Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 35, Number 26, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 August 1889 — Page 3

THE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL; ."WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1889.

A MUSICAL TRIUMPH.

.Longman's Magazine. TVbat? Those lesser thirds to plaintive, tilths diminished, sigh on sigh, ToM them something? If. Bnvning. PART I. You -went up three or four teps, making your way as best you could between casks of Bour-lookinjr plums, and apples, which, if you would but consent to "take them as they rose," or, in other words, as they naturally presented themselves, and not pick and choose, you could buy cheap. You pushed aside some festoons of dangling brushes, were gently bumped by a firing of Portugal onions, caught glimpses of photographs of various beautiful placej in the district as you displaced these things, and at last effected an entrance into Archibald Brown's fhop. Thia was the postoflice, tele graph ofS. e, and general store ehop of the village of Selswyke Bay, in Yorkshire. Nowhere else within a radius of peven miles could yon buy a dress, a bit of "elegant trowsering," a cheese, or a good piece of ham or bacon. Apples and plums might be had for the begging or Ftealing by the tender youth of Selswyke, and were eo had ; but nowhere else could clothes and provisions and everything wanted in a house be bought. The inhabitants of Selswyke were unusually well endowed, being, when farmers, either on a large or small scale, in the habit of saying that they had beef, mutton, ham, e???, chickens and ducks "within themselves," and yet thia shop was needed. If it had been in Scotland its owner would probably have been known as Archie A'thicgs; here be was ceremoniously Ftyled Mr. Archibald Erown, and being a man of genial, but thoroughly respectful, manners and much information, his shop was abundantly resorted to by persons who sometimes did not want much more than a few words with him. The 'squire of the neighborhood a proud man with more pedigree than rent roll, but more rent roll tnan sufficed to keep up the dignified state in which his life was spent was there now. He had gone in to buv come post-cards, and being fully six feet high, had not got in without "becoming aware that Mr. Brown had Portugal onions for sale. He had bought his post-cards and had remained for five minutes' talk with Mr. Brown about some local matter. A telegraphic message was being transmitted. Mr. Brown was unaffected by this. 'Squire Uokewood found its incit-ivelittle clicks a great hindrance to conversation. "You seem to let those people at the other end o: the wires work away as they like, without taking any notica of them," paid he. "The message is not for us. pir. It is a metsage from Pcorton to Wraeborougb." Wragborongh was a town that was ten miles away. "Really"! And you hear the clicking of the Scorton message as it goes! I did not know that you could do that. Then can any of the other offices between ScorUm and Wragbornugh hear it, too?'' "It's heard just the same in every one of them, sir." "I had no ide3 of that; but, after all, I Fuppnee none of the offices know what is being flashed along the wires but the one that the message is intended for, and that even the one it is intended for doesn't know what the message is until it has been worked off ontu the take?" "Oh, yes, they do that is, they might for m those oiBces the people are inobtlv too busy to think of a message that is not intended for them. But it is astonishing how soon even the shop hoys learn o distinguish the sound of the stroke made by each letter." "I had no conception that our messages were such public property," said Mr. Rokewood. "I shall word mine much more carefully in future. But, Mr. Brown, do you really mean to tell me that you, t-tanding there talking to me, could, if you cho.e to listen, hear what that message is?' "Of course I could, sir. I have heard some of it." What was it?" "You must please to excuse me, sir. Such information as that must be kept to myself it is my duty! However, it is a common message enough, and not in the least worth knowing." "And you say that the shop boys can read the messages by ear, too. Can that boy of yours do it?" Mr. Rokewood was referring to a remarkably stupid-looking little feLow, who, to the distraction of a woman in a hurry, was struggling with the management of the weights and scales. "Yes, sir ; he is a long way quicker in understanding by hearing than I am." Mr. Brown at this moment was called away to the inner ehop to fill in eome money orders and receive eome saving bank deposits, and the 'squire, who had not got over his astonishment at that ttupid boy being able to interpret a telegram by usmg his ears what enormous ears they were, by the bye paid to him, "Can you really do as much as your master says you can ?" "Oo, aye, sir," replied the boy carelessly, and, no customer being there, began to amuse himself by piling up the weights in the form of a pyramid with an amount of noise that was simply astounding. Suddenly he darted off to the window a fcignal had informed him that a message was now going to be sent to that office. Dexterously adjusting the tape so as to be ready to receive the communication, be s'gnakd that he was prepared, and waited to eee the menage print itself olf. "'o," cried 'Squire Uokewood, imperatively, "come to the other end oi the ehop this moment! I want to see if you really can tell what this ineesago is just by hearing." The 'squire was the 'squire, and without a second s hesitation the boy obeyed. Mr. Rokewood, too, had no hesitation his fctrong desire to know if what had been raid to him could be true made him forgot that he had no right to try to possess himtzll of knowledge not intended for him. "Go on !" he exclaimed, impatiently, for the clicking had stopped, and the boy was not saying a word. On hearing this command he made some cf the uncouth sounds which in his rank of life betoken suppressed laughter. The 'squire felt inclined to shake him, and howed it. "I ran't help it, sir. It's such a queer kind of message for anybody to send," paid the boy. "Oh, never mind that! Tell me what it is, and then I will have that tape examined to see if you have told me right. I don't believe you can tell me!" "You perfect post! What train?' That's what it is. It's from Agnes her name is Agnes." The 'squire langhed loudly he was such a stiff young 'squire, too, in a general way. and never could unbend. The boy grinned from ear to ear, and wished all messages wf re as funny as this. "You are inventing it!" exclaimed the 'squire, with a sudden suspicion that his dignity was being tampered with by an oai of a boy in a general store shop. "ray, you can see for yourself what's there," answered the boy, going to the window and holding np the delicate tape. The 'squire, however, could see nothing but a very orderly arrangement of lines and daabes. The boy could evidently rad thia with perfect ease, and was once

