Barry Dock News

BY SOME PERSON UNKNOWN. 1 BY <M% jftfuttrl ATJTHOB Off On Dangerous Ground," Only an AokreM," "For Somebody's Sake," &o., &o. ""1'õor fellow I'm afraid I am not interested enough in reality to have put you to such a test, as I'm content to wait till somebody drops in who can tell us enough to satisfy our idle curiosity." "You are frank, Miss Wayland," said one of the ladies. I I Some-folks have said I am too frank sometimes," retorted Louise, with witching archness but that is only when one of the masculine creatures is too encroaching on my good-nature." Ah, Miss Wayland!" reproachfully from the one masculine present. Oh, if the cap fits pray wear it," laughed the lovely mistress of the house, mischievously. She was a veritable witch who might well quicken a man's pulses and enthral his senses, or heart, per- haps, no mere girl in her teens, but a woman in the full bloom of early womanhood of no common-place level—clever, full of spirits and brightness, lovely with form and colour, straight-cut features, a skin like alabaster tinted with exquisite wild-rose tints, eyes of heavenly blue, that could be soft or passionate, laughing or sad, as each emotion influenced her, eyes that met the gaze frankly— wistfully sometimes, a charm of manner altogether that made it a wonder that she was still unmarried at three or four-and-twenty. She had no ono but herself to consult, being her own mistress with means enough evidently to keep a good place in that pleasant mixed society which in these days includes so wide a range of positions, and has many shades again within itself. You are very down on me, you know said the young man; isn't she, Mrs. Harley P "—to the chaperon. That worthy lady smiled good-naturedly. "Oh, I am not a Court of Appeal, Mr. Addison. You must quarrel and make up for yourself, Ah, the doorbell—perhaps we shall hear something of this news now, my dear Louise." "Perhaps-" but a quick, eager light sprang to the blue eyes, and the rose-tint on the rounded cheek deepened for a moment as a servant opened the door and announced "Mr. Re voile." He was a tall, handsome man, about thirty, thip new-comer, graceful, easily erect, and distingui looking; he came forward and clasped the preth hand the hostess gave him, greeted the other ladies and Addison, and dropped into a low chair by Louise, with a rather quizzical smile in his dark hazel eyes. Have I interrupted some especial bonne-bouohe or scandal, ladi°s?" said he, pulling the drooping moustache that was as soft and dark as his curly looks. I should be so grieved, you know." What a mellow, musical voice, and clear, crisp accentuation the man had—no small part of the fascinations there was about him. Oh for shame, Mr Reville? came a female chorus minus Louise, who said, laughingly: "You are too clever by half this time, you auda. sious fellow! Qh don't laugh wickedly and give me that foreign shrug ot yours or you shall be sent off to wander about the world again." Not without a cup of tea from your fair hands, and your pardon," said Gaston Revelle, with a glance under the long lashes and a smile on the resolute mouth, which surely had something under- lying it, that was not quite d'accord with tho light gallantry of the retort-with it a touch of mockery, of bitterness, which she had so offeu felt vaguely to underiy his carelesa flirting and attentions, at once puzzling n I irritating her. One hour, perhaps., almost tue that he was at last dazzled by her beauty, glamoured by her witcheries, asd ready to be her devoted slave; the next hour sho could not for the life of her feel sure that under his softest wor^a and most caressing manner or glance there waa not a subtle irony, an ever preseut mockery that seemed to laugh at the possibility of any heart- I surrender from him. I- Was he in a wicked mood to- day ?'' She glanced up into the bronzed face and said, gaily; Oh, of course, you may have that. Drink it, and tell us the news,pleaso—which is what we were talk- ing of, not scandal, sir J Thanks for the tea. What news do you raeati ? I "How provoking you are to-day Why this murder, of course," she said, impatiently; "is it true?" "Oh! that murder in the city!" said Rovella. "Yes, it's true enough—seems a perfect mystery as yet, too, why the poor fellow was murdered. "Wasn't it robbery then?" asked Mrs. Harley with interest. N-o, seems not, only the watch missing, a silver one, not worth such risk," answered Gaston. "Here is the latest edition of the Globe.' I got it as I came along, as I had heard of the affair all day- till in self-defence I had to know what was known," said he, lazily leaning his curly head back against the chair back, and