MORNA DALE; OR, The Guardian's Forgery.

By SYLVANUS COEB, J K .

CHAPTER VII,

THE SMUGGLER— TAKES CAPTIVE,

■Walling Cove was a deep, lanci-lockod in lot of the sea, a few milea distant from Wallingham, towards the west. Hero on tho day following tho events last recorded, lay at einpclo anchor a heavy lugger, flying light, tho breadth of hor weatherboard plainly indicating that she was free of cargo. There had bean a light shower of rain during tho night last past, and her sail? had been let loose to dry, A seaman, knowing nothing of tho vessel's character, would bo apt to gazo in wonder upon the va6t spread of canvas in that lug bail. It overshadowed the hull completely, nffording surface onough, ono would think, for a craft threo times tho size of that over which it now hung. But thOfo who stood upon tho lugger's dock well knew tho virtue of tbut sail. Give the bold smuggler a good offing, and a breeze t f any kind. - the vessels were fuw and fai- betv - f"' could gat ahead of hor wake. ■•*OD thut There were at the prr~ ~■,,' middle of the for- -rtrtl* Maa-near the lugger'a deck. nn iS C men on tho man lor-'1 i 1 °* whom wa3 hor com" to nn- "'' Atmstrong, n nnrno familiar '..rJy etwy customs officor and con=t -a&iti jb the south of Kngland ; and yot he had never been couvjeted of tampering Vith Her Majesty's revenue. He was a bhart, powerfulJy-buUt man, of middle age, ft perfect type of the rough and foirleas old Engluh seaman. Ho Ind boon boatswain's mate of ofrigate, and captain of an honest trader ; but hi* heart turned moat warmly to tho calling he now followed. And ho was not uu selfish. He told himself that ho wns Bonelitlng the poor and needy of his j ccaattyttien iv giving them spirits, aud tea, ! 'and sugar, and tobacco without adding to tft'e price thereof a buvdousocne tax for tho i support of a privileged class. Of hia crow I we need only say : They were men picked j by himself from hundreds, and wore as bold j and feat-loss as himsolf, and ready for any I i&dvunture that promised a goodly"profit. j iia we look on board the smuggler the boatswain had reported to Capfc. Jack tint j the canvas was "dry as a baked chip," •whereupon tha ?ait was ordered to bo taken in. This waß done, and then, feeling in a convivial mood, the captain had bis steward i JK3 bring up the grog-tub. The tub had [ been sot upon tho quarter deck, and the I men had armed themselves with their tot? ! —small tin drinking cups— when a boat, | which had put off from tho shore a little! • while before, wa3 made out to bo approach ins the lugger. The captain got his spy-class and took a look at the boat and its inmatos—throe of them—one of whom eat in tho stern-sheots, steering, while tho others pulled the oar. "I can't make him out," Jack s^id, : when ho had takon a fair view. " The! oarsman are all right; and I guess ho'a j the came. Anyhow, he isn't an officer." Ere long the boat had como alongside, Bnd pulled up under tho gangway ; and he of the atern-ehoets came over <lv side, leaving his two companions behind Capt. Jack took, a step .forward, and !

" Old Jack ! Don't you Enow me ?" I " What !-Ko !-It can't be !-Why, I, bless my tar'y top-lighta ! if it isn't Tom ! I —Tom Crandal! Tom, old boy, is it yer- 1 self?" ' " i " Yes, Jack, it is Tom himself. I wa^ t told tho lugger was yours, and as I wanted i i to bob you, I came off." I ! " Well! well!" standing off, and looking ' ) him over from top to toe, "who'd a' i thought it! Biosa mo, Tom, how you've ; ( grow'd ! And how you've rilled out !- ! t Here I you're just in the nick of time. ! ( BriDg a tot, somebody, for our j t friend." | i Tom was introduced to tho members of! the crew, as one thoroughly versed ia their i I peculiar calling, after which tho grog - circulated, and several tcaits were dimk 8, i ' At length, when tho visitor feit tnat he i had drunk enough, ho drew Cipt. Jnck: c aeide and asked for a few minutes of his I c time for the explaining of a matter of busi- ' t ness. The smuggler chief gave a sweeping ' c glance over the deck, and than led the way ; - down into bis cabin, whore hia visitor was ! I offired a pips, which he accepted with ' I thanks. j h " Now, Tom, heave ahead. What'a in j the wind ':'' j t

"Jack," said young Crandal, when he had got hia pipe well a'ight; " 1 will come straight to toe point. Botweon ycu and mo there is no need of backing and filling after the fashian of pattifoggitig lawyers. The case is just this : There ia a certain man so much in my way that I would givo a goodly sum to have him out of it. I cjuld settle his account quickly enough, without help if I were disposed to kill him outright, but that Ido not care to do. I never did kill a man in cold b ood, and I never will. The man of whom I speak muec <sio, but he shall have a chaneo, t ou.-h a slim one. Tell me, c.\n yon givo two men who will servo my purpose ?" "Let me understand you, Torn. D'you want those men to go ahead alone, and j navigate this thing I" "Bless you, no. I shall go with them, i and take tho load. You'll understand, | Jack, it's no fool of a jjb to take a smart, powerful young man, in a thickly settled ; town like Wallingham, and cirry him offj against his will, without making more i noi.=e than would be pleasant." "Aye, I understand. He's a joung man !"' " Yes; not to old as myeelt by a year or co, bat. I am told, one of the strongest young fellows going." " Jl'-A-e-w/" vrhietled Captain Jack, with a significant nod, and a curious pucker of j his heavily-boaided lips. "I think Ij understand. Ays. Tom, and I'm with you, | too. I've beard of tho baronet* foundliny j —hia adopted eon. come call hhn —but 1 don't know that I ever saw him. I our imagine how he stands in your light. Lord cave as !If the likes of v? won't stand by one another, what'a the use of friendship ? | let me think. Aye," he wont on, after a j little thought, " I've got just the men you want. They're ashore just now, but it's time they were off If you'll wait till they come, I'll bring them down ;or yon can I come on deck, and wait for 'em there." The matter wa3 settled, howsvor, and without further discussion ; for before the visitor had made up his mind *bieh 'he would do—go on dosk or watt in the cabin —tho splash of o»rp was heard alongside, an j shortly afterwards a fresh arrival on tho logger's d"cck. C-iptain Jack went up, leaving Tom behind, and era long bo re turnod, followed by two strong, weather beaten and battleeearrod seamen. Tom Crandal looked v pon tbe new comers, and Btorted to his feet with a cry of glad " What! Bert! Alf Plimpell ! Am. I dreaming?" " Not o bit of it,CCam.pm. It's All and I, aa sure as you live. But, Lord save us ! i where'd you come from ?" And the pair o. them took each a hand of their former com mander and pressed it hard. . Tom wbb delighted. He had no need to I eel; if these men would answer his purpose, i They had eailod with him on tho other side

