The Cardiff Times

ALL ALONG THE RIVER By Miss M. E. Braddon. Author of "Lady Audley'a Secret," The Vena- tians, or all in Honour," "Aurora FIcyd," "The Cloven Foot," Dead Men's Shoes," "Just as I Am," "Taken at the Flood," "Phantom Fortune," "Like and Unlike," "Weavers.%nd Weft," &c., &c. CHAPTER XVII. h I Have You Still, the Sun Comes Out Again." The next year was just a week old, and Isola and Allegra were standing on a terraced hill- side in a country where January hah noontides as brilliant and baJmy as an English June. They had travelled up that almost perpendicular hill, in a roomy landau drawn by a pair of horses, and now near the summit of the bill, on the last of those many terraces that zig-zag up the face of the cliff, they had alighted from the carriage and were standing side by side upon the broad white road, at an angle where the cliff dipped suddenly, clothed with the wild growth of stunted olive and busby pine, down and down to the abyss where the blue sea looked like a sap- phire at tha bottom of a pit. They stood and fcazed, and gazad again, almost bewildered by ew the infinite beauty and infinite variety of that dazzling prospoot. Below them, in the shelter of the land-locked bay, Ospedaletti's pavilioned casino shone whitely out of a garden of palms and cacti, with terrace and balustrade vanish- ing down to the sea. To the west the steep pro- fmontory of Bordighera jutted far out into the bIne. and over the rujrged line of the hill Men- 'tone's long white line Jay in a gentle curve almost level with tbe SPa-a strip of vivid white between the blue of the water and the gloom of that great barren mountain wall that marks the beginning of modern Italy. And beyond again showed the twin towers of Monaco and further still, in the dim blue distance, the broken line of the Esterelles, dividing the fairyland of the Riviera from the work-a-ctay prose of shipbuild- ing Toulon and commercial Marseilles. On this aide of those pine-clad mountains them were only pleasure and fancy, wealth, fashion, the languid invalid and the feverish gambler on the other side toilers and speculators, the bourse and the factory, the world of stern realities. To the east, deep down within the hills, lay the little port of San Kemo, with its rugged stone pier, and its shabby old houses, and tha old, old town climbing up the steep ascent to the sanc- r tuary, its white dome glittering against the pale and milky azure of the noontide sky and fur- tber and further away stretched the long line of the olive-clothed bills, to the point whare the seamen's church of Madonna della Guardia stands boldly out between sky and sea, as if it were a half-way bouse on the upward road to heaven. How lovely it all is," cried Allegra but don't you feel that one careless step upon that flowery edge yondsr would send us whirling down the cliffs, to awful, inevitable death, tWhen that man passed us just now with his loaded cart I felt sick with fear-the wfaeeb seemed to graze the edge of the abyss, as the horse orept slowly along, unconscious of danger. It is a dreadful drive, Isola, this zig-zag road to Colla, slant after slant, backwards and forwards, up the face of this prodigious cliff. I had to shut iny eyes at every turn of the road, whan the world below seemed to swim in a chaos of light and colour—so beautifti.L--so terrible Do you see the height of those cliffs, terrace above terrace, bill above hill ? Why that coast road at the very bottom is the top of a taller cliff than those I used to think so appalling at Broadstairs and Rams- gate." I don't think it would make much difference to a man who fell over the edge whether he fell here or in the Isle of Thanet," said Marian Disney, as he stood with his arm drawn through his wife's, sweeping the prospect with his land- scape glass. "Oh, but it would. One would be only a sud- den shock, and a plunge into the sea, or swift Htnnihilation on the rooks below; but here, to go whirling down, pjucked at here by an olive ranch, or there "by a jagged rock, yet always whirling downward, striking and reboundinsr from edge to edge, till one would fall a shapeless Ina." on that dazzling7white road yonder, at the foot of this awful mountain." And to think of people living up there, in the clouds, and going to sleep every night with the lcnowW'dge of this nightly wail and that dread- ful abyis in their minds," ooncluded Allegra, pointing upward to where the little white town of Colla stragsrled along the edge of the hill. They were going up to see the pictures and books in the little museum by the church. It was their first excursion, since Martin Disney had been anxious that his wife should be thoroughly tested after her long journey, before she was Killed upon to make the slightest exertion. She W$s looking better and stronger already, they Wfre both agreed; and she was looking happier, ifact which gave her husband infinite satisfac- tion. They had come by the St. Gothard Tunnel, taking tkeir ease as they came along tho familiar route, the way they haa travelled on their road to Venice and the East. They had rested a night at Dover and a night at Basle, and had stopped at'Lucerne for a day, and again a couple of days at Mi'an, and again at Genoa, exploring the palaces and the Campo Santo in a leisurely way. Allegra exalted out of herself almost by the delight of those wonderful collections in the grand old mansions of the Via Balbi—the Veronese?, the Titians, tha Guidos—Isola languidly admiring, languidly wondering at everything, but only deeply moved when they came to the strange city of the dead, the scenic representation of sickness, calamity, griet and dissolution, in every varieky of fact or of emblem. Sculptured scenes of domestic sorrow, dying fathers, kneeling children, weeping widows- whole families convulsed in the throes of that last inevitable parting; the death of youth and beauty the fallen rose-wreath, the funeral urn, the lowered torch, and the ball dress; hyacinth and butterfly, Psyche and Apollo. the fatal river and the fatal boat, grimnees and beauty—the actual and the allegorical curiously mixed in those pictures in marble that line the cold white colonnaded where the footsth-ps of holiday-makers echo with a sepulchral sound under the vaulted roof. Here Isola was intensely interested, and insisted on going up the marble Steps, flight after flight, and to the very summit of the steep hill beyond, with its wide reaching prospect of mountain, and fort, and city, and sea. "Think how hard it must be to lie here and tee nothing of all that loveliness," she said, her eyes widening with wonder as they gazed across the varied perspective of vale and mountain, out to the dim, faint blue of the sea. How hard, how hard Do they feel it and know it, Allegra ? Can this I which feels so keenly, which only sleeps in order to enter a new world of dreams— busier and more crowded and more eventful than the real world—can this consciousness go out all at once like the flame of a candle-and nothing, nothing, nothing be left ?" They are not hers," said Allegra, with gentle seriousness. It is only the husk that lins here —the flower seed has been carried off in God's 5reat wind of death—and the flower is blossom- ing somewhere else." One allegory is as good as another," said Isola. We can but console ourselves with symbols. I don't like this crowded city of the dead, Allegra. For God's sake don't let Martin have ma buried here, if I should dio at San Remo." Dearest, why will you harbour such ghastly thoughts ?" Oh, it was only a passing fancy. I thought it just possible that if I were to die while we are in Italy, Martin might think to honour me by having rae laid in this sJjendid cemetery. Ho seemed s Struct b'y Aid grandeur and beauty of the monu- ineni.,s, just now, when we were in those colon- hades down yonder." Qolonel Disney had lingered, to 1(Mk at MazziDi's monument. He came iil) to them now, and hurried them back to the gate, where their cwriage was waiting. And so ended their last afternoon in Genoa, and the most vivid picture of the city and its sunoonding3 that Isola carried away with her was the picture of those marble tombs upon the hill, and those tail and gloomy cypresses which are the trees of death. Yes, she was better, gayer, and more active— more like the girl-wife whom Martin Diaaey had carried home to Cornwall, jprvjtxler than Tristan when be sailed away with eult. The Italian sunshine had revived his fading flower, Martin told himself, ready to lovo all things in a land that had brought the smiles back to his wife's pale lips, and a new and (iolicatti bloom to her wan cheeks. Yes, she was happier than she had been of late in Cornwall; there could be no doubt as to that. They stayed at in hotel for more than a week, while they deliberated upon the choiceof a villa. They found one at last, which seemed to realise their idea of perfection. It wag not a grand or stately dwelling. No marble bell tower or archi- tectural loggia attracted the, eye of the passing pedestrian. It was roomy, and bright, and clean, and airy, built rather in the Swiss than the Italian style, &nd it stood upon the slope of the hill on the west side of the town, with nothing but olive woods between its terraood garden and the road that skirts the sea. It was a reminiscence of the Alps, built by a retired mer- chant of Zurich, and its owner had called it Lauter Brimnen. The house was at moat two yturs old but life's vicissitudes had left it empty for a year and a halt, and the rent asked ox Colonel" Disney was much less than he had been prepared to pay. The installation was full of delight for Isola and her sister-in-law. The house afforded in. lInmerable surprises, unexpected c'csets, and tOÇ d corner of all. ds. Whtrv -were lovely views from every window-east, west, north, or south--mnd there was a garden full of I roses. a garden made upon so steep a slope that it was a succession of terraces, with but little intervening level ground, and below the lowest terrace the valley stretched down to the sea, a tangle of gnarled old olive trees, wan and gray, and