Something out of the goodly past, some
vague touch of decency belonging to the
days when he was young and happy, and
when honor was still a word to which he
dung with all his might, renders this
INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF MONEY
coarse epithet, as applied to the pretty or
phans committed to his care, insupport
LOST BY THE WORKING CLASSES.
able.
"Yon hardly remember, perhaps, that
you are speaking of my nieces,” he says
Aii Interview With George V. tiammoad,
with an angry frown.
of T hcoiiih , W hh I i , a Man Whe
“Holty toity! None of your airs with
Talk* front Ftpcrieiine.
me,” says she, sternly. She advances a
The money l<>Ht annually by skilled
step nearer to him. "Remember, Dysart, "DRAGON OF THE EVERGLADES." FROM A SKETCH BY AN INDIAN.
workmen of all occupations figures up
that I can either make or mar you. 1,
c—v N enormous reptile, more like the mythical dragon than a land serpent, to millions of dollars and is becoming
and I only.”
/A\ has been killed by a hunter in the lower Everglades. For 100 years it greater every year.
"I would I were sure of that,” says he,
This amount of
moodily. "But— Have you forgottes ¿TZN has not only been a tradition among the Seminole Indians, who live in money represents mainly time lost aud
the
Florida
everglades,
that
an
immense
serpent
made
it»
home
in
that
region,
Sedley? He knew.”
the serious effect upon the social com
“Fish! He’s dead; let him rest. What anil they affirm that two Indians had been carried off by the monster.
fort of the workingmen and their fam
Recently
Buster
Ferrel,
one
of
the
boldest
and
most
noted
hunter«
at
Okocho-
a one you ure to worrit! Twenty years
ilies is evident. Mr. George V. Ham
and more, and no sign of him, and 1 ask bee, who for twenty years has made the border of the lake and the everglades his
mond, of Tacoma, Wash., said the
you was he the one to remain quiet, if he home, on one of his periodical expeditions into one of these lonesome wilds
saw a way to forcing a sovereign out of noted what he supposed to be the pathway of an immense alligator, l'or sev other day:
“I have lost my share of time but I
eral d.ys he visited the locality for the purpose of killing the saurian, but was
you ?”
am thankful to sav that I have not been
“True, true,” says Dysart, eagerly unsuccessful in finding him.
catching at this suggestion. "And yet I
Finally he decided to take a stand in a large cypress tree and await the losing any of late."
would give much to know that he was in coming of the alligator, taking provisions to last him several days.
“You don’t look as if you had lost
the grave.”
For two days he stood on watch, with his rifle ready, but without the desired
much through sickness.”
"Ay, and I in mine! I know you,” success. He was becoming discouraged, but determined to give one more day
But the
“No, and I don't feel 80.
says she, with an evil look. “You fear to the effort. On the third day. before he had been on his perch an hour, he was tact remains that I was a very sick
me.”
almost paralyzed by what looked to him like an immense serpent gliding along
in 1889 and
“I fear nothing,” says he, coldly.
the supposed alligator track. He estimated it to be anywhere from twenty to man. 1 took cold along
“What,” says she, slowly, regarding thirty feet long and fully ten to twelve inches In diameter where the head joined rheumatism settled in my arm» and
The snrke shoulders. 1 suffered for three years
him closely; "not even that your son the body and as large around as a barrel ten feet farther back.
should know?”
stopped within easy reach of his gun and raised its head to take a precautionary and nothing relieved me untill ill April,
1892, upon the recommendation of my
She pause«, pleased with her work. All view of its surrounding*. As it did Ferrel opened fire on it. shooting at its bead.
at once, as it were, on hearing this ques Taken by surprise, the serpent dashed into the marsh at railroad speed, while sister, I began the use of Dr. Williams'
tion, the old man quails before her like a Ferrel kept up fire on it until he had emptied the magazine of his rifle, but failed Pink Pills for Pale People and found
beaten hound. The life goes out of him, to stop it.
relief in the second box. I took five
he seems to shrink into himself, and puts
About four days- afterward he ventured back into the neighborhood to see boxes in all and now am entirely cured
out his hands as though to waid off some bow things were, and about a mile from where he first saw the snake he saw and have had no occasion to use them
fatal blow.
a large flock of buzzards and went to see what they were after, and there he
“Not that. Anything but that,” be found the creature dead and its body so badly torn by the buzzard» that it was ' since.”
