo nor loop To hang a douht on. —Othello. Mr Grycje did not believe that Imogene Dare had visited Mrs Clemmens before the assault, fir, indeed, had held any com munication with her. Therefore, when Mansell declared thai; he had never told his aunt of the attachment between himself and ijile young lady, tho astute deteotiye at once" drew the conclusion that the widow had never' known of that attachment, and consequently that the words which the prisoner had overheard must havo referred, not to himself, as he sup posed, but to some other man, and, if to some other man—why to the only one with whom Miss Dare's name was at that time associated ;in other words, to Mr Orcutt I Now, it was not easy to measure the im portance of a conclusion like this. For whilst there would have been nothing peculiar in this solitary woma.i, with tho few thousands in the bank, boasting of her power to separate her nephew fromtho lady of his choice, there was everything that was significant in her using the same language in regard to Miss Dare and Mr Orcutt. Nothing but the existence of some unsus pected bond between herself and the groat lawyer could have accounted, first, for her feeling on the subject of his marriage ; and, secondly, for the threat of interference con tained in her very emphatic words,—a bond which, while evidently not that ot love, was still of a nature to give her con trol over his destiny, and mako her, in spite of her lonely condition, the selfish and de termined arbitrator of his fate. What was that bond ? A secret shared between thorn ? The knowledge on her part iof soma fact in Mr Orcutt's past life, which, if revealed, might servo ns an impediment to his marriage t In consideration that the ereat mystery was. to bo (solved was what motive Mr Orcutt could haye had for kill ing this woman, an answer to this question was manifestly of the first importance. But before proceeding to take any measures to insure one, Mr Gryce sat down and seriously asked himself whether there was any known fact, circumstantial or otherwise, which refused to fit into the theory that Mr Orcutt actually committed this crime with his own hand, and at the time he was seen to cross the street and enter Mrs Clemmens's house. _ f<or, whereas the most complete chain ot circumstantial evidence does not necessarily prove the suspected party to be guilty of a 1 crime, the least break In It is fatal to his : conviction. And Mr Gryce wished to be as ,! fair to the memory.of Mr Orcutt as he would ; have been to tho living man. Beginning, therefore, with the earliest ■ incidents of the fatal day, he called up, first, the letter which the widow had com menced but never lived to finish. It was a suggestive epistle. It was addressed to her most intimate friend, and showed in the • few lines written a certain foreboding or apprehension of death remarkable under the circumstances. Mr Gryce recalled one of its expressions. "There aro so many, wrote she, "to whom my death would be more than welcome." So many I Many is a strong word ; many means more than one, more than two I many means three at least. Now where were tho three? Hildreth, of course, was one, JCansell BrfgM ™VJ"*> ably be another, feutwho was the third? To :Mr Gryce but one n.arne suggested iteelf m - reply. So far, then, his theory sfcoodJbm. , Now what was the next fact known! Ihe wUkmau stopped with his milk; that was

at half-past eleven. He had to wait a few minutes, from which it was concluded she was upstairs when he rapped. Was it at this time she was interrupted in her letter writing? If so, she probably did not go back to it, for when Mr Hildreth called, some fifteen minutes later, sho was on the spot to open tho door. Their interviow was short; it was also stormy. Medicine was the last thing she stood in need of; besides, her mind was evidently preoccu pied. Showing him the door, she goes back to her work, and, being deaf, does not notice that he does not leave the house as sho expected, Consequently her thoughts go on unhindered, and, her condition being one of anger, she mutters aloud and bitterly to herself as she flits from dining room to kitchen in her labour of serving up her dinner. Tho words she made uso of have been overheard, and hero another point appears. For, whereas her temper must have been disturbed by the demand which had been made upon her the day be fore by her favourite relative and heir, her expressions of wrath at this moment were ' not levelled against him, but against a young lady who is said to have been a stranger to her, her language being : " You think you are going to marry him, Imogene Dare ; but I tell you you never shall, not while I live." Her chief grievance, then, and the one thing uppermost in her thoughts, even at a time when she felt that there wore many who desired her doath, lay in this fact that a young and beautiful woman had manifested, as sho supposed, a wish to marry Mr Orcutt, tho word him which sho had used necessarily referring to tho lawyer, as she knew nothing of Imo genc's passion for her nephow.

But this is not the only point into which it is necessary to inquire. For to beliove Mr Orcutt guilty of this crime ono must also believe that all the other persons who had been accused of it wero truthful in tho explanations which they gave of tho events which had seemingly connected thorn with it. Now, were they? Take the occurrences of that critical moment when tho clonk stood ut live minutes to twelve. If Mr llildreth is to be believed, he was at that instant in tho widow's front hall musing on his disappointment and arranging his plans for tho future ; tho tramp, if thoso who profoss to havo watched him aro to bo believed, was on the kitchen portico ; Craik Mansoll on tho dining-room door-stop; Imogcno Dare boforo her telescope in Pro fessor Darling's observatory, Mr Hildroth, with two doors closed between him and the back of the houso, knew nothing of what was said or done thero, but the tramp heard loud talking, and Craik Mansoll tho actual voico of tho widow raised in words which were calculated to mislead him into thinking sho was engaged in an angry altercation wit li tho woman ho loved. What do all throe do, then ? Mr llildreth remains where ho is ; the tramp skulks away through tho front gate; Craik Mansoll rushes back to the woods. And Imogeno Dare? Sho has turned her telescopo toward MrsClemmens's cottage, and, being on the side of tho dining room door, sees tho Hying form of Craik Mansoll, and marks it till it disappears from her sight. Is thero anything contra dictory in theso various statements ? No. Everything, on tho contrary, that is recon cilable.

Let us proceed then. What happens a few minutes Inter ? Mr llildreth, tired of seclusion nnd anxious to catch tho train, opens the front door and steps out. Tho tramp, skulking round some other back door, does not see him ; Imogene, with hor oye on Craik Mansell, now vanishing into tho woods, does not see him ; nobody sees him. He goes, and the widow for.a short interval is as much alone as she believed lurself to be a minute or two before whon three men stood, unseen by each other, ot oach of tho three doors of her house. What docs sho do now ?

Why, she finishes preparing her dinner, and then, observing that tho clock is slow, proceeds to set it right. Fatal task I Bo tore sho has had an opportunity to finish it, tho front door has opened again, Mr Orcutt has como in, and, tempted perhaps by hor defenceless position, cutchos up a stick of wood from tho fireplace, and, with ono blow, strikes her down at his fee^ and rushes forth again with tidings of her death.