| only lo mZ valuable prk 9 { and had men we™ K°- °t ] B!aVee nofc lla!f « many Crow nf H,rc2"' red °3 had composed tho faMbnd.h9 bl;, COanoor- Tha* bad parted Poll oofe B t T- Dr n°r nod Alf'piitn. Tom S7 t£ olr ho"rts th3t t0 Capt. | q.j: require tho sacrifice. tiutl/full Ul'? o> th(iy Wera i and we uny | SSSSSkHSS favour Tom asked rV""! w, hatever granted. at hlB hands was toLrcNrn "■"'•'0» Cfandal the lugger. p,... • -i In his boat to the s!ioro, -.« Uowoer and Alt t\impoll wont with liim. In tho early evoning of this fame day that I witnessed Tom Crandal's visit to the smuggler, Kalph Ashmoro had made his last round amoDj; tbo patients givon especially I to his chargo, and was on hia wny to tho i o!!ico of tho presidont, when ho mot that. individual in one of the open wards. " Dr. Laybrook, I think 1 will drivo j ovor to tho Grange this evening; and if i you con spire me, I should like to tairy | until noon to-morrow." " You may go, Ralph." Tho good old doctor alwnys ppoko thus familiarly with his favourita pupil. When he addressed ' a young man by his Christian name, it was safo to decide that, ho spoke with : ono whom he loved and esteemed. " Go, by all moans ; end if Digby will look to ■' your patients, you may remain through the day if you wish, But let mo givo I' you a bit ol advice. If you propose to ' drivo over, tako a closo clltlso, und Ret i off as soon as you can. I jiut, camo in, ' and I think a storm is browing." Our hero was gnitoful for tho doctor's ' kind pormicsion and- for his counsel, and I ho promised that ho would take heed. i Whilo pursuing his studies, Ralph had found a homo in tha family of Dr. Liy- I brook ; but on receiving his dogroa, and 1 Dntcring upon his practico in tho hospital, • bo had prefonel to take io;ms at a com- s iorta'ilo'hotol, kopt by a noar relativo of tho < old doctor, where ho was promised all I cho comforts and privileges of homo, and ' svliero ho would feel more free to" coma and ' jo at pleasure than ho could feel while a I ooardor in a private family. Tina hotel i ivas a third of a mile distant from the hos- * oitat, and considerably nearer to the £ water. f With regard to tha location of the town ' n relation to tho wators of the Channel, wa i t .Till simply say, tharo wa3 no sheltered I isrbaur ;in fact, no harbour of any kind, t !O that but few of the dwellings wero < ■ituated n«ir to tho shore. The principal 8 :harm of tho locality was its baautiful c )2ftch, a broad, gently sloping surface of 1 vhiti sand, level as a house lloor, and ovor * i mila in length ; and tho hotol where our « lero had made his homo overlooked this

bsach, and Kief a boat-landing of it? own extending out to the tide. It was nearly dark when Ililph loft the hospital, and ho could feel the coming rain in tho air. Tho Katharine clouds bad an

ticipated the legitimate shadows of even ing, and night was coming prematurely. But tho moon, only a day or two past irs fall, would very coon be up and tho way would then he light enough for comfortab'o driving, drepite the clouds and tiie threatened . t >rm. And moreover the ro4d to t c cry) waj straight and broad, f om tho track of which a .-on?ifcle horso could not wander in the darkest night. " Can coming ovents cast their shadows before?" tho young physician a?Uad him -slf, speaking his thoughts audibly. " VVhat can it bethot oppie-ses me? It can not bo the clouds. lam used to lham. It cannot be tho coming ftorm, for I do not dread it. Somehow my thoughts go out to our dear parent, on hu long and danger ous voyage. He must bo now— Why ! —in India, to bo sure ! But- it ho thoro ? Did ho refich tho promised hivon? -Ah ! j Hark ! What is that ? Is the old ruin in- ■ habited ?" He had reached a point within sight of the waters of the Channel where, upon his

i j left hand, on a narrow street, were the 11 wdlls of a building, mo»t of the interior of i: which had been burned cut by an acciden ; I tal fire. Tho dwelling—for such ir. had | been —had sot back from the street with a | court in front, (guarded by n high brick > I wall, inHway of which had been a wide '. i cate, under a stono arch. Ths gate had i been torn away by tbe firemen on tha occa ; sion of the burning, and since that time the court, and tho broad walk to the frontdoor, j and tho archway itself hftd been cumbered ]by charred and broken lumber from the ! ruins. I As ho passed this cpan arch our fcinmi ' sure he heard a movement; in tho courr, and ; that a beam of lamplight streamed out ! thrcugh the darkness. Whether tho light j yv.l9 in the house or in the space boforo it he i could not dotermino. Howjver, when ha I had stoppod, c-nd turned, and peered into tho gloomy place, ho told himself that it j must hare been a creation of bis fancy, and : with a light " Pooh, pooh !" and a laugh ho a rain turned hia fact) homeward und auiekoned his steps. 'He had gjnetho distance of a rod, per haps, when a quick tread behind him—a tread that had a suspicious ring—caused ; him ones more to stop and turn. A shadowy something that shut out every thing beyond-ho saw it fora singlo instant i and then, boforo ho conld even think, a I large, thick, ponderous mufrier, like a heavily padded bed coverlet or com ifoiter, was thrown over his head, nnd j ' quickly stron" haada gathered it closely! ■ Lund him, while other hands seized upon I hia arms and bound them behind him. He j was a strong nnd rosolute man, and bravo I as the bravest, but he had been takon at a j disadvantage, no that oven his power to : struggle wa3 taken from him. The only j thine he could do was to try to raise j hi i voico for help, which he did. Presently tho muffler was lifted so as to bare his left . ear, and a hoaree, rough voice, liko a blast j from the sea, founded therein : " Hush ! We don't want to hurt you ; but if you mako a noise, a blow on tho head will settls yon, sure. Bo warned and save yourfolf." The oaths mingled with tbo speech made it horrible, and tho CiUitivo mado no farther attempt to call assist ance. , Tbo locality was lonely. Above and below tho space of the ruin were largo structures, flush with tho street, occupied by citizens in the daytime, but tenants after dark. On the opposite side of tho way wa? a high dead wall, shutting in tho back yards of dwellings tha« fronted on another street. The only obanca thero wna of the outrage being seen by others lay in | the possible passing of homeward-bound j pedestrians like hiro=e!f; but this chancel was -slim. Besides the hotel there was | scarcely another "dwelling, in the same direction to be reached by that narrow way.

A few moments aftor tho note of warn ing had sounded in his oars, tho young physician knew that ho was bointf led back into tho court of the ruin ) probably for tho purpose of robbery, tor an instant tho wi,«h waa in hi* iflilid that he had more money about hia person, and that ni3 waloh and hia diamond ring wcro at homo, flis watch waa a (mo Dent chroho moter, jn a heavy gild case, a prosonfc trom a few wcilthy patients who fo!t that to him tiioy owed thoir livos. Ho had CcCa called to thorn whilo a terrible Spideaiio was depopulating the region round about of high and low alike ) and of fourroon householders alld men of buei no3« whom ho had troalod only one died, and that ono vra» ttridkon with death when 1 ho first Wont to his beiLido.

Hia diamond rinj; wjs still more valuable —moro valuable in every way. It was a I stono of tho very first water, without Haw or blomiih, and verylorfje—a prosont from Sir William. Money could not replace it. What could It m'jan? lla bad bain led n oon^'do.-a'olo di?tar;no, ho knew, up into tho cluttered court, and there his captors stopped, and presently ono of them wont away. Ifo then iaud<i our that thoro had boon thrco of thorn Mo could honr an in distinct hum cf voice?, but could dis tinguish no word. The minutes passed on, and no motion of any kind was further made.