Mr. Hammond resides at No. 610
mutters, feebly.
impossible to save the skin. He however, secured its head and has it now in
“Well, don’t drive me to it,” says she, his home on the Kissimmee river. It is truly a ftightful looking object, fully ten N. Steele street, Tacoma, Wash., and
at the request of the reporter made affi
sulkily.
inches from jaw to jay. with ugly, razorlike teeth.
davit to bis above statement before
"Remember, it was for him I did it,”
cries he, sharply. “After all my love, my
James H. Dege, a notary public, os
main in school, because we are an edu July 5, 1901.
AMERICAN SCHOOLS EXCEL.
care, my secrecy, to have it now laid bare
to him! I tell you”—his fingers working Chicago Professor Gives Particulars o cated people, while In Europe no com
There is a popular idea that rheuma
convulsively—“rather than that he should
mon boys attend the secondary schools. tism is caused by exposure to cold and
Deficiency in European Schools.
know, it seems to me that it would be a
The American schoolboy is two inches Only those who are in training for pro that some localities are infected with
sweet and simple thing to murder him
taller
than the average European fessional careers and who are supposed it more than others. Such conditions
who would betray me."
schoolboy
of a like age. writes Prof. to be specially well endowed mentally ’ frequently promote the development of
“I’m not going to betray you,” says
Watt,
of
Chicago.
1 am positive of this enter those schools at all. Again, the the disease, but, from the fact that
she. “And as tor saying 'twas for him
declaration after a tour of inspection matter of fitting a pupil so that he is rheumatism runs in certain families,
you did it, why----- ”
"For him. For his sake only.”
of the various schools of Europe, anil able to step into an office as soon as he it is shown to be heriditary and, con
"Partly, I think,” says she, dryly.
1 place the usefulness of the instruction is out of the high school is not consider sequently a disease of the blood.
“Entirely; altogether. What other crea imparted, from an educational and a cd abroad as It is here. Little or no at
Frequently an individual, in whose
ture had I to love me—to love?
His hygienic point of view, as follows: tention is devoted to what we call com family rheumatism has not occurred,
mother, as you know, hated me; and I First, the United States; second, Eng mercial training, such as shorthand, develops the disease, and when a diag
when she died I was glad,” says he,
land: third. Germany, closely followed typewriting and commercial law. This nosis of the case is made, it is general
crushing his fingers together.
instruction is only obtained by a Euro iy found that the ailment is due to a
I
“Yet the deed was scarcely necessary by France and Russia.
derangement of the blood.
There is a great difference In the pean student in a college course.
if done for him,” says Grunch, holding
The same openness of mind so notice
External applications may afford tem-
her ground. "That old aunt ot his—t'he school systems, but in two ways is this
mother’s sister—put want out of the ques more noticeable, viz., inspection of able in the American youth is totally oorary relief, but to cure the disease it
tion for him.”
school work and its results. The system lacking In the foreign student, and lie is is necessary to treat it through the
“I knew nothing of her desire to make of Inspection abroad has been develop teld to the facts in his books until he blood.
him her heir—then.”
Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale
ed to such an extent that It is more of has no breadth of range. He spends
“You know it now, anyway,” says she, a science than an ordinary routine, as much less time In the open air and People go directly to the seat of the dis
with a nasty sneer. "And it is never too
takes less exhilarating exercise than order, pruifying and enriching the
late to mend—to find by accident that •n this country. The luspector spends
at least a day a month in each room, our boys. Add to this the scientific ven blood by eliminating poisonous ele
paper you have just locked up."
giving
"I have thought of it,” says he, with making copious notes of both teachers’ tilation of our classrooms, the dash of ments and renewing health
lowered brow and eye« bent upon the and pupils’ work, criticising in open our methods, shorter hours of Instruc forces. They are a positive specific
ground, “dreamed of it; and all my class the deficient studies and com tion. more cheerful methods, periods of not only for rheumatism, but for such
relaxation more frequent, and it Is no diseases as locomotor ataxia, partial
dreaming has but convinced me that mending those that are satisfactory.
things had better stay as they now are.
