Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 34, Number 12, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 April 1888 — Page 1

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VOL. XXXIV NO. 12. INDIAXAPOnS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1888. OXE DOLLAR PER YEAR.

BY - DORA RUSSELL, Anthor of "Footpkints in the Snow," "The Bkcsex Seal," "The Vicar's GovEnsrss," "Axnaijeis Rival."

Copyrighted, 1SS3. CHAPTER I. TUE MESSAGE. T came neither by the post nor the tele graph wires; it was lying 0:1 the toilettable of a handsome voting woman when she went up to dres3 for dinner, before entertaining a party of her friends and neighbors, and this strange communication concerned one of these guests. It was an ordinary enough looking letter that Leonora Stewart lifted so carelessly and opened with indifference. She thought it was some account, and yet the envelope was thicker and the writing different to what is common to tradesmen's bills. It contained only a few lines, but as Miss Stewart read these her face first flushed deeply, and then grew extremely pale. The words that caused this emotion were very brief: "H yon have any regard for your future happiness and reputation, have nothing further to do with James Biddulph." The girl read and re-read this message with a beat Rig, troubled heart. "Who could have written it? Who could dare to write it? she asked herself again and again. She thought of the people staying in the house Maud and Alice Lee; of her dead father's cousin, Mrs. Con wayHope; but they had .scarcely seen Mr. Biddulph, certainly could know nothing of bis life. Then she rang the bell sharply, and her maid appeared. 'palmer," she asked, pointing to the letter on the dressing-table, "did you put that letter there?" '"Yes. miss, 1 did," answered Palmer; "Alfred gave it to me, ami, as you were having tea, I thought I would not disturb you, so I laid it there." "Where did Alfred get it? Go down and ak him, please." Miss Stewart read the disquieting words again in the absence of her maid, and when Palnier reappeared fcho looked eager! v round. '"Well?" she asked. "Allied says, miss, that a lady rang at the hall door, and desired him to give it to you at once." "A lady? "What sort of a lady? Ask Alfred what the lady was like." In a short time 1'almer once more returned. "ile says, miss, she was quite the lady a youngish lady." "And did he know her by sight? Was she one of the people about here?" "No, miss, he says not; she spoke like a south country lady." Leonora Stewart asked no more questions. "Help me to dress, she said; "I am afraid I am late." Eut before she descended to the drawing-room to receive her guests, she carefully locked away the mysterious letter, taking care that her maid did not see where she placed it. Then (also after Palnier left the room) the went to the looking-glass and stood for a few moments examining her own face. A harylsome woman, with her white skin and dark hair and eyes, in w hich there was a certain nobleness of expression that betokened a lofty soul. There was, indeed, nothing small or mean in this young Englishwoman, who had but recently inlierited the Scottish home in which we find her. She was thedaughter and only child of the late Anthony Cust, a well-known London lawyer, and his Scotch wife, Janet Stewart; it was from her mother's relations that Leonora Stewart had come in possession of the small estate and large house of Ros-morc, which stands on the very verge of one of the most beautiful lochs in tue western Highlands. l'.ut there .was a condition attached to this bequest, which came from her late mother's brother the last owner of Rossimore. Leonora was to become a Stewart also if she inherited the old laird's scanty acres, and the girl was quite ready to do this. She knew well the beautikil änd romantic home that was to become hers; for each year, when the yellow corn was jippening on the braes, Mrs. Cust had taken her only child to visit the old house wiiere she herself had been born. And these visits had rilled Leonora's young heart with an almost passionate love for the blue lochs and wild mountains of her mother's land. Thus she became Miss Stewart of Rossmore when she was a girl of about twentytwo, and Mr. Cust had also left her a moderate fortune. She was not rich, but still verv far from poor. Her father's cousin, Mrs. Conway-Hope, a widow of small means, had proposed to live with her when she came into the Scotch property, but Ironor;i had declined. "'J shall always be pleased to see von, to stay w ith me, Cousin Margaret," the had answered, with a smile, "but as a visitor." "But the woiid, Nora; vou ought to consider the world." said Mrs. Conway-IIoi-, with much gravity, for she was disappointed at not securing a permanent home. "So I do consider it." "Then, are you not too young, dear, not to have a c'baperone constantly living under your roof ?" "I shall always have friends with me." "Yes; but mere friends are not to be depended on, Nora. I never knew, until poor Couway left me, how sad and dreary it is to have no one to love and cling to. We could be so happy together, I am sure-." Nevertheless, Leonora did not accept her relation's proposal; but Mrs. ConwayHopc waj a frequent visitor both at Kosslnore and at Leonora's small house in town. And she was staying at llossmore when Miss .Stewart received the strange message that had so greatly disturbed her. Hut Jvconora did not make a confidante of her father's cousin on the subject. And r.s she entered her drawing room to receive her expected guests, she found Mrs. ConwarHope already seated there. A gaunt, grey woman this, with a tall, shape lees form, and a manner that jarred en your nerves somewhat like p. discordant sound. "Well, dear," she. aid, rising us Leonora appeared, and looking at her scrutinizingly with her short-siuhted eyes, "and are yon ready? So you've got on your new red plush. Well, it's a handsome material, out I am afraid the color does not quite become you. It makes you look so pale." "I am sorry you don't like it, Cousin Margaret," answered Leonora, feeling as we always do when we are told that we are not looking well. 'I liku tho dress, dear, but I don't