deftly tossing the Pluk con- temporary' to Addison; "read it aloud to the ladies, Addie, like a good boy T "Oh, yes, please do so," exclaitnod .Louise and chorus. I'm dying to hear it—only it s so hor- p rible." Yon mean, because it is so horrible fIt amended Gaston, with that sarcastic curve of uie handsome mouth, again," behind the smile." "Go it,Addie," and Addison read the latest account, which on the whole was tolerably correct, and everyone listened with eager attention except Revelie, who leaned back indifferently, his fingers playing with his moustache, his eyes looking out before him into the garden—physically, that is, but mentally seeing nothing; a keen observer watching hira just then would have noted that those dark eyes had a far- away look, full of a bitter, restless pain that oime, perhaps, out of his past, and was at one with those restless lines about the mouth, which showed more clearly when the face was in repose physloally-a fine face, but bearing the impress of strong passions aud will, both for good and bad, the latter certainly not by any means always held too well in check before temptations which must inevitably assail with perhaps especial force a nature as luipressiouable and sensitive as it was impassioned that had no half lights or safe via media; just the man who might in early life,under vivid temptations, that came in reck. lessly impulsive moments,make some terrible mistake, and then grow desperate and embitt ored- orall injured immeasurably in the end. Whatsoever his thoughts were now,past or future, they were certainly far enough from the actual pre- sent near him, for he almost started at the silvery voice of Louise beside him. "What doe^you think of this mystery, Mr. Revelie? Such a horrible crime! she shuddered. What can be the motive, if not for robbery ?" "My dear Miss Wayland, how should I know?" Gaston said, carelessly. "No doubt more will come out at the inquost, when it will probably turn out the usual commonplace affair,jealousy and rivalry- for of course there is a feminine article somewhere at the bottom of it-" You horrid cynic-for shamo! from a chorus. —ending with this murder by the rival's bullet,' concluded the unmoved Rovoile. You men talk so coolly of these dreadful things," said Mrs. Harley, vexedly. You men of the world get callous." He knitted his straight brows, but laughed slightly. "Not that, madam. I hope, but I am afraid that if one went distracted over the murder of every slranger one never saw or heard of, not one of us would long survive. Seriously, dear Mrs. Harley," his whole manner changed now, I am very sorry to read of such a crime in our very midst, and I earnestly hope the assassin will be found, the more because no fool has done it, and is therefore more dangerous." Why no fool?" asked Louise Wayland. Well, of course, there are mistakes in the deed, which in cool blood are plain to my mind, and which if I had done the deed I should certainly not have made." Don't talk so dreadfully exclaimed Louise and another lady in a breath, but he only laughed, and Addison asked— j — vrnat wonia you have done differently P'7 II Well, if I had shot the poor young fellow in the office, I should have left the body where it fell and not touched even the watch, because as the fatal wound was in the heart it might as likely have been suicide. It is scarcely possible to find a reason for what was aolually done it was an utterly senseless loss of time, and made it absolutely oertain that the man was foully murdered." Perhaps the murderer lost his head and nerve- was not really cool," suggested Addison. "Probably not they mostly do fail in some detail, but that was a crucial mistake. Another was the non-robbery.' If I had been fool enough to drag the body down a cellar like that at all, I should have taken the watch, purse, latchkey, and robbed what I could from the premises." "Yes, that might have been wise," said Louise, but he might have feared being found on the promises P "Then he should not have been so foolish, Miss Wayland," answered Gaston, coolly, since he was clever enough to first acquaint himself (evidently) with the house and habits of the tenants and timed his crime to an exactness, and must have shut the outer door when he walked in he must have known that no one would enter till this morning." "Perhaps," said Mrs. Harley, he thought to hide the body entirely, and in his agitation did not notioe the blood stains that marked the whole way down." "Possibly, which only shows," said Revelle, with a shrug, that no one should go in for a murder unless he can keep all his wits about him, it's too risky, even in the midst of a big, busy city." Murder as