I am willing to concede that it is pos wonder our boys grow two inches taller paralysis, St. Vitus dance, sciatica, neu
Into what better hands could they huve sible to be more definite abroad than than the foreign boys when taken age ralgia, rheumatism, nervous headache
fallen? Who would have husbanded it at home, owing to more specific aims in for age.
the aftereffects of grip or fevers, and of
all like me? You know the care, the
other acute diseases, palpitation of the
trouble, the sleepless days and nights 1
heart, pale and sallow complexions and
have devoted to the management of—of
all forms of weakness, either in male or
it. You know whether it has ever been
female. Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for
a joy to me—rather a grief, a wearying of
Pale People are sold by all dealers or
the flesh, a curse!” The word comes from
will be sent postpaid on receipt of
between his lips with a little hissing
sound. “But it is all for him, for him,"
price, fifty cents a box; six boxes, two
he says, in a dying tone.
dollars and fifty cents, by addresisng
With refWless, feeble steps he begins to
Dr. Williams Medicine Company,
pace the room.
Schenectady, N. Y. Be sure to get the
“He believes in me. He trusts me; he
genuine; substitutes never cured any
alone—now! But if ever he were to learn
body.
the truth he would spurn m< from him.
I swear to you”—he turns aud fixes his
Indian Territory Coal Deposits.
burning eyes on hers—“I’d strangle you
Some
idea of the value of the ooal
with these hands,” holding them out be
deposits in Indian territory can be
fore her, trembling with passion, yet
gained when it is known the average
strong and lithe, "before the words could
pass your lip«."
thickness of the vein is four feet, which
“I’m not going to play traitor. I’ve
will produce 4,000 tons to the acre.
told yon that,” says she. frowning. "I’ve
These lands are leased in lots of 900
had a chance before this if I wished to do
acres each, which means that 3,500,000
it; and I'm not going to help his children.
to 4,000,000 tons can be produced by
Whatever happens.”
Her brow grows
those leasing the land. On this output
black and her eyes lighten. “May cur.«*»
the lessees pay a royalty of eight cents
AMKKICA.
FNOI.AXD.
OK11MAXY.
FRASCt.
follow him wherever he be, even through
a ton. The output during the last year
the gates of death!”
was 1,900,127, as against 1,400,441
“Amen,” says Dysart, carelessly. Then,
The American does not work a colt
the minds of both the educators and
tons the previuos year.
in a different tone: “Seaton is coming
before
he
has
grown,
and
it
is
on
this
j
text-book
writers.
Text
books
are
rare-
home to-morrow."
And They Marveled.
“You have a design," says she, fixing I ly changed abroad, and a student is idea that our educators refrain from
her sharp eyes on him with a searching I taught rather to grasp and retain de putting our students to the severest
“And what are you making?” w»
I tailed information than look for It in mental test. We do not ask how much asked of the Intelligent Arisan, as w»
regard.
“Trite; and I think well of mentioning himself. Blinders, as it were, are can possibly be accomplished by a j admired the play of his brawny mus
it to you,” sa.vs Dysart, slowly. "After placed on Ills eyes, so that he is unable child, but how much Is best for him.
cles.
long a id careful thought 1 have decided to look sidewise. Certainly these schools
The fullest answer to the whole ques
“Makin’cowcatchers for milk train«,”
on abandoning more ambitious schemes , are more advanced ill theory than ours, tion is to compare the ages of the aver
he replied without looking up from hi»
and wedding him to my elder niece,
age
college
graduate.
Ill
tills
country
it
hue we surely excel them from a practi
work.
Vera.”
cal side. We aim to impart a theoreti averages about 22 years, while abroad
(To be continued.)
Whereat we passed on, marveling
cal and practical education combined, It is about 28 years, and from that we greatly at the intricacies of modern sci
and more nearly to procure the acme of see that our pupils progress slowly In ence.—Baltimore American.