Now, is there anything in all (his that is contradictory ? No ;■ there is only some thing left out. In tho whole of this descrip tion of what went on in tho widow's house, there has been no mention mado of tho ring—tho ring which it is conceded' was either in Craik Munsoll's or Imogeno Dare's possession the evening before tho murder, and which was found on the dining-room floor within ten minutes after tho assault took place. If MrsClemraens's exclamations are to be taken as an attempt to describe her murderer, then this ring must have boon on the hand which was raised against her, and how could that havo been if the hand was that of Mr Orcutt? Unimportant as it seomed, tho discovpry of this ring on the floor, taken with the oxclamation3 of the widow, make a break in the chain that is fatal to Mr Gryco's theory. Yet does it? The consternation displayed by Mr Orcutt when Imogene clninud the ring and put it on her finger may havo had a deeper signi ficance than was thought at the time Was there any way in which he could have come into possession of it before she did ? and could it havo boen that he had had it on his hancl when ho strucjf tho blow ? Mr Gryce bent all his energies to inquire. First, where was tho ring whon the lovers parted in tho wood the day before • the murder ? Evidently in Mr Mansell's | coat-pocket. Itnogone had put it thero, and Imogene had left it thero. But Man soil did not know it was there, so took no pains to look after its safety. It accord ingly slipped out; but whon ? Not while ho slept, or it would have been found in the hut, Not while he took the path to his aunt's house, or it would have been found in the lano, or, at best, on the dining room door-step. When, then ? Mr Gryce could think of but one instant, and that was when the young man threw his coat from ono arm to the other at the corner of the houso toward tho street. If it rolled out then it would have beon under an impetus, and, as the coat was flung from the right arm to the left, the ring would have flown in the direction of tlie gate and fallen, perhaps, directly on the walk in front of the house. If it had, its presence in tho dining-room seemed to show it had been carried there by Mr Orcutt, sinco he was the next person who wont into the house.

But did it fall there ? Mr Gryco took the only available means to find out. Sending for Horace Byrd, he said to him ! "You wore on the court-house steps when Mr Orcutt left and crossed over to the widow's houso ?" " Yes, sir." " Wore you watching him ? Could you describe lilsraanncr as he entered the house; how he bpenpd tlje gate; or whether he stopped to look about hin) before going in 1" "No, sir," returned Byrd; "njy eyes may have been on him, but I don't remem ber anything especial that he did." Somewhat disappointed, Mr Gryco went to tho District Attorney, and put to him the same question. The answer he received j from him was different. With a gloomy contraction of his brow, Mr Ferris said ;

" Yes, I remember his look and appear ance vory well. He stepped briskly, as ho always did, and carried his head Wait!" he suddenly exclaimed, giving the detective a look in which excitement and decision were strangely blended, " You think Mr Orcutt committed this crime; that he left us standing on the court-house steps and crossed the street to Mrs Clemmens's house with the deliberate intention of killing her, and leaving tho burden of his guilt to be shouldered by the tramp. Now, yon have called up a memory to mo that convinces me this could not havo been. Had he had any such infernal design in his breast, he would not have been likely to have stopped as he did to pick up some thing which he saw lying on the walk In front of Mrs Clemmens's house." " And did. Mj? Orcutt do that ?" inquired Mr Gryce, with a.dmi*able sglf-control. " Yes, J remember it now distinctly. It was just as he entered the gate. A ijian meditating a mut4ei> of this sort would not be likely to notice a pin lying }n bis path, much less pause to pick it up," " JJow if it were a diamond ring !"

!' A diamond ring?" " Mr Ferris," said the detective, gravely, "you have just supplied a very important link in the chain of evidence againt Mr Orcutt. The question is, how could tho diamond ring which Miss Dare }s bolieve.rj to have dropped into Mr Mansell's coat pocket have been carried into Mrs Clem mens's house without the agency of eit*ber herself or Mr Mansell 1 I think you have just shown." And the able detective in a few brief sentences explained tbe situation to Mr Ferris, together with the oircura stances of Mansefl's flight, as' gleaned by him in his conversation with the prisoner. The District Attorney was sincerely dis mayed- The guilt of the renowned lawyer was certainly assuming positive proportions. Yet, true to his friendship for Mr Orcutt, he made ono final effort to controvert the arguments of the detective, and quietly said:

" You profess to explain how the ring might havebeen carried intoMrsClemmens's house, but how do you account for the widow having used an exclamation which eeems to signify it was on the hand which she saw lifted up against her life ?" « By the fact that it was on that band,"

" Do you think that probable if the hand was Mr Orcutt's ?"

"Perfectly so. Whore else would he be likely to put in the preoccupied state of mind in which he was? In his pocket? The tramp might have done that, but not the gentleman." Mr Ferris looked at the detectivo with almost an oxpression of fear. " And how came it to be on the floor if Mr Orcutt put it on his finger ?" "By tho most natural process in the world. The ring made for Miss Dare's third finger was too large for Mr Orcutt's little finger, and so slipped off when he dropped the stick of wood from his hand." " And he left it lying where it fell!" "He probably did not notice its loss. If, as I suppose, he had picked it up and placed it on his finger, mechanically, its absence at such a moment would not be observed. Besides, what clue could he suppose a dia mond ring ho had never seen before, nnd which he had had on his finger but an in-, stant, would offer in a case like this ?"

" You reason close," said the District At torney ; "too close," ho added, as he re colled, with painful distinctness, the look and attitude of Mr Orcutt at tho time this ring was first brought into public notice, ana realised that so might a man comport himself who, conscious of this ring's as sociation with the crime he had just secretly perpetrated, sees it claimed and put on the lingor of tho woman ho loves. Mr Gryce, with his usual intuition, seemed to follow the thoughts of the Dis trict Attorney. "If our surmises aro correct,'1 ho re marked, "it was a grim moment for the lawyer when, securo in his immunity from suspicion, ho saw Miss Dare come upon the scene witli eager inquiries concerning this murdei. To you, who had not the clue, it looked as if he feared she was not as inno cent as she should be ; but, if you will re call tho situation now, I think you will see that his agitation can only be explained by his apprehension of her, intuitions and an alarm lest her interest sprang from some mysterious doubt of himself." Mr Ferris shook his head with a gloomy air, but did not respond.

"MissDaro tells me," the detective re sumed, "that his first act upon their meet ing again at his house was to offer himsell to her in marriage. Now you, or any one olso, would say this was to show he did not mistrust hor, but I say. it was to find out if she mistrusted him."

Still Mr Ferris remained silent.

" The same reasoning will apply to what followed," continued Mr Gryce. " You cannot reconcile the thought of his guilt with his taking the case of Mansoll and doing all he could to socure his .acquittal. But you will find it easier to do so when I tell you that, without taking into considera tion any spark of sympathy which he might feel for the man falsely accused of his crime, he know from Imogene's lips that she would not survive tho condemnation of her lover, and that, besides this, his only hope of winning hor for his wife lay in the gratitudo ho might awaken in her if he suc ceeded in saving his rival."

"You are making him out a great villain," murmured Air Ferris, bitterly.CZ} " And was not that the language of his own countenance as he lay dying ?" inquired the detective.

Mr Ferris could not say No. He had himself been too deeply impressed by the sinister look ho had observed on the fuco of his dying friend. Ho therefore confined himself to remarking, not without sar casm :

" And now for tho motive of this hideous crime—for I suppose your ingenuity has discovered one before this."

"It will be found in his love for Miss Dare," returned the detectivo; "but just how I am not prepared to-day to say." " IBs love for Miss Daro ? What had this plain and homespun Mrs Clemmens to do with his lovo for Miss Dare?"