a study," laughed Addison. This one will be a psychological study to me I fancy," said the other smiling it is an out of the way crime, and I shall watch it with interest as a study if it does not turn out out as I said, only an ordinary affair. But I have made all the ladies look pale, said he, laughing, and then, ohanging the rather grim subject with practised ease, added :— Was any one at the matinee at the Comedy on Saturday ? You were, Miss Wayland, for I just saw you before the last act come into the front row of the circle; I had been behind' and returned as you made your appearance." "In that row?" said Louise, laughing. "I was in luck there, for I only took it into my head to go at all at luncheon, and so had to content myself with a seat in the last row, till before the last act a lady went out, away from that seat in front, and I at once went down to it. I saw you enter the stalls as I sat down and wondered why you came so late." "So did I of you-but we were both there be- hind,' though in a different sense," said Gaston, smiling. "The piece is fairly good,but I don't be- lieve there is much money in it for a run." "No?" doubtfully. "I thought the opening good, but you are so critical, you see, that I feel small in comparison. "You are not going?" as Revelie rose. I must tear myself away, Miss Wayland, hard though it is," was the gallant answer, as he held her hand just perhaps a moment longer than was strictly en regie, with just a look down of admiration only was it, or something more, that made the woman's heart throb, and her red lips smile; then Gaston bade adieux to her and the guests and went away. That evening Fred Grainger paid a visit to poor young Fabian's lodging in Holloway, and, firstly interviewed the landlady, he himself being made up as an elderly man; he had no idea of being "spotted when he least wanted it," he said to him- self. Tho woman seemed a very respectable, quiet person, of a rather superior sort. She had been very much upset by the news of the tragedy, and said she had never had a nicer lodger steady, quiet, gentlemanly young man, always paid his way so far as she know nor had he any acquaintances. He kept himself to himself, sir." she said studied hard in the evenings, and went to law lectures and to a French olass once a week. He seemed very anxious to get on in every way. Shown the envelope found, she said she believed it was his old grandmother's writing. She remembered the atter ootning; because it wa< before his had gone down to tho old dame's funeral. No, ho had never spoken of the letter to her—it wasn't his way; but she thought he had seemed not quite himself after its arrival, and he had it in his pocket. She also thought only last Thursday he burned some letters whilst she was setting his supper, and that might have been one of them." It was, perhaps. Had he a sweetheart here in town or elsewhere." Certainly none in town, or anywhere else that I can imagine, sir. He was always at home." "Sundays, too?" Lor, yes, sir. In the morning he went to church, and after dinner he'd go for a walk with my husband's father." But in his autumn holidays, Mrs. Kent, he went away." "Yes, sir, so he did, but only the last two years -went abroad to France and the last time, whioh was last September, I will say that I fancied, when he come home, sir, that he seemed a bit down- like." "Ah said the detective; and his thought went at once to that handsome foreigner,of whom he had caught a glimpse; "but that is only un idea, I SUppose P Quite so, sir." Fred asked several more questions, and finally suggested that his suppositions about the letter and the being "down-like" should not be at all men. tioned, as it was unimportant, you see, ma'am it might hamper us in tracing tho criminal, besides causing you bother." Mr. Grainger boldly marched through logical sequence, and truth, of course, neither concerned him so long as he kept back items which might possibly put the unknown murderer on the qui vive. And Fred had no intention of being at the Inquest himself. Then he began his searoh of the dead man's apartments. CHAPTER V. THAT PHOTOGRAPH. Comme il n'y a rien d'impossible, croyons dans rabsurde," wrote Blaise Paschal, satirically; but none the less truly, however, he meant the aphorism to be read for the longer one lives the more every. day's experience makes one see that there really is nothing too impossible to be possible, and therefore one may even believe in the absurd. And certainly, beyond all auestion, it is a truth in the history of crime, and the curious psychology of the orimiual mind in all the grades and phases. Fred Grainger had doubtless never read a line of the great