By thta time tko thick mulllor was be coining more than uncomfortable, lo was interfering with hii brearhing, Eith-jr hi. fjco had swollen or tha gug had boon drawn imro closely. At length it became su 11' jesting and insupportable. With all his might ho struggled to nek for air. ■0 ! for a bro.ith that could o.iso his tortured lungs! Aftor a ti:no tho rullhiis feemwl to camprohond his entreaty, and tho mull' lor was epeodify looaonod, and sr.aco aufli• cont was all'irclod bot^oon tho cloth and his lips to allow him to breath quito frooly. For a few moments tho relict was so great —tho transition from eull'jcation to life co palpable nnd real -that ho forgot his othor sufToriaKs.and folt grateful, iiut tho jjcati itiido was not lasting. What could they mean? What worn thoy keeping him thoro for? If they hud intended to rob him, thoy would hava done it long ago, am) l;ft him to himself; but thoy Roomed inclined to do nothing of the kind. Evidently robbery wag not their objjct. U not that, than what could it be ?

A dulling, nameless, shapsless terror struck to bis heart. He thoUßhv of Sir William dead ; and again came tlio shadow of hia dream—tho death of Morna'a father. Something—he know not wh.it, nor whence it camo—something whiepoi-od to him of Lawrence Dale - Ikml.' /AW/ Denil.' And then ho thought of Uorn.i horsolf. And than -of another—of ,lon»3 Ocandal. Why had that man been co siloGt and co reserved all theso months!

Hark! Through the thiok mutlbr, vi brating upoc tho lyiupaiiuai of hie ear, camo tlio rumble of wheels upon tho pavement of tho Btreot ; and it soomod to sxnp near tho arch of the gateway. A momonr later tho two mon with him—one on each side—drew him hurriedly away from tho epot where they h'ui bßen standing -drow him on, over the clutter and tho litter— nn, until ho folt his feet striko the firm psvomont. Tlion ho was lifto i down from tho sidewalk intn tho atroet—a few stops farthor, and two pairs of strong hande raised him up,and threw him forward into tho intorior of a close coach, His eonso of fooling and his eensoof smolUnj; t ild him hn situation.

After this a few words were spoksn by tho party outsido ; then two of flic rulihns ontorod tho vehicle, and lifted him ou to a seat; and a little later t!ia hoieoa woio started r.t a inodurato pace, which waa cro lonf; quickoued until thoy were beinjj vviiirlad ewiftly awoy on tho road that sliirteil tho channel towards tho woirt, What, could it mean 1 What would Ihoy do with him ?

(To I,: Contiuiinl.)

TWO KEYS: OR Margaret Houghton's Heroism

Br MRS GEOEGIE SHELDON,

Author o" "Erownlo's Trhimpb." "Tho For

oaken Bride," " Audrey's Reconipcas*," Sco.

CHAPTER XCiVIII. A SOL"t SAVED. 1 Back to hu native land Mr Forest hud de termined to corns ; and grand old Boston, although greatly changed since ho first left : is, had much in it etill that was familiar ani dear to him. I In the never portion of tho city he pur- j chased a fi:io residence, which hi presented i to Louijfor his futuro hitno, and whoro l.ho young husband and wifo mado him foj vory woicomo and hnppy as a permanent member of their family. | Hia next work wae to establish himself i and eon in a business calculated to givo am i plovment to a largo number of people, J many of whom were boys—orphans and sins jof widows, who were gathered from the j highways and bywayo—for tho purpew;) of, I helping thorn up from tboir mfoerabln cou i dition and teaching them how to dopond j upon tho;nsolvoß in tho fuluro, and to load ; honourable and useful livos. I Mr Forest never turned a dcif ear to the i tale of sorrow or want ; the thought of his ! own young wife, with her little bjbo, suffer- j j ing for tho necese.irip} of life, wns over j present with him, and made him anxious to ! relievo anyone who wa3 in trouble. j Many a widow had cause to b'.oss him, I and many a business man. in after life, wan f hoard to confess that to tho generosity and kindness of Forest and Sen they owed tho succeas they had achieved..

Mr and Mrs Houghtoh refidod in the city near their children during the winter, while they insisted upon their epending fcheir summer with them at their beautiful homo on tho Rrookline road— % placo that would always be doar to l.ouis, for tliore ho had first scon tho lively tihiid who lr.id exerted such a powerful influence upon his whole life.

Farmer Brown and hia good wife were almost as proud nf Louis as if ha wero their oivn eon, and rejoice-i mo«t. heartily with him over tho good fortune tint had como to him ; while Mr Forest formed a doep and lasting friendship for tho go d man who had befriended his son in bis youth.

Mr Allen, too, was sought, and found, and claimed as an old friond. Ho hod marriod a lovoly woman during Louis's ab sence, and was prospering in his profoFsion ; and now, b3ing introriuood to tlio circle in which the Houghtona wore accustomed to movo, he began to bo appealed to by a dif ferent cluss of clients, and to rise in propor tion to lit* business.

Mary Jonos was now a v.-i.low, her hus band having died during the wintor, bat hor three boys woro all doing well, and gava promise of a far more thrifty manhood than their father had ever known.

Louis purchased an airy roomy house, shortly alter his return, furnished it throughout;, and presented it to her, and Mrs Jones's lodging house was notad for it/3 comfort and eleanlinWß, and was patronised accordingly, thus returning a handsome income to its owner. Louis's would-be, father had mede his appearance only onco aftar his release from hie imprisonment in Paris. He had entered

his effico one (Jay, when Louis happonod to !bo thuro fur a few moments aloae, and de manded monoy of him in i eomewha*ovor . bearing manner, Louis took no notice at I !ir;;fc ot it; ho was considering what was ■ best for him to do. Finally he handed him throe hundred dollars. The iiun had been falsely accusod and | imprisoned, and ho felt that some recotn | p-jnso was duo him. j But tli2 man looked dissatUliod with the " Well, what U tho matter ? Louis quos "l should think a mm would foal rathor meiin to fund his own father back to America on a paltry Lhrco liundred, especially when ha is about to packot a handsome fortune with tho girl ho manioc," returned tho man, with a disagreeable but luvjwiug

Louis regarded him a monoont in silence, marvelling within himself at the different natures thoro wore in tha world. ; At lust ho arose, nnd looking tho man j straight in tha eye, eaid quietly : ; ".John Uioka, you cau return to Amorica, ;or you can go to ntiy other country you i chooeo, but J. warn you that it will be wise i j i:i you nevor to e-howyourfice to iim again. I Your history U known to mi, and it you ovor co:no to mo again demanding anything I of mo upon that old bogus claim, you will find yourself handed over to tne authorities ! without eoroaiony," i Tho man BtOud staring blankly at Louie | fur a full mlnuto ; then, without a wcrd, ho I turned awuy and slunk out of his eight, and Louis nsver taw him ('.gain. Six months after our frionds' return from .ihroad, Ada Parker tamo to slnrj?iiret ono morning, her fair face covered with! blushes, and a new tenderness oliining through it. She tossed a letter boaring a foreign po»tmi:rk into hor l&p, saying, with v shy I snitlo : ' " ltoad that, you blessed little womoa, ! \ and tell mo what you think of it." j It was a manly, oirnost epistlo from the j ■ young Marquis JJe l'eriiae, tolling her of i tho love he had entertained for her ever since forming her acquaintance in Paris, and making her a formal otl'ur of hia heart, ' hand, and fortun3. At the name time he mado a full confession of his unmanly treatment of Margnrot ,»nd hor maid upon a certain occasion, and hia deep repentance for having been guilty of so moan an act. tio related a'l that occurred, and how humiliated ho ha.! bsan by Margaret's woll morited reproof and scorn.