more i a widespread grin of delight As for th. 6quire, he could do nothing but woodf that prime ministers were not hautially chosen from the ranks of telegrajbboys. 'Tck! Jack! Mr. Rokewood, sir, what arc you doing?" cried Mr. Brown, wr had returned to the shop to find these tw poring over the message and forgetful of Ai else, altbougb a woman was standinithcre by the counter with a penny laij on it ready for her intended purchise, aud two boys were clamorous for roikets. Go and get the rockets, Jack," cried Ii. Brown, aud then he went to see what tie woman wanted. She looked so used the kept waiting that he felt obliged to atend to, her at once. She, however, wth her ionh country habit of expecting tohave hfr wishes divined, did not speak, bu.. putted her penny nearer to him. He'ield ip a square of soap. ".Sap J' she exclaimed, Contemptuously, "4id mother washed o' Monday !" If htefrogatively touched a jar. of treacle. J "Trflt-le! and me nothing to put it in!" Foile again, he pushed a screw of pepper to he. She grinned, and. saying "I thousit I'd have to tell ver," took it and

disapeared. Then Mr. Brown went to the w'ndovr, and there was annoyance iu his fae. "Foigiveme,"said the 'squire,"I did not think that I was doing. I only wanted to know x ttat Doy of yours really could have such wcll-trained ears as you said." 'Squireshave to be forgiven, and this 'squire prmised not to err again, so Mr. lrown tok up the message and read it. He, too, )oked amused, but methodically wrote it at on its sheet of nink paper, put it into itajurnt eienna envelope, addres-sed it to Robrt Fairfax, Ksq., the Koke wood Arms, ad told the boy to take it there at once, ".nd never let me find you reading the tlejrams olf to any one again, or it will b worse for you!" he added. "Did b really read it? I suspected lie was onljamusing himself at my expense," said the squire; but Mr. Brown assured him it wa not so. Five ainutes after the bov had gone a bright, landsome, fair-haired young fellow of eigh.2en or nineteen, with sketching folio f rap pod to his back and a large white .mbrella under his arm, came hurriedlv in and asked if there was any letters fc Mr. Robert Fairfax. "Xf letters, sir, but a telegram came for vou afow minutes ago. I have sent it to the im." "(h, but I don't want to go all the way baci to the inn; I am late for my effect alrewly. Do you think you could tell me wh.t the telegram paid ?"" 1 could write it out again," replied Mr. Brwn with much dignity. He did so, anl handed the copy to Mr. Fairfax, who reid his lister's message, smiled, and wihout bestowing one glance on thoe wlo were watching him with such amused merest, or knowing that they were doing it went to the desk, filled up a telegram fj-m with the words, "Patience, idiot! ItttT sent. Will meet six train," handed itto Mr. Brown with the money for it, aid departed. His telegram was addresseu tcMiss Agnes Fairfax Agnes was there fore his tister. Somehow or other Mr. Rjkewood became a partaker in this telegram, too, and the consequence was that, Ixing in the neighborhood of the station that evening with nothing particular to do, he found himself sufficiently iiterested in Agnes to hang about ii the lane through which she must pass rhen she left the station. Of necessity fhe must be a foot passenger, for there nero no tlys or omnibuses at Selswyke. lie did not go quite so far as the station, hut waited on the rough cinder path outside, leaning against some untrimmed raiiisg and gazing far down below on the b.iy, vhore a spring tide seemed to be trying t overtake some fishing boats drawn upon t:ie sand bank to le out of the way. He counted seven of them. Half a crown a year was the sum which he, as lord of the manor, received for each