French writer aforesaid, but his own quick wits, observation, and experience, had early in his career made him recognise practically the literal truth contained in Pasohal's words; and it was perhaps partly to this fact that he owed much of the success which had justly earned him repute and position in the force while still not forty. He was ■clever, shrewd, and daring, mentally as physically, had a ready and even metaphysical grasp of character, and something, too, of a woman's subtlety and intuition, with that curious feminine power of jumping at the right thing without rhyme or reason, sense or logio, quick but correct; something of all these the detective had, and added to such natural capabilities—perhaps one might say because he had them—he loved, revelled in his work and that, after all. is the greatest secret of success in nearly every calling. Such a tangled thread of mystery he had now in his hands to unravel was the keenest I delight to the man he put heart and soul and'mind into his work, difficulty only got his blood up, as it were and the lawyer's undertaking to supply money,where official fuuds failed, was a relief beyond measure. Many the time the man had drawn on his own modest savings rather than give up, because inexorable Red Tape tied down expenses at a crucial point. Fred liked money well enough, but he was not mercenary, and he was honest as the day, and strict in accounting correctly for moneys entrusted to him. If people chose to make him—as often they had -a handsome present, that was another thing naturally. Altogether, then, it will be seen that this myste- rious murder in the city, which promised to be a cause oelebre, if ever fathomed, could scarcely have been plaoed in better hands for the ends of justice, or, in more dangerous ones, for the safety of the murderer; the bulldog tenacity, too, of this man, was in itself an element of success. He never really gave up a case, but kept his weather eye always open for it, and his memory for faces,voices, and every detail of his "oases," was marvellous, though of course he had bad his mistakes and failures like other folks; but they were the excep- tion decidedly. Now to search these rooms," said he to himself, as he went into the premises so lately occupied by Charles Fabwm—two. email, neat jparle«s^Baod««ii? | rarmsnro. iue oeaioom ,conramea irterarry Ohjy necessary furniture, and was soon searched, but without any result. The little parlour took longer, of course; there were two drawers in the small square table in the middle, several shelves filled with law books principally, and on a table in tho window a letter rack and large old mahogany desk. These Grainger left to the last, perhaps with some- thing of the instinct which makes a child leave the choicest morsel of sugared pudding as a last tit-bit or was it, perhaps, the blind instinct of the dramatic vein which underlies most natures above a clod, which made him unconsciously load up to a climax. Every other nook and cranny, every book, the astute detective patiently searched through papers might be interleaved, or the margins of books notated nay, the very books most read would be a clue to their late owner's mind, habits, character, and so possibly furnish clues to the unravelling of the mystery. During this search Fred made several notes in a cypher of his own in his note-book. Then he came to the letter-rack, but found nothing that might not have been read at Charing Cross the rent-book duly receipted each week except the last, which, of course, would be paid out of the money found a few other receipts and newspaper cuttings of law oases, which probably involved some pecu- liarly noteworthy point of law, but there were no letters at all. The desk was looked, but that,of course, presented no difficulty to the detective, he had a variety bunch," as he called it, of keys, and his tiny pocket case of minute files, jemmy, and so forth, like any housekreaker, and a small key was soon found and fitted to the look. That's you, my friend," remarked Fred, men- tally—he never talked aloud, always a foolish habit by the way—"now, what have you to tell me, I wonder?" Under the lower lid only a supply of writing material, but the upper part looked more hopeful. Evidently poor young Fabian had been as appall- ingly tidy and methodical as he seemed steady in his character and mode of life. So deuoedly irreproachable," cynically thought the detective, "that there must surely have been a break out somewhere, if I oould only come upon it." Why is such desperately flawless respectability really sometimes so almost aggravating that one would like to catch it tripping ever so little ? Is it that one