'■ It was thy tijgiiniini; of a now life to me,' ho wrote, "'and if all women ware as truo to their sex and their duty as Mies Itonghton proved herself to bo, tnero would bo fewer bad mon iv tho world."

Ho closed with an oarnost appeal that bo ri;irrhfc bo ullowt'ti to oouio to America to claim tho lovo ho sought.

" Arc you £roin£ to lot h:tn come ? ' Margie asked, regarding hnr friend earnestly.

" V'o." :ne have been corresponding for somo tiino ; but 1 cannot resist this appeal," Ad:i responded, with a deeper ilush.

'■ 1 thought," Margaret began, then stopped.

" i"ou thought that I loved my cousin Arthur," Ada wild, completing tho eentanee lor hor, "and S3 did I for a time," eho w^nt un, ''until X c tino homo vncro X could think quietly by myself. Then 1 realised what » nhnllow, ploaKiiro-loving iiature ha had ; I know ho did not caro for me, and I gradually found myeelf forget ting him." '• You ac euro that it is not tho glitter of a coronet that atti.acts you now, Ada," Margaret asked.

Sho was ao happy in hor huebma'j lovo, and tha cleop alloctioii sho boro hi-n, aho could not onduro tho thought of her friend Riving hor hund without her heart. " Jso, Alarfiie, 1 feel suro I ehunld have told August to coino if ho had utiil been ."imply Mona'eur Ie riiio. I adtcirod him tthou wo waro in Pans, though X am afraid his suit tvotrltrheve boon ruiued if I had Dot kuosvn of hie treatment of you. But hi. letters indicate that there is much that is noblo and y;ood in him, on:l I am suro he hae truly ropeiittd of his errora." " I am, too," Mnrpraretiopliod, and then, sho toll hor of hi.s Bitter coming to hor tho evoaing bofuro hor.mnrriage, of thomos.-'ngo he b:id sant hor, together wUhhor beautiful gift. ■' If you lovo him I am glad for you, Ada," she sr.ii ; " it is a brilliant prospect for you, and it will bo co much better for him to marry a goo<i, truo American tjirl than somo pleasure-loving Fronch lady." So (hero nae n quiet uejdii <: ono morn ing not lonp aftor, in Mm i'.-irkor'n stately tuit'ision, whan Ada hecimo tho Marquisa Uo Pemiie.

Whon Margaret, who was ono of tho I guests, went forward to offer her conKratu latiocs, tijo young marquis cmghe her hand, and lifting it. to hia tips, said : 11 Madam, I thank you for co much, but most of all for my wife ; but for you I should uevor have won her." " How co?" Margaret asked, smiling, yet astonished. j " Because I novor could have been worthy ; ah, pardon !" ho added, with a fond glance into his bridoV Hashed face, j "I am not worthy oven now, but you! I taught ma to regard life very differently j from what I bad over dona before, and' aavod mo from dishonouring tho namo I boar." One night, (ivo yoars liter, tho boll of I Margaret Forcst'a beautiful homo rang c: resounding poal. Tho servant, upon answering it, found o j atout, fine-looking man standing outride the door, who inquired for Mr Albert Forest. ' Ha guvo no namo; ho aaid he had como upon 11 maltor of business, and wished to see I the gentleman alone. ! 11 o was shown into the library, and as ho E.it there waiting, tho Round cf hippy child- ■ :sh vo:ce»carao floating down from upstairs, ,md tho maud faco kindled with a etrango tenderness and lovo as ho hen'd it. '

Presently Mr Forest entered the room, and ho did uot ecom n day older than when ho had returned from abroad several years bofora.

Ho bowed to his visitor, but regarded him curiously, as if wondering if he had ever seen him boforo.

Tne stranger oro^o and advanced to meet him.

" Undo Albert," he said in a low, moved tone, "I do not deserve a wolcome from you, but. nevertheless, I yo»rn for it." "Arthur!"' cried Mr Forest springing toward him and grasping him warmly by tho hand, whilo something in tho open manly face before him moved him strangely. "Yes. it it Arthur—the prodigal re turned," tbo man replied sadly, yet with a touch of bitterness in hia tone.

"You know how tho father received tho prtdigal, Arthur," said Mr Forest, with a tromble in his voice, "and so I givo you the warmest welcome of which I am capable." "Think you, Uncle Albert—l did not quite aspect that, but I am gratoful; and now I will tell you that my chief errand hero wa? to pay you the debt I owe you."

Ho took n papor from his pocket-book as be spoko, ard hinded it to Mr Foreot.

It was a ehequo on a Now York bank for fifteen thousand dollars, which included the cum Mr Forest had paid in settlement of Arthur's dabts.

"Arthur, you know, I did not expect this," said hia unco, regarding it gravoly.

" No, but it is right, for all that; and I know you will not refuse me tho satis faction that I experionce in rjoi.ic it," Arthur roplioct earnestly : and thon at his unslo's invitation ho sat down and told him how he had spent his Ufa during the last aix years. ilftar leaving Paris, ho eaid ho had come directly to New York with the intention of ratifying atnonds, as far ac possible, for tho mistakes of his early life. Here, he

had fallen' in with a man who had jus I, returned from the South, and whose health was such that he could not ro turn to that enervating climate, He WB3 tho owner of a fine orango plunt.itlon, tbo fruit of which was nearly ready to be gathered. Ho was dosircua of selling and would tako a moderoto price, provided he could find sumo reliib'o purchaser, who would pay part down and give him security lor tho rest.

Arthur at once said he would go and look at tho property, and if ho found it as repre sented ho would purchase it. The result, was, ho bocame tho owner, and the yield of that yeir alone, with the ten thousand dollars received from his uncle, enabled him to pay for the plantation entire, and to mftko sorao icaprovomenta besides. "I have attended atriotly to businOßS," ho said, in conclusion, "aid I hava raaped como a rich nun myself in a fow yoars ;

and so you soe, Undo Albert, I oould not fosl a proper ro?pect for myself until I bad paid this debt, and exprossod my approcin tion of your kindness to mo,"

"It was really no dobt, Arthur; you woro wolcomo to itj" returned Mr Foroct, heartily, yet he wa; gla'i ho had paid it, for it raised him greatly in hie estimation.

" I know—but of course you can imagine how I would feel about it," Arthur res ponded, and there tho matter wsi dropped.

"Where aro you stopping!'1 his undo aslsori him a few momontH later.

" Wo aro at Parker's ?" "Wo ?"' ropoatod Air Forest, inquir ingly.

" Yep," with a laugh, a?id a tondor light illumining his faco, "I have married a nice littlo Southern l'jdy, and wo hnvo a lino boy throo year.3 old."