think it suits you. No, Nora, it does not," 6he added,"with decision. Nora felt annoyed. She had particularly wished to look well this evening, and, in truth, the deep, rich hue of her pwn became admirably her fair skin and dark hair. But when we are told a thing as a fact oar minds .naturally veer toward believing that there mud be something in it; and, therefore, Mrs. Conway-IIope, having succeeded in making Nora regard her new plush with disfavor, resumed her Feat, feeling that she had made the kindest possible remarks to her young relation. But this lady had a natural aptitude to be disagreeable, and probably could not help it, for ehe esteemed herself one of the saints of earth. She also esteemed herself a master, or rather mistress, of the art of conversation, and as Nora Stewart's guests began to assemble she placed herself near first one shrinking man and then the other, and at last succeeded in driving the goodtempered, jovial-faced clergyman of the parish into a convenient corner, where she tirmly kept him until dinner was announced. Nora's party consisted almost entirely of young people. The pretty English girls Maud and Alice Lee were staying in the house, and were in love for the time being with everything Scotch, including young Malcolm Fraser, one of Nora Stewart's neighbors. This voting Highlander and his pretty sister, Minnie Frazer, were among the first to arrive. "And w here are Mr. and Mrs. Fraser?" asked Nora. "My mother sent her love," answered Minnie, whose hair was of Puch pale gold color as to look almost white, "and she could not leave my father to-night; his rheumatism is so bad." "What poor women have to come to, you see," said Maud Lee, coquettishly, to young Fraser, after hearing this explanation. As the young girl said this "Mr. Biddulph!" was announced, and a tall,graveiaced, distinguished-looking man walked rather slowly into the room; and as he did so, a brighter light sole into Nora Stewart's dark eyes, and a flush came on her fair cheeks, which had been so pale before. "I am afraid I am late," said Mr. Biddulph, courteously, as he shook bauds with his young hostess; "but the loch is so rough to-night, we had to tack a bit before we could cross." "I saw it was rough before it got dark," answered Miss Stewart. "It's very tantalizing, isn't it? I can see Possmore so plainly from ray place, and yet I have been more than half-an-hour in getting here to-night;" and he looked at his watch. "You are my nearest neighbors, as the crow flies, vou know." "I wish t w ere a crow, then ; no, I don't think I do the sable-winged bird has so manv bad qualities." "Oh, the poor crows!" laughed Leonora. "They are a noisy, quarrelsome set ; bad neighbors, to my mind bad to eat, and bad for the wheat." "I must confess I like to hear them caw, and see them veering about in their mysterious fashion among the old trees." "That is because you are 60 young and romantic," said Mr. Biddulph, smiling, and looking adrairinglyt Leonora's face with his grey eyes, in which there was much tender thought and some sadness. "And do you still like your wild eyrie up here?" he" asked. "I love llossmore I have always loved it. I used to come here, you know, when I was a little child with my mother. I remember Col. Biddulph so well, though we seldom saw him." "I scarcely knew my uncle; but he was a grim old man." "He was rather a misanthrope, was be not? Yet he must have been very kind to think of me as he did." "I lated the world and its crooked ways, or the world hated him. We are apt to become sour when we are disappointed, don't you think?" "I have not lx?en disappointed yet." "No; it's a bitter draught bitterest of all tobe disappointed in one's self." Leonora looked up with interest in Mr. Biddulph's face, but his eyes were cast down. "I intended you," said Leonora, a moment later, with that soft blush which made her so lovely, "to take mv cousin, after the Scotch fashion Mrs. Fraser of Airdlinn in to dinner this evening; but onlv the voung people are here. Therefore "" ' "Mav I take mv neighbor and hostess ?; "If you like." " "I more than like. Being the oldest man in the room, except the parson, I have been indulging in certain gruesome visions of having to escort the lady in black I forget her name whom I had the honor of sitting next the last time. I dined bee." "You mean my father's cousin, Mrs. Conway-IIope," laughed Leonora. "Well, I fully enter into your feelings. Just before vou came she threw a w hole bucket of cold water over my self-conceit; she told mo my new gown did net become me." "It would be presumption, I suppose, to say what I think of the new gown ?" "Indeed, no; my rufHed vanity wants a little smoothing down." But the implied compliment was never paid. Dinner was announced, and Leonora was forced to think of her