may not feel so wicked by comparison ? Rochefnucould says that we secretly rejoice in the misfortunes of our friends, and I am afraid that the cynicism is not without some leaven of truth in it. There was a neat packet of shorthand notes of law lectures, each dated and endorsed in longhand, an account book in which were entered the smallest items of expenditure week by wok, fluly balanced every Saturday this included tho Inst autumn's holiday in France, and this might prove of value, since it gave Paris, at leapt, as headquarters during the fortnight between the 7th and 21st of last Sep- tember. Good said Grainger, taking possession. and here is a letter in the same aged hand—the old grandmother I do hope her address is here." The letter was only this, spelliug phonetic. DEAR GRANDSON,—My roomatiz is muoh better, so don't cum down, wich is expeusiv, Your loviug, Dean Cottage. MARY FIELD. No date, and the letter looked old, but at least here was a nearer address to piece to Mr. Dunmore's -somewhere near Manchester, and to go there would be at once the next step. Some clue might possibly be evolved from there. Then came a few papers, memoranda of studies, mostly of no importance, but when they were re- moved, behold, a little drawer under the pen-rack Fred pulled it out, and suddenly exclaimed under his breath- Whew, by Jove !—at last! In his hand lay the sole occupant of that drawer, a carte-de-visite of a girl, full length, so that the facs was very small; the whole presentment was much discoloured, and even defaced by some—doubt- less accidental—submersion of it in coffee, tea, or some other damaging liquid. But despite its being so marred, even so far as to. mab; a recognition of the original not easy, the injury cowld not obliter- ate entirely the evidence that the original musi have possessed a picturesquo beauty of form and face out of the common; the features somewhat blurred in the outlines, but there was the perfect osal of the face, the noble pose of the head covered with a mass of short curly hair; the bare rounded throat, and slight, tall figure carried with an erect, majestic ease that was striking even in this small damaged picture—an effect aided by the sweeping robes of antique fashion in which it was habited. "You come of blue blood,anyhow;" apostrophised Grainger, gazing still, with admiring eyes-what mftn would not P-11 and there is a foreign look about you, too, and you would do for-well, anything artistic, who or whatsoever you may be my beauty, only that poor murdered fellow has lifted his eyes deucedly above his birth and position, if passion and jealousy on your Bccount is beneath this mystery,as I suspect it may turn out "-he turned the photo. "Yes, a foreign photo, but, confound it, the photographer's name is illegible." et Cie, Paris," was all left readable. Who was this young and handsome woman? And was it for her sake that Fabian had been "down- like, sir, after he came back last September," as Mrs. Kent had said ? And that foreigner I missed overtaking this morning," muttered Grainger, vexedly. "He may be-by heaven I must find out both those two, that's flat. I'll go to Manchester to-night, and when I return, review my chances, as usual." He carefully put his treasures into his own pocket-book, re-locked the desk, and called in the landlady. How was it," he said, with deliberate abrupt- ness, that you did not miss Fabiau on Saturday, and make enquiries P "Why, sir, because I thought that it was only just as it was once before, last June, when he went quite unexpected to spend till Monday morning with a fellow law student who lived at home in Surrey. My gentleman had given a note to me to the office- boy, and he'd forget to post it. So I thought this was the same, only that Mr. Fabian knew I should think so, and hadn't written. That's all, sir, but if he hadn't come home to-night I should have gone to the police station in a fright." I see. Who is this law student?" I don't know at all, sir; only an acquaintance in town. No one at No. 5 anyhow, because he said he'd met him at law lectures." Clearly the woman knew no more, and Grainger departed tolerably well satisfied with the results of his search. The inquest on the body of Charles Fabian was held the next day, but it only deepened the mys- tery, and therefore increased public interest and excitement in proportion for the enquiry showed so strongly the entire absence of all (apparent) motive for the crime. Robbery certainly was not the mainspring. What then ? The vio- tiui was the most steady, inoffensive, sol- iinry of beings, giving his whole time to his work and legal studies, actuated — in fact, dominated — by the one steadfast deter- mination to qualify himself for and attain that xiajs above the humbler cluss of his birth, which a professional position offered to his laudable ambition. lie was gentle, obliging, high principled he was respected and liked by his acquaintances; he made no friends,and certainly no enemies; nor had he any sweetheart, for surely if he had Mrs. Kent must have had some idea about it. Ellen Wallis proved the discovery of the crime, and told all she knew. Inspector Long was next called, and stated what he had seen-saving, of course, the matter of the keys which Grainger had found; indeed, that ottioer's presence at all was never mentioned by either Lang or Mr. Dunmore, by agreement; and Mrs. Wallis had been in the kitohen when Fred came. Dr. Creswick's evidence was only medical. He had extracted the bullet, which was in the hands of the police. The other clerks employed at No. 5, Gauntlet Street, were called and questioned, but, all readily accounted for their time on the fatal Saturday, nor oould they throw the least light on the mystery. The one only fact which stood out in blaok and white was the murder itself. Suicide was impossible from the facts and medical evidence. The assassin hai quietly walked in from the street, gone up- stairs and fired. The time by the doctor's evi- dence, must have been about 3 p.m., and death almost immediate; it was absolutely impossible for the deceased to iiave shot himself and then dragged himself to the vault to die. Not one thing pointed the remotest suspioion against any one, and the cor. oner summed QV. in accordance with the ayid&nog, or aeatn. The veraioc was ana Only coma ue ma one thing—" Wilful murder by some person or per- sons unknown." In less than half-an-hour the result was known everywhere the evening papers with the report were bought up with avidity. It's an ill wind that blows nobody good, we know, and certainly newspapers and vendors bene- fit by a great orime, if no one else does. CHAPTER VI. KUBBRT REVELLE. "Well, young fellow, so here you are at last! was the exolamation which greeted Gaston ReveUe that afternoon as he came into his own drawing- room. He had handsome rooms in South Audley Street. iman-t expect your oia unole to Do nere, you scamp, did you? "No, indeed, Unole Hubert," said the younger man, crossing quickly to the hearth and cordially shaking hands. "You so rarely come so far, and I am seldom in. I hope you have not been here long though, nor, I see, uncared for," his bright eyes glancing at the tea equipage and evening paper by it. About twenty minutes only, and your man has looked after me as you say—a good faithful fellow that. You may give me another cup to keep you company." Gaston did the honours, wondering what the deuce had really brought the old gentleman oat from his snug house in St. John's Wood. The uuole, sipping his tea, said, touching the 4 Globe '— "I've been reading the inquest—that shocking murder you know. seen it yet ? 44 Oh, yes," with a sort of bored impatience, and heard nothing else talked of all day. It's horrible, and a mystery at present; but so are plenty other murders." 44 Yes, my dear boy, but the impudence of it! in broad day! with fifty people passing through the streets every minute. Good Heavens Who is to be safe! Couldn't have been a better choice of time and place, uncle," returned Gaston, a trifle amused and, despite some mistakes inado by the assassin, the police have got their work cut out, I reckon, unless they have any clue which hasn't come out." Certainly there is none in the ovidence. Dear me, dear me a poor harmless young fellow like that to be ao foully murdered, and, fur what I won- der, not robbery phiinly." 44 Oh, of course, there is a woman at the bottom = of it in some way," G-t»ton said, carlsssly, but with a ring of bitterness underlying it too. I'd lay a hundred to one on that, whether the feminine ele- ment be direct or indirect." You cannot think a woman did the deed itself, Gaston," exclaimed Mr. liovelle. Gaston laughed, pulled his moustache, and said coolly— "I could not think anything, having no data at all for definite opinion; no, probably the mur- durer is a man, but anything is possible in crime -that is all that one can say but there is a she as the motive power ouo way or the other- always is if a murder isn't for mere lucre or drink." "But poor Fabian seems to have been such a steady follow-fzo rrry » wi., ()h, Yee, come llOme to tea!" said Gaston, with half contemptuous irony. Too perfect foi me. I don't believe in any man being too much of a saint for some follies, at least, that's a fact." I dare swear you don't," said Mr. Revelle, pointedly, looking at his handsome