"She was an interference." "How?" " Ah, that, sir, is tho question." " So then you do not know?" Mr Gryce was obliged to shake his head. The District Attorney drew himself up. "Mr Gryce," Baid ho, "tho chargo which has been mado against this eminent man demands the vory strongest proof in order to substantiate it. The motive, especially, must be shown to have been such ns to offer a complete excuse for suspecting him. No trivial or imaginary reason for his wish ing this woman out of tho world will answer in his case. You must prove that her death was absolutely necessary to the success of his dearest hopes, or your reasoning will only awaken distrust in the mindsof all who henrit. Tho fame of a man like Mr Orcutt is not to be destroyed by a passing word of delirium, or a specious display of circumstantial evi denco such as you evolve from the presence of tho ring on the scene of murder."

"I know it," allowed Mr Gryco, "and that is why I have asked for a A-oek." " Then you still believe you can find such a motive?"

The smilo which Mr Gryco bestowed up on the favoured object then honoured by his gaze haunted the District Attornoy for tho rest of the week.

{To be Continued.)

Chiapas From Charles Reade.

"Life is an intermittent fever."—Cloister and Hearth. "Our foibles aro our manias."—Griffith Gaunt-, "Self-deception will probably cease at tho first blast of the archangel's trumpet: but what human heart will part with it till then? The circumstances under which a human being could not excuse or delude or justify himself havo never yet occurred in the huge annals of crime."—ltis Never Too Lato to Mend. " Beauty is power ; a smile is its sword." —White Lies. "Good things havo to bo engraved on tho memory ; bad ones stick there of them selves."—lbid.

"Beware of jealousy—cursed jealousy I It is the sultan of all the passions, and the Tartarchief of all the crimes. Otherpassions afl'oct the character; this changes,and, if good always reverses it I Mind that, reverses; turns honest men to snakes and dovos to vultures. Horrible, unnatural mixture of love with hate. You poison the whole mental constitution ; you bandage the judgment; you crush tho sense of right and wrong ; you steel the bowels of compassion; you maddon the brain ; you corrupt tho heart; you damn tho soul."—lt is Never Too Lato to Mend.

"The sacred principle of justice was as strong in Mrs Woffington as in the rest of her sex ; she had not ono grain of it."—Peg Woffington,

"Happy the man who has two chain cables-merit and women."—Cloister and Hearth.

" Jfemory sometimes acts like an old flint gun ; it hangs fire, yet ends by going off." —Put Yourself in HLs Place.

"AH mon of that day are dust; thpy arp the gold-dust who died with honour"— Christie Johnstone.

" Off the stage James Quin was a char acter ; his eccentricities were three—a humorist, a glutton, and an honest man traits that often caused astonishment and ridicule, especially the last,"—Peg Woffing ton.

" The landlord poured them (the robber band in the Black Forest Inn) out neat brandy, blood's forerunner in every age,"— Cloister and Hearth.

"What is popularity? Ask Aristides and Lnmartine ; the breath of a mob smells of its source, and is gono before the sun can set on it,"—Christie Johnstone.

"Wo are going to weigh goose feathers— to criticise criticism."—Peg Wellington.

" Where there's a heart there's a Rubi con."—Cloister and Hearth,

"Happy the man whose wife takoth her fling before wedlock, and who trippeth up tlie altar steps instead of down 'em."— CloisJ.er and Hearth.

s' Ah ! it is hard to resist the voice, and look, and clinging of a man's own flesh and blootj. Children ore so strong upon their knees j then? dear facps, bright copies of our own, are Jußfc the height of our hearts then."—Foul Play,

"Growth is the nature of habit, not of ono sort or another, but of all, even of an unnatural habit. Gin grows on a man, tobacco grows on a man, tobacco grows on a man, blood grows on a man,''—ltis Never Too Late to Mend-

"She: 'I feel all a woman's weakness. He: 'Then yon are invincible,'"—Cloietei and Hearth.

"The Scotch are icebergs, with volcanoes underneath ; thaw the Scotch ice, which is very cold, and you shall get to the Scotch fire, warmer than any sun of Italy or Spain."—Christie Johnstone.

"It was an age in which artists sought out and loved one another. Should this last statement stagger a painter or writer of our day, let me remind him that even Christians loved ono another at first start ing."—Cloister and Hearth.

DECLINE OF MAN.-Nervous WeakneM, Oyeiiepilfc Impotence, Heiual neliUlty, cured by " Well»'» Health Senwer.* Z^_y___. KepoptlKrae, Prssbt4 Op., _4|«Bt», AudtUaO,

ORANGE CULTURE.

It will be impossible to compress into a single article even a bare epitome of the information requisite for successful orange culture. I can do no more in this restricted sense than generalize, and refer those in want of fuller details to the pamphlet on the subject shortly to be issued by the Government. f utube prospects. The industry is fast gaining in popularity up North, because of old trees planted many years ago by the missionaries and others having of late years begun to bear abundant crops, the fruit of a single tree in some instances realising ns much as £7 10s in the market. Instances of trees producing £5 worth of fruit are common. These trees received but little attention, ns a rule, being allowed to grow in almost a wild state, and no better proof than this were wanting.to show that the tree succeeds here admirably. A large number of settlers have, during the last two or three years, planted orange trees on a small scale, and a few have planted orchards of them, but nothing in a big way has been attempted yet. It requires capital to go into the industry in anything like an extensive scale, and tho capitalist class do not bother North Auckland much with their presence, In the future we shall have to look for the assistance of Government to introduce the right class of people to come hero to start such like industries. To retired Indian officers, the sons of wealthy Englishmen, and wealthy Southern squat tors contemplating settling in a warmer and more congenial climate in their declin ing years, wo must look for the future orange growers. Large numbers of wealthy young Englishmen are now emigrating to Florida to engage in the industry, but if our Government took steps to show Eng lishmen that they could succeed equally well here with the orange as in Florida—in a British colony, with a most salubrious and healthy climate—they would, with our pre sent magnificent steam communication with the old country, surely prefer this to Florida with its malarial fevers. A finer climate, more lovely scenery, and prettier locations for dwellings round about our innumerable northern bays and harbours, cannot be surpassed in any part of the world, But these facts are not generally known, and it is to the Government we must look to make them known. Many wealthy men from the South would spend tho fall time of their lives here growing oranges and enjoying the sweet Soke far niente so precious to people seeking peace and comfort when the "autumn leaves have blown," did thoy but know of the beauties of tho scenery of this warm northern clime. To the young man, orange cultiva tion has the charm of assuring competence, if not a fortune ; to the aged, the certainty of leaving something for their children to inherit.