boat to which the privilege of escaping to this bank was accorded. Stlswyke bay, and the village of the same name lying in a ravine between two great clilF, were hemmed in by nsemi-circleofbigh bills,which,with every variety of gently undulating line and lovely curve, t-loiwd down to the seashore. Before the railway bad been made any one living at Selswyke might easily have persuaded himself that it was ä little world intended to be sufficient to itself, and that no one ought ever to wish to ler.ve it. Nothing could 1 seen of the greater world lying beyond the hills which closed it in on every side but one. It had its own seven or eight miles of sand, ending abruptly in almost insurmountable barriers of rocks fallen from the high cliffs which jutted out at each extremity of the semicircle. It had its own church and its manor houses, its own meadow and cornfields, its woods, its pastures, and sweet secluded ravine through which fresh brown streams from the hills forced their way downward to the sea. It had, too, its own sky, and almost its own sea, for what sea could be perceived by the inhabitants of Selswyke was all but framed in by the high clills at each end of the little bay. Before the railway came the only visible sign of a great world beyond its own barriers was an occasional steamboat or sailing vessel. Sometimes the knowledgo that this other and wider world had links that bound it closelv to Selswyke was borne in on the inhabitants of that place by the harsh sounds of the speaking trumpet from a vessel as it crossed in front of the bay, and then some mother or wife, whose thoughts had for a long time been traveling by water, hearing this, would drop her work cry, "Oh, there's my poor dear Peter!" or John, and hurry away to a point where she would be clearly visible, to wave a larse white sheet or tablecloth to show that IV to r'or John was not fortrotten. Rven the railway for some time did little to dispel the sense of isolation. A train suddenly made its way out of a high hill on the southward side, it rolled to the lower level of the station by its own impetus, it alaways stopped 'at Selswyke, but rarely deposited a passenger "there. Sometimes, but not very of ten, it took one or two to the market at Soorton, but most of the Seiswyko bay folk were wholly unreconciled to the iron monster's approach, viewed it with alarm, and refused to intrust themselves to its power. It only stopped a minute or two, therefore, and then steamed away into a deep cutting in tho cliff on the north side, was lost to view, and the connection with the outside world broken. The 'squire now began to watch the hill to the southward for tho puff of smoke which would show that tho train had burrowed its wav t.irough the tunnel. Presently he heard steps crunching along the cinder path, and saw the young artist Fairfax striding along to tho station. What a good-looking, gentlemanlike lad he was! Why did he allow himself to send such telegrams to his sister, and how did he happen to have a sister who could Eermit herself to send such telegrams to itn? While 'Squire Rokewood was asking himself this, Mr. Fairfax came up, riising his cap, and said: "I believe I am speaking to Mr. Rokewood; I wish to a..k you a favor. Will you allow me to sketch in that little wood by the mill-beck, and may my sister sit tside me when I am at work ? We shall have to go through the field, but wo will keep to the footpath, and be careful not to trample the grass down. I see there is a board up with a notit-o that no one is to go there, but I shall be much obliged if you will allow ns." "Oh, certainly," said the 'squire, "with pleasure." He very much liked this young man's manner; be knew that squires always had gentleman-like man