I "Well, well ; that is good news truly, j »nd lam ghd with you, Arthur. I ehiill ' p:iy my respects to that fame littlo lady to- I morrow, and then you must biing hrr I hero," said Mr Forest, cordially, and look ing vory much pleasod over the nowe. "I —I don't know about; that " Arthur bogan, but was cut ehort by tho en trance of Louis. Tho meeting was somewhat awkward on Arthur's part, but Louis was very cordial ; thoro was nothing in his manner to remind him of tho past, and ho eeomed to be hoartily glad to learn of his prosperity. Margaret went nith Mr Foro:it tho next (Jay, to call upon tho Afpinwalls at tho Parker House, and Arthur voted her the noblest woman in tho universe for tho act. Shu found Mrs Aupinwall a refined ar.d latljlilio littlo body, devotedly a'lnc'oed to her husband and possessing an unbounded intluanco over him. Their boy was a promising littlo fallow, tho imago of his father, who evidontly wor shipped his son, althouph it waa patent lo Ilia visitors that ho did not intond to spoil him by indulgence.

'■If I can train him to bo anything like you, I shall feel that I have not lived in vain," Arthur remarked to Louis, when, twoon tho families, tho Aspinwalls wcro about to leavo for their Southorn home.

"Tho roeirory of your kindnoss and generosity,'1 he added," has never loft me for bettor man ; and at hist 1 be^au to foel a-j if I had earned the right to como nnd acl: you to forgive mo."

It was a hard thine for a proud, high opirited man to say ; but it was a nob la thing to do—it was tho ono thing needful to crown hid manhood.

"Gladly," Louia tmid, grasping his ha:;d warmly. " Lot i:.< remember tho past no moro ; lot up bo J'rkndi hoccoforth."

I Margarot Ifoughton'a keys, added by her heniem nnd courage, unlocked the doori of her lover's pruon find conquered tho oriomy that had co nearly destroyed her happineee. : ,; But a nobler viciory was \von when the keys of kindness and' noinliiy unlocked a well-nigh imponotiaU'. heart, whilo the domonn of enmity and jealousy lleti, angels of poacis and goodwill entering in their place, and a hunnn eoul wag caved, a lifo cf usefulness preserved. • ■ (the i;nd.)

Mrs Langtry on English Society.

I The Philadelphia " J?rc£S " has published an interview with Mrs Lingtry, who is at i present on a vi-it to the United States, from which wo mnko the fo'lowing ex tracts:— " 1 havo no love for fashion at all. I have had a'l I want of it. Society is dan i ■ fjerotn ground—dangerous for you woraon, I ! 1 mean. The quiot. gontlo life nway from j j fashion and ita eolfishncjs is best for a ' . younpt girl." " Do you mean that fasb.iona.blo pnople i aro eold-hoarted ?'' "No, not cold hoartod. It would be 'better for many of thomiif thoy wore. I | doo't know co much übout fashion on this side of tho ocean ; but at homo, I am sorry ' to say, our aristocracy is really very bad. What tho mafsss learn about if, too, is only what lenfcs out, for tho aristocr.-.cy has grown bo fearful for tho continuance of its own existence that tho members oi it do all thoy cm to ehieid each others' fault". Mosides, too, thoy lay claim to moral ■ privileges, and think they can do what other persons daro not. All of us youn? | womon in London felt that very much. If ', . I did the slightest unconventional thing | j thsro wa9 Euro to be a storm of comment. ' But there is the Duchess of A.,' I would ! voply. ' Sco what she does.' 'But, my! ■ dear,' tbo answer would bo, ' you aro not j tho Dueho:« of A.' Then, you know, it is I quite impossible for an aristocrat to do | anything that will injure him much with ! | his order." " Perhaps, then, it is true that tho Princo of Wale* can absolutely nuke and unmnko tho position of men and iromo'i ';' j " No, not exactly that. If tho Prince i [ fancy any one, of cournc, tho aristocracy is i i likely to follow. And if the I'rinco sco nny ! ! young woman who is bi-icht and interesting | ! and protty and and '•' "Well?" ; "And young, bo is likely to a?k to havo ] her introduced to him. . Then all his set I I cast their favours on hor." His sot ie, of course, tho besS of tho fast sets; ©at I was jin London qnito a year boforo I mot tho Princo. It win tho Coasorvativo old sat ! who took me up when I camo from Jerjty ! | /ir.'i', intending io stay in London only a j 1 little tune. Lady Ilosslyn, tho Duchess of j Westminster, who ia now dead, and other , woman of that cotorio were my friends, and I Sir John Millaie, who was from Jersey, and | j was my father's friend, insisted on paintiiijr I mo After I metjtho Prince of Wales I was, ! of cDiirfo, a good deal in his set.. When I | was at Cowee I mob tho Princess, and was, ! I of conrao, yachting with hor and tho I'rinco, I j (ha King and Qaeen of Denmark and the rest. It was nice lor a little whilo. But, you know, you never can become- familiar with Royalty. Tho rolation is much like that of servant and master. Even on tho yacht, you know, ono was constantly de foronlia!, and always waiting fora glanco or asmile from ths Princ3es."

The demand for the srent American remedy, Hop Bitters, in this pp.rt of tho world l-.a-i ha iomefo great tbat the Hop Bitters Co., whoso iiflad-iiuartcrs are at Rochester, Now York, J S.A., havo been comoelled to open a laboratory In Melbourne. It is in chargo of Mr U. H. Van Ben*, a sontlerrmnof several year»' experience with thia Company, and ihe trnde may bo assured of receiving soodu equal to tho parent.house, and the moot courtcoastreatmenr. Tho H.B. Co. have fiatubllsbmonts at London Paris, Antwerp, Belgium. Breda, Holland, and Toronto, and tholr American Bittern arr -rob&tlj tho be»t kuown issdiejns In tho world.

Among the Rockies.

How beautiful fa this country. .We are among the "Foot hi 113," or loiveet range of o':c Rookies—great, mound-like, smooth, softly-tinted hills that ewell into many a lovoly curved shape, halclinrr ia their wide folda winding blue rivers and grest stretches of fiiiQ grazing land, ovor which, as the sweet morning airstirrod through the grass, little billows of pale graon soctmd to pa?:' Those aro some of the battle ranches of which wo have " heard tell " co.often lately. As we travel slowly onward—slowly, so as to enj'y all to the fullest extent—those plains widen and stretch asvay into Hit quiet dislancas, soft aud misty—lying below farther hilln outlined against tho aky. Sharper risings and roughar lodgaa appear. By-and-by the wido valleys chan^o into brcken ravines, and lo ! through an cpon-

inw in mist made rosy with oarly sunlight, we see fir away up in tho pky, its doiicat'.' paarly tip clear against the blue, a single snow poak of the Kocky Mountains! Thore h n, goaarol rush to s:so it—perhaps Koncral dijappaintmant. Kurolytliat fragile, almost quivering point risin;; bo high over tho pink drapery tint swaopa to the valley boloH-. can have nothing to do with the ruggod heights and mountaina wo have como to fioo !