guests. The Rev. Andrew Macdonald was carried otfin triumph by Mrs. Conway-Hope, and Malcolm Fraser was obliged to oder his arm, with a somewhat lowering brow, to one of the pretty English girls. But there was suppressed" wrath in the ybuug Highlander h blue eyes, and anger and jealosy in his heart, when he saw Nora Stewart (as the Fraser family always called her) select Mr. Biddulph to take her in todinner. In point of etiquette, Leonora was quite right, for Mr. Biddulph was the greatest stranger present ; but this did not make the matter any better to the young man who was certainly in love. Leonora was a good hostess, for a bright, clever woman ever is one. Still the unhappy Rev. Andrew Macdonald did not enjoy his dinner. He was taken to task during the soup on various occult and theoretical subjects, on which it must be admitted the poor Scotch minister was not conversant; his tormentor, for that matter, being equally at sea. But Mrs. Conway-Hope was one of those women who make a few terms try to pass for knowledge, and the Rev. Andrew had not presence 01 mind to perceive this. His roy face grew hot, his stalwart form shrank visibly away from the searching eyes fixed upon him, .as the continuous questions poured upon his unwilling ear. "Poor fellow," said Mr. Biddulph in a low tone to Ieonora, looking with sincere pity at the distressed clergyman, "I really must try to hdp him. Mrs. ConwayHope," he said, raising his voice and addressing that lady, who turned swiftly around, "what do you think of the last new materialist idea?" The conversation that followed waff satisfactory to them both. 3lrs. ConwayHope rushed excitedly into the fray, and Mr. Biddulph had the pleasure of exposing her ignorance w ithout her perceiving

it, and perhaps also of airing his own opinions; and the relief to the Scotch minister at least was great. But it was greater still when the ladies ros-3 to leave the table; tho Rev. Macdonald actually breathed a sigh. "What an extraordinary woman! he said pensively, to Mr. Ruddulph, to whom he felt verv grateful. "Truly "awful," replied Mr. Kiddulph, with a laugh. In the meanwhile Mrs. Conway-Hope was giving her opinion of the two gentlemen in tho drawing-room. "There is nothing in that poor Scotch clergyman," she said; "but Mr. Biddulph is a clever man." The "clever man," however avoided the snare she laid to entrap him again into conversation when he returned to the drawing-room. The moon had risen and was shining on the gray towers of Rossmore and the dusky steeps below. "Come out on the" terrace, Miss Stewart," he said, approaching Leonora, and feeling sure that in October Mrs. Conway-Hope must have rheumatism in soruepart of her angular form. "You love the moonlight, 1 am quite sure." "And how are you sure?" asked Leonora, smiling. "Jiv certain signs and tokens ; by that wondrous sympathy which makes some natures open to us, while others are a blank, dull page." I They went out together, and stood there in the silver darkness of the night. At first both were almost silent. The great stillness around, the weird white shadows where the moonbeams crept through the tall dark firs, the thought in their own hearts, perhaps, made their lips grow dumb. Leonora was thinking, "Shall I tell him tell him he has an enemy close at hand tryiug to do him harm?" And Mr. Biddulph was thinking, "This is the sweetest woman! If I were but free!" And he gave an impatient sigh. Leonora beard that s!gh,and glanced up at her companion's pale, grave face, on which, at this moment, a glinting moonbeam shown. But the other young people had now followed the example ot tüeir hostess, and appeared on the terrace. Malcolm i'raser was hiding his injured feelings by an animated conversation with Miss M'aud Lee, the Pev. Andrew Macdonald, in his mild way, was devoting himself to the younger "sister, and Mrs. Conway-Hope, mentally thinking how very ill-bred it was of Nora to leave her alone, had taken refuge in a novel. And while her guests are thus amusing themselves, we may as well learn something more of this James Biddulph, whom Leonora Stewart had just been so mysteriously warned not to put her trust in. Across the broad, blue waters of the loch, which laps round three sides of the hitting headland on which stands the house of Kossuiore, a grey, substantial mansion is to be seen yhichj some twentytive vears ag was builf by a certain Col. Biddulph, an Englishman, who lived and died there. A gloomy, disappointed man, who, it was said, chose this lonely but lovely spot to end his days in, far away from the Iriends of his youth and manhood. And he sought no new ones. He buried himself here alone, with his books, and perhaps vague dreams and theories, which satisfied his peculiar mind better than the passing pleasures of the world. A man must have something to hope and