silvery, with a ruined gateway just seen among the foliage at the bottom of the hill. To the north-west, straggling along the edge of the wooded hills, appeared the white houses and churches—cupola and pinnacle, and dome—of Colla, so scattered as to seem two towns rather than one, and with picturesque suggestions of architectural splendour that were hardly borne out by the reality, when one climbed those rugged mule-paths, and crossed the romantic gorge above the waterfall, and then upward and upward to the narrow alleys and crumbling archways, and the spacious old church with its lofty doorway standing high above the stony street. Only a few paces from the villa there was a stately house that had gone to ruin the roof was off in some places, there were neither floors nor windows left, and the walls were open to the wind and rain—frescoed walls, upon which might be traced figuresV»f saint and martyr, ansrel and Madonna. There was a spacious garden, with an avenue of cypresees-a. garden where the flowers had been growing wild for years, and where Isola and Allegra wandered and explored as they pleased. It was higher on the hillside than their own villa, and from the eastward edge of this garden they looked-across a yawning gulf in which lay all the lower town of San Remo— to the sanctuary and the Leper Hospital, con- spicuous on the crest of the opposite hill. The need for citadel and sanctuary had passed with the fiercer age in which they were built. Neither Saraceu nor pirate hordes were likely to assail San Remo nowadays; but the old white walls made a pioturesque note in the landscape., and the very name of sanctuary had a romantic sound. The first week in the new house was hko a week in fairyland. The weather was peerless— a climate that makes people forget there is such a season as winter in the world-and the two girls wandered about in the olive woods and climbed the mule-paths all through too fresh balmy hours; or in the hottest noontides sat in the deserted garden or in a sheltered corner near an old stone weB-one of these wells which suggest the meeting of Isaac and Rebecca—and Allegra painted while Isoin read to her, in the low sweet voice which lent a touch of melancholy music to the verse of her favourites, Byron, Keats, and Shelley. In these sequestered spots, where only a pea- sant woman laden with a basket of olives, or a Padre, going from Colla. to San Remo, ever passed within sight of them, they read the Eve of St. Agnes and the Pot of Basil-the Prisoner of Chilian, Manfred, and all those familiar lyrics and favourite passages of Shelley which Iscla held in her heart of hearts. The wonder-dream of Alastor-the passionate lament of Adonais, could not seem purer or more spiritual, sweeter and happier than the life of these youug women in those calm days through which January slipped into February, unawares, like a link in a golden chain-a chain of sunshine and flowers. In February came the Carnival and pretty little rustic San Remo decked itself with bunting and greenery, and made believe to hold a Battle of Flowers, which had a certain village simplicity as compared with the serried ranks of carriages, tho fashion, and beauty, and wealth of floral displays, along the Promenade des Anglais or the Croisette. With the Carnival came the mistral, which generally seems to be waiting round the corner ready to leap out upon the flower-throwers and blight their bouquets, and blow dust into the eyes of beauty, and make the feeble health-seekers cower in the corners of their rose-decked carriages. The Lent season was no exception to other seasons, and the calendar—which had been as it were in abeyance since New Year's Day—came into force again- and winter claimed his rights. The invalids were roughly awakened from their dream of Para- disej to discover that February even in San Remo meant February, and could not for ever be mis- taken for May or June. Isola felt the change, tnough she was hardly conscious of it on the day of the floral battle, when she was sitting in a roomy landau, covered with the dark shining foliage and pale yellow fruit from some of those lemon trees in the orchard where she and Allegra had spent their morning hours. Allegra had planned the decora- tions, and bad gone down to the coach-house to assist in the work, delighted to chatter with the coachman in doubtful Italian, groping her way in a language in which her whole stock-in-trade consisted of a few quotations from Dante or Petrarch-and all the wise saws of Dr Ricca- bocca. "I would have none of that horrid pepper tree which pervades the place with its floppy foliage, and dull red fruit," she told Isola, descanting on the result of her exertions. I was rather taken with the pepper trees at first, but I am satiated with their languid grace. They are like the weeping ash or the weeping willow. There is no real grace or beauty m them. I would rather have one of those cypresses towering up among the grey-green olives in the valley below Colla than all the pepper trees in the public gardens. I have used no flowers but narClssua-no colour but the pale gold of the lemons and the dark green of the leaves, except one bit of audacity which you will see presently." This was at noon, after two hours' work in the coach-house. An hour later the carriage was at the door. Allegra'a audacity was an Algerian curtain—a rainbow of vivid colour, with which she bad draped the back of the landau, hiding all the ugliness of rusty leather. The carriage, or it might have been the two girlish faces ia it-one so pale and gentle, the other so brilliant and changeful in its lights and shadows—made the point of attraction in the little ptocession. Everybody spoke of the two girls in the lemon landau, with the nice-looking, middle-aged man. Were they his daughters, people won- dered, or his nieces and at what hotel were they staying ? It was a disappointmeiit to dis- cover that they were living in that villa to the west of the town, out of the way of everything and everybody, and that they were seldom to be seen in public, except at the new church, where they were regular worshippers. The man is Colonel Disney, and the tall, striking-looking girl is his wife," said one person, better informed than the rest, but making a wrong selection all the same. CHAPTER XVIII. Thou Paradise of Exiles, Italy." Isola was not quite so well after that drive in the February wind and dust. She developed a slight coi-igh-very slight and inoffensive but still it was a cough—and tfoe kind and clever physician of San Remo, who came to see her once a week or so, told her to bo careful. Mr Baynham had written him a long letter about his patient, and the San Remo doctor had taken very kindly to Isola and her sister-in-law, and tho baby son in wham the whole family were so intensely interested. The infant had accepted the change in his surroundings with supreme complaisance, and crowed and chirruped among the lemons and the olives, and basked in the southern sunshine, as his nurse wheeled his perambulator to and fro upon the terraced road behind the villa-the road which lost itself a little way further on amidst a wilderness of olives, and dwindled into a narrow track for man or mule. The flower-battle was over, and the mistral had gone bask to the great wind tavern to lie m wait for the next golden opportunity and the sun was shining once again upon the labyrin- thine lanes and alleys, the arches and cupolas, churches and market-place, and on the tffiple rampart of hills that shuts San Remo from the wintry world. The Disneys had been in Italy nearly seven week, and it seemed as natural to Isola to open her eyes upon the broad blue waters of the Mediterranean, the gorgeous sun- rise, and the lateen sails, as on the Fowey river and the hills towards Polruan. She had taken kindly to this Italian exile. The sun and the blue sky had exercised a healing influence upon that hidden wound which made her heart feel one dull, aching pain. She loved this new world of wood and hill, and most of all she loved the perfect liberty of this distant retreat, and the consolations of solitude. As for the cough, or the pain in her side, or any of those other symptoms about which the doctor talked to her so gravely, she made very light of them. She was happy in her husband's Jcve, happy in his society, strolling with him in the olive wood, or the deserted garden, or down to the little toy- shop parade by the sea, where the band played once a week or to the other garden in the town, where the same band performed on another day, and which was dustier and less airy than the little plantation of palms and cacti upon the edge of the sea. She went for excursions with him to points of especial beauty high up among the hills-to the chocolate milk, to San Romolo, she riding a donkey, he at the animal's side, while the guide trudged cheerily in the dust at the edge of the mountain road. In the evening she played to hijp, or sat by his side while he smoked" the pipe of rest, or worked while he read to her. They had never been more devoted to each other, never more like wedded lovers than they were now. People who only knew them by sight talked of them admiringly, as if their love were an interesting phenomenon. He must bo twenby years older than his wife," said Society, and yet they seem so happy together. It is quite refreshing to sea such 4 devoted couple nowadays." People always seem ready and rather pleased to hold their own age up to contempt and ridicule, as if they themselves did not belong to it; t:.8 if they were standing upon a narrow ledge outside the world looking on at the foolish creature inside. One only anxiety troubled Isolatt this time, and that was on Allegra's account rather than her own. They had left England nearly two months, and as yet there had been no dign or token of any kind from Captain Hulbert, not to much as a packet of new books or new music- not so much as a magazine or an illustrated paper. He asked if be might write to me, and I told him no," Allegra said to bar, rather dolefully, one morning, as they sat a little way from th» well, Allegra