Chinese Compliments.
There Is one point in which Chinese ! usefulness In after years. Then. too. the an educational line at first, but after
General Buller'» Wife.
etiquette, so often absurd. is much I natural tendeucy of the American the faculties lire thoroughly developed
more sensible than ottrs. That is in ita youth to apply knowledge ns soon as a very rapid advance is made, and we
Lady Audrey Buller, the wife of Gen.
failure to regard the Imputation of ma acquired is a superiority that greatly aim as nearly as possible to devolep the Sir Redvers Buller, is the daughter of
ture age ns a discredit to either man or aids the teacher to attain results, Prob mental and physical natures of the stu the fourth marquis of Townsend, and
woman, or, on the other hand, the im ably. and most likely, the lack of the dent at the same time. The success of was the widow of the Hon. G. T. How
putation of youthfulness as a compli foreign student of this essential is on tills plan. I think, is evident from the ard when the famous general won her
ment to persons of either sex. An ex account of the system of supervision number of young men at the head of hand. She is an exceedingly popular
ample of Chinese politeness, connected and restriction that obtain abroad. It is the many large industrial establish woman.
with the visit of the Prince and Prin almost a crime for a junior clerk to sug ments successfully competing with the
Earl Cadogan'» Immente Estate.
cess Henry of Prussia to Shanghai, If gest an Improvement to the manager, product of tlie world iu every line.
Some idea of Earl Cadogan’s wealth
amusing, as It reflects on our own false of a corporation and likewise It is con -
A Question of Need.
may be gathered from the fact that
notion of the complimentary in such sidereil very bad for a student to ad- [
“
What
have you done with all the some 13 or 14 years ago he expended a
i
vauce
any
ideas
in
class.
matters.
Any one of the foreign schools is bet money I gave you for campaign pur quarter million pounds on the purchase
TheGerman prince and princess were
poses?" asked Senator Sorghum.
of the Culford estate, in Suffolk, and
visiting a notable mandarin, one of ter equipped, more expensive to main
"I have put It where it was ueeded." j the rebuilding of the hones.
Shortly
tain
and
better
fitted
to
exert
an
Infiu-
{
whose first questions to the prince—
after this he presented an extensive site
this being an invariable matter of Chi ence in the student body than ours, but answered the agent.
the medieval practice of restrictions' "That's what 1 thought." was the dis in Chelsea, known as Blocklands, to the
nese politenesw was:
1 places them beyond the pale of our consolate answer. "Before 1 can rely Guinness trust, for the erection of
"How old nre you?”
workmen’s dwellings. It is probable
“A little more than thirty-six,” an work. Omitting the English schools. on getting It all placed I suppose I ve
a".y one of the others has a distinct ad got to wait until you get more than you that during the next few years his
swered the prince, smiling.
| wealth will be doubled.
"Indeed!” said the mandarin. "Your vantage over our schools from tlie fact need."—Washington Star.
that
reading
and
s|>elling
are
mastered
highness appears fifty."
Wind Up of Mourning Period.
She Wouldn't-
itl three years, because words are
The mandarin then turned to the In
"Be mine!" he cried.
The year’s court mourning for ths
spelled as spoken. Many of our pupil»
terpreter- Herr Voight, a German—
But she wouldn't, for she wns an heir late Queen Victoria will come to an
are unable to read English after ten
and inquired the princess’ age. She an
years' steady application. Arithmetic is ess aud knew that be looked upon her end on January 22. If the opening of
swered, "Thirty-two." The Interpreter much easier abroad, because the tables as a g"ld "mine.”—Philadelphia Bulle parliament should take place, as is ex
interpreted, and the mandarin made a are founded on the decimal system, like tin.
pected. on the following day, it will bo
__________ ___________
remark in Chinese evidently Intended our money, and require very little mem- I
the first full state cercmoniial function
Every
time
a
girl
fail»
to
get
a
letter
to be complimentary. The Interpreter prizing. It is conceded that a boy com
of the new reign. On the owning day
blushed uneasily, and hesitated to Ing out of the preparatory school on from her steady she looks upon the : of the season the king will be accom
translate the remark. The prince saw the continent Is about two years ahead mail carrier with suspicion, and. rather panied by the queen anil by all th*
the difficulty, aud laughingly com of our boy of the same age who Is grad ! tliau think the steady lias grown cold memlier« of the royal family wh* mag
she concludes the mail carrier ba- lie then in England.
manded:
Hating from our high school
While
stolen
the letter.