live for, and may be this grim old hermit had fixed his hopes on a higher standard than those with whom he used to live. At all events, he sought no fellowship with Ids kind, and an accident only introduced him to his neighbor, Mr. Stewart of llossmore. It was in the bitter winter weather, and the loch was rough and dangerous, but this did not deter Col. Biddulph from crossing the water whenever it suited his convenience to do so. And one dark December afternoon, as he was returning to Dunbaan so his property was named a squall struck his light boat, and the old man and his boatman were in imminent danger of their lives as they struggled in the rough and icy surge. The accident was seen from the windows of Possmore, and the gallant laird lost no time in hurrying to the assistance of his ungenial neighbor. Risking his own life by doing so, Stewart had a boat launched, and, with one of his keepers, put oil' to endeavor to save the almost exhausted men in the water; and it was only after desperate elforts that they were able to do this, and Col. Biddulph was carried into the house of Possmore in an entirely unconscious condition. When ho recovered, his cold stoicism melted before the natural gratitude of his heart, and from that day Stewart of Rossuiore was a welcome guest under his roof. And occasionally, also, he would cross the loch, and talk to the laird in that hard, stern fashion of his, in which he ever put the worst coloring on the motives of his fellow men. Thus Leonora had seen Col. Biddulph, and the colonel knew it was his friend s intention to leave his ancestral acres to his sister's child. As years wore on Mr. Stewart died, and Leonora came into possession of llossmore; and a vear later, far away fron kith and kin, the stern old man who lived at Dunbaan also passed away from the world in which some blight had evidently fallen on the years of his earlier manhood. After he was gone, every one who had lived around him wondered who would be his successor. His elder brother, Gen. Biddulph, was dead also, and had left a widow, but no children. There was, a third Biddulph, a lawyer, and a shrewd, man, who had amassed a considerable fortune, and who lived stiil, and was nat-, urally supposed to be his br ther's heir. But he was not. Dunbaan and a large sum of money were left to the sou of this lawyer James Biddulph, a barrister, and a man of some thirty years; and after a little while, some two months before Leonora Stewart received the strange message about her neighbor, the new owner had come to stay at Dunbaan. He made Leonora's acquaintance by bringing over to Possmore a bequest which his uncle had left to the niece of his old friend. This bequest consisted of a valuable diamond necklace. The colonel had never been married, and Leonora's neighbors wondered where the old man had picked up this splendid heirloom, which he now had left to a stranger, probably out of gratitude to the laird. Be this as it may, the old man's gift drew the two young "people into a 6iulden intimacy. This was but natural. It was a bond between them, and between them also was a strong natural attraction. Nevertheless, w hen James Biddulph descended the steep road which led from Leonora's house, after her party was over and her guests had begun to separate, on bis way to the boat which bad to convey hiin across the loch, there was a frown on Iiis brow and an angry, dissatisfied feeling in his heart. "When a man," he was thinking, impatiently cutting at a tall bracken with his walking-slick, "has hung a rope around his neck, he may as well hang himself." There was a silver track ujxjn the waters of the loch, and tho whole scene was one

of grand and serene beauty, but James Biddulph scarcely noticed this. He was thinking of the fair woman he had left behind him, and of the light in her dark eyes as he had clasped her hand in parting. "But it cannot be, I suppose," he muttered, gloomily; 'and in no happy mood he at length reached the grey out mansion, standing amid the dark trees, that his uncle had left him. As he passed up the avenue, there glided from behind one of these trees the tigu're of a woman, whoso face was thickly veiled. This woman had watched his boat cross the silver moon-track on the loch; had watched and waited long hours to see him pass, and now slowly followed him unseen. CHAPTER IT. MRS. JOck FKASER. Mr. Biddulph was Leonora Stewart's nearest neighbor at Possmore; but from the lofty headland where she lived she also could plainlv see the Fräsers house at Airdlinn, which was situated on the same side of the loch as Dunbaan, though a considerable distance lay between them. On the morning after her "young peo

ple" had dined with Leonora, about 11 O Clock Airs, rraser 01 Ainnum emereu the breakfast-room of her house, dressed for walking, A tall woman, with rosy cheeks and light blue eyes, a full form and a stalwart step. She was dressed in homespun, and wore a black hat, and carried a stout stick, and looked strong alike in body and mind. Her husband, Jock Fraser of Airdlinn, as he was commonly called, was crouching over the fire, unhappy man! with a black woolen comforter wrapped round his head, and a racking pain in his swollen, stiffened jaws. "Jock, I am going out," began Mrs. Jock, approaching him. "I must see about getting that poor helpless woman'spigs sold, and I mean to go roundanda.sk alt the neighbors to take one." "Well, my dear," answered Jock, meekIv, lifting his brown ii d usually humorous eyes to his wife good-looking face. His expression at this moment, however, was anything but humorous; there was endurance in it, and nothing more. "And 1 think," continued Mrs. Jock, "that there would be no possible harm in mv calling on that young Mr. Biddulph. The young people met him last night at Nora Stewart's, and Minnie tells me he is a fine-looking man. I think I shall call. What do vou say, Jock?" Jock, who was past jealousy and all other feelings of humanity but his toothache, assented with a groan. "Then I shall cross the loch and go on to Nora Stewart's, and from Possmore to your brother AlicVs." "That will do no good," groaned Jock. "Well, I shall try. "You may trv;" and for the first