ners, but was unaware that artists sometimes partook in that advantage. "Are you staying at Selswyke?" he asked. "Yes, I am at the Rokewood Arms ; but I should be very glad to get to some quieter place my sister is coming to be with me." "I am afraid there are no lodgings at least none that would be comfortable. The New inn is the best, but it is full." "We must be satisfied with the one we are in, then," he remarked cheerily, "and I dare eay we shall do very well. I had no conception that anything so beautiful and eo absolutely unspoiled as Selswyke was still to bo "found in this ironclad country of ours. Oh, here's the train coming. Thank you for giving me leave. I hope I have not taken a liberty in asking." "Oh, dear, no; lam going to the station, too," said the 'squire, who began to think that it would look odd if he staid where he was any longer. "My sister and I are alone in the world. We have the inisfortue or perhaps I ought to say fortune to have no relations." "My mother and I are exactly in the the same plight, and we have sometimes the same difficulty in knowing whether it is an advantage or a disadvantage," observed the 'squire, and never in his life had he spoken so freely to a stranger, and then he abruptly recalled himself to something more like'his usual reserve of manner. "See if there is a 6ina!l parcel for mo

in this train," he cried to the porter, to Kiipply a motive for his appearance on the platform. He staid by young Fairfax, though he was quite sure he should not like that sister. Seeing a girl in rather a fast-looking hat he felt certain that she was "Agnes," but turning to see if Fairfax was gazing at her with eyes of affection, he found that he had darted off to a third-class carriage, whence issued a pretty, a very pretty, young lady of three-and-twenty or so, looking very busi-ness-like. and eminently able to take care of herself. She was prettily dressed, but not by any "means in the style of the three or four young ladies who represented county society at Selswyke. Her hair was light brown and curly, like her younger brother's, and her brown eves looked out of rather a palo face, full of spirit and character. She seemed lively enough to have tent that telegram and a great deal more beside, and the 'squire was charmed. And he would have to watch her walk away with young Fairfax and see no more of her. But would he ? There was a difficulty about her luggage. The solitary porter was so busy trying to find what was not there for Squire Rokewood that he would think of nothing else. "I must have the rest of my sister's luggage out," said Fairfax to the station master. Two trunks were already on the platform. "How many more has she brought ?" wondered the 'squire, "and who is there here to see her pretty dresses?" "Robin, it's all out but the book box I brought a box of books," said Agnes. . "Jackson, attend to that lady," cried the 'squire. "Never mind my parcel." But Agnes did not hear, and what the porter regarded as the 'squire's magnanimity went for nothing. PART II. Other things engaged 'Squire Rokewood's attention for some days, and he bad partly forgotten about Fairfax and her sister, hen one day, happening to be fishing in the mill-beck, he came upon something that was decidedly abnormal in a little wood which went by the name of Little Scroggs. It was a "large, white, mushroom-like umbrella, and a man was witting beneath it sketching, and by his side, on the bank, was a young lady in a blue print dress with some white about it, as the 'squire himself would have said if asked to describe it "Oh, the Fairfaxes !" he thought. "That is where he asked leave to paint, of courße." So he reeled up his line, strode out of the bed of the stream, and looked tor a place where he could get on dry land a difficult thing to lind iu6t there, for the bank was cut short, :md ended in a wall descending straight down into the water. Having succeeded in landing by retracing his steps a little, he went to the Fairfaxes, who as yet were unaware of his presence, taking care to approach in such a way as not to overlook the artist's drawing. "Good morning," he said; "I won't disturb you don't move, Miss Fairfax." "My sister Mr. Rokewood," said Fairfax, perhaps intending to administer a gentle reproof. Mr. Rokewood felt it so, and humbly hoped that they were tolerably comfortable at the inn, and that it was not so noisy as Mr. Fairfax bad feared. Miss Fairfax shook her head. "It really is noisy," she said. "I suppose the sailors come. How pretty, how delightfully pretty she was, but Mr. Rokewood thought her singularly indifferent to his presence. She was fastening lime leaves into each other to make a wreath, as he had seen German children do, and she went on djinar it after the first words of greeting had been said. He was silent for a minute or two, and then said : "I am thinking of an arrangement that might, perhaps, bo made, but I am not sure that it would suit you. I would tell you about it, only I am 60 afraid ot disturbing you." lie was speaking to Fairfax, but his sister looked up and said : "You had better talk to me if there is anything to arrange; he forgets to listen when his effect is on." "Cool people, these," thought the 'squire, but ho only said: "Can you give me an idea what accommodation you want?" "We want two bedrooms and two sitting-rooms if we can get them, but we have only one sitting-room at the inn, and could make one do in a new place." "Oh, then I think it might do very well," said he, dropping down on the earth, which he never for a moment forgot was his own property, with the air of a man who needed no invitation to take a scat Miss Agnes, though ho was not very near her, instinctively moved a little further off. "It is at my agent's house," 6aid the 'squire. "I never allow him to let rooms, but I will gladly make an exception in your caso.,: She thanked him tho sensation of be ing thanked -by any one so pretty was very pleasant and asked whero tho agent lived, "ion know the .Manor house T asked Mr. Rokewood. "The agent lives in the whito house not far from tho lodge gate." "Hut I don't know tho Manor house!" said Agnes. "I alwavs come here with Robin I have done no prowling about yet. "Lucky Robin 1" thought tho 'squire, but he was rather angry with her for not knowing where the Manor houso was, and why did she talk about prowling? the Manor house was large enough to be seen, and found, without prowling. "F-very one knows the Manor house," ho said, with an air of conviction. "It stands on the hill behind the church; perhaps the trees rude it a little." "I wish I had seen it I will before I see you next," she said with a little emile which did not escape the 'squire. Was Miss Fairfax presuming to laugh at him? "The thing to know Is whether you think you would like to tell tho agent that be may let his rooms." "The arrangement iounds delightful r)rfoctlT delightful but don't say anv thing decided to the agent until we have seen them. It had never occurred to Mr. Rokewood that there was any chance of their not liking them. "We will, with your permission, go and