engaged in painting a hrewn- skinned peasant girl of ten years old, whom »he had met carrying olives the night before, and hood forthwith engaged as a model. I daid it would never do for us to begin the folly of engaged lovers, who write to each other about nothing, and sometimes twice a day. He has been wonder- fully obedient: yet I think be ought to have written once cr twice in two months. Ho ought to have known that though I told him not to write I should bo very anxious to hear from him." You mustn't be surprised at his obeying yoa to the letter, Allegra. There is a kind of sim- plicity about him, although be is very clever. He is so thoroughly frank and honest. It is for that I honour him." "X«s»he is very good," iaid Allegra. "I -ougfof told JWIL I woqid hava.no letter-writing. I really meant what I said. I wanted to give piyself up to art, and you, for one unbroken year—to have no other thought, no distractions—and I know that his letters would be a distraction—that the mere expectation of them—the looking for post time-the wondering whether I should have his letter by this or that post-I knew all that kind of thing would un- nerve me—my hand would have lost it.. power. You don't know what it is when all depends upon certainty of touch—the tine obedience of the hand to the eye. No, his letters would have been a daily agitation-and yet, and yet I should like so much to know what he is doing-if he is still at the Mount-if he has any idea of coming to San Remo later-with his yacht—as no talked of doing." I have no doubt he will come. It will be the most natural thing for him to do. You will see the white sails some afternoon, glorified in the sunset, like that boat yonder with its amethyst- coloured sail." Isola was right, except as to the hour of Cap- tain Hulberc's arrival. They were taking a pic- nic luncheon in a little grove of lemon and orange, wedged into a cleft in the hills, on the edge of a deep and narrow gorge, down which a mountain torrent rushed to the sea. Suddenly across the narrow strip of blue at the end of the vista came the vision of white sails, a schooner with all her canvas spread, dazzling in the noon- day sun, sailing towards San Remo. Allegra sat gazing at the white sails, but said never a word. Neither Martin Disney nor his wife happened to be looking that way, till the child in his nurse's lap gave a sudden crow of delight. Did he see the pretty white ship then" said the nurse, holding him up to the sunshine. The beautiful white ship." No one took any notice. The Colonel was reading his Times, the chief link between the exile and civilisation. Isola was intent upon knitting a soft white wool vestment for her first- born. Two hours later the garden gate gave a little click, and Captain Hulbert walked iu. AJlegra heard the click of the latch as she sat in the verandah, and ran out to meet him. She had been watching and expectant all the time, though she had held her peace &bout the vision of white sails, lest she should be suspected of hoping for her lover's coming, and, above all, lest she shouid be compassionated with later in the day if the ship were not the Vendetta. Yes, it was be. She turned pale with delight at the realisation of her hope. She had hardly known till this instant how much she loved him. She let him take her in his arms and kiss her, just as if he had been the commonest sailor whose heart was true to Poll. Are you really glad to see me, darling he whispered, overcome by the delight of this fond welcome. Really glad. I feel as if we had been parted for years. No letter to tell me where yon wore or what you were going. I began to doubt if you ever really cared for me." Heartl&w inuel, you told me not to write; and so I thought the only alternative was to come. And I have been coming for the last sevan weeks. We had a stiffish time across the bay, and my auxiliary engine went wrong-nothing to trust to but canvas so I had to waste a week at Toulon while my ship was under repairs. However, here I am, and the Vendetta is safe and sound and I am your most obedient slave. How is Mrs Disney ? Not quite so well as she was two or three weeks ago. She improved wonderfully at first, but she caught cold one bleak, blowy day, and she has started a little nervous kind of cough, which makes us anxious about her." Better spirits, I hope. Not quite so mopy." "Her spirits have revived wonderfully. This lovely land has given her a new life. But there are times when she droops a little. She is curiously sensitive too impressionable for happiness. We have a very fine preacher here—Father Rod well; you must have heard him." "Yes, I heard of him at Oxford. He was before my time by some years but he was a celebrity, and I heard men talk of him. Well, what of your preacher ? Has he fallen in love with my Allegra-is he in the same boat as poor Colfox ?" Fallen in love No, he is not that kind of man. He is as earnest and enthusiastic as a mediaeval monk. We have all been impressed and moved by his eloquence. He preaches what people call awakening sermons and I fear they have been too agitating for Isola. She insists on hearing him; she hangs upon his words; but his preaching has too powerful an influence upon her mind-or upon her nerves. I have seen the tears streaming down her poor pale cheeks I have seen her ter- ribly overcome. She is too weak to bear that kind of strain. She is depressed all the rest of the day." "She ought not to be allowed to hear such sermons. Take her to another church where some dosy old bird will send her comfortably to sleep." I have tried to take her to the other church- you must not talk of a clergyman as a dosy old bird, sir-but sfie looked so tinhappy at the mere idea of losing Father Rodwell's sermons that I dare not press the matter. He comes to see us occasionally, and he is the cheeriest and pleasanfcest of men, nothing of the zealot or ascetic about him, so that I am in hopes his influence will be for good in the long run. How long shall you be able to stop at San Remo ?" Till the lady for whose sake I came shall take it into her head to leave the place. I have been thinking, Allegra," putting his arm through hers, and pacing up and down the terrace, with the bright expanse of sea in front of them, and at their back the great curtain of hills encircling and defending them from the northern world- I have been thinking that Venice would be a charming place me to spend next summer in—if—if—you meant six months instead of twelve for my probation—as I really hink you must have done. We could be married on the first of June -such a pretty date for a wedding You would want to be married in Trelasco Church, of course, on our native soil. The church in which. my great-grandfather was married, and in which I and all my race were christened. We could have the yacht at Marseilles ready to carry us off to the pouth, through the delicious summer days and nights, all along this lovely coast, and- away by Naples to the Adriatic. Allegra, why should we wait for the winter, the dreary winter, to begin our life journey? Let us begin it in the time of roses." "Look, George!" cried Allegra, laughing, as she pointed to the hedge of red roses in front of them, and the clusters of creamy bloom hanging over the verandah. The rosea have been bloom- ing ever since we came to Italy. It is always rose-time here. You remember how Marion Crawford strewed his wife's pathway with roses on Christmas Day at Sorrento. We can find a flowery land for our honeymoon at any season of the year." But why wait a year ? Can you not prove me trusty and true in less than a year ?" You are so impatient," she said, plucking a handful of roses, and scattering the petals at her feet. A year ts so short a time." Short, love why eight weeks have seemed an eternity to me without you; and you honoured me just now by saying that the time had appeared long, even to you—even to my liege lady, sitting serene in her palace of art, painting contadinas and their olive-faced offspring-even to you, whose love is as a thread of silk against a cable) compared with mine. Even to you, my mistress and my tyrant." That was because you were so far away. But there will be nothing to hinder our seeing each other as often as you may find convenient. I have set my heart upon painting steadily for a twelvemonth, without any distractions." There is no such place as Venice for a painter. Think of the Miss Montalbas, and the splendid work they have done at Venice. Would you not like t, be like them ? Would I not like to be like Titian ? Well, Venice will be your treasury; Venice will fill that busy brain with ideas. You shall be fed upon pictures old and new—the new living pictures in the narrow streets and canals the old masters in the churches and palaces. Yen shall learn of Tintoret and Veronese. You shall paint as much as you like. You shall have no distractions. We shall be strangers there, can hve as wo choose. Summor ia the time for Venice, Allegra, Benighted English people have an idea that Italy is a place to winter in, and they go and shiver in marble palaces, and watch the torrential rain beating against windows that wpre never meant to shut out bad weather. The Italians know that their land is a land of summer, and they know how to enjoy sunny days an:! balmy nights. You don't know how delicious life is on the Lido when the night is only a brief interval of starshine betwixt sun- I met- and dawn. Yea don't know what dream of delight it is to float along the lagoons and watch the lamp-lit city melt into tho mists of evening, to the faint sound of music and song, A great many things of beauty have been turned to ugliness, Allegra, since printtng and the steam- engine were invented but, thank God Venice is not one of them. You will think of my plan, won't you, love ? At the least, it is a thing tc be considered." Anything you say is worthy to be considered, John. And now come in and see Isola and Martin." He felt that he had gone far enough—he felt that it were unwise to press the question too much at first. He meant to be gently persistent; and he meant to have