time a grim smile stole round Mr. Fräsers lips, which, however, was instantly suppressed bv a sharp pang of agony. ""Poor old man," said Mrs. Fraser commiseratingly, and affectionately putting her husband's broad shoulders. "1 am afraid the pain is very bad." Jock found no words to reply; andMrs. Fraser having seen after his comforts (though, indeed, he found none), and alter doing even-thing she could for him for she was a good wii strode away on her errand of mercy, and tiie unhappy Jock was left by his fireside. And now let us follow Mrs. Jock, trudging along with steady, equal steps through a drizzling mist on her way to her new neighbor's at Dunbaan. The path was rough, and the air so thick with moisture that on each blade and leaf hung a trembling drop of dew, and before, around her, and behind her, all was shadowland. The mist wrapped everything as in a garment, but Mrs. Jock, nothing dismayed, walked on by the loch-side, and guided herself with unerring footsteps, until she arrived at the grey mansion (which she could not now distinctly see) where old Col. Biddulph had dwelt so long. She found her way up the avenue, through the dripping trees, and rang at the house-door lell, and asked if Mr. Bid dulph were at home. The grey-haired old man-servant, who had lived with the colonel, answered that lie was. "Can I sec him?" said Mrs. Jock, producing her card-case. "Perhaps, madam, yoa would walk this way," said the old servant; "I will tell Mr. Biddulph you have called." He ushered Mrs. Fraser into the unused drawing-room of the house. Here was a room where a lady's footstep had never fallen b'efore! A stiff, uncomfortable room, without grace or pleasantness; a room without a lire, or a flower, or a little table. Had the grim old man, who had furnished it to his taste, no memories left of the time when he must have played by his mother's knee? Or of the days'when", perhaps, he had sighed in vain at some fairer shrine? Seemingly none. Not the ghost of a woman's touch was here not the shadow of "a vanished hand." As Mrs. Fraser looked round somewhat disconsolately, the door opened, and a tall, good-looking man entered the room. "I am so sorry, Mrs. Fraser, he said, courteously, "that Donald has shown you into this miserable room. Will you come into my den, where at least 1 have a good fire?" "Have I the pleasure of speaking to Mr. Biddulph?" asked Mrs. Jock, favorably regarding her new neighbor. "Iam Mr. Biddulph," he answered, with a pleasant smile, leading the way as he sjoke to the library, where he had been sitting. This was a very comfortable room; the walls lined with books of every descrittion, from grave to gay, the curtains thick, heavy and red, the furniture massive, and a Turkey carpet on the floor. "I am'afruid the smell of smoke will annoy you," said Mr. Biddulph, as he placed a chair for his visitor. "Not in the least," answered Mrs. Jock ; "a woman who ha.s a husband and son is used to the smell of smoke; and speaking of my husband, Mr. Biddulph, reminds me to apologize to you that he has not called on you yet, but he is suffering terribly from toothache." "I am extremely sorry." "Well, the truth" is, he should have two out; but you know what men are!" Mrs. Jock said the last few words without the least semblance of coquetry, and Mr. Biddulph quickly perceived this. "You mean, he said, smiling, "that we arc an obstinate, bad-to-manage race; and I believe you are right." Mrs. Jock 6tniled also, but still without coquetry. I have come to beg," she said somew hat abruptly. Mr. Biddulph's face did not lengthen. "The truth' is," she went on, "that a ioor man about our place fell from the uiyloft läst week and broke his neck, and le has left a widow and four small children behind him, and nothing of value except five little pigs, and I am going to try to sell them among the neighbors, so as to raise a small sum for the widow." "It is very kind of you, Mrs. Fraser." "I want a pound a-piece for them; will y;m t ike one ?" "I shall be charmed to become the possessor of a little pig," auswered Mr. Bid

dulph, smiling again; "but please allow j

the value of my pig to be two pounds. "You are very good, but I won't refuse. This will help me on a good bit," added Mrs. Jock, as she placed Mr. Biddulph's two sovereigns in her substantial leather bag. "I am going next to Nora Stewart's; you dined there last night, didn't you? Mv young people told me they had met vou' "Ves; I noticed your daughter and son." "Nora Stewart is a fine girl, is she not? Her mother and my husband w ere halfcousins, so I look upon her almost as a child of my own. Do you think her handsome?'1 "I think there can be only one opinion about Miss Stewart's looks. "Yes, her mother was handsome, too. She has got an a ml old woman staying with her, and ao English girls, and I shall be obliged to ask them to dinner soon. Will vou come to meet them, Mr. Biddulph?" ' "I shall be delighted." "No time like the present, then ; let us fix a day. Can you come next Tuesday, at 7:30 sharp?" "It is very kind of you to ask me, and I shall be very pleased." "That is settled, then; and now I think I must go." "But how are you going to cross the loch?" "There will be a boat at the little pier below your house, I expect." "Take my boat, and allow me to escort you to the pier." Mrs. Jock did not refuse this oiler, and as Mr. Biddulph walked by her side she returned to the subject of her pigs. "I will send one of the men over with yours this evening," she said; and I shall see you