look at them this afternoon," said Miss

lairfax. "It is most kind of you to think of it." There was a certain air of concluding the interview about thia, but the 'squire could not bring himself to go. Was Selswyke sometimes dull to him? Miss Fairfax's wreath wa3 made and twisted 'round her hat, and now she was sitting by the edge of the bank and looking down into the water, and watching a row of trout lying with their heads patiently turned up stream waiting for such food as might come. "Throw that line in," she exclaimed; I should like to see you catch a rieh." "Then come to the dub," he Baid, won dering whether she would. Robin. I am going to some pool with Mr. Rokewood," she exclaimed; "he is going to let me see him catch a fish." "Many hsh, most likely, replied no Din carelessly, and she went. She took a great fancy to the agent s house, and left the inn for it almost directly, and the next time they saw Mr. Kokewood, which, to tell the truth, was very soon, they expressed much gratitude. He, too, might have expressed gratitude, but was prudently silent. There was a shady walk at the ' back of his kitchen garden which ran almost beneath the walls of the agent's bouse, and when Mr. Rokewood walked there, which, now that he had become aware of its advantages, he did every night he could hear such music as had never before delighted his ears. The Fairfaxes, who evidently considered a piano a necessary of life, had hired an excellent one at Scorton, and now no night passed without Agnes playing for a couple of hours, and, as tho windows were open, Mr. Rokewood could hear to perfection. Every day added to his envy of that brother. Agne8was young, pretty, clever, aiTectionate, and, above all, musical, and that brother of hers profited by all these good gifts daily. The Fairfaxes were both extremely friendlvwith Mr. Rokewood now, but he observed that even if he happened to meet them near their own door, or walk home with them from young Fair fax s sketching place and go quite up to their door, and nev er by any chance gave him an invitation to go in, even though he often lay in wait for it. "Ferhaps they have taken it into their heads that my mother ought to call," he thought, and recoiled at the immensity of the idea. Having once thought of this, he thought of it again, and presently it lost Borne of its awe, and at length, about six weeks after Miss Agnes's arrival, the day came when he said to the spare, angular lady, clad in rich silk, who was his mother, "Don't you think it would be kind to call on tha Fairfaxes, mother? They are quite gentlefolk very well educated, and " "I have no intention of making their acquaintance, Geoffrey," said Mrs. Rokewood, frigidly. "Have you any feeling against them, mother?" "I have no feeling either for or against them. I simply do not want to do it," Mrs. Rokewood answered with Btony indifference. "If I say I should very much like you to do it, mother, will you call? "If I could see any good reason for vour wishing it, of course I would." "It would be kind." "So many things that one docs not do would be kind," said Mrs. Rokewood, and imangined that she .had given him an answer. "They are very nice people." "My not calling will not make them loss nice." "Miss Fairfax is an "admirable musician." "You go to the house!" ehe exclaimed with a certain vehemence of surprise, for it was so unlike him "to' make himself common" in this way. "No, I have not been to the house, but I have heard her play. I happened when I was smoking one night to stray out of one garden into another, and at last I went into the Elm walk, and, mother, you have no conception how magnificently she plavs! The windows were open and I heard." "There you attack me in a weak point," said Mrs. Rokewood she was passionately fond of music. "Call on her, then, and she will play for you." "I don't want to call on her," answered Mrs. Rokewood decisively. Her sou said no more, but that night when he was in the Elm walk he heard a low footfall, and presently a slight, frail figure, shrouded in black, stole through the darkness to his side. "Don't be startled, Geoffrey," she whispered ; it's your mother come to hear this music. I don't think I should have dared to come if I had known what a long way it would neem in the dark." He gave her his arm and guided her faltering feet nearer to the house. There thev stood listening some time, during which every fiber of Mrs. Rokewood's being was thrilled with delight. That night she would have crept to the agent's hou se on her bended knees to call on Miss Agnes, but next day the ice had reunited and left no weak spot "Come into the garden with me," said the 'squire the next evening after dinner. She said she would not, but went, and after her nature bad once more been softened bv what she heard, she said, "Geoffrey, I will call on that girl, if you like, to-morrow." "Thank you," said he, much pleased by this concession ; "you won't repent it. They are both charming; it's just one of those cases which show the folly of yielding to first impressions." "Yours was bad, then?" "Not when I saw the people themselves. It was beforo I saw them that I didn't like them. I accidentally beard some telegrams they eont each other." Then ho told his mother what he had heard in Urown's shop. "I am glad you have tcld mo that," Bnid Mrs. Rokewood, who whs Bitting rigidly, by her own fireside, "for now I know that I shall not call. I should never liko them." She waa inflexible,' and his state of mind about that and vexation at his own folly may bo inferred. "You may do what ou liko," he at last exclaimed, angrily they were both people of strong temper and will "you may call or not, exactlv as vou please, but to-morrow morning I shall go to Mies Fairfax and ask her to be my wife." The idea was bo preposterous to Mrs. Uokewood that she was not disturbed by it. "You starcoly know the girl," sho said, calmly. "I have spent at least an hour in her company every day for the last month or six week; sometimes two hours." Mrs. Rokewood shrugged her shoulders. "In your heart, Geoffrey, you disliko vulgarity as much as I do!" "llow can you call Miss Fairfax vulgar when you have heard her music?" "Ah, her music!" exclaimed Mrs. Rokewood, recalling those soul-stirring passages. But she froze- again directly, for there was something in his manner that began to alarm her. and said: "IWt let us think -any moro about her." Next day it was a lovely August day quivering with light and radiance Mr. Uokewood went to Little Scroggs, wishing as he went that for an hour or two Miss Fairfax would be a less good sister. Never now by any chance could he find an opKortunity of seeing her alone, the liked im he knew tbat but he feared she would never like him enough to leavo her brother for his sake. He found them as usual no, not quite as usual, for Robin was sitting without his coat, and Agnes was mending a hole he had just torn in it.