his own way. He followed Allegra into the drawing-room—a room full of light and sunshine, which had been beautified and made homelike by the addition of I a few Japaneseries and a little old Italian furni- ture which Martin Disney had picked up at a brio-a-brac shop in the Via Vittorio Emanuelo. bw8.c..e ..flowws everywhere, in ^th&J}righ& Italian pottery, with its varieties of form and colouring. To Hulbert's fancy it was the pret- tiest room he had seen for an age. You seem to have made yourself uncommonly comfortable here," he said, after cordial greet- r ings, settling down into a Madeira. chair near Isola's little olive wood table, with its litter of Tauchnitz novels and fancy work. It is a pleasant sensation for a roiling stone who has; hardly ever known what home means to drop into such a nest as this. You will have too much of my company, I'm afraid. You'll be shocked to hear that I have taken rooms at the Anglais, down there," pointing down the valley, "within a stone's throw of you." We are not shocked. We are very glad you will be near us," said Isola, smiling at him. It has been a dull life for Allegra, I'm afraid." "Dull I dull in this land of beauty!" cried Allegra. I have never known a dull hour since I came here; though, of course," with ashy glance at her lover, "I have naturally thought sometimes of absent friends, and wished they were with me to revel in the loveliness of these woods and hills." Well, one of your friends has come to you, 1 one who would as gladly have come had you been in regions where the sun shines not, or where he blazes with devastating fury." Captain Hulbert stayed with them all the evening, and planned a sail to Mentone for the following day, Isola agam begging to be left out of their plans, as she bad done at Fowey. You need feel no compunction about leaving me," she said. I shall be perfectly happy in the woods with nurse, and baby, and my books." They obeyed her, and the little excursion was arranged. They were to start soon after the early breakfast, carrying what their Italian butler called a pique-nique with them in the shape of a well-provided luncheon basket. Isola sat in the olive wood, watching the wi,ite sails moving slowly towards Bordighera. It was a peerless day, but with scarcely a puff of wind a day for dreaming on the water rather than for rapid progress. The yacht scarcely seemed to move as Isola watched her from the cushioned corner which Lottchen bad arranged in an angle of the low stone wall-all amongst ferns and mosses, brown orchises and blue violets-n angle sheltered by a century-old olive, whose gnarled trunk sprawled along the ground, rugged and riven, but with anotht* century's life in it yet. Far down in the vVlley, below the old gate- way, a company of cypresses rose dark against the blue of the sea, and Isola knew, that just on the slope of the shore where the cypresses grew tallest the graves of English exiles were gathsred. Many a fair hope, many a broken dream, many a disappointed ambition lay at rest under those dark spires, within the sound of that summer sea. This was one of many days which the young mother spent in the woods OF in the garden with her baby for her companion, while Allegra and the colonel sailed east or west in the Vendetta. lier doctor would have liked her to go with them, but she seemed to have an absolute aversion to the sea, and he did not press the point. I Nothing that she dislikes will do her any good," he told Colonel Disney. "There is no use in being persistent about anything. Fancies and whims stand for a good deal in such an ill- ness as hers." A week or two later the same kind doctor discovered that his patient was fast losing ground. Her strength had flagged considerably in a short time. He recommended change of scene. This quiet life suited her wonderfully well for the first month or so, but we are no longer making any headway. You bad better try a gayer placp-lo little more life and movement." Martin Disney was ready to obey. He and Allegra took counsel together, and then—in the lightest strain, one evening after dinner—they discussed the notion of a change. Shall we strike our tents, Isola ? Are yen tired of San Remo ?" No, Martin, I am tired of myself, sometimes —never of these olive woods and lemon groves. Sometimes the stillness and the very beauty of theplace make me feel unhappy, without knowing why but that is a kind of unhappiness no one can escape." "Is there any place in the world within toler- ably easy reach of this that you would like to see, Isola ?" asked her husband. "Yes, there is one city in the world that I have been longing to see ever since I began to have thoughts and wishes." And that is "Rome I should like to see Rome before I die, Martin if it were not too troublesome for you "Troublesome My dearest, can anything be troublesome to me if it can but give you pleasure ? You shall see Rome—not once-but again and again, in the course of a long a»»d happy life, I hope. I am twenty years older than you; but I count upon afc feast thirty years more upon this planet before I blow out my candle and say, 'Bonsoir. ".God grant. tlbat you may live to a good old age, Martin, The world is better for such a man as you." The world would be no place for me without my wife," he said. "And so you would like to see Rome, Isa? What has put that fancy into your head V "Oh, it 13 an old dream, as I said just now. And lately I have bean talking to Father Rod- well, who knows Rome as well as if he were, a Roman citizen, and he has made me more and more anxious to go there. If it would not be a great plague to you, Martin." "On the contrary, it would be a great pleasure. We will go to Rome. Isa, if your doctor approves. Allegra will like it, I know." "Like it?" echoed Allegra. "Ishall simply be intoxicated with delight. I know the catalogues of all the picture galleries by heart, I think I know every one of the seven hills Is well as if I had walked upon them from my childhood. I have read so many descriptions of the place and its surroundings—so many raptures penned by people whom I have envied for nothing else than that. They have known Rome they have lived in Rome." The whole business was easily settled. Captain Hulbert was the only person who regretted the change. He had been a month at San Remo, a month of summer idleness in February and March, a month of summer sails on an azure sea; of mountain walks and rides, high up from stage to stage, until the region of lemon groves au i i1*6 w?ocl8 *ave place to the pine forests on the loftier hills. He had been able to spend all his days in Allegra's society. There were no pictures, except in that one little gallery at Colla. There was nothing to distract her from her lover. In Rome there would be all the wonders of the most wonderful city in the world. It would be art first and love second. The doctor approved. Father 'Rodwell wrote to an agent in Rome, and after some negotiation a suite of apartments was found on the high ground near the Trinita del Monte, which seemed 'to meet all the requirements of the case. The priest vouched for the honesty and good faith of tho agent, and on his responsibility the rooms were taken for the month of April, with liberty to occupy them later if it were so desired. ( To be continued. )

DEATH OF MR JOSEPH EVANS, J.P., CAERPHILLY. We regret to have to record the death of Mr Joseph Evans, J.P., Ty Vaughan, Caerphilly, which took place on Sunday morning after a protracted illness. Deceased, who was 68 years of age, was the third son of the late Mr Evan Evans, magistrates' elerk for the lower petty- sessional division of Caerphilly, which oflSce has been in the family for upwards of a century. Mr Joseph Evans had been manager of the local branch of the London and Provincial Bank frcm 1874 until about two years ago, when his health gave way and he bad to relinquish the position. He also succeeded his father as custodian of the castle, which office also had been held by the family for nearly two centuries. For nearly a century representatives of the family have acted as agents to the Energlyn estates. Mr Evans was churchwarden of St.. Martin's, Caerphilly, and in politics was a Conservative of the old school. Two of his surviving brothers are clergy- men of the Church of England—the Revs. Walter Evans, Welshpool, and J. W. Evans. St Mellon's, near Cardiff.

A STRANGE OCCUPATION. The macchabte men, or fishers cf dead bodies, who ply their doleful trade on the Seine, between the Auteuil Viaduct And the Billan- court Bridge, thruaten (says a Paris corre- spondent) to go on strike owing to the slowness with which their money premiums are paid. Pere Joseph, the senior mem tor of tho pro- fession of doumeurs, rr ecavaneors cf the Seine, has been fishinp for macchabecs during the past twenty-five years, but he is now idle with his companions, as he has not been paid for the last batch of corpses sent to the Morgua. Joseph, by the way, Ø",Dt forty-two macchabees f the city dead-house last year, and was paid 15f each for the*ri, his total gains for the twelve months being a little over L25 iterlitig. This year the trade again seemed to be improving the Morgue was literally overflowing with bodies taken out oir the river cf late, and in one day alone Pere Joseph made 60f. That money how- ever, he has not v* received, although it has been due for a fortnight, and hcnce he has laid down bis ropes and grappling irons until the City officials, whose outy it is to remunerate him and his companions for their services, shall see their way to organising more expedition in their Dav department.

THE SWANSEA WIFE MURDER, Another Witness tq be Called. *'nf?s before fche coroner and the magIStrate reference was made to the fact that just before te murder tbe prisoner Phillips was in t Wlfcness Be van and a sailor transpire. This sailor did not n >en traced> or at least he was nob Wi^r ne8S" Ifc fcurn3 out that he is w iamSOn' and is on board the Gerda, K ♦^Wan,Sea«on Saturday for Dublin f ot WiUiamson was served with a subpoena from the Crown to attend at the trial next August to give evidence.