have the best one." Biddulph laughen. "Oh, don't uiind the pig," he said; "let the four small children cat it." "That is nonsense," answered Mrs. Jock, gravely; "vou have paid for it, and you shall have it and the best, too." Again Biddulph laughed. This lady, so straightforward, so robust, greatly amused him, and he looked with a certain amount of admiration at her fresh face and clear, blue eyes, and at the fair hair touched with gray, on which the mist had left tiny drops of moisture without destroying the strong natural ripple. He ottered to escort her across the loch, but Mrs. Jock declined; but just as the boat was about to put oil', he placed something in her band. "Tins was a very sad story, yon know," he said, "about the poor fellow breaking his neck. Will you give this to the widow, without saying who sent it?" And when Mrs. Jock looked at her hand she found it contained a five-pound note." "This is soo much," she said. "Indeed, no. Good-bye. I shall see vou on Tuesday ; good-bye again until then." He assisted her into the boat and helped to push it oil", and then took oil' his cap and stood bareheaded for a moment, and Mrs. Jock, with a sigh, admitted to herself that she had never seen a handsomer man. "My poor bov won't have much chance, I am afraid, ii he goes in for Nora Stewart," thought the iond mother, "though Malcolm is a handsome lad." Meanwhile Mr. Biddulph had turned away from the little pier, and walked slowly home through the mist, thinking of Nora Stewart as he went. As he passed up the avenue, something white caught his eye on the trunk of one of the trees, and Mr. Biddulph frowned when he saw it was some name or words freshly cut in the bark. He thought some of the servants or some passer-by had done this, and he went out of his way a few steps more closely to examine "the injury done to his tree. When he was quite near to it, he stood as if transfixed, and his face grew deadly pale. There, staring at him on the freshlv cut bark, was a name he hated to think oi, still more to see a name that no one knew here ; that he had tried to forget, and tried in vain. "NATALIE, C O M M O X L Y NATT." The words stood out distinct and clear. Mr. Biddulph rubbed his eyes; then felt the letters with his trembling hand. But there was no mistake. Some one must have done this he told himself, with parched, pale lips some one who knew the secret of his life. (Continued next week.) DEATH OF JOHN BARING. IlU.ory of the Famous l'iunncial and Com merclal House of liariag Bros, Loudon. London, April 17. Mr. John Baring, the banker, is dead: John Baring was a member of the firm of Baring Brothers & Co., oue of the greatest financial and commercial house in the world. The father of its founder was John Ha ring, a German cloth manufacturer who started a small business at Larkhear, near Exeter, England, early in the eighteenth century. Tiro ot his sons established the now existing house in London in 1770. Sir Francis, one of the founders, was reckoned one of the first merchants in Kurope, and at the time of his death had amassed a tortune of nearly 7,M,0iX). Sir Thomas Baring, son of Sir Francis, succeeded his father in the baronetcy. He took no active part in the business of the tinn, being chiefly remarkable as an admirer and eneourager of art. His mnunilicent collection of paintings w 1 1 dispersed by public sale niter his death in IMS. sjir Francis Thornbull Baring, the wn of Sir Thomas, represented Portsmouth from 18l!ö until lSlxi. Under successive whig governnients he was lord of the treasury, secretary of the treasury, chancellor of the exchequer and first lord ot the admiralty. He was more noted for business aptitude than for politics. His son, Thomas George Baring, the second Lord Northbrook, filled many prominent positions in tho English (roverment. Thomas Baring brother of the first Lord Northbrook, devoted himself early to commercial pursuits. He was much more widely known ms a partner of the firm of Baring Brothers than us a politician. In 1SS5 the head of the firm, Kdward Charles Baring, was raised to the peerage as Baron Itenelstoke. The tirm is engaged to a large extent in the negotiation of national loans, in exchange and money broking, in the produce trade, home and colonial,and in importation and exportation from and to foreign countries. The Lonistann Election. New Orleans, April 17. Reports from various points in the state show that to-day's election passed quietly. Although nothing definite can be known until to-morrow, it is generally believed that the democratic ticket is successful. The ballot was free in every precinct and in many instances republicans voted the democratic ticket as a protest against the machine of 7li which forced the present state ticket on the party. There has been much scratching, and the count is necessarily slow. It is reported from many points that the democratic majority will be the largest in vears. 1 A. M. The indications are that N'icholla is elected governor by a majority of 20,000. Specials give the following democratic majorities iu the parishes named, and estimated from partial returns: Concord, 2,000: East Feliciana, i!,oo(; Bunville, 2,(nu- Vermillion, X; Iberia, ;i0;Ouachita, 3,(o0 (very lew votes were cast for YVarmouth); Madison, 1,500; Cuddo, 3,0u0. Judge Wood Not Mentioned. New Castle Democrat. We do not hear the name of Judge Woods of the district court of Indiana mentioned 11 a suitable person to take the place of the U te Justice Waitc

THE BEST DRESSED WOMAN.