Our coarse natures cannot at first ap prcoiato the exquisite ;--ai! gra oi that aalitnry psak that seom-i on its way to hoa\-on; bub a<i wo, look, its fading, Kauzy mist passos over, and it has vanished. On again wo go, no.'/ through long Btrotc'.ios of p:u'k!iko country, now near groat mountain bou'ders, half-misty, half ; defined, with occasional gleams of snowy I poaks far away bcforo us liko fciaaca on tha • morning ;.ky. Tho Kauana«kia River (lows directly across tho paaa that kids into tha moun ! tains which hero bo(.:ir. to close in round in |We stooped i>t tho Kananaskis Station, I ] and walking aoroaa a meadow, bahold the , wide rivor a maae of foam looping over! ledaos of rocks into tho plains below. I Wo ruoch Canmora, <JH miles from Cal-, I fjary. Hore tho paos wo aro travelling! through lisa narrowed euddonly to four mile?, and us mists 11 >.it upwards and away i iwo pco i;reat masses of scarred rock ti-:ing! ou tnc'i s.'d;—rar.gos towering one abovej another. Very striking aud magnificent grows tho prospaot as wo penotrato into the I mountains at la'it, each curve of tho line bringing froth vistas of ondloeo peaks, roll- j ing ""'ay I'cforo and behind us, all tinted , ro-o, blush pink and silver, as tha eun lights their snowy t:p.». Every turn bo comes a fro^li myMoi-y, for some huge moun tain eoem.H to st<i:id across our way. barring it for uittcu, n stern faca frov/nino' j down upon ua ; and yet a fo;v minulas later i we find tho p-'mtit has been encircled and i conquered, at d foon lioa far away in another ' diroction. Mount Casccda is perhaps one of the moat remarkable of tlio?o penln. Ap proaohing its perpendicular ma?sivo pveci pire- front, streaked wit'i a thousand ooloura which glow in'the Bunsliin?, wo half shrink from what seenn-i an inovitabla crash. From this prec'pico falls a nirrow otii;na'Je, ! making a leap of about I.SOO foot. Surely ! it will presently burnt over us !— but no ; a few mir.utes later Mount Ca«cado ha? mye toriously moved away to tho rif;ht, and it? silver waterfall poon gleams in tho di3tancn. Many of tho rnount-nm were i-kirter! with low dark forests. Soma had a veqetetion of smill ovorgreen;* marking out whi'Olndaoj ; but beyond a certain hciahr, figured rack. in which tiny (<lacif?r? and snowbads found n rcstir.rj-plnce, ro=c alone into tho sky. Sometimes this bristling bwrd of rufrged trees was sharply defined O(rai:ifit great walls of white .'uid f^roy above, wi^h oraEjs nnd P'jnkß and lodLro«, in all RorfS of fantoS tie forms, broakitiQ tho outline. Bolow. all wus in deep shads ; but abo'-e, PunliVht fell in a fharp, bright lino ncross thoao mighty walls, and [.''■■■<t<>nod, w i t ,i) boaur.y inconcaivablo, upon fairy-liko points in the fky. . ■ .-, At BmlT, six iDileefrnm Canmora, sulphur pprinprs-of fjreat medicinal value had then only latqly discovered ; but already, from our.car window, we can eeo tho timbers for on hotel awaiting transmrtation up the windinjj road to the pprir.is. One of our party informs u« that tho Government am roEerved 20,000 ncros for ■ n public park in 'this b^p.utifnl ])!ac?, and that arranffimente nro already boin^ mado to reudor it available for this purp-jRe. It U nn enchanting ppot, encircled by mountains—paid to contnin many innro valuablo ,springs—the au- fraprant wish =n"ect odours from Sow Bpnice-'rc«H o'oth insr their sides, Horo the Bo»v Ki"or, which wo havo skirted sinca leaving Cil (inry, winds through tho wide frrocn plateau, its wators of a dull Chini tluo About five miles farther on C.vtio Mountain is h«fnro v-1, Ftandine.a sheer pmcipiiM 5.C00 hat Irgh—a giant's " keep." with turrets, bastion', and bottleaiout' complete, rearod against, tha sky A.i wo ti.,-o toward the summit, near Stephen, about, thirty-five miles farther on. the railwny's grade t>ets otooper, f-»U foro?t3 [rather round us, and n curious EfldCb is pro duced by clirupses of snowy epurs p.nd forests p?opinp; through tho trees, and of whinli. thonch apparently near us, we poo no baco Tiiis convoyed to irco an idea of our elevation, nnd it was delightful to think of one=elf as hidden away nmoni thoje solitary mountains, oven for a few ?hort hnnrp, with all tho troubles and worricfl of life left in noisy buetlins; cities f«r nwr-.y ! —Lady Macdonald in "Murray's Ma^czino."

PERSIAN PRINCES.

To call tho Persian Royal Family extensive is more meiosis. Ir is to a modest Euro pean family an tho big trees of California are to an English sapling, or as tho seven league boot 1? of fairy talo are to tho diminn. (ivo hollln'i, dear to lady novelists. Tiia present ro:?nius: dynasty of Persia' the Kojirf, hive hard I v bsi)n a ean tury oi the throno, but tho second mon arch. Falli Ali Phah, had so many wiros and children, and Iho-.l to'such a ripo old asa, that hundreds of prince's have boon privileged to rise on ami call him pipo. His children emulated Dana's patri archal tastes, and had many of them families of from twenty to thirlv song. Two more generations have m=sail since then, and it mij' hr> imagined that thtro aro a (rood many psoplo in Persia who, liko Sir William Hnroonrt, can boast of royal dpscont. These descendants of the Persian Solomon do not apprnr to inherit the S-ilomnninn tradition of wisdom : and thoir notions of virtuo are Oriontnltoaminfiildoijroc. Avarice, crnolty, dishonest^, lack of honour, aro conspicuous features of their charactora, T/io one satis factory point about thoir position ii rliab inoaaaatheyarenoor— a circumstance which, whilo sharpening up thoir meaner quali ties, limits at all oven's their opportunities of oppression. Many of these princss and princossos. draw small Government pen sions, averaging nbout £30 per annum. Roino of them occupy Fmn.ll posts in public departments ; pome aro insiptr.ificantbanjjera on at Court; others earn a misar.iblo hand to mouth existence by gambling. The general moral to bo drawn from their con dition is not favourable to the principla of princely polygamy.

. Times are pr<ttty hard with some people. A deaf aiid dumb mnriwant into an office the other day, and-seizing a paper, wrote : "I am hungry." The clerk took tho picco of paper, rend the unhappy words, nncl scrawled undor them, " So am I."

Old Dances Revived.

Tub whirligig of timo Jia3 brought so I many forgotten fashions into favour again | that wo need not bo surprisol to hear, as I our Paris correspondent informs ua, that j tho minuet and pavana aro onco inora 1 becoming favourite dances in tha French j capital. In tha course of tbo la»t few ; years the tnotlitle, in her pbrplexity for 1 something ne-.v, has boon bueyrohabilitating tho old oußtumee. Ladies wear drones like I thosa made for thoir grandmother?, and | yet find themselves in tho height of j tho latest fashion. Thoy furnish' their drawing-room with chaire copied ; from last century naodols, and piy i largo sums to rescuo from tho domains j of dusty storerooms tho Cabinota and tho j coal scuttles, the fendurs and the firetron?, . voteos of Islam have tossed aside as un-1 worthy of tho Mo&que aro eagerly bought j for tho roithatta iniidol, and plate held in.1, fmill e3to;'m by a less artistic generation is ' • proudly displayed or profitably sold by !■' thoir descendants. liven tho less variable | > cox is not free from this rotrograde develop- j '• msnt as regards tastes avid whims. Kneo- j ' breeches have not quite taken the fancy |' of the men of our times, and frilledj ' shirts hold but a brief and uncertain j < sway. But the modern hat, the least | (