HODSE SHOCIID BE WITHOUT KOMPO. a pure 0.iul healthy stimulant. Mr T Burt M P writes — led H wfthfiances in coid weat'he7?lfave aonfii antase; it gives a slow and w?y8tem of a much healthier and more endurm I-,in(I than anything else I have tria l." S° 18 the best known remedy for tienaa* ^?ro throat, &c. Can be taken in hot water, tea, coffee, milk or cocoa. Refuse imita- tions.. Sold in bottles Is l%d and 2s 9d each by all chemists post free J. p. WHITE & Co., Benson-street Leeds. 14947 "TOBACCONISTS COMMENOING.I)-DId Guide,34 Tobacconists Oufitting Co Igo. £ ast9n,(4.JUondon

[NOW FIRST PUBLISHES.] SHORT STORIES BY WORLD-FAMOUS AUTHORS., A Court Train. By L. B. WALFORD, Author of "Mr Smith," "The Baby's Grand-, mother," A Mere Child," &c., &e. It was the Eights Week" at Oxford, and a more glorious week for that delightful festival could not have been desired er imagined. May sunshine filled the sky; May odours scented the » r- All along the river banks the cuckoo's note resounded from dewy mom to solemn eve, while the swelling song of the nightingale broke out from time to time by hedgerow, field-patb, and meadow.. Age and youth met each other in joyful con- gratulation. Heads of houses outstripped the freshest of the freshmen in their eager excitement and anxiety anent the positions of their various boats; while sober matrons were as wise and as learned on tho all-important topic of the hour as were the most youthful of their rosy-cheeked daughters. During the "Eights" week no one at Oxford thinks of anything but the "Eights." Naturally, therefore, this merry season is the period for hospitality, as well as for festivity. "We must ask so-and-so for the 'Eights,' has been the password in every house which entertains at all for some time past; and every man or woman who has a bed to offer, or a make- shift to suggest, has echoed tlie summons. Epistles have forthwith been indited on this wise-"We have so little to tempt you at any other time, but we hope that perhaps you may be induced to spend a few May days here during the 'Eights Week. The recipient of the above i3 tolerably sure to be induced "—nay, he or she, more particularly if a Londoner, finds the idea of a few May days among the historic dust of ages inexpressibly alluring. The dust might choke, presently. It is difficult for the denizen of Mayfair or Pall Mall to acclim- atise his soul, and accommodate his talk to the narrower range of modern University life, but for a brief period, while the transition is novel, and the sense of relaxation complete, there is balm in every breath of the summer air. Many a one, too, has old associations at work within the breast. Either he has himself been a within the breast. Either he has himself been a Wet Bob some dozen or two years before,or he has cheered on his college boat from the bank, running along at the top of his speed, or he has thundered from the barge as the crews swept by. He can still recall the ecstasies, or the agonies of a "bump." He feels once more the thrill of pride which throbbed through every vein, when one year—one wen-remembered vea.r-hi boat was Head of the River." It seems to him as if nothing ever happens now-a-days to equal that glorious moment when the simultaneous shout arose and proclaimed victory. With something of a sigh the prosperous and successful man of mature years turns to seek out the old ribbon, and a shade of tender melancholy mayhap steals into his smile as he says he will go down to old Oxford yet again. But he does go 0 everyone goes. And I am afraid it will seem a little strange, dear, your running away just when everyone else is coming here," hinted gentle little Mrs West to her daughter, as she watched, with somewhat wistful eyes, Henrietta darting hither and thither in all the bustle of a joyous packing IIp. It does seem rather a pity." Then the cp«aker paused and hesitated. "I suppose it's too late now—still, of course, you could not know before." Know what, mamma?" But there was a slight increase of colour on the fair cheek, which betrayed that Henrietta was not quite so ignorant as her toae implied. Well, that we—that we had—had guests coming," rejoined her mother, nervously twisting between her fingers a piece of paper, and looking away from her companion. He could hardly expect you to give up your London visit on his account, could he ?" If you mean Mr Alwyn, certainly not," said Henrietta, promptly. We did not ask him—he asked himself. When a man asks himself to a place he must take the place as he finds it. You know, mamma, I particularly told you not to fix anyone this year for the Eights Week, because I expected my aunt Julia would invite me to Lon- don, and she has done it exactly when I thought she would. It is most good-natured of her she has heaps of people to invite to Grosvenor Street, and she would think it very odd if I should refuse to go, just because these Oxford boys" (with superb contempt) are rowing their two- penny-halfpenny races." "Mr Doar Henry Mrs West looked more than reproachful—hurt. Weil, mamma, you know I am sick of Oxford and Oxford people. They talk of nothing but Smith of Baliioi,'and 'Jones of Pembroke,' and 'Common,' and the 'Long,' and Exam- and all their own little, little world. It is all very well for them—it is their business, I sup- pose; and papa being West of Magdalen,' he has got to seem to like it, whether he does or not-—" My dear child, he does like it." Say he does, then. That need not make me. I am not a professor of the University of Oxford -I don't deliver lectures, and weez a gown, and dine in Hall I have nothing to do with the place beyond living in it—which I wish I didn't." Dear Henny, pray do not speak so." Henny' mother was inuured to outbursts of rebellion similar to the above, and although it might have been seen that sho was perplexed and pained, obviously surprise had nothing to do with her present discomfiture. You are a little out of sorts to day, my love," she murmured, as though seeking to explain away her vexation it is un- fortunate that Mr Alwyn should have named the very day to come, that had been fixed upon for you to go-" "It is nothing of the kind," said Henny sharply. She was not going to own either to her parents or to anyone else that she wished Freddy Alwyn had offered himself at any other time certainly she was not going to give up her own visit in order to amuse his, and make it pass mere agree- ably. Sh» told herself that Freddy Alwyn could wait—and that she had something else on hand which could not wait. Mr Alwyn was well enough. On the whole she liked Mr Alwyn. They had become rather friendly when he was laat at Oxford-h,. had only been Freddy Alwyn then—and Freddy Alwyn had filled a considerable space of the foreground in Miss Henrietta West's thoughts for tho time being. Subsequently Alwyn had obtained a living—a good living in a charming part of the country and with some private fortune, fair abilities, and a. cortain amount of family influence ho had become enough of a personage to graduate from "Freddy" into" Mr" Alwyn. Meeting with her former boyish admirer at a friend's house a few months before this little story opens, pretty Henrietta had experienced a sense of shyness which th'* sunburnt under- graduate had failed to inspire and the bolder he became, the more timid did ehr. Alwyn, however, was not deceived. It had ended, as we know, in his suggesting a run to the scene of his early honourd, and un invasion of his old tutor'a domain and he had felt that there was excuse for such a proposal in the forthcoming "Eights week." If he could not be accommodated within the old rambling houe inhabited by the West?, he could easily dispose of himself elsewhere but he had a great desire to let the Wests know ho was coming, and to see what would be tho result in the case of one member of the family. Accordingly he had ofiorad and had been accepted. Moreover, as no mention had been madf of the only daughter, th" most important person—not excypting the m(.ik little professor himelf-in the household, hew was the poor be- lated man to suspect that Fat? was about to play him trick the in store? it is most P.,Oirolcing-inist provoking." Henny stamped h r foot when sh* was alone, Of course h« is coming to see me; and I—yes— I should like to seo him again. But why could he not have cliosetn .:0me other tim.why could he not, I say" frowning and fuming. The man has the wholo year to choose from. He might ha.73 picked any single Woek out of the whole* twelvo months; and yet he must needs pick this week as if on purpose to annoy and tor- ment me Ths worst of it is, were I to give mamma or Aunt Julia tho very slightest bint that I cared—I mean that I cared eupugh,-thore would be »uch a fuss that I could never have the face to carry the thing through." Then the speaker drew a breath. face to carry the thing through." Then the speaker drew a breath. I do like Freddy Alwyn." A pause. I like him well enough to—" Another pause. "But I don't see that liking him has anything t.:) do with it," concluded MI&1 Henrietta, with a sudden burst of decision. Ever -ince I was a child I have set my heart on going to a, Drawing Room at Buckingham Palacc, and this may bo the only chance I may ever have of going in all my life How did the come to have the chance as it was ? We must now indulge in a little peep behind the scenes. Henny West was an only child her elderly parents were quiet and rather poor people. It would nevei have entered into the heads of either tha cna or the other to suggest that a daughier of theirs should go through the cere- mony familiar to M.ny of our readers—that of being formally presented at Court-and possibly it would no)er have entered the head of Henny herself had it not been that when a child she had chancei to be present when the aunt Julia alreidy referred to in these pages had been dressing foi Drawing Room 0 and then and thc-re her coldish mind bad received