She laughed when Mr. Rokewood came and found her doing this, and said, "Own that you think us a very odd couple?" "I thought you a very odd couple before I made your acquaintance, but now I think you all that is most even and most delightful." "But had you heard of ua before you 6aw us?" "I? no; at least in a way I had. How well your brother's picture " "Oh, no; vou have Baid eo much you must tell us all." "I accidentally heard the telegrams you sent each other.1' She laughed gayly : "If you heard those, I don't know what vou must have thought of us. The truth is I have quite spoiled that boy, Robin. I answer all his letters for him, and now he can't be got to write one, and that day I was in such difficulty, for he told mo the day before, when he came to Selswyke Bay, that he would get lodgings for us here and would write and tell me as soon as ho could and say what train I was to come by; and he didn't write and I didn't know that there was a midday post from Selswyke, aud thought no letter was coming. 1 was obliged to turn out of the rooms I was in at Wragborough and didn't know what to do!" "Oh, the language was quite excusable," said the 'squire. " 'The language excisable." There's nothing to excuse. That's the family style when it sends telegrams. You can't eay dear or darling in a telegram." "Then you were not angrv with each other?" "We never were that in our lives. Here, Robin, take vour coat it's done. Now I have nothing to do." The 'squire tore a leaf out of his pocketbook and wrote : "Come to the end of the first field with me ; I want to ask you to be my wife, and I can't speak beforo your brother." She turned pale, looked at him almost tearfully, and shook her head. "Which of my requests are you denying?" he asked with an attempt atgayety, while in his heart he felt alarm, and yet he could not quite believe that ehe would refuse him. "Both," she answered, without looking up. "Not really?" he pleaded; he was not a man who was used to plead. "If you are going I will walk part of the way across the field with you, she said after a silence. He rose her manner did not lessen his uneasiness. He did not speak his eyc3 were trving so hard to read hers.

"I have come so far," she said, "because, if you really mean this, I want to thank you and to assure you that it is quite impossible !" "Impossible for you to love me, do you mean ?" She blushed and turned away. "Hon't say that is impossible," he pleaded. "I could never give up my happy life with Robin : he would be bo miserable without me!" "I might have known that you would never care for me," said the 'squire, bitterly. "I never paid I didn't care for you," said Miss Fairfax, now for the first time seeming to give utterance to her real mind, "but I know that I never could bear to enter any family which looked down upon me." "No family could do that if you did but know what I think of yoa." "Mrs. Rokewood looks down on me! Do you think I don't know? It's not the lirst time that Robin and I have been sketching near a county family." "Ah, you mean that other country families have treated you better. Dear Miss Fairfax, why think of ray mother? Haven't I given you the greatest things I have to offer? I love you with all my heart" She wavered a moment, and he saw it "You know I love you," he said tenderly. "Think of me, not of my mother. If you accept me ßhe will soon love you mite a3 much as she loves me; and jou do love me a little something tells you that you onght to accept me." "Oh, but 1 should do so wrong to listen to it," she said, offering him her hand in token of farewell. "Don't go. Give me a little longer." "Accept this answer as final. I will stay with Robin." "I assure you my mother is much too fond of me to cross me long in anything on which my heart is set" "I am as proud as your mother. Not unless she herself came and asked me to listen to you would I do it I may be wrong, but that's how I teel." He tried to move her by every argument in his power, but she only became more rooted in her determination. "Good-bye !" she said. "We Bhall leave Selswyke in a day or two. We had better say good-bye now." "You surely don't want to tear your brother away before his work is done ?" "I must," she answered sadly; and then with a half sob she said, "I don't think I could Btay here. I must go." "You must do nothing of the kind. I will go. I have long been wanting to go to America, and I will start to-morrow. Perhaps when 1 come back " "Never!" she exclaimed before he could finish his speech. "At any rate I shall love vou just the same," said he, and wrung her hand and went "She is not playing to-night, then," said Mrs. Rokewood, seeing her son in the drawing room at the time when he usually was in the garden. "No, ehe is not playing, and she refused me this morning because sho knew that you would oppose our marriage; and tomorrow I am going to America." "You must pleaso yourself, Geoffrey," said Mrs. Uokewood. "I can't stop your marrying Miss Fairfax, but I should never like it." He kept his word and went. Mi .Rokewood sadly patrolled the spacious rooms and galleries of the manor house. Each looked duller than tho the other, and she was dull, too. Her son, her only eon, was gone to the other side of the world and had said nothing about when he was likely to come back. "One wants some young creaturo with one," she eaid. "The sight of young life is a good sight, but even an old person would be better than no one." Iter iu tho day sho saw from her carriage window tho Fairfaxes returning home. He was carrying a skeleton bag and easel ; she had his sketching 6tool. Ho was holding his sister's hnnd in his; and the old lady could not but think that sho looked very sad, and that he was trying to comfort her. "They seem very fond of each other," she thought "Thero may be good stuff in that girl her refusing Geoffrey almost looks as if there was." She dined alone. "So much state." she thought, "and such woeful solitude, and there is no one I want to ask here. If Geoffrey stays away six months or a year it is a great piece out of my lifo! But it can't be helped. Ho did right to go." Dinner over, she left the desolate dining-room for tho equally desolate drawingroom; but very soon she never quite knew how it happened she found herself hurrying along the Elm-tree walk, with a shuwlnver her head, to hear if that girl who had brought so much trouble upon her had recovered her spirits and was at the piano again. No music was to bo heard that night After this it became a nightly habit with Mrs. Rokewood to go into the garden to hear if the piano were opened, and at last she was enraptured by the Moonlight Sonata. She felt each note an added bliss, and sighed forth her contentment. Such playing waa like the most exquisite poetry or painting never, never would she will