"Out with It Voight!"
I this is true, our boy has done at least
H«» Voted Many Years.
“He says." the Interpreter then trans three years more work In mastering the
If you do not receive a bottle of elder
lated to the princess, "that your high reading, spelling and grammar of our berry wine occasionally us a present
John Strunk, rd Stroudsburg, Pa.,
ness looks like sixty!"
dltticnlt language with its barlMrous you have uo friends who are really old 93 year« old. failed to vote at the faH
11c had meant It well, and of course -polling and numerous Irregularities of fashioned.
election for the fir-t time since lie be
the princes» had sense enough not to grammar
came of age. and then only because his
Too many people do what the.' son wa« unable to drive with him on
take It 111.
Then, too. our high schools take In al)
should do aud thru expect credit for II ele<tion day to the polling plaie, whisk
1 he sweetest type of heaven is bo ma. clasess of boys who cau afford to re |
STRANGE SERPENT SLAIN IN EVERGLADES.
CHAPTER III.—(Continued.)
Standing upon a mound near her. she
place» her banda to her pretty mouth,
and, wilh a aimpie eloquence that cannot
be too highly commended, crie» ■'lli'.” to
him, at the top of her fresh young voice.
Whether the breeze has played traitor,
or whether the bending figure is of so
grow material as to be deaf to thia bril
liant appeal, who can say. At all events,
he never stirs or lifts himself from his
task, whatever it may be. Nothing
daunted, Griselda returns to the attack.
“Hi!" cries she again, with a sharper,
freer imtomition. And still nothing conies
of it.
The bending figure refuses to
straighten his back, and things remain as
before. It is really too bad. (Jetting
down from her mound she clambers up on
a higher bank, and once more scuds out
her voice upon the world:
“Hl, my good man!” This does it. As
if compelled to acknowled ;e this tribute
ts his virtues, “my good man" uprears
himself, looks vacantly round him—at ev
ery point but the right one first, and at
last sees Griselda. The effect produced is
not only instantaneous but marvelous.
Down goes his rod, bis cast, his choicest
fly—an admirable orange grouse—and he
comes steaming toward her at about
twenty knots an hour.
His eyes, ever since they first lighted
upon Griselda, have seemed to grow to
her, and now, as lie draws nearer, she
too sees and recognizes him. The knowl
edge thus gained so surprises her that
she very nearly falls off her high bank,
and then grows very charmingly rosy,
and as charmingly confused. It is none
•ther than the young man who had helped
to restore the carriage to its legitimate
position.
CHAPTER IV.
“It Is really you?” cries he, with unaf
fected delight, coloring warmly.
“It is you, too,” replies she, reflectively,
and as though it is a little unfair to
throw all the personalities at her.
“So it is,” says he, smiling gayly. “Yon
wanted me? I hope you bad not to call
•ften ?”
“Very often,” smiling, too, and jumping
down off her pedestal.
“I thought I
trtiould never make you hear. I>o you
know the road to Greycourt? I don't.”
“I do. It is a tedious way, and com
plicated. But if you will permit me to go
with you and show it to you. Miss Dy
sart F*
“Oh, ae. No, indeed. It is giving you
quite too much trouble, and how do you
know my name?' asks she, with a shy
glance at him from under her long lnshes.
“I asked aomelxnly in the village,” con
fesses he. honestly, “and he told me you
were Mr. Dysart's niece. You don’t mind
that, do you?"
“No. I. too, heard of you,” she says,
“but then I didn’t take for granted every
thing that was told me."
“What did you hear of me?”
“Tlurt you were a young man ‘down
front Lannon town, an' as full o' tricks as
a egg’s full o' mate,’ " replies she, de
murely, evidently quoting somebody, and
with a glance so “full o’ tricks” on her
own account that he laughs in spite of
himself.