! shapely and tho least reasonable) of head- : I tho stylo which eamo i;i when tho lacs- i trimmed beav,;r v.'ont out with the French Revolution. For a tiino tho notkor gar meats promised to approximate to thojo affected by the dan dies of the Kegoncy, and tho l'OsO'.ted clippers which arc now tho \ rao=t approved foot-covnring aro eimpiy tho ; "pumps" of a bygone timo corao ouce I in3)*o iata ' fashion. It is, thorcfr.ro, i oothing remarkublo to hear that the old j dannea arc likely to follow in duo flcqaonco I tho dress .'md tho furnitmo which wero I I thoir contemporaries. i\ r or, indeed, is the ! fact to be deplore J. Tho minuet and tho ; p'lvana ara unquestionably somewhat i peucro vnodos of passing ihe'oreuing to tlio.-'o who huvo grown apia tho idea of tho quadrille , , tho wall/-, and round dances being tha fitting amueementd of the ballroom But of 'ato, what our correspondent m Illy terms "rather frantic dancing" ha 3 takoti i ilio placo of the graceful exercises which j ono was of old accustomed to coo on such j occasions. In truth, tha stylo of the Caeino i seemed to bo so rapidly engrafting itseif j on what uaod to he considered p'jlito society, that pooplo in do way either prude? or priggish were beginning to regard with | raoro toloranco than of jcro the fimoja I regimont whose in a it was "never to danco." The minuot and tho puvanu are, no doubt, a rather swooping siving of tho pano'ulum. They will not, for a time at laaat, displace tho familiar dances. For, apart frain the delight which thousand* of unfashionable ptoplo exporisnee in these joyous figure?, oven professional dancorj will require some , practice before they bo- Boona thoroughly expert in tho exercises! which, we aro told, aro about to bo re- j viveo. It ie opan to question whether tho minuet and the pavana will ever again bo popular. They were the dances of a society actually, i perhaps, moro dissolute than ours, but, at I tho Bane timo, moro artificial and more j conventional in what wero considered tbo : graces of life. Tho gay ladies and fine <ront!omen, tbo Ch'.oes and Strephons, tho Fops and Macoaronis.of tho Georgian era. in tho elaborate coiffures, thsir dresses stiff with gold laon and wbnloboao, their coats of lavender silk and purple volvot or white aatin, could scarcely afford to indulge in tli3 I wild saltations of their great-grandchildren. Tho tailor and the mantua maker forbad it. Hence, they took thoir pleasure, so f&r as dancing w«i concerned, after a etajder i fashion. They afwfitod ballroom amuse ; monts did not nfljessitato much elo=cr than two arms' lengths. Accordingly, i when we picture tho paoplo of a century or '• two a;;o dancing, we must think of a fine gentleman and a fine lady " walking .1 minuet," r.or indulging in soma equally; artistic, though equally frigid, ex;-,ci?o of the | 'kind. It was only whoa our dress became ' loss artificial tftat our manners wore able to J accommodate themselves to the altered cir j cumstance , !. Then-it was that tlio stately I minuet, which Louie tho Fourteenth first i conrioecended to dance at Versailles Fomo j : 220 years ago, grew unequal to tho require-1 ; monfs of th.o times. Tho oM-tehioned '• I gontlem.in who marched ouh li:!y afcer b.dy Tn euccesaion, and solomuly went throagh tho figure with her, ftr.i'iuor.y becamo pain , , and was compelled to yield to younger rivals who had learned ths polka and tho sebot tischo, and tho waltzoa of the continent, Onco the round dances cirao in, tho moro artistic! and graceful ones of the past were forgotten. Individual awkwardness passed muster in n crowd, and I concerned, unless it was mare than usually bad, only the blunderer , ? partner. Moro-; over, 1 bo whispered nothings, which in the eyes of the youthful dancer of to day are one of tho train attractions of a ball, wero • all but impossible in former times, whan tho eyes of an oatire room wero on a conp?o too anxious to'display their Fki.l, and ton ! intent on tho " rigour of tbo gaae," to indulge in any idio talk until tho last note of the harpsichord was struck, Sniff, conventional, and according to modern id;a?, a littlo abaurd parhapa, those old dances unquestionably were. But they weie suitid to tho ago, to the buckram brriux and the "sandalled" belle?, of a period which, if it waa no better than our oiv i, affected, at least, an appearance more ! circumspect, and an etiquette less natural. Accordingly, we may venture to doubt the reality of tho present renaissance. For a timo tho novolty may take. It may catch (ho fancy of a few artistic hou3P3, or may vary the sameness of tho ordinary ballroom. But, liko a number of similar revivals, it will fail to permanently take root in a society altogethor difloront from that in the midst of which the minuet and the pavana aroso and flourished. Dancing, indeed, has entirely changed its character with the dovalopaiont of civilirod Ufa. Dances were originally re r ■sentntions of Ecenca—as tho ballot exorcises liko the wild leaping of tho doryisbes nrd other religious orders, or liko the periodiail dances of so many savage tribes. In tho rudest statoa of siociety the dances are all "round" onos. They aro shared in by both saxes, bat in no case aro they of the character of the round danoo3 with which wo of tho nineteenth century are familiar. Here the " promiscuous " elemout, against which tho Puritans inveighed, remains, though robbed of its artistic, and, it if? needless to say of its religious element. The figures may be gracoful, and tho mu?ic flow ing. Yot anything liko a picture of a connected acono is scarcely attempted in nine out of every ten of tho modern dance?. No M 0333 or Miriam any longer danca to a song of triumph ; no David leaps before an Ark, and tbo Greak dance of the Eumonidcs U in our day only reprcsontod by tho " medicine dancos " of eomo of tho Indian triben. We have evaxi, in Western Europo at least, lost almost all of our charaotorietio Jances, unless we except tho Scotch real md tho Highland fling. Among nation? with thoir primitivo life less overlaid this is different. Tha ancient Greek Karpeia, Lenaia, and Dionyeia nisv have disap peared : bnt they havo still the <lngre=men3 k la Fachee , , The fandango follows tho Spaniard all over the world, while in South America the Chica is becoming almost'as nuch tho national danco of tho Hispano .lepulication as "The Gorman" promises 0 bo that of our kinsfolk, in the TJnifecl States. 'It may, howpvet, ho noted tfigt'as lations advance.in culture; they abnndoh ,he round d.incos for more sedata amu/je ncnts of the same sort. Tho "Country )ance " and tho joyoua roal. are now for the nost part confined to rustic gatheringc Sv en tho wait;: mid ths cotillion, it would

[ ssata, aro bosoming vno rudo for the refined I taatca of poK'-hed Par*?. The ssdate lius-

i .sians regair' v a Htfclo short of disgraceful for a froo citSzon to danoo except in concep tion with religion, and nothing so much amazesanOrientaf «s toiind tho wealthy Euro pean, who could afford to hiro Bayaderes fur their amusement dau"*ng and asking their fraoet? to dni'co, through cho livs-iong nighr. It tnsy thus bo that in returning to tho ra;huies and tho piiVSria we aro ad vancing in cnlcure, or, if it pleases us batter, returning to thosa moro puiivhcii | manners which disappeared with povrdsrod I hair and plum-coloured coats. In any ease, j tfio minuot, if never likely to become widely ! popular, may touch a generation who danoo ; "wildly" rather than gracefully that it id : still possible, at Florizsl told Perdita, for ■ i tho artistic dance to convey to the onlookers i tho icic!.'- of "a wave of tho sea " instead of something much locs pleasing.