ingly miss the opportunity of enjoying so keen a pleasure. Alas, other things were keen besides the pleasure! September nights by the Northeastern sea are cold, October nights are colder. Two gardens had to be crossed before she reached the Elm-tree walk, where the furtive joys were obtained. The thin shawl had to be exchanged for a thicker cne, the thicker shawl for a fur cloak, and even that was not enough to guard the poor lady from the heavy dews of late autumn nights and the 6earcning breezes from the pea. "I shall be ill," she thought one lat6 October morning; "I feel as if I were going to bo ill now, but before 1 am laid up I will do what I ought to have done before I will go and see for m)'self what this girl, whom my only sn has asked in m ar riage, is like. What am I that I should debar him from obtaining such a wife? Her soul reveals itself in her music!" So that afternoon, when Agnes was sitting alone and not less sad than her visitor, a tall, thin old lady, with a rather fierce, hawk-hke nose ami eye, but a kind voice and manner, rustled into the agent's best parlor, and holding out her hand, eaid: "Miss Fairfax, I wish to apologize to you for not coming to see you before. Will you give me the opportunity of making your acquaintance now ?" Seeing that Agnes hesitated, she said: "My dear, it is not a small thing for a person of ray age and" standing, be was goine to pay, but checked herself in time, and said "infirmities to como in this way to you, but I felt that I should like to do it. My Bon is away and I am often lonely. Will you come and see me sometimes?" "1 will," said Agnes; "since you wish it, I will," and then they talked" on more indifferent matters. "I wonder whether my invitation made her happier," thought Mrs. Rokewood at night, aud, loosely wrapped in furs, she crept forth into the darkness to listen for "sallies of glad pound" in her music. But the night was chill and the windows shut, and the poor lady added so much cold to that whicU she had already that the doctor spoke of her being a prisoner to the house all the winter. And Btill Agnes did not come. "I like her keeping away a little," thought Mrs. Rokewood. "She is behaving with proper dignity and spirit. .nd she showed much right feeling and dignity before," ßhe mentally added, "when she refused (ieoffrey because she knew how distasteful the marriage would be to me. More days passed and Agnes did not come. Mrs. Rokewood sat in her empty drawing-room and tried to keep up a good fire, but the warmth of happiness was