“Wall,” says he, "I'm not from ’Lun-
non town,' certainly, and I hope I’m not
a greater wretch than my fellows. As to
nty 'tricks,' I don't believe I’ve one."
“If not from London, from where?”
“Rather close to you. My sister live«
just over the border of this county, a
matter of twenty miles or sc; and I spend
moat of my time with her.”
"It was a very good thing for my sister
and me that you came fishing." says Gri
selda; "or I suppose we should both be
now either dead or dying.” Here she
looks round her. “Have we very much
further to go?”
“About a mile.”
“I wish it was lees,” nervously. “I am
afraid Vera will be frightened at m.v long
absence, and and that my uncle will be
angry.”
“Perhaps he won’t hear of it," says Mr,
Peyton, hopefully. Griselda shake her
head.
"lie looks just like a persou who would
bear everything,” she says.
“I've heard u good deal about him off
and on. People will talk, you know, ami
—he’s eccentric, isn't he?”
"If you mean weak in mind you were
never further out in your lite," says Gri
■elda, mournfully. "lie is all mind. In
my opinion. There isn't a weak spot in
him. By the by, have you ever been to
Grejr court?"
“No. I’ve often thought I should like
to go on some Wednesday or other."
Some Wednesday! What Wednesday?
And why Wednesday? Griselda is dis
tinctly puzzled, but hardly likes to ask a
question on the subject.
"It’s a quaint old house." she says,
"and might be lovely, I think, if the trees
were cut away and some sunlight let into
it, and a little furniture. It'» empty,
positively empty.”
"Surely you forget the galleries?" says
he. "Is it indeed possible that you do
uot know that those pictures of your an-
eeotora are absolutely pricele»»?
Pur«*
Lelys ami Koellers, Gainsboroughs and
Reynolds. Why. those galleries at Grey
court. I've of eti heard my father say. are
about the finest in England. Your uncle
is good enough to open them to the pub
lic every first Wednesday in the month
at the very trill,ng charge of half a
crown."
"Why!" cries Griselda, flushing so hot
a color that the tears grow within her
eyes. "Oh. yon can't mean that.”
“Well, why not?" says the young man.
boldly, preparing with a stout courage
to defend a vile cause. "It is to improve
the tastes of the multitude that he does
It, of course. And if he chooses to repay I
himself tor the wear and tear of h a car
pets, who shall »ay be has uot common
sense on bis a.de?"
At this moment the chimneys of Grey-
court shone through the inters i<vs of the
trees on her left, and, with the know I j
e>lge that she had gained her home.
ccmio - s , ijuo, the souud of runuiug waler, |
and the thought that all through her re
turn walk through the leafy woods that
innate had rushed as a chorus to her
words.
“Ah! now I know!" cries she, stopping
abruptly, and looking full at her com
panion, who grows somewhat guilty in
appearance. ‘-‘That noise of running wat
er!—that is the river that flows beneath
Greycourt. If I had only followed it I
need not have given you all this trouble.”
“It is no trouble,” says he, plainly.
She holds out to him her hand. “Good-
by,” she says, gently.
“Oh, not good-by, I hope,” returns he.
anxiously, taking the slim little hand and
holding it as warmly as he dares, per
haps mo-re closely than he is quite aware.
“I shall see you again?”
“Oh, no. No, indeed,” softly. “You
inusi not think that. Uncle Gregory does
not permit us to know our neighbors.”
He lifts his hat and Griselda, giving
him a rather solemn little salute, turns
away from him. A second later, however,
she finds him again beside her.
"It—there is all the appearance of com
ing rain in the sky,” he says, gravely.
“Don’t you think so? I fear we shall
have a perfect storm before lo-ng. I
thought I'd tell you, so that you might
get as much good out of these woods as
possible before—the deluge. This week,
now, might be fine, but I should not an
swer for the next; and, indeed, if you will
permit me to advise you, I should recom
mend you to take a walk to-morrow. Who
shall say that rain might not fall the day
after?”
Who, indeed?