COST OF LAYING DOWN ORANGERY,

The most experienced and oldest orange planters in Australia—Mr Joseph Pye, for 1 instance, of Rocky Hall, Parramatta—do not go to any great expense in preparing : land for an orangery. Of course, the first consideration is that the soil be suitable. Tho land is simply ploughed eight inches deep, and the trees planted without more ' ado. Tho cost of this style of work, it will be seen, is not much. In Australia the trees are usually planted 22 feet apart— that is, 100 trees to tho acre—though all ' planters are agreed that it would be better ! if they were planted 40 feet apart. One ' man is able to look after 10 acres of oranges. [ The cost of laying down an orangery in this way and cultivation for ten acres would be:—. \ 10 acres of lanil at £10 £100 , 1000 trees at Is «<1 75 Wages—Ono man at £2 for four years .. 100 ' Incidental expenses 175 I £750 ■ Interest on capital invested, say .. .. 250 £1000 ; In other words, for every 10 acres of ! oranges laid down £1000 of capital would ' be required te be expended before there is ! any return. i THE PROFIT OF ORANGE GROWING. | Grafted trees begin to bear the third year, ' but no account is taken of these, as the 1 fruit is not allowed to mature, so as not to J affect the health of the tree. The fourth ' year, it is calculated that each tree would ' bear 50 oranges ; the fifth year, each tree, ' 200 oranges; and increasing up to ten years, ' till the general average be reached of 100 ■' dozen to each tree. This would give a return to ten acres of trees of— ' Fourth year, 50 oranges each tree =■ 50,000 oranges at Oil. per dozon .. £152 0 0 Fifth year, 200 oranges to each tree » 200,000 oranges at 9d. per dozen COS 0 0 ' £7(30 0 0 , From this it will be seen that at the end of the fifth year tho planter has got back all : his invested capital, but nothing for interest, t In a year or two afterwards, however, he has not only got back all his capital and the orangery free, but has an income of not less than £1,000 a year. This, no doubt, will appear incredible to most people, but I can safely defy anyone to disprove these figures. In an official paper handed me by C. Walker, Esq. J Chief Secretary, Sydney, I find it recorded that in one instance the sum of £1,050 was paid for tho fruit of six , acres, tho purchaser having to pick and box the fruit. In Moore's work on orange culture, the orangery is made to clear itself (inclusive of interest on invested capital) in five years, but the selling value of the fruit is taken at 20 dollars per 1,000, or Is. per dozen. In Australia the lowest price ob tained for oranges in Gd. per dozen and the highest Is., according-to the season's crop. I have taken 9d. as the value here. There should be a difference of 3d. per dozen as between Sydney and Auckland, so long as the local market is not glutted, and that is not likely to occur for many years, if at all. When we consider that New South Wales has 7,300 acres of land planted in oranges, while we have not 20 acres, that it takes four years before the trees bear, that popu lation is increasing rapidly, and that the land suitable for orange cultivation is ex tremely limited, there would appear to be no possibility of glutting the market. In fact, just tho reverse; for in New South Wales almost all the land suitable for the purpose has already been put down in oranges ; very little land in Queensland is suitable; while the only other suitable location is North of Auckland. Now the population of all the colonies at present is very small compared with what it is likely to be within ten years' time, and supposing that all the suitable orange land in the colonies was planted during the interval, the supply could not be greater propor tionately than it is at present. SOIL, SITE, AND DRAINAGE. The reason why such large profits are to be made out of orange growing is that there are so few locations to be found in any dis trict suitable to the culture. A porous soil, a sheltered site, and efficient natural drain ago, must all be obtained, The orange tree is nothing but a bjg house-plant. It must be sheltered from all cold and cutting winds, and it must have a soil that is always moist without being too wet. Like the house-plant, it requires that there be a hole in the pot to drain off superabundant mois ture. A porous soil is the only one suitable to the orange—a sandy loam, alluvial or vol canic Clay land is no good for the orange j it is too retentive of moisture and too com pact to permit of that free circulation of the air necessary for the fibre roots of the tree. At Parramatta the orange land is sandy loam. Some of it is good rich land, and some of it very poor. The land at Mr Pye's celebrated Rooky Hall estate is extremely poor, and the only artificial manure he uses is about one ton of guano annually on 75 acres. From 25 years experience of orange growing, and after trying evory system of cultivation and every kind of manure, he has arrived at the conclusion that the orange tree should only be manured when sick—in other words, that manure should only be used as a medicine and not as food. The orange tree depnds more on an abundance of heat and moisture than upon any inherent fertility qf thg pott, The chief feature in the soil should be porousness, so that It will not retain water and so that the air can penetrate it, Next, the site must be shel. tered from oold and cutting winds, either by ' natural or artificial Bhelter, and if tho situa tion is a frosty one, It must also be sheltered from the east so that the morning sun cannot , get on the frosted trees. If it does it will • f 'scald " the young shoots, and if severe burst the cellujar tissue of the tree by causjng , the frosted sap j;o thaw. Thjs, of Com'sie, is very injurious, ant} is liable to kill the tree it not properly treated, The best as peot for an orangery js a northerly and not, ias is generally supposed, a north-east one. i In a northerly aspect the sun is later }n t shining upon the orangery, and this is a ; great advantage. The site also must afford natural drainage j that is, to come within i, the meaning of the figures I have quoted. I Most land can be artificially drained, but _ it costs lots of money, and can never then , be done half so well as by nature. For an orangery dry drainage is required, besides surface drainage. A porous soil on the bank ot a crook, or a gentle hill side, or a deep volcanic land willafford natural drain age. The way to prove the drainage is to dig a hole ten feet deep and visit it twenty four hours afterwards. If dry the drainage

is all right ; if there be water in it the depth of drainage is easily seen. If any water is allowed to lodge about tho roots of the orange tree it is death to the tree. The land should have suflicient slope for surface drains to work.