what she really wanted. She took her pen and wrote: "My dear, you said you would come come now." And Agnes came. Six weeks later Mrs. Rokewood wrote to her son: "Geoffrey, come home to Agnes and to me." TO CURE THE TASTE FOR LIQUOR. The Cause of the Craving A Simple Remedy Suggested. A correspondent writes to the New York Suti as follows : "You published a letter of an anonymous correspondent asking: 'Can any one give me a cure for drunkenness?' I will, in the same way, give your corresponded a euro through you, if you will publish it "Indulgence in spirits after awhile which is longer or shorter, according to the constitution of the person produces irritation, inflammation and fever of the stomach, hence the craving for drink ; and tho greater the fever the greater the craving. As spirits act also on the nervous system it becomes impaired and the brain weakened. Who can deny that a person ailing in these several ways is laboring under a serious disease. He has then no will-power to exercise, because the 6eat ot the will is in the nervous centers, and when these are impaired or destroyed so also is the will-power. "Here is the cure : Let the person have within his reach a small vial of the best kind of tincture of Peruvian bark, and when the craving for liquor comes on him let him take a teaspoonful of the tincture every two hours. In a few days the taste for liquor is destroyed, and destroyed while indulging it, for tincture of Peruvian bark is spirits into which has been drawn all the substance of peruvian bark. It is to be found in every drug store, but it should be of the very best "Peruvian bark is a tonic. It is also the best, if not the only, cure known for fever. It is from peruvian bark that quinine is extracted, and, moreover, it is anti-periodic. It is by these three agencies that it destroys the craving for liquor. Any one wishing to be cured of that ailment can be in the way I have described, but there are few drunkards, indeed, who wish to be cured." Surprising Age of the Ptparted. San Francisco Argonaut. An Irishman was ordered to make a cofiin, which he did, and to paint the inscription on the lid, which he did after a fashion which caused a little excitement in the churchyard. By dint of following the written copy he managed to get as far as "Michael O'Rafferty, aged -- ; but, try as he would, he could not imitate the 28. At last he remembered that he could write 7 and that four 7s made 28. So he finished it. When they came to bury Michael the coffin stood at the graveside and the priest spoke as follows: "Ah, he was a fine lad. He's lying there so still, taken away in the rrime of loife. Young he was, too, only ." Here the priest looked down at the coffin-plate to see how old Michael was. "He was only," said his reverence again, and he put his glasses on and went nearer, to see how old he really was, "he was only," he continued, "seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven years old." About to Carol. [Buffalo Commercial.] A young woman in the mining region of California recently wrote the following letter to a music dealer in Sacramento: "Have you got a song with the words & accompaniment called chipy Get your Hair cut, johny get you gun - I don't know the name of the song but I think that is part of the first verse. Tlease let me know right away if you have it & the price of it & also have you the music of a Song called of the day and the price of it, & have you got a song called she is my big Fat Cousumpted liza jane & price of it" llow He Knew. San Francisco Wasp. Harry "Jack, you have, no idea what a bad fellow Tom is! I bought him some fine, embroidered braces that he soon pulled to pieces. When I met him to-day he wanted to box my cars twice." Jack "How do yon know he wanted to?" Harry "How do I know? If he hadn't wanted to he wouldn't have done it" Statistics Are Dangerous. [Atlanta Constitution.] A man should not talk statistics to his wife. Mr. Jackson of Vincennes, Ind., went home and told Mrs. Jackson that the coal supply of the world would last only 990 years longer. When the poor woman heard this she fell in a faint and broke her arm. An Effective Delivery. [Puck.] Visitor "Your pastor seems to be a very earnest man. His voice trembled with emotion when he read tha lessons this morning." Soprano ''Oh, it wasn't that; he had just had row with the choir leader, and ha was mad elf r through." Country Hoarders. (Turk. Mr. Ulster Coe-"Ah, Mim Wtskert Heading Merrick, aa usual, I see." Miss Minnie Wasker "Oh, yes; you really can't Imacine how much he helpi me to persuade myself that the country is really beautiful, after alb Other Interests. Pnck.J Ethel "Oh, Clara, how could yoa part with that beautiful Kussian poodle?" Clara (reproTlnKly)--"Yoa forget, dear, I'm married now."

R. R. R.

ItADWAY'S READY RELIEF. The Cheapest nnd Best Medi cine for Family Use in the World. Tn from one to twrnljr minutes, never fail t rliere PAIN with one thoronjrh ppl.ctinn. NanXI'r how violent or excruciatüiß th pain, the F.beumstic, Bedridden, Infirm. Crippled. Nervou. Nenralirfr, or prostrt.d with A nette. mj nullfr, KAUWAY's BEADY Kl-LltF will aüurü iusiant relief. THE TRUE RELIEF. RADWAVS READY RELIEF 1 tb only Tenae4il agent in vogue tbat will instantly stop ps:a. Instantly rsiieves and soon enrvs RHEUMATISM! NEURALGIA! Sciatica. JTeaache, Toothache, Inflammation, Congestions, Asthma, lullueuza, ts)re Throat, Difficult ßreathiue Summer Complaints, DYSENTERY, DIARRHEA, Cholera Morbus. It will in a few minute, when taken according directions, cure Cr&raps, Ppasms. Sour Stomach, Heartburn, Nusa. Vomiting, N prvonmiww. fr-lei-lewnM, Cholcr Morbus, bick Headach, fctJMMEK COMPLAINT, Dirrhra, Pwntery, Colic, Wind in the BowpIo, and ail internal pain. It is hiehlv important that everr fumÜT keep iroup!yo( RAUWAVS KKAUV RELIEF ilway Utk house. It um w U prov beneficial on all ooraolont of pin or sickaes. There is nothing tn the world that will stop pain or arrest the progress of disaSM qu:rkW as H. R. R. Where epidemic dieea prevail, ach aa fever. Pvsentery. Cholera, Influenza, Diphtheria, Pearl" Fever and other roalirnant diseases, RADWaFS READY RELIEF will, if taken as directed, protee the iTctom againrt attacks, and if aeised with uckneaa quickly cure the patunU MALARIA IN ITS VAKI0ÜS FORMS. FEVER AND AGUE, ADWAY'S READY RELIEF. Kot only enres tne pat'ent seized with malaria, but If people exposed to it will, every moraina' oo retUna ont of bed, take twenty or thirty drops ot the KEUr Relief in a Rla of water, and drink, anl eat av cracker, they will escape attacks. Practicing With R. R. R. Montague, Texa. Dr. Rad way & Co.: I hare heel" using your med cine for the but twenty years, and it all cases of Chills and Fever I have never failed U cