the west shore. 646 harm, and will doubtless interest you; so i you wish it I will try to relate my history." We all with one voice urged hnu to proceed, and after a moment's hesitation he said: " I am not, as you might suppose, suffering the pangs of a guilty conscience, but the fearful oppression of a cruel and relentless fate. In the first place, I am not an American, as you may already have suspected; on the contrary, I was born in the south of France. My father was a banker, of Jewish extraction, qnd my mother was the daughter of an English consul. Grandfather returned tn Encrland. and mv mother was then left without a single - o y relative in the country. My father, though generally of an agreeable disposition, unfortunately for us all proved to be a man of strange temper. Many years passed ere his peculiarities began to exhibit themselves. If my mother discovered them before she was successful in disguising her knowledge of them, though it is probable that thev were for the most part latent till the tide of - f fortune turned againBt him, and he suddenly beheld his wpnH.h sUnninc surelv and rapidly from his possession. . 1 I o " - He had resort to alcohol to buoy up his spirits and brace his nervous system. But this soon had no effoct, and he sought a more powerful and deadly stimulant He began to drink fihsintho. Each dav he took larger and more frequent doses, until his nerves were completely shat tered by the seductive and extraordinary liquor. From opulence we sank to the very threshold ot poverty Hnnnilv we succeeded in savins our home from the gen eral wreck, and we were not turned into the street, as seemed so probable at one time. I was by this time old enough to turn myself to account, and with the remainder of the family four brothers all older than myBelf-suo. ceedod in earning enough to supply our daily noeus. j fortunately secured a place as assistant in the post office two of my brothers already had employment in a bank, another had just finished a course in pharmacy and com nnmulml urnscrintions at an apothecary's, while the oldest was private clerk to a wealthy wine merchant We miirht hiivn nlitninfld monev bv selling some of our furni- ture, much of which was of curious workmanship and prnnt antinnitv. but nothinK short of actual starvation would have induced us to part with it Among other rare articles we possessed a complicated and elaborately constructed musical clock. The devil himself must have designed the infernal thing. It had been made socially for one of my father's remote ancestors, a vicioUB and cruel old duke, by a celebrated clockmaker of that ierixl, who was said to be also an alchemist ami magicum ti He must have been Satan himself It was always supposed that this man had invested the clock with strange powers anil probities, du wo . nAVBr nr. tl. lw.mnninff of our misfortunes remarked in it onvtni mil of the ordinary. There were vague " traditions that had been handed down with it from gen eration to generation. Chief among them was one that hinted that the time-stained dial had looked down on several deeds of darkness. These in some mysterious way it possessed the power of recording, and. if one held the secret he might have them pictured before him; in fact he could hrina ut in a sort of panorama all that had ever passud at nay time in fiuiil of the uml. Vi'o did lint believe any of those things; if we had we might have rid ourselves of the dialxmeal machine and our lanuly his tory might have run differently. Hut tho mysteries of .... a.. 1 the future are soaleil to us, and we continued to regard the old clock with that reverence and affection winch one always has for things of that Bort that havo been handed down from father to son for many generations. The Mock was an exceptionally lariro one so large, indeed, that a person of average height could easily enter the case and close himself in behind tho massive curved door. Once, when a lad of goodly size, I happened to be left alone in my father's bedroom where the clock always stotxl, and I was suddenly seized with an uncontroiiahio desire to entor the case m search ot tho secret springs which I imaginod must exist thero. I Ixildly opened tho door, and hod almost closed myself in, when I folt a dreadful pricking Bonsutiou all over my lody. This pricking sonsation grew each moment more intense, ami I was oppressed by a feeling of lamtnoss and heat. 1 wos also horrified to discover that tho ticking had stopped Much frightened, I hastened to get out, and tho instant I did so tho pricking sensation disapioarod and tho ondu lum resumed its monotonous swing. My nroin rociou and I was glad to make my escapo from tho room. I never darod to rejieat the experiment I knew if I were discovered tampering with tho clock my father would bo very angry, and his anger was a thing u m uromiou, as the caravan dreads the simoon. " My father at length legan to havo occasional attacks of a ioculiar and violent delirium, and during these at tacks ho was extromely unmanageable, though ho showed ii t ... ..i ! . .... no inclination to do any one bodily narm. nomiuiiii, however, ho injured himself moro or less, ami wo con- sidored tho feasibility of placing him under somo sort oi constant surveillanco, but my mother thought it best to permit him, at least for a timo longer, his full liberty. Ono morning, however, ho was discovered insensible in his lied, and my mother was nowhere to 1 found. A window which opned into the Ramon uomwmg wi river wbb ajar; clothing, jowels and articles of furniture were Btrewn alxmt tho Bpartment Hi wild ouniiuion. un my father's brow was a frightful gash which had bind profusely, dyeing tho bed ami carets crimson. There had evidently lieen a commotion and n struggle; but as all tho walls of tho old house were exceptionally thick. not a soul had hoard a sound Wo soon am my nmmr insonsiblo form could l removod to another room a search was instituted for my mother. All the clU and every place where she could xsibly havo limn concealed were carefully examined, but with no success. Wo were alxiut to conclude that she had lnwn carried off by brig and, wlmn I Implied to notice that tho old clock had stopiied, and rememlering my old experience wi rushed to it and tore ojion tho locked door. Thero before mo, insensible and apparently lifeless, lay the form of my poor mother. We tenderly took her out, but all