PLANTING AND CULTIVATING

Great care should be taken in planting orange trees. More orange trees ore killed from deep setting than from any other cause. I have seen people earth these trees up to save a stake, but such trees invariably die. I noticed some at ths, North Shore a few weeks ago earthed up in this way, and they were then showing signs of the "yel low jack"—the leaves turning yellow. Whenever the leaves turn yellow there is something wrong, and if not attended to the tree will die. This yellow is of the colour of a ripe orange, nnd not the faint yellow tinge which in winter is seen on the previous season's growth. The leaves turn yellow from one of four causes: deficient drainage, tho want of nitrogen, the smother ing of the fibre roots, or poison in the soil, such as a superabundance of salt. Deficient drainage and smothering the fibre roots are the most common causes of failure. In the first place tho tree should be planted shallow and not in a hole. The tree should not be planted more than five inches deep—l am speaking on the authority ot Mr. Pye—and the top lateral root or crown root should be allowed to remain on the surface—that is, near the stem only. Tlie orange tree is a surface feeder, and soon throws out a mass of fibro roots which, like the leaves, absorb carbonic acid from the air. If these roots aro buried deeply thoy cannot fulfil their functions, and the tree only exists, and presently becomes a prey to insect life from its sickly condition. It is best to bend the ftp root when planting, and place a small slab or flat stone under it. In cultivating the land, a plough is used for the first three or four years. Near tlie trees you plough only three inches deep, so as not to cut the fibre roots ; and the further you get away from the trees the deeper you plough. By this means you get the ground into " lands," with an open furrow bcj.wec.-n every lane of trees from eight to twelve inches deep. The tree by this system is planted as it wero on the top of an inverted saucer, and as tho rain falls the water runs down the sides of the saucer into tlie furrow and straight away. In the early days in New ' South Wales orange trees were planted in ' holes, the intermediate ground being merely surface ploughed, but between 18b'0 and j 1870 some hundreds of acres of oranges were destroyed chiefly through that system. Two or throe unusually wet seasons were experienced, and the holes or " cups" ] naturally acted as so many receptacles for ■ the water, and here tlie roots began to ferment, and the trees ultimately died, for where a root ferments, if the fermentation be not stopped, it must affect the whole , system of the tree. I have known people . to dig holes and fill the bottom of them ] witli broken bones. That system is still ' more injurious, in that it not only acts as a j catch for the water, but by moans of the bones induces tho roots to descend into the very place they should avoid, not only ] because of the water, but because their labours lie immediately under the surface ' as before explained. , MULCHING AND MANURING. j The chief points of this system of shallow i cultivation as against deep or sub-soil culti- 1 vation are cheapness, preventing the roots ' from descending into wet soil, and forcing { them to remain not only where they have 1 to perform their proper functions, but where 1 also there is the greatest fertility, namely, i in the first nine inches of soil. It has been t ascertained that there is no artificial manure which is beneficial to tho orange tree with- 1 out being also injurious; it has also been 1 demonstrated beyond all dispute that ma- ] nu ring orange trees tends not only to force ' them nut to exhaust them; the tree ulti- 1 mately is attacked with disease, and the ' fruit greatly deteriorates, becoming less 1 juicy, more acid, and very pithy. Mnnur- i ing the tree forces it into more vigorous __ life, causes it to bear heavily for n few t years, the fruit being plentiful and small, \ and then tlie tree dies in the prime of life, 1 its constitution having been completely 1 shattered by an apparently unnatural s process of cultivation, Of course, most t people will say, "But a tree that bears such ] heavy crops must need a considerable quant tity of manure to enable it to keep up the t production." Such is not the case, how ever. Experience amply proves, as I said i before, that the tree depends more on an i abundance of heat and moisture than on i any inherent fertility of the soil. Farmers i and others will shako their heads at this 1 statement, and say that such a thing is im- t possible. I was of that opinion myself at i one time, but had ultimately to give way to i weight of opposing evidence. Tlie best • proof is to be found in the Azores. Up _ till IS3G, the orange trees there wanted no < cultivation nt all. In that year the disease ( known us Hagrima or foot-rot made its appearance and swept away large plan- i tations. Jinny of the trees were from i 200 to 300 years old, and produced from | 0,000 to 20,000 oranges annually. They J received no cultivation nor manure for 200 < to 300 years ; the weeds being few were i easily kept down. That is proof that the tree does not require manure, but the people in tho Azores, after this disease ap peared, planted great shelter fences around tlie oranges, and manured the trees, but only with rotted farm-yard manure, sea- ( weed, and lime. The consequence was abundant crops, but of a very inferior kind. The oranges were no longer thin-skinned, ' and the durability of tho fruit was lessened. - Senor Jose Do Canto, writing from the . Azores to the Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens on the subject, says :— ' " Forty years ago we could send our fruit to Norway and Russia, and now our fruit ; will scarcely arrive in England in good con- I dition after a fortnightly passage, so we are returning once more to some of the old traditional culture, and are less liberal with supplies of manure." This ought to be conclusive as showing that tho orange ; tree should only receive manure in horjiaio pathic doses, and that of the mildest kind. I have already given Mr Pye's views on the matter, and Mr Moore, the Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, assured me that no man in Australia could give better or more reliable information on orange culti vation. Another old Australian planter, ill- Mcintosh, said that no disease was seen upon the orange tree in New South Wales till bonedust and guano were used. In Australia, the trees in summer are mulched with leaf mould or forest leaves. This is chipped into the ground in the fall, and of course acts as a manure. Some planters used to cart fresh earth round the tree every year, but tho practice was con demned as tending to smother the fibre roots. Tho ground is kept perfectly clean, not a weed being allowed to grow any where. The whole of the land is given *p entirely to the orange trees, and the only implement used where the trees are large and in bearing is tho Dutch hoe. No im plement that will go more than 2 to 3 inches under the surface should be used around an orange tiee, and tho giound should always be kopt clean and chipped unless mulched. Care should be taken not to put the mulch near the stem of the tree, else wood lice will gather and destroy the bark, piSEASSS AND JNSKCTS, The diseases the tree is subject to are : foot-rot, induced by deficient drainage, and curable if taken in time; destruction of tho roots by "death-fog" (a white fungus pe culiar to volcanic soil, for which no antidote has yet been found, but lime and salt are said to be a cure); a diseasa called "Maori" in Australia and "rust" in America, which is a leathery-brown skin that grows over the orange, stops its growth and disfigures it, but does not injure tho quality of the fruit j and " die-back " of tlie limbs, caused by tho destruction from somo cause or another of the root correspond ing with the dying limb. Tho dying limb should bo out off in the living wood, Frost is destructive of the limbs where unpro tected from tho morning ami. The borer, which is 8Q destructive in this colony, is not known in Now South "Wales. It should bo cut out wherever found, or salad oil should bo syringed Into the hole, and the hole plugged °up. With proper ovovsight the borer should never be allowed to get into the tree. The moth laj s its eggs in decayed wood, or where tho (more commonly known as the big looust) makes its iacision. Decayed wood should always bo cut out, and tho cicado "rasp" should be covered up with a coating of whitewash. The hole of the borer i 3 easily detected by the " borings " on the limb, and if the ground is clean the borings will be found t*\erp , immediately under the) holp. Qu straight for the bqrer, \\J\_\% cut iiitttQilt. The more manure you use to your trees the more you i will see of the borer. Manuring the tree . appears to adapt the sap to the fastidious likings' of the insect. The only other insects known to trouble the orange tree belong to tho scale genus. Up North, so ' far as I know, we have only the red and ! black ; but in Auckland I hear that a for , midable enemy in the iceyra-a white scale -has made its appearance, and been found ion orange trees This is not tho white scale known to Australian °}™fXwed to but it will cause much trouble if^*™°. ™ ; g^TkeaThaArands^Ue method, but it is one pursued by Mr Pye ; success. The limb should have ! a dose of Gishurst's compound. There are i numerous washes used for the scale, but all

are more cr less injurious, and only check the scale for the time being. The brush thoroughly cleans the limb of the insects, and also the pares or stomates of the limb and leaves, whereas washes only smother the scale and intensify the mischief by choking up all the pores of the leaves. The black fungus which is seen upon the leaves of the tree has evidently something to do with the ravages of the scale, but the matter has never been satisfactorily cleared up. I would say this, though, that no person should buy a tree out of any nursery where this fungus is to be found. Such a tree when transplanted will not give satisfac tion. The same fungus is to be seen on many of our indigenous trees, particularly the pui-iri, which is always a prey to a scale insect.