an impres. sion of beaaty and grandeur never to be effaced. To be terself arrayed in shimmering satin with three ya.rds of train upon tbe floor.to nar diamonds aid nodding plumes in broad daylight, was thencebrth a cherished object of ambition— and the anbition had received more than one subsequentstimulns, as each of her auntV young daughters hid made her dibut, and passed through the thrillingordeal. Mrs Bratkenbury loved Drawing Rooms. Ifc pleased her to think that her attendance at them was expecUd. And having only been herself p presented d late years, her constant appearance at Buchinftiam Palace was something of an amusernentto her friends. It is t.) be feared, they told e;ch other aside, tht had the eminent Q.C.'s wife been habituated to courtly 6CvnêB in, youth: she vould not have been so eager to fre- quent themand to talk about them now. Mrs Pftekenbury's foible Via", however, Henny Wfet's opportunity. Mrs Brackenburv was a g-Joduatured woman, to whom one could say anythng; and the secret aspiration of a foolish litte h^art was cno dny let loosd when aunt and neco were by themselves in the cosy boudQir^of.the.corner house-in Grosvenor-street. Oh, dear Aunt Julia, I would give anything 4o vo to a; Drawiug Room I" cried the young girl, -with a passion of earnestness such as would have made almost any other hearer laugh, but which was only becoming and commendable in Mrs [ Brackenbury's ears. Mrs Brackenbury's own daughters never looked like that, and never spoke like that. They were heavy, indifferent girls, whom society bored, and ceremonial per- plexed. When informed that they were to go to this thing or that, they would either look stolidly acquiescent, or sulkily repellent, according to the mood in which the invitation found them. Then among themselves they would mutter, If mamma would only let us alone!" just when poor mamma had struggled and fought for, and finally rejoiced with a great joy over the card she held in her triumphant hand. It was hard to have to toil for such ingrates. Can it be wondered at that now, with a blight ycung face glowing and sparkling by her side, and a shrill young voice giving utterance to such musical sounds in her ear, Mrs Btackenbury lost her head for the moment ? She knew perfectly well that Henny was talk- ing nonsense—that is to say, that it would be nonsense to attach any serious meaning to a mere impetuous exclamation; yet the words were scarcely out of the speaker's lips ere a con- spiracy was being formed for carrying them into effect. You really must go," said Aunt Julia, im- pressively. I must take you. Why not ? You are my niece, and I have every right to pre- sent a nieefc. We went in February—Ethel and I-but that does not signify in the least. I can go again—there is no reason why I should not go again—and take you. Ethel's dress would fit you admirably and no one need know anything about it. I don't suppose your parents would object ?" pausing. Not in the least, if it were done in that way —I mean, dear auntie, if you were so kind as to manage it all, and really and truly take me with you from this house, and to let me wear Ethel's dress and train. Oh I can scarcely believe it cried Henny, her cheeks flaming with hope and excitement. It seems far-far too good to be true. And that you should go for tnc I" Oh, well, I am always ready to go, you know, my dear and now that I am known as an old hand at these things, I am so often asked to take girls that I get into the way of it," replied Mrs Brackanbury, with an easy air. It is a mere nothing to me. And I shall quite enjoy taking you, I assure you, Hennj. We must order the hairdresser, and the bouquets, and- But, dear auntie, stop a moment. How am I to order a hairdresser, and a bouquet ? I-you know-" Oh, I know, dear," her aunt nodded and smiled. That will be arranged. Your uncle will stand tiott for that part of the perform- ance, I am sure. Ho is so fond of you, Henny, and he will think it quite right you should go." But—but my father and mother. I don't know that they would let him they are rather particular about money," murmured Henny, faintly. It was at this point that the happy idea was originated of not telling either the parents or anyone else anything about the affair until it was safely over. Henrietta was not an undutiful child—certainly not a disobedient one—but the fear of having the sparkling cup of pleasure dashed from her lips just as it had been pre- sented to them, made her on the present occasion assent to a scheme involving subterfuge—not to say deception. Her aunt suggested, and she consented, that the forthcoming ceremony should be kept a sscrefc from everybody—(Ethel ex- cepted, Ethel's co-operation being necessary, and her good nature to be depended upon)—and all being so happily arranged, it did seem a cruel stroke of Fate that the only available Drawing- room should presently be appointed to take place during tho "Eights" Week at Oxford, and. worse ttill, upon the very day named by the Rev. Frederick Alwyn for arriving on the scene. Henny was well aware or the astonishment which would be universally excited by her 'dis- appearance from the familiar haunts during the great event of the Oxford year. That she should choose to go to London on a visit-a visit which could be paid at any time—at such a moment, would seeni more than extraordinary, absolutely incredible in Oxford eyes. It was still more to the point that she should persist in adhering to her resolution after the arrival of Mr Alwyn's note. On receipt of the letter, even Henny herself had wavered for the space of a full minute. But I can easily explain it to him afterwards," she had told herself, and steeled her countenance to express no emotion but the coolest of surprise that her mother or anybody should imagine that anything Well, I shall be glad when it is over," sighed Henny, who was now beginning to feel the effects of a sleepless night and no breakfast. I do like going tremendously—but I shall like coming away still better. Oh, I can't eat any sand- wiches, thank you. And sherry, oh with a wiches, thank you. And sherry, oh I" with a shudder of disgust. I never touch wine, you know, aunt Julia; it would make me quite sick it would, indeed. Well, if someone will feed me, I will try to eat one sandwich. Please, Ethel, are my gloves stretched, and have you tried all the buttons ? And oh, Ethel, don't you think my feathers might be a little lower? Must all three be so very high? Aunt Julia's are not so high. The maids want to see me, do they ? Oh, but Ethel, do they know?" aside in a lower tone, Would they think it funny ?" Oh, they only think there was no time to get another." But Ethel, that was not quite true, was it ?" uneasily. I—oh, they are here. Let them come in then." Yes, Miss Ethel's dress fits me beautifully, does it not?" To the admiring circle. "It is so kind of her to lend it me. You have all seen it before, haven't you? You see," said Henny, honestly, a presentation dress is so expensive that I could not have afforded one for myself, so I should never have gone f Miss Ethel had not offered me the loan of hers." It was this little touch of honesty which saved Henny. I really believe in my own mind that one little effort towards truth is often the means of break- ing down a whole structure of shams. All at once a new aspect of the scene before her stood revealed all at once it seemed that she discerned the paltriness, the littleness, the selfish short-sightedness of the whole proceeding on which she had embarked. There she stood, tricked out in borrowed finery, deceiving her parents, affronting her lover, throwing away what might prove to have been her happiness for life-and for what ? A bubble. She was bartering gold for tinsel substance for shadow love for vanity. She had missed her chance. On a sudden she felt what a great chanco it had been. A sigh burst from the girl's fair bosom. At that moment she would thankfully have torn off every article of her gay attire and cast it from her. But. it was too late. So that was what H"enny was up to, Mrs West. and you never said a word about it," cried in effect a dozen gay voices on the barge the following morning. We saw the name in the list this morning. What fun for Henny! But why did you tell nobody ?" It was the speakers who had to tell Henny's mother. I Presently their rallying and laughter died away. She herself never knew. She does not like it," they whispered to each other. Poor old thing It was too bad of Henny. She always was as vain as a peacock and now she will be worse than ever. She has stolen a march on us all. Mr Alwyn, what do you say to Miss West's having run off to Court, instead of being here to see Alagdalei, bump Pembroke ? I think it was a very good idea," said'Freddy, composedly. "She told nobody, you know." Why should she tell anybody ? Her own parents, Mr Alwyn. "Oh—ah—I was not thinking of her parents. But," continued the speaker recovering himself, for he had been indubitably a little taken aback, Miss West knows her parents. She—they—no doubt, they understand each other." He looked full m the faces of all around, and held head erect. All he same, the intelligent damsels nodded aside to each other. They were bright, knowing young women it was not easy to hoodwink them and they were versed in love affairs. They were hugely pleased with Alwyn's long face,and tha airs he -gave himself. They thought well of his attempt, although judging it a failure. It was a brilliant, quivering summer afternoon. The whole air resounded with notes of jollity; he barges were fuller, the crowds on either bank larger than they had ever been before. Greetings abounded, hilarious encounters took place on every side. "And now you must all come in to tea with me," cried a voice close to Alwyn's ear, and hejfre- cognised a Warden's wifegiven to hospitality. "Mr Alwyn, you know the way. Will you escort these young ladies ? I must go and look up some more people. We are to meet you at dinner to-night, I believe ? Oh, Mrs We3t, will you go up to our house ? Here is Mr Alwyn in charge of a party," and the speaker sidled away. f Mr Alwyn did everything he was bid. "I feel dreadfully vexed with Henny," said Mrs West to herself, but happily Freddy I Freddy Alwyn could say or do could be a mattor of the slightest consequence to her. Postpone her visit in Grosvenor-sfcreet ? Oh, dear, no. She had told her aunt she should go- and she would go. There was nothing to keep her; no reason for changing her day. Mr Alwyn would be certain to remain over the Sunday, and she would be back oo. the Saturday evening. In reality she could have returned on the Fri- day—the Drawing Room having been fixed for Thur:iday-but the timidity born of a guilty con- science made Henny unable to suggest Friday. It seemed to her that her secret would infallibly be divined if she did so. Away she set, and the next train brought her lover to Oxford. o My dear child, you look sweet I Mrs Brackenbury had never been able to tell one of her own daughters that she "looked sweet." in her Presentation Dress, and she now experi- enced a sense of gratified vanity and exultation, which perhaps she was justified in mistaking for tender benevolence. How pretty Henny looked! There might be girls at the courtly function bearing themselves with a prouder mien, and possessed of more chiselled features, but the bright rose tint in the roundt-d cheek before her and the shine in Henny's dewy eyes were not to be met with in every London square. Henny was arrayed in pure white. That suited her. She had always known that the dress of a ddbutante would suit her and yet it was not altogether vanity which thrilled through the silly child's dancing veins. I scarcely know what it was. Perhaps a sense of success and achievement was the predominating sensation of that pertinacious little soul. For so long had she set this thing before her eyes as a thing to be desired, that the original fancy had been lost sight of altogether in the magnified and dis- torted vision which had taken its place. Her cousins laughed at her. What did she expect, they wondered. Did she expect to drop her glass slipper—it really had glass upon it- white gta. beads worked en the satin -did Henny expect to "cast "it somewhere or other in the palace, and be summoned back, Cinderella. like, by a gay and deeply infatuated youngprince, whose tti roiit) she should presently share ? Did she already behold a diadem taking the place cf her white plumes and tullo veil ? Henny laughed back- No, she expected nothing cf the kind but she wanted to see what othero saw, tc go where others went, to sit inside long lines of carriages, bedecked behind her bouquet, as other girls sat on Drawing Ro-m days; to read her name in the Presentation list the next morning as ofcher girls read theirs. Whot Mrs Brackenbury came in, and handed over to her cliargo- the cards oil which were legibly inscribed Henrietta West, by Mrs Brackenbury," underneath the magic word", For Presentation," a mist swam before Henny's eyes. "You must take care of those, my love," cried hor aunt, gaily. Don't lose them. They are your passport tor the day, you know. One you must surrender in the outer corridor, before we reach the sittixig-rooti), and the other just as you enter the Royal Presence." Dear auntie, shall I ever be able to think of it then?" I didn't," put in Ethel. You— didn't ?" Two liquid orbs, open to their fnllast extent, stared round at the spaakcr. Oh, don't look so fierce," said Ethel, laugh. ing. "Nothing awful transpired. It was simply taken from me, instead of being offered by lHé1. The Lord Chamberlain is quito accustomed to that surt of thing from ua girls." Is he ? And does he tell you what to do! And where to go ? And when to curtsey ? And, oh, dear, how shall I ever know whether I am t kiss the Queen's hand or only bow to the Princess t,, Long before you reach that fearful moment," said Ethel, laughing again, you will have hoard all about it on every side. For your comfort, however, I may tell you that the Queen is safe to have departed long before you fiver get within range of the Throne Room. She never stays now above half-an-hour or so-—if that." Then it will only be tho curtssy." Henny brightened. But fancy if I should try to kiss the Princess'hand," suggested she, her spirits, which had been momentarily subduod, again rising as before. It Vill botl,.cr -you to do that,' replied her cousin. (Mrs Brackenbury had rustled off again.) "You would have to swoop down upon it, and make a grab, and scoop it up, and then it would be a fresh tussle between you and ber. The Princess's hand is there to bold her fan and her bouquet—just as your own is-not to be slobbered over by ignorant),country cousius who know no better Alwyn does not seem to mind. He takes it all as a matter of course. Henny has done very wrong; she has behaved as I little thought a daughter of mine would. And she has put us to shame, too accepting, as she must) have done, clothes and ornaments and everything. I can't trust myself to think about it. If Mr Alwyn were her parent he would not like his daughter to have behaved so; though I daresay he thinks it is only spirit in Henny. because he is in love with her." The mild littlo woman felt quite cross with Alwyn. Alwyn did not appear to notice it. "I daresay we shall get away from the dinner party pretty early to-night," he observed, easily. Thev don't keep very late hours at the Kerobles, do they?" Later than I like. But why do you ask, Mr Alwyn?" and Alwyn's hostess looked surprised. 4 Have you any work to do ? "Work of a certain order, Mrs West. I have —ah—to catch a train." "To catch a train To night?" "Iam afraid so. There is a train at 11.30, which will do for me, and I shall have to run away by it; thanking you so so much for your kind hospitality." "But—but—you never said a word cf this before, Mr Alwyn. We understood you were stopping over the Sunday." She was gasping for breath. (Oh,JHenny—Henny !) II At any rat, stay, stay till to-morrow evening," she pleaded; to-moriow is the principal day on the river as you know. And—and everyone will miss you." But Alwyn was obdurate. Everyone would miss him, as he very well knew. Of ooijrse they would miss him, and would moreover know why his place was empty. He had not been blind to the curiosity and something besides curiosity, exhibited on his account, both on the previous afternoon and cn the preceding day he had noted the searching glances thrown at him when Henny's escapade was discussed,and the obvious impression that he had reoeived what might be plainly termed a slap in the face. Henny's having rushed away as though in order openly to avoid him had been bad enough but Henfty's having chosen the time when he was at her father's house to defy or, at any rate, disregard her parents, seemed in a vague, undbfinable fashion to make him the participator of their humiliation. He would not stand any more of this. He new signified the same to his hostess. He was very soirv, but at half-past eleven he must go. Well, if you must gJ, you must," rejoined she. We can drive you to the station on our way home. It will be very little out of our way." And then the poor, fond woman sighed anew to herself, and again down in her heort she said, Oh, Henny, Henny Xi(ir Heony would hj&vo been a happy woman as t redenek Alwyn's wife. His nature, dis- position, tastes, and habits suited hers. He had a heme to offer such as Henny would have appre- ciated, He loved Henny, and lierny-poor Hrmuy-had she but known it, loved him. Henny's mother shed a few quiet tears over the lost prospect. It seemed hard that a piece of childish folly should rob her true-hearted voung daughter of so much. The punishment seemed disproportionate to the offence. Of course, Henny had been foolish, even wrong. She had beon carried away by her own fancy and had gone further than she meant. Henny meant no harm. And, to be sure, Henny was right in supposing that though her parents might not like what stio had done, and might be vexed with her for doing it, they would forgive the transgression almost ere it was committed. And to be sure they were almost grateful to Henny for saving them the mtserv of a tussle beforehand, which would have been so much more trouble than a reprimand when the deed was done. If only it had not been for Freddy Alwyn No one, however, dursfc say a word to Freddy j Alwyn. Freddy's face was set as a flint; and he bore himatilf with an air of studious composure i which no longer deceived eny,)ne-especial y now that his departure was announced. I thought in the afternoon that he did not care-but now I see he cares too much," mused poor Mrs West to herself. Well-its over. And God knows what is best for us all. But if poor Henny must needs go and throw away her life's happiness, I could have wished ifc had been for something better than a Court train." The next morning Henny thought so too. Henny sat alone in the little boudoir of the house in Grosvenor-street. Her aunt and cousins had gone out, but she had been left at her home because a, note from her mother summoned her homo at an earlier hour than had been originally proposed, in somewhat arbitrary fashion, adroit, ting of no discussion. She was to return by the mid-day train j Mr Alwyn was leaving that night; and—and—her j jjarenta wisbed tohave their dauglitvcbamk "n There was no very intelligible connection bet- ween the two facts thus stated, but Henny under- stood nevertheless that it was there. What was meant was this—" You have dune all the harm you can do; come home now and get told of it." Oh yes, home I'll go." Hanny smiled a faint, bitter smile, as she read between the lines of tho peremptory little note. "Home I'll go, and hear the worst. They shan't think I care, either. I'll go on the river, and to all the teas, and to every- thing that's