HELEN CAMPBELL ANALYZES HER. Isthe Average Woman Overdressed? The American Wo in an the Best Dressed lu the World Common Sene in l'eiui nine Apparel Proposed lttfoi ius. Copyrighted 1S33. "7"MIE woman of eociety ucrnonstrr.tcs a with fury that, as a rule, ehe j I has nothing to wear, and that if, fi at the moment of speaking, a few rags not quite unworthy of consideration may be found ia her wardrobe, it, is a mere accident, life as a whole resolving it$elf into a han.d-Lo-h.antl conllict with dressmakers, who always provide the wrong thing. The reformer, armed with her divided skirt and its accompanying necessities, waves them wildly in the face of society, affirming that till woman has accepted these garments as the only solution of the dress problem, the only road to the higher moralities, there can be no salvation. Between these two extremes marches the great army of the middle classes, an army made up of the 'average woman," whose title has become the synonym for the worst-abused class in America. The fashionable woman linds absolution because she has money and forms part of the spectacular life. The ardent reformer is forgiven a little overimpetuosity, because it is at least amusing, and we must make the most of such amusement as is left for a weary generation. The average woman comes under neither head. he is simply the embodiment of original sin, responsible directly or indirectly for all evils of church or state; preached at, and to and for, till if she followed one hundredth part oi the precepts laid down for her guidance not one short life, nor ten, wouia butliee for the undertaking. Yet even now she cannot be spared, and it is in the house of her own tamiliar friend that the new blow is struck, and her defender and advocate asks and must answer, "Is the average woman overdressed ?" It is to this form that the question comes at last. For it is im;ossibie to deny that the fashionable woman sins beyond redemption on this score; as impossible as it is to a türm that the energetic reformer can over be counted as one of the oiiendcrs, and thus once more the burden rests on shoulders well accustomed to such load, and it is the patient, long-su tiering, most teachable, most enduring, average woman who must serve at an illustration and ati'ord such reply as can be drawn from the facts betöre one's eyes. What are the essentials of dress? The question began with time, yet the answer, trom the Greeks down, remains the same beauty, comfort, suitability, "o . dress that fails to unite these tnree can be counted as fulfilling the mission of dress, and no woman who has not studied in minutest detail each one, her mission as a woman. Beauty leads by di nne right, and will lead, no mutter what batteries are broigut against it; but one must first learn what constitutes beauty. In these borderlands one restricted to reply in fixed lines cannot wander. But when one seeks to understand what overdressing may mean, a certain necessity arises lor palpable measurements, and these are given when the three requisites of any dress are laid down. It is because the love of beauty is inherent in all humanity that instant protest is made when angles are offered us in place of curves, and all liowing lines and grace of drapery denied. The fashion piates may seem to hold denial of this statement, but the fashion plates are happily not the sum of growth in this knowledge of beauty. We are learning it in spite of fashion plates, and gradually evolving the costume that, with slight mcKlitications, is likely to hold its gruund, this being no fixed" and unchanging form, but a combintion best adapted to the wearer's sense of what is most fitting. Women have learned to study their own figures and their own coloring; to settle definitely on what harmonizes and best emphasizes both ; and thus it has come to pass that the American woman is now, if high authority may be trusted, the best-dressed woman In the world. Her skirts may Etill be teo heavy, her waist too small, her sleeves too tight, but this is the tyranny of a fashion from which she more and more emancipates herself as time goes on. The day will come when every child will be taught the laws of form" and color in their dress, and any violation be held as an oli'ense against society to be instantly frowned down. When that day comes, the three essentials we have specified w ill enter into every dross. It is equally certain that for man' that day is already here. Common sense is one potion of the average American woman's inheritance. It may be seriously overlaid with prejudices-, it may be hampered in its action by fear of Mrs. Grundy, yet every community has to-day its representative women, leading more and more io their train, and calmly ignoring the merely conventional. These women are not overdressed, whateverglory of color and richness of material may enter in into the composition of their costumes, for with them it is no question of something to be worn twice or thrice and then turned over to the dealer in second-hand garments. It is only for evening festivity or gay lunch or afternoon, tea that any deviation from an almost fixed uniform is allowed, and here the very woman pronounced overdressed mav have worn the same costume, with slightest variations, two, three nay, even half a dozen years. Tailor-made gowns have brought about the revolution sighed for many years ago by sensible women, and it is "only here and there that one sees silks and velvets on the street, their appearance there indicating that the wearer is either underbred and ignorant, or is wearing out her old dresses preparatory to coming into her real kingdom and tasting the delights of a simple, compact, well-made suit. The ehopgirl, whofollowsalwaysclose behind, is learning this, and chooses now a suit of cheap material, because nothing but cheapness is possible for her, but modelled on the severe simplicity she sees in the dress of her best customers. English fashions may have led us astray at times, but we owe to them certain emancipations that coultj hardly have come in any other May. tsensible women had long ago adopted many of them, but fashionable women, some of whom are not sensible, could never have been brought to low heels and thick boots and piain gowns, and simply dressed hair if it had not beeu "so English, vou know." Simplicity is the last possession earned by humanity. Only the highest order own it, for imitation is not ownership, and for many who have adopted a simple fashion because it is English, there is no real inward acceptance of simplicity, and there will be immediate reverence to. old tendencies if the pressure is removed. Yet