CONCLUSION

I was particularly impressed with two things from my visit to New South Wales. The first was the fact that our climate is undoubtedly quite as well adapted to the guowtli of the orange, as that of the sister colony, and perhaps more so. The trees about Parramatta were looking anything but bright; they wore a yellow tinge from the effects of the late drought, a drawback we do not suffer from. The trees were on the whole smaller than I expected to find them—not of the average size of the old trees to be found here and there throughout North Auckland, and they certainly were not so healthy-looking. Our climate is more equable and not likely to test the con stitution of the trees so severely, nnd if the owners of these fyrees in the North would allow the fruit to remain on the trees until ripe they would discover that the fruit is quite equal to that of Parramatta. The mistake the growers make here is in pick ing the fruit before ripe, no doubt being induced to do this by the price offered at this season of the year, from Is. to Is. 4d. per dozen. It is the sun that developes the saccharine in the orange, and the longer it remains upon the tree the sweeter it gets. The orange is not necessarily ripe when quite yellow, but when it will drop oft'with a good shake. The other matter that im pressed me was the absence of any attempt at orange plantation about Auckland. Nearly the whole of the volcanic hills about Auck land might wiffli great advantage be planted with oranges, protected, of course, with suitable breakwinds; and all villa residences on volcanic land ought to have a few of these beautiful evergreen trees in tho grounds. About Epsom tho tree should thrive admirably, with protection from the cold winds, and the slopes of Mount Eden facing the east could not be better. If proper attention were paid to" drainage, suflicient oranges could be grown in the Mount Eden and Epsom districts to supply the town of Auckland. The North Shore, too, has a number of suitable locations. In the Thames district also there are many locations that would answer. Some of the islands about the gulf must have many suitj able little nooks that the orange would like, particularly as they would most likely be free from frost. Oranges can be panted during this month provided they are mulched all through the summor ; in fact, this is the month recommended by the Australian planters for the purpose, though we in the North have found May or June tlie best. I would recommend persons in tending to plant this year to wait till the end of August or beginning of September, till the weather and soil get a little warmer. The only fault I have to find witli Auckland grown trees isthat they are toodcar, and that nodoubt is thecauseof so fewpeople planting. In Sydney trees can be bought from £4 to £8 a hundred, and there appears to be no roason why thoy should be any dearer in Auckland than other fruit trees. It is a mistake on tlie part of the nurseryman to keep the prices up, as poople here in tlie North are now importing direct from Sydney. Fully 3,000 trees of my own knowledge came from Sydney this season. The tree.i, however, sold by Mr. James Mason, of Parnell, are really good stock, and it is an advantage to get the trees from Auckland, as the trip over from Sydney does the trees harm. Mr. Dobbie, of this place, iias had nearly 1,000 trees from Mr. Mason, and I think he has only lost one. I have had about 200 from tho same nur sery, and have lost none, which is more than 1 can say for my Sydney trees. £7 10s. per 100 would be a fair price for balled trees in Auckland, and I would rather send to Sydney than pay more.

For further information I must refer your readers to the pamphlet on the subject which will be published by Government in a month or two, and which will contain as much information on orange culture as is to be obtained from any source. I can say this without any egotism, as the subject matter of the pamphlet comprises all the information I have been able to collect from various sources during four years of diligent research (during which time I have been cultivating oranges myself), added to that gleaned from the planters of New South Wales during my late visit, and the evidenco of fifteen of the oldest and most experienced planters of the sister colony, Eiven before a select committee of the egislaturo. To any persons contemplating orange culture I shall be happy to give any information in my power.

Whangarei, August 10, ISB4.

A Story of William IV.

One morning, when the Prince, having re ceived his commission and his ship, was on his way to his tailor's in Plymouth to get the new uniform, at the street corner he saw a boy crying;, and stopped to inquire the cause. The lad looked up through his tears, revealing a. handsome, winning, and intellicent face, and replied that his mother had died only a few days before, and that he had been oast homeless into the streets, " Where is your father ?" asked the Prince. "He was lost in the Su-*sex,on the Cornwall coast, two years ago." " How would you like to go to sea in a first-rate man-of-war?" The bey's face brightened as he answered that he should like it very well. The Prince took out hit ' pocketbook and wrote something upon a slip of paper, which he gave 'to the boy with a shilling. "Go down to the docks," he said, " and with this shilling you will hire a boatman to carry you off to the Pegasus. When you get en board this ship you will give this paper to the officer whom you find in charge of the deck, and he will take oare of you. Cheer up, my lad! Show him that you have a true heart, and you shall surely find a true friend." Arrived on beard the Pegasus, the officer of the deck re ceived him kindly, and sent him to sit upon a gun carriage under the break of the poop. In less than an hour the Prince oame offin his new uniform, and the boy was strangely moved upon discovering that the man who had promised to be his friend was -none other than William, Duke of Clarence, and Cap tain of the frigate. The boy,_ whose name was Albert Dbyer, was taken into the cabin, where the Prince questioned him, and forthwith he ordered him to be rated as a midshipman, and from his own purse he procured him an outfit. During the voyage to tho American coast the Prince became strongly attached to his youthful protege, keeping him about his person continually, and instructing him in general branches of oducation, as well as in his profession. Time passed on, and the boy grew to be a man, serving King and oountry faithfully. In time William became King, and signed the commission which made Albert Doyer a rear-admiral. He exclaimed, as he put his signature to the document: "There—if I have over done a good deed for England, it was when I saved to her service that true and worthy man."—"The Life and Times of YtyMiam 1V.," by Percy Fitzgerald, M.A.

The Bad and Worthless.

are never imitated or counterfeited. This Is especially true of a family medicine, and it is positive proof that the-remedy imitated is-of the highest value. As soon as it had been tested and proved by the whole world that Hop Bitters was the purest, best, and most valuable family medicine on earth, many imitations sprung up. and began to steal the notices in which the Press and the people of the country had expressed the merits ot H. 8., and In every way trying to induoe suffering invalids to use their stuff Instead, expecting to make money on the credit and good name of H. B. Many ethers started, nostrums put up In similar style to _{. ft, with variously devised names, ipi whi<jh the wosd "-Hop or " Hops " were V»eti In a way to induce people tp oeliove they were the same as Hop Bitters, AH su.ih pretended remedies or cures, 10 matter w'oat their style or name is, and especially those with the ward "Hop' or " Hops " In their name, or in any way connected wltH them or their name, are imitations or counterfeits. Beware of them. Touch none of thorn. Use nothing but genuine Amerioan Hop Bitters, with a bunch or cluster of green Hops on the%rhite label, and Br, Souk? name blown In the riasa. Trust nothing else. Druggists tod^Chfmlßts aw warned against dealing In Imitations or couuteneMs.

A curious device of journalistic enter prise has been hit upon by the Paris paper | " Petit .Caporal," which informs its j readers that, in order to prove the interest it takes in their welfare, it will place at their disposal, on and alter June 1, two eminent physicians of the faculty of Paris. These doctors will be attached to the staff of the newspaper, and will give gratuitous consultations to the subscribers and their wives,

CLIPTOMANIA.

[Sbecially Selkcti;:) uv Our London

CoKRLoI'UNDKNT. ]

Mr George K. Sims has been on v visit to Tunbridge Wells, where, it is said, ho has sketched and partly writ ten a new five-act play. This time Mr Sims will have no collaborates.

In the matter of conflagrations, as in everything else, America is a "go-ahead" country. The losses by fires in the United States during the past half-year are officially stated at 54,000,000 dols., or 20 per cent, over the total for the first half of 1883, and 9,000,000 dols. more than the highest return for any previous corresponding half-year. Another sprig of the nobility is presently to malfe a " first appearance " on the stage in a professional capacity And this time it is a young lady who has "married be neath her," as the saying is. The family are making every effort, however,, to shake her resolution, especially as she intends to appear under her maiden name.

The " Illustrated London News " says that the will of His Royal Highness Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, K.G., has been proved. The personal estate amounts to over £40,000. The operative part simply states:—"l give all my property of every description unto my beloved wife, Helen Frederica Augusta, Duchess of Albany, for her own absolute use and benefit."