going. The girls shan't get much change out of me. I think I can puzzle them. As for Freddy "—she paused—" I—I—rather think the better of Freddy for it. If I had guessed Freddy would have shown such spirit, I am not sure that I might not have given—it— up—" slower and slower grew the dropping words, more and more turned down the corners of a very grave little mouth it was obvious that only a touch was needed to make an unhappy little girl set off crying. And just at this unlucky moment the touch came. A visitor was ushered into the adjoining room, which was empty, and the door was shut by a retreating servant, who, not perceiving the young lady in the boudoir, departed in search of any member of the family available. The visitor strolled forward, and was quicker of observation than the servant. Not only did he take in that Miss West was within tho win- dowed recess of tho smaller apartment, but that ahe was its sole occupant, and the next instant saw Freddy Alwyn by H^'iny's side. "And did you really think I could be such a doH-such an idiot—such a priggish, conceited fool, as to dethrone you from your place in my heart, and surrender my best hopes, because you chose to play a prank and have a merry day, and cry a. fig for the proprieties and conventionalities? Why, my dear little darling, I sympathise with you from the bottom of my soul," cried Alwyn, laughing and caressing at once. "It makes me feel like a schoolboy sgain I only wish I had been here to see you, and to see it all! Why should you not have your little lark ?' It was a very simple little lark. Not an iota of harm in it. You shall go again, Henny. On your marriage, eh? You shall have some diamonds of your own then. There are lots of diamonds in our family, and some of them will come to you, I fancy. I thought I had better come straight off, because so much was being said down there. I did not know how you might take it, unless I got the start of all the tongues. I made up my mind yesterday afternoon. And Henny, I say," drawing her closer to his side, shan't wo surprise some people in the boats this afternoon? We musb creep into Oxford quiotly—perhaps we had better not go down in the same carriage—or we might manage by not showing at the station, for I think we must travel down together, mustn't we ? fondling the little hand in his. But when wo have got into the house and seen the parents, and had it aU out, then the whole four of us will sally forth for the river—oh, it will ba glorious And Henny's heart echoed, Oh, it will be glorious." was slightly incoherent in her explanations, and limited in her gratitude, when she bade farewell to Grosvenor-street; but her aunt and cousins took in the situation, and were perfectly satisfied. Indeed, Mr Alwyn said all that Heuny should have said, and he made so many enquiries, and was so full of regrets that he had not been permitted to see the show, and so confident that it must have been worth the seeing, that everyone present pronounced him delightful, and Bracenbury, in particular, felt that it was quite a privilege to have befriended a niece who was bringing such a man into the family. Poor, dejected Mr and Mrs West could scarcely believe their eyes or their senses, when they saw the runaways return in company, and their hearts were full to overflowing when they heard thu joint confession. As for Oxford—Oxford felt that it had had the tables turned upon it. THE END. NKXT WEEK: THE DARK EYED DARLING, BY Epm NISBET, Author of "The Jolly Roger," Bail Up," "The Savage Queen," &c., &c.

'4 THE J.P. ANU THE CYCLIST. A Magistrate Fined at Llandilo. At the Llandilo Petty.sessions on Saturday— before Messrs H. Peel, A. S. Gulston, G. H. Strick, and J. L. Thomas—a caseof seme interest as affecting bicyclists was heard. Mr J. Vaughan Philipps charged Mr Harold Wardell, J.P., with interrupting the free passage of his carriage on the highway between Llandilo and Llan- gadock. Mr J. W. Nicholas prosecuted.—Mr J. v. Philipps said he was chief clerk to the Chief Constable of Carmarthenshire. On Good Friday he was riding on a bicycle to Llangadock from Llandilo. There were three other riders with him. They saw the defendant riding in a dog- cart in front of them. They rang their bells when 40 to 50 yards off, and kept ringing until they got quite near to the cart. The dogcart was in the middle of the road, but inclined to the right side. It was his duty to pass the dogcart on the right. The de- fendant looked round and saw them, They kept ringing. Defendant did not go to the left. Wit- ness attempted to pass on the right, as there was just enough room, and defendant turned his horse to the right. Witness was forced on to the turf on the roadside. Witness said to defendant, The least you can do is to allow us room to pass." The others attempted to pass on the right, but failed, and ha::1 to pass on the left. Witness (after passing) remonstrated with de- fendant, and his reply was, "Go to —— with you," and he added that he had heard tho bells, but was not going to make room for a lot of —— cycling cads." Witness and his com- panions were in single file when they attempted to pass on the right. After witness had passed he rode by the side of defendant's horse to talk to him. There was no excuse for saying the horse was frightened. Witness wrote to defendant afterwards to ask him for some expression of the answer to it was that he (Mr lhilipp3) was the aggressor, and had deliberately abused him in a way he had never been abused before, and before his servant man. Cross-examined by defendant: The conversa- tion that took place between them was as follows —Witness Perhaps you are not aware that you are talking to a gentleman ?" Defendant I don't) care a who you are." Witness I am fche son of the chief-constable, and am in the force myself. You consider yourself lucky if you don't get a summons." Defendant: I wish "you would summon me." Defendant denied the allegations. Charles Thomas, clerk, in the employ of Messrs Thomas Bros., timber merchants, Llandilo, corro. borated. HadlMrPhilipps not been an expert rider and on a. pneumatic machine he would have been thrown. There was no possibility of mistake about the defendant's language. Defendant was asked if he had any question to ask witness. He replied that he really thought he had better not ask a question. If they swore he used such words as those it would be no use saying a word in the case. Mr Herbert W. Thomas, a brother to the last witness, also gave evidence. Mr Wardell denied that he used any language on the occasion that he could not have used in a drawing-room. His horse was tired that day and did not shy, but was in the habit of shying at bicycles. There was heaps of room for a bicycle to pass on the right of the trap. Had it turned sharp to the left he would have driven over the other knee. After they had passed, Mr Philipps came back, and in insulting tones asked him why he did not get out of the way, and added, u You little know who I am," or words to that effect, and If you knew I was the son of the chief constable you would soon get out of the way." He (defendant) then lost his temper and said he was sorry for Mr Philipps' claim to be a gentleman, as he knew the father well, and he was a gentleman. He gave prosecutor his name and address, and asked him to go away, but he declined. If he (defendant) had used' the lan- guage ascribed to him he would have apologised and thus avoided its publication. Rees Lewis, a servant in the defendant's em- ploy, who was riding in the back of the dog-cart also gave evidence. He denied the statements of the prosecution. The bench retired to consider their decision and on returning to court Mr Peel said the bench had considered the case very carefully, and had come to the conclusion that there was a certain amount of obstruction, and fined the defendant Is and costs.

NEWPORT BOARD OF GUARDIANS. The weekly meeting of the Newport Board of Guardians wasbeld at the workhouse on Satu l'dav, the chairman. Col. Lyne presiding. There are 312 inmates in the workhouse, a deon-age of 13. William Lane, 67, Llantarnam William Harris, 78 Newport; and Susannah Hughes, 63, St. Woollos, died during the week ihe outdoor paupers numbered 2,240 variants relieved, 103. There were 173 children in the Oaerloon Schools, a decrease of 37. The chairman drew attention to the fact that the Monmonth- shire County Council had not yet paid their quota of £1,200 for salaries, Slo., owing to the board. The chairman said that he could not understand why the payment had not be™ made. The Newport County Council and the Glamorganshire County Counoil paid their proportions in January last, whilst the ? Council paid in November last, lbe Clerk read letters from the county clerk and county treasurer, the latter intimating that the amount would be paid ab tho end of the present month. It waa resolved to bring the matter before the Chairman cf the County Council.—Mr Hazell, rrtir«.d farmer and ex-member of a local board, of Barton, Lriatol, was appointed bailiff at Caerlecn Schools at a salary of 20s per week.

y AFFAIR8 OF A NEWPORT INNKEEPER. The first meeting of creditors of the estate of Elizabeth Brough, wife of Maurice Brough, 11, Crescent-road. Maindee, Newport, and lately carrying on business at tho Carpenter's Arms Inn, Ma.inde. was hold at the offices of the Official Receiver, Newport, on Saturday. The debtor has been in business as a liconscd victual- ler for fivo or six years, first at the Talbot Inn, TJancswell, and afterwards at the Carpenters Arms, which she left three weeks since. Sho attributes her failure to bad trade, bad debts and illness cf herself, her husband, and family! She was aware of her insolvency when she took tho Carpenter's Arms two or three years ago, but hoped trado would improve. The liabilities were JB546 10s 2d, and the deficiency £511143 lid. The Official Receiver intimated .that the debtor uad beenjpaaSe baukrujpb,