one and all, if closj pressed, will admit the disabilities of 'much that they call beautiful, au I prfe&s readiness for anything demonstrably better. Tue reformed costume has failed to make its way into popular favor; such, costume at any rate a emanates from Lady HabbcTtun and other inventors of the same order. It is impossible for tho uutet ardent advocak-s of reform to demenstrate tiiat beauty dwells in any of these. It was my fortune to meet at a scientific convention an English enthusiast who wore the divided sknt. She was t'nn and fair and big, with the deepchct voi.eoithe heaitliy Engii h woman and tiie calmest defiance of any law of beauty or proportion. Her dress was a gray poptin bag, separating below, with a rutÜe around tue bottom, and a mere line of white appearing above the neck-band. It may have been comfortable, but it was also hideous, and no woman with any real sense of what beauty means wouid have tolerated it, even as a sick-garment From the fashion precisely as it stands to-day any woman can plan for herself a costume easy, comfortable, and most certainly graceful and becoming. The short skirt Ciears the ground well, and is thus neither worn nor soiled. The dress is often a pryicess, raade in one piece, and thus easily adjusted. The shoes are low-heeleI and broad; the stockings black or dark. With half fitting jacket of long cloak perfect ease and looseness are Ixjth possiule, and sleeves may be as one will. Woman's dress has never, in modern times, been more really what it should be in all its outward e'xpression and adaptation to modern needs. It remains to banish all bands and ligatures; secure even layers for the whole body ; abolish hideous steel bunches, and support the dress so far as it needs support bv perhaps a flounced back to the underskirt, and behold the modern woman emancipated, yet not a terror. This lor street and ordinary house-dress, the quality of the material used being dependent on the purse of the buyer. Tor evening there is a greater latitude, and nothing could well be more graceful cr more intrinsically beautiful than many of the costumes worn, whether by matron cr maid. The material is often "of the simplest nun's veiling or soft cashmere for the elder wearers, and muslins dotted or embroidcrid for the younger ones; but the ell'ect produced by .-uitable combinations is leyond any to be secured by mere blind expenditure fur the costliest thing. It has also been demonstrated that a drew may be so constructed as to remain beautiful even when juite apart from any existing fashion, and many women with very limited means but keen aitistie sense are proving this, and apjearing through an 1 ntire season or more in what is called "society" in the same dress modelled alter some favorite painter's costume, and insuring always an instant tribute of admiration. The farmer's wife or daughter, the busy wotuan everywhere, with whom there is little leisure and iess opportunity for planning or wearing beautiful costumes, can still take refuge in one phase of the beautiful, choosing color and material that Will unite becominness and utility. Doli g this, she, too, will escape the charge of overdressing, brought against us bv ha-ty travelers through the country, for the majority of sensible women and their name is legion live below rather than a ove their opportunities and, indeed, their duty in the matter. Thev are under rather than overdressed, and "have much to learn before the laws of dress are made plain. Helen Campbell. CHURCHMEN EXCITED.

The Union Question Catmet a llubbub la the t.iiirngo Presbytery. Chicago, April 17. The annual meeting of the Chicago presbytery began yesterday. The wo.-t imjortant feature cf the day was the introduction of a resolution on the uniou of the Northern and Southern churches bv the IJev.Dr. Ilerrick Johnson of the theological wminary. Among other things the resolution save: We cannot consent to the establishment of a scpanite African presby Urian church or to any provisional arrangement looking forward to ihe organization of a separate African presbyteriau church. We are willing to consent to an arrangement, in the interests solely of praetical etiicieney, hy which the present boundaries and constituencies of presbyteries ami synods in the Ninth shall remain iu statu quo, provided this shall lie the unconstrained preference of both parlies interested, explicitly expressed by the several presbyteries, and provided it bear future adjustments according t ) pre-bytcria'i preferences, subject always, A3 heretofore, to the j:ets of the general assembly. If there is a sutiicient uuml-er of ministers and churcli's to form a eoioreJ presbytery in any locality already covered Ly a synod, such presbytery may be formed if tluse on the ground desire it, but such presbytery s!:a!l remain in the same synod, unless there bea tynoJ of our colored Christian brethren near eimn.'h to which the prc-sbytery aks to be attached. The reading of the resolution created a profound sensation. A hot discission followed. Dr. Gray protested against it as reviving the old issues of a bloody war. lr. Withrow considered the introduction of a color line in religion abhorrent, but if thev insisted on coalescing all synods and presbyteries embrace I, he thought the reunion project would f til. To- lav thr' discussion was renewed, and Elder YY II. Gray oliered the following substitute: Resolved, That this presbytery Approve ia t substance the statcnicni of the aseinblys coat- " mittee of correspondence on the subject of reunion with the southern branch of our p-e6by2 terian eliur h, and heartily give our vol e to a reunion on terms which shall cbauion no Crinciple and be equally honorable to both ranches of the church. Elder Gray then spoke, saying in substance that he thought a reunion could be had only by joining hands and saying nothing. The Itev. J. V. Wo-cester the n offered another substitute which read: Resolved, That this presbytery is heartily ia favor of reunion with the southern church on the basis of our common standards, pure and : simple, and the equal right of all dieiples ot 1 Christ in every court of Christ's churches. A pretty hot debate then followed, but the matter was finally disposed of bv the adoption of the first portion of Dr. Vorcest t's amendment to tie substi.t te. reading as follows: "Kesolved, That this piesbytery is heartily in favor of reun on wub, the Southern church on the basis of cur common standards, pure ami simple." The concluding portion, "and the equal right of sill disciples of Christ in every court of Christ's chinch," was voted .n separately and laid upon tiietaole. A Stlialluw I'rotluetiou. Phalanx. The republican state cent ml committee ha issued nnollier document ea led '"the Liquor Traliic; How to Meet at:d Overthrow Iu" Thit document reads a littie l.ke (JooJnin and link ford mixed. For instance, n ms the repnbI lean house local control liquor lul 01 the last legislative session went to the senate and "waa there permitted to slumber i:i the hands of a committee ol its enemies," w hereas the fact M. the bill was called up in the senate and failej lor want of the support of the republican sun, tors who were present and not voting. Rut ux to who wrote the document, that ts of small consequence, since it i issued by the republican state central committee and is thereby made its ow n. It is a shallow production, and needs only the liht of truth from our papers to rob it of all its deceptive powtr.