Some of the foreign papers are multiply ing a silly paragraph to the effect that Richard Wagner's heirs have refused a million francs, or dollars, I forget which, for the sole right to .perform " Parsifal" in tlie United States. Nobody would be suffi ciently ulnwise to offer a penny for this apo cryphal right. There is no copyright in "Parsifal" in America, and anybody who cares to produce it there can do so without fee. —"Figaro."

The first number of " Orange Blossoms," a sixpenny weekly, which is to be a '^staunch defender of marriage as a social institution," made its appearance the other day. It is a remarkably neat publication, with a cover of pink and gold. The articles are brightly written, and with the first number commences a story which seems designed to prove the advisability of mar riage.

Journalists iv the States breathe in an atmosphere perpetually sultry. While the editor of an Ohio paper was at work in his office recently upon a leader, a half-pound of dynamite, with a three-feet fuse attached, was discovered under the flooring, in close proximity to his chair. In another State, resolutions have been passed through both Houses of the Legislature recommending a withdrawal of patronage from three separate newspapers.

London is inundated with journalettes dealing, or professing to deal, with theatrical and sporting topics. Their strong points are vulgarity and "cheek." Most of these prints seem to think thiat paragraphs on eating and drinking, and the pecuniary troubles of their respective " staffs," are a certain draw, so that every week we are gravely informed that the best whisky is Macduff s,'the best champagne Fizz's, and the be<it cigars or cigarettes Puffer's. Free-and-easy references to burlesque actresses, and "pomes" dedicated to the eyebrows of those ladies, with n few sporting " gags" and personalities, complete the content* of these burlesques on journalism, which grow in number and feebleness every week.

Once more the report that the Fortescue- Garmoyle action is settled has been con tradicted. Miss Fortescue herself at Mr DOyly Carte's party last week emphatically donied it. But at that time it was thought that the case would be reached this sit ting. Now it has gone over till afterthe Long Vacation, and efforts are being made to settle it. An offer has, it is said, been made made to pay £14,000 and costs, and it j. will probably be accepted. Miss Fortescue wants no more notoriety, while his lordship would assuredly be sorry if his amatory epistles were read in public.

What becomes of all the floral offerings which the queens of the footlights receive from their admirers in front ? They are disposed of differently, according to the re cipient. I know of one case in which they are sold right away, and I understand that a great prima donna disposes by con tract of all the bouquets she receives. This lady, like many another fine singer, has excellent business qualifications, and cer tainly knows how to look after her own interests. Madame Pauline Lucca, I be lieve, in whatever city of the world she finds herself, sends all her fl iral gifts to the hospitals.

Mrs Langtry in her first Western tour has fully sustained her world-wide reputation for mashing masculine hearts, and has added another victory to her long list. It is reported that a prominent cattle king of Cheyenne has become hopelessly smitten with the Lily. He followed her from Chey enne to Salt "Lake, and occupied a prominent proscenium box during her appearance at the theatre.

Mr Clement Scott has, it seems, with drawn his resignation of the post of dra matic critic of the " Daily Telegraph." He had intended to write a new four-act play in collaboration with Mr Henry Her man ; but that, too, is now off. He was also to direct French's International Dra matic Burean which not only arranges for the interchange of plays between this coun try and abroad, but is open to adapt or translate them, work in which Mr Clement Scott is understood to be very facile. Mr Scott will now, however, retain the criti cisms of the " Daily Telegraph."

Lord Coleridge is delighting his English friends with stories of his American visit, and among them with this. He Was at Mount Vernon with Mr Evarts, and talking about Washington, said, " I have heard that he was a strong man physically, and that standing on the lawn here he could throw a dollar right across the river on to tho other hank." Mr Evarts paused a moment to measure the breadth of the rivor with his eye, It seemed rather a " tall" story, but it was not for him to be little the father of his country in the eyes of a foreigner, " Don'tyou believe it ?" asked Lord Coleridge. "Yes," Mr Evarts re plied, "I think it's very likely to be true. You know a dollar would go further in those days than it does now."

A novel mode of paying a visit occurred the other day at Albury (the Duke of Nor thumberland's place), when Mr Baden- Powell, of the Scots Guards, accompanied by a brother officer, descended in his balloon in the park, having come from Aldershot just in time for lunch.

A Pariß physician got into a great scrape lately hy declaring that a young lady of seven, and belonging to a family of respect ability, drank. Another doctor was promptly summoned, and said the same thing. The parents were in despair and in credulity. They said that their daughter actually disliked wine. " Watch her care fully," said Dr. No. 2; and a few days later mamma caught the victim of the mysterious malady at the eau-de-Cologne bottle.

Thackeray could not endure having his articles remorselessly curtailed. He writes on one oocasion to Mr Napier:—From your liberal payment I can't but conclude that you reward me not only for labouring, but for being mutilated in your service. I as sure you I suffered cruelly by the amputa tion which you were obliged to perform upon my poor dear paper. I mourn still, as what father can help doing for his children? for several lovely jokes and promising facetiie which were born, and might have?.! lived, but for your scissors, urged by ruth less necessity. Oh, to think of my pot passages gone for ever I

Here is a good story from New York. Two ladies met over five o'clock tea, in. what is called a high social circle. Both were rich and accomplished, and both claimed to have ancestors. The eldfjr of the two referred, in tho course of conversa tion, to the fact that her ancestors had come over in the Mayflower. "Indeed, cried the other, in the softest of voices, " I didn't know that the Hay^ower carried steerage passengers,"

A gallant Volunteer Colonel on parade informed his men the other day that thoy would be required to form a guard of honour for a soiree, but he couldn't say whether it would take place in the morning or evening. A Norwegian named Johnson intimates his intentioS of sailing on Saturday from Southampton for New York in his boat Neptune, which was shown at the Fisbenos Exhibition last year, and of taking with him no companion save a cat. Mr Johnson would do well, before starting, to persuade that faithful animal to intrust him. with a few of her superfluous lives.

Lately people in Franae have been very busy predicting the terrible consequences which will ensue from the re-establish ment of divorce. An English weekly journal gives one of the most terrible of all. "A young man gets a divorce, and marries a second time ;i but the mother of bis first wife has been divorced too, and has married the father of his second wife. Thus the young man. has changed his wife, bnt not his mother-in« law. Where, then, is the profit' w» tbe transaction!"

Whales appear to be rather a drug in the market at present—that is, if we may judge by tbe statement that forty small cetaceans, recently r-mprht nf Stmnsay, Orkney, have beeiK-oM-- ---j.-.. :- < n._;i u gfrom2stoss6d each. U. , to-.- -'-ody consulted Mark Twai 11 a■>•• .0 a. j v . ' ion of a fish diet, with a vi • v ( ' , in.:-- ;a of brain-power, the

hum..-.. • in,:,. ...-,«{ his correspondent to Ite-j-i.i ~i h .1 »h.ilo-"'not the largest kind 1,1 whu .." lie considerately added ;"a medium-sized one would do." The present, then, seems a favourable opportunity fcr Radicals and other weak-minded persons to invest hnl fa-crown or so to advantage—cr it would be. if a whale were a fish, which, unfortunately for Mr Mark Twain, it is not.