A Woman in It.

I Fkom ISfil to ISiSO 1 was personalty co;;ni- I tant of at U'ast fifty instances of etnbez/.la j mont i'roai tho Government by employees i and oiiiciiila t\t Washington, and in cvory caee but one the victim owed his down fail :to a woman. Daring the rush and excite ment of those days Undo bam was moro careleao of hia rmney Chan ha is now, and the opporturaiios for speculation weru numerous. 0' ths smaller cases not tnora than ono oat of fivo reached tlie public ear. If tho amount wa.H comparatively small 1 hare was a settlement of Eomo sori, and it it was lurge tho bondsmen quietly came for ward. At tho beginning of 1851 I was detailed to look ntter tha various paymasters as they visited Washington. My business was to know eacli ono by sigiiv, see whare ho stopped, v.'hit p!aoe3 he Waited, how much money ho used, what company he kept and report on what kind of A man' he woa penoraUy. The great majority woro all ri»hr, and I was put to no trouble to watch tlism, but thoro woro others whom it was necessary to keep Vindcr surveillance from the hour they eutored the city after their money until they were back within the military lints, Ono of these men was a single mm 28 years cf age, whom I will call. Kaynor. Ho had a i'raak, honoefc face, bin bonds had been readily signed by meu "of inliuenoo, and there were plouty who pre dicted for hi'n a b illiant career. When he was intt put on my list he livad in Baltimore!, and was engaged to the daughter oi a wealthy citizen of that place. Hβ nfterw.irda came to Washington and took bachelor's apartments, Gnco in two months he went with hid monoy to pay ccrtiiiu troops, but he had a great deal of time on hie hand 3. In tho fail of '04 thero came to Washing ton from no one knew wharo one of tija handsomest women it v/ae evor my luck to see. jfcwr.s saitl that ehe was an English widow, but that was only a eurmiso. She •.vas 03 bad as she was beautiful, and she had not been in tho city a fortnight when sho mido a dead-3et (it Raynor. . Sha was the gossip of the club 3, and ecores of high toned ladles walked up »nd down Ponnsyl' yam& Avenua of an afternoon on purpeae to got eiijut ot her. ■ There ware plenty ot man who went crazy over "tho Countoas," na.sho was oiiloct, bat ehe savci bor smile? for lisyqor. Had thore besn less exciteinant over her presence, he migLt rot btvc fallen into the trap, bat, as it was, ho became, au easy victim. I found it out a3 sooa aa any-. one, and I felt; certain that a climax of some sort mould occur v/ithin a few wceEs.. Kav nor was getting a pretty good .salary, tad had a iew hundred dollars in bank, and.hi?, monoy weni like tho wiud. Hie firat present to her was a diamond rincr. costing iOd dok., ;ind hia Eo;ond a pair of bracelets, coatiii3 ---250 dels. ,o Of all the inialuationg in tho. catalogue,, that of the man of .se.asa who gets'struck on is tho woirefc.- The'facS of bis having sense and beipg crdinarily lovei-hcaded eeems to work agaiaot him in such a case. I eont Raynor'a bo=t friends and lieaviesb bondsman to him to araua mati<siv, but he either lied, to them outright or stood boldly up and argued tho question, ciiinunj; toaoinn of them thai ha intended to marry hor. I went to her in psrfon and tried to.ecire her out of Washington, bub sho impudently defied ma. I had an idoa that there were other parties behind hor, and that eho was working ! for big money, and this idea was correct. I had the pair under eurvaillanco fo; - about six weeks. By th-.t t;mo Kaynor had used up all hia ready cssh, stripped himself of jowoliery, and borrowed monoy of everybody who wonld lend. I knew ifcnat the climax could not be far off. . When the tinii3 eorno for him to draw his money to pay tho troops in his department, ' I did not lose eight of the woman for mura tli.aa three hoars at a time. Raynor was to take out over lOO.OOOdol?, and proceed with ie to a portion cf Grant's army. The money wou'.d ba placed in a safe at tho Treasury UepurtiTiont, tho safe placed in an p.m bulancii, aad ho would have an escort of cavalry to go with' him. He tried ia thp most enarfjetie mannerto get his monoy out of the Treasury in the forenoon'of the day ho was to leave, and would have succeeded, but for ma. Ho would tihan havo mada snme excuse to delay bis departure until the following day. What was to happen I laarned from the woman t'vo or three months after she had been "pinched" for blackmailing a Senator. Sho was th 9 tool of a rinp who were play ing for a big etako. .Haynor was to <ret the money and abscond with her to Europe. They had even gone so Sar as to eacraso passage on a steamer. She waa to get him cut of Washington with tho cash and baforn reaching New-York wz3 to ply faun with drugged wine. Ho would entor the city in a stupefied state, and a carriage was to bo in waiting to drive him ton house in Brooklyn, where ha wss to b3 cc tainedfor two or three dcy.a. money, " the Countess " and her couiedi-e ---atos wero to lo=;e no time in getting out of the country. It needed only my story to put the Governmont on guard and when Eaynor frpt kU money he,had no opportunity for his departuro or go:ttitig his hasris on a dollar of it. Whsn hf.i retui-ncd the woman had other gome He seemed to get his eyss open than, and from that .time out ..he was ono of "the; most, 'ciTcumspoct : of ofneial3, I mot him in one day lone; aftor the .close of tho war,' and ho confidmitially asked— - .' ". "J have heard that you once had m 3 ucder r.ppionage. Is it truo ?" "I think I once saved you from boiug di=grac?d for lito," I answered. Ho shook my hand and said no more. I think bo understood.—By a Sacra'; Service Dotective in the " Dstroit Free Press."

THE SUNFLOWER.

■ Fiitr classic flower, in thral see A. eymbol of 1117 lovo for oun Who 13 tn 11MI—and e'er f<i,uU ba Foe as thine ores will evoc moro Towards the Blowing ntar o" day. My though!B turn ever ta mv lave. Sho's alwaTS acai , , tnoosh tax aw'dy.' Anrl when the sua sinks In the west, Thifliwe:"olo9C3. Lrtitbo Thnt I may flriS death's dronmlesß rest When ahe no longer cares for mo. O. B. Huoo.

WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS.

B>rr Bi*marck wants to light tto earth, . Yon Moltkß rarus for Bore, An;l fierce Monsieur Boulangor ]ODg9 To pommel Mem aU soro. ■ And Uuclfi S-'am he swe-?.va "n.r Tore, , John Bull muse leave thn sea?- It 'ho.won'c lot my sailors floh' ■ v Wbtrovcr.thßy-dnrn tilettso." - . - "-- Ihh caslo pcrcams'hts fierpoH scream. It sounds (rcm khata to r.horo; Thn brar hn sends an ansrrj- growl To iu?ot lhc Hon'ri roar: . But nJI t)i?B6 warliki) portents pa'o Thuir ioeffectml flra Rofora tbc Gojr a«ci Uatroi? wnr ■ ,'•■ ' : O£ a i"a;lUeca'j:o church chjirj

"tSJL AUCKLAND EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1887.

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