It seem« the soundest reasoning. So
Griselda, having shown herself impressed
by it, inclines her bead to him once more,
and, a turn in the path hiding him at last
from view, take« to her heel«, and hard
ly draws breath until, having found the
small iron gate that admits to the gar
den at its lowest end, she enters by it
and feels herself at last at home.
On the hull doorstep», as if lying in
wait for her, stands Mrs. Grunch, the
housekeeper.
“Dear me, miss, and so you have re
turned,” says she. “Dear! but master
will be main glad to hear of it. He was
that upset by your absence that we
daren't so much as approach him.” Gri
selda's blood grows cold. “But now he’ll
be sure to tell you himself how glad he is
to see you back safe and sound.”
CHAPTER V.
Mrs. Grunch, as Griselda left her, turn
ed aside, and with darkened brow made
for the library, Mr. Dysart's usual abid
ing place. Not finding him here, whe
hurries onward down the hall, until she
comes to a heavy curtain, once handsome,
now moth-eaten and dingy, and pushing
it aside, reveals a long flagged passage,
with a high, narrow door at the extreme
end.
Stooping as she comes to it, she peers
through the keyhole, and finding it emp
ty, tries, with a cautious, quiet grasp,
the handle of the door to find the latter
locked. Still very cautiously she allps her
hand into her pocket, draws out u key,
well oiled, and inserting it iu Lhe keyhole,
softly opens the door.
A grim smile overspreads her face as
she looks toward the further end of the
room. There, on his knees beside a cab
inet, kneels Mr. Dysart. It is o;>en, and
Mr. Dysart, in his worn and shabby old
coat, is kneeling before the secret open
ing, gloating openly upon its contents.
Piles upon piles of yellow sovereigns are
so built one on the top of the other that
they reach from one narrow resting place
to the other above, and so on. Dull, heavy
gold that scarcely glitters, save iu the
eyes ot the wretched miser lieniling over
them.
Yet it is not so much on the money ns
on a paper he holds in his hand that his
attention is concentrated. He is so bent
on the perusal of it that he hears neither
(he turn of the key m the lock nor the
woman's entrance. And now, as a mali
cious chuckle breaks from her, it so star
tles him that he springs to his feet as if
shot, and a sharp, horrid cry, that is
almost a shriek, escapes him. His face
has grown deadly white, great drops of
sweat »land out upon his brow.
“Comforting yourself with a look at it,”
says she, with a malignant leer. As she
speaks she points not at the gold, but at
the paper he has tightly clutched in his
hand.
"How did you come here, woman?" de
mands he, in a shrill tone. He is trem
bling. and with nervous fingers presses
the paper into the secret recess in the cab
inet, and shuts to the oaken woodwork.
"Why, through the door," retorts she,
sulleuly. "How else? You should reniem-
her to lock it when engaged on work like
this.”
“1 could have sworn I locked it.” says
he, still shaking. “See! here is the key
in my pocket. I tell you,” with increas
ing agitation, "I did lock it. Are you a
fiend that you can follow nie through
bolted doors?"
"llush! Don’t give way to foolish fan
cies. And after all. why nets! my com
ing fluster you? Surely,” with a mock
ing air, "your occupation was an inno
cent one; you were but refreshing your
self with a glimpse of----- ”
"Be silent, woman! Are you mad?"
cries he, lifting his arms like cue in mor
tal fear.'
"You're but a poor sort after,all." she
says, contemptuously.
"Too poor for
faith or trust of any sort. What! can
you not even believe in nie, who has
served you and yours long and faithful
for forty years? Is it likely I'd betray
you now for bis children?”
"Ay, he served you falsely once," says
Gregory Dysart, a savor of pleasure hi
his tone.
"He took my best—my life, my soul—
the heart of everything," says she, slow
ly beating one withered hand upon the
other. "Though years have rolled by I
have not forgotten; I shall not forget at j
all. When first I saw them I fvlt a«
though, if power were given me. 1 could
have blasted as they stood those iusuleut j
huas.es upstair*,”
MILLIONS A YEAR
is 14 n i.es from his h.
h
«.