If the ense be as " Truth " put it, mater nal authority is of a very lasting character when the mother happens to bo a royal one, " I hear," says Truthful Tommy, " that the Queen has issued a command that when tlie Prince and Princess of Wales dine out in London the number of guests invited to meet them is not to exceed 14." It might have been thought that whether the Prince of Wales met 14 or 40 at dinner, had been for a good many years now entirely his own affair.

Everyone said that the dramatic author, H. J. Byron, was a rich man.' There was some evidence during his life of that being the case, but now we learn his will hod been proved under f4,000, and in order to realise that and pay that grasping demand for leg acy duty (one which is made in the name 6f the nation, but assuredly against its sentU ments of justice and kindness) tho property of tho poor widow has to be sold by auction, She is left so badly off that a subscription has been set on foot already. Where has the money gone ? or did the brilliant author, who has enriched so many, ever get a fair share himself ? He was not an extravagant man ; it is true he had the whim of keeping his carriage, but he enabled a dozen others to keep theirs. They (the authors) do these things better in France. There is, perhaps, an exaggeration in the reports of the sums that dramatic writers receive.

The ordinary polo pony races becoming rather monotonous at up-country stations in India, the inventive genius of those interested in the said sport has been brought to bear on the subject, resulting in two new contests known as an " Umbrella race " and a " Cheroot and saddle-up race." In the former each competitor opened an umbrella sharply in the face of his pony, then mounted without assistance, and rode round the course with his umbrella open. For the latter, the conditions were—" com petitors with saddle, bridle, cheroot, and box of matches to be formed np ten yards in front of their ponies, which will be pick. eted ; to light cheroot, saddle up, and ride out to flag and home. First past the post with lighted cheroot to win." An "Ama» zon race " followed, ridden by ladies.

A hen constructed of sheet-iron, and "got up" to the life, is the latest notion from across the Atlantic. It is the product of the fertile brain of an Ohio mechanic. Ho proposes it as a snare and a delusion to vermin of all kinds, furred and feathered, caits, rats, weasels, kites, hen-harriers, and other of the genus Raptores, with a weak ness for domestic poultry. The arrange ment is that when any of the above-named creatures pounces on the said hen, deluded by appearances, the pseudo-Dame Partlett at once. collapses, and crushes up the in truder against a spiked saw concealed about her peraon. After sundry whirrings and creakings the disjecta membra are cast forth, and behold once more an unassuming "tame fowl."

_ The Magyars have just held their exhibi-. tion of "the most beautiful women in Hungary," and the Poles, determined not. to be behind their rivals, announce a forth coming "exhibition of beautiful women" in Warsaw. They are determined, how! ever, to be generous, and advertise the show as "international." As the committee is Polish, we can hardly expect it to be so unpatriotic as to give the first prize to any lady who is not a Pole.- The advertisement suggests to our Western minds the pre paration for a slave market, for it states that the prizes will be given to the " exhibitors " —we presume the parents, guardians, or husbands—"of the moft beautiful specimens." There is nothing to show that the ladies themselves will have a claim to the prizes, which are of three degrees—money, medals, and honorary diplomas. The announcement is careful to specify that "ladies of every rank ih lifry without distinction of class or of nationality, will be eligible " ns exhibits. One of tl o 3ongsin the "Gaudeamus" collection sa;B that the Polish woman unites in herself all the charms that are distributed singly to other women. If this is true, husbands and fathers of other lands will do well not lo send their wives and daughters to Warsaw,

The Discoverer of the Cholera Germ.

An interesting sketch of the life of Robert Koch, the discoverer of the cholera germ, the man whose name is at present in every body's mouth, appears in a recent number of the " Gartenlaube." Dr. Koch, who is now forty-one years old, is a son of the Hartz Mountain. In 1860 he took his'M.D. 1 degree. For the next six years he slowly and laboriously worked his way upward as assistant physician in out-of-the-way hos pitals. Fortune did not smooth his road, and when in 1872 he got an appointment at Wollstein the struggle for existence had f again to. be fought for seven years. Under circumstances so unfavourable for scientific research, he prosecuted hisstuditß with a success which secured a world-wide recognition of his genius. His first dis tinction was won by the publication of tie results of his quiet labour on the methods.1: of the artificial dyeing of microscopic ob jects, especially of bacteria. By the general public his discovery could not be appre ciated, but those who understood the ; valre of these.researches in the prosecution of theji study of bacteria knew that with it a new era had dawned for science;, This.- conn viction has been brilliantly confirmed,- During the last five years he has succeeded in identifying the germs of cattle disease, of consumption, and of cholera. These: discoveries are not incidental strokes tf good luck, but the natural fruits of his own, system of research. The significance of: these discoveries is felt eyenlry those who; have noknowledgeof medicine. Experiments in vaccination with the poisonous mattery experiments in disinfection in laboratories, wholesale experiments in the disappearance of epidemics—all these are but links in the chain, the last link of which, the destruction: of the germ of the disease, is no more un attainable, but has become even probable. Honours have been conferred on Dr. .Koch and his coleagues on coming homo'front India, tho breeding-place of cholera. They have received titles and order, to which, in honour of the personal danger of the voyage of discovery^ were added such distinctions as otherwise are only conferred on soldiers. By addresses and banquets colleagues have honoured them, and it is said that tho new Professorship of Hygiene at Berlin will he given to Dr. Koch. In short, outward acknowledgments havo been plentifully made to the modest, quiet scholaiT At though the Germans call him theirs witl pride, he will always remain what-he is j universal; and he deserves to. the ful the honourable title of " benefactor c humanity." On th? outbreak of cholera a Toulon Dr. Koch was despatched thither t report, and the other day he made thi following statement to the "Times " eorres pondent:— •■''■'• ■" '•In Germany there isnot, asm-France, a) academy of medicine. I stopped-on ray wa; only a few hours at Paris, where. I saw th Minister, who recognised the ofuoialnatui of my mission. My opinion is quite decided The epidemic is Asiatio cholera. I shar thp opinion of all the dootors here, I hay not yet made- autopsies, but at St. Mandrie this morning I witnessed the death of patient who had been four days ill. Tbi : was not a sufficiently conclusive case, cor sequently I am waiting for a case of immi dia'te death. The length of my stay depenc on that, for as to the origin of tho epiaeirii I have no doubt.- Cholera comes from tl extreme East, and with the relations-no. i existing with those countries its tran; 1 mission is easy. I hold that after a wee infected linen can no -longer contal ;; dangerous microbes. Tho precautioi ! taken at railway stations are nugatory., T! I danger is seated in tho intestines, which ye cannot reach by external_ fumigations, have witnessed the autopsies by Drs.-Rou and Strauss. I recognise the same micro w as those collected by me in Egypt at | India. Dr Roux made sixteen autopsie ;j Tho microbes are microscopic,. infinites | mally small, inclining to a crooked shap and colourless.. We perceive them by pii ting them into an aniline mixture, to whit wo can giye various colours, in order :J detect what bodies they contain. 1 instruments for detecting the microbes, have placed at the service of these genii men what I used for observing phthisis, f 1 discovered the presence of microbes in ijl 1 phthisical patients. The epidemic w | reach Germany, I have no doubt, ah indeed*' it; will go everywhere, for on 1 having a centre like Toulon it must spreo | and I shall tell my countrymen what I hit been telling you." ■

THE AUCKLAND EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1884

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