heir, "I wish you had been-or wore—a trifle mote of a saint, Gaston." Gaston laughed a little, with a careless shrug, but with a keen, covert glance under his long lashes, he saw now something of the drift of the visitation, It's high time you settled down a bit, you wanr dering Bohemian," added Mr. R?velle. "You must marry." Gaston drew in a silent breath inwardly the man was startled, and there wns just 0113 secoud pause before he said, easily— 44Ob, plenty of time for that some day. I've always been Bohemian and always shall." How very marked was every dominant hue of the fine face, ns th", soft tones spoke so noncha- lantly—what a haughty glow in the dark eye; that yet had such a curious sort of desperate look is them. "You may be w1 at you please," said the uncle, quietly, "if you please me; and you will net, I think, say it is unreasonable or unnatural for a man of sixty to wish to see hi" heir at thirty married, and to one he thoroughly approves of. 1 have always been indulgent to you, you will admit, I am sure." 44 Yes, I don't deny that, but-" Ah stop a bit my dear boy interposed Mr, Revelie. and the hard lines about his mouth deep( ened. "You were scarcely eighteen when your father's death left you my ward and heir, and I had you over from abroad to adopt entirely. Of course the small family estate being entailed, must come to you whether you offend me or not, but that won't go very far with your racketty, reckless ways; indeed, I have paid your debts more than once, without any restrictive conditions, though I grant they were not so heavy as I had feared, else I might not have been so lax; but my own fortune is my own to control. Since the death of your cousin and namesake, Gaston, the whole of that under my will goes to you, as you already know but remember that a stroke of my pen can rovoke the instrument." Yes?" The stright dark brows were knitted for a moment and the lips set with a proud curve. "Well?" "But," continued Rubert Revelle, still gently, not caring to rouse the passionate, haughty spirit to antagonism; 44 I have always told you that I should never forgive you a marriage I did not approve; and now the time is come that I am auxiuu1! to see you take a suitable wife." 44 Of your choice or mine, Unole Hubert ? aaiil Gaston, drily. Of both, I hope, my lad," returned Mr. Revelle, cheerily, and I don't fancy you will par- ticularly object either to the lady to whom my wishes point." "No? Who is that then?" One whom anyone with eyes must admire, and I think that vent do from what I have seen—I mean Louise Wayland." "O-h!" Gaston leaned back with that long, deep breath was it relief, or the very reverse? and why did such a look of reckless desperation sweep like a cloud over the handsome face that his right hand shaded r Then he suddenly dropped the hand, and said abruptly— Why is she your choice, Uncle Hubert? Mr. Revelie pausod a minute, the other covertly watching him. Ho was sixty, certainly, but a fine, hale man, and in earlier years had beon good- lgokiing-nay, was so still. "Did you ever ask yourself, Gaston," he said, slowly, why I am an old bachelor—I, the elder of the three brothers, who would naturally Iron first married and begat children of my own to in- herit, instead of centring my affections and hopes in a brother's son ?" There was a p"in and regret in tone and manner which touched the young man eyes and lips soft- ened. Not definitely, I think, Uncle Hubert," he said gently. 44 I suppose, like many others, you pre- ferred freedom, or never met the woman you could love." Mr. Revello said very quietly, Yes, I did, Gaston, but-she didn't love me. And Louise is her daughter now you understand my wishes? "Yes, I understand," Gaston said very low, and getting up, walked through the room twice, deeply touched by the half appeal, but with a bitter des- perate struggle within that held him in a pitiless Bway. Presently he came back and flung himself in his chair again: he must have time to think. You scarcely know Miss Wayland he said. Pardon six or seven weeks ago she was visit- ing at the same house I was at in Lancashire, and she told me she knew you—had spent Christmastide where you were also a guest." 44 Yes, she did and she is certainly very lovely and bewitching," admitted Gaston, now quite in his usual manner, "and delightful to flirt or talk with, for she is clever; but beyond that, even if she cared for me, I don't know. What I do know, is that at present I prefer freedom, and have not the (slightest wiah to settle. Oh, thore is no entangle* ra'iit, on my honour," for his uucle had looked sharply up, nor am I in lovo with any possible or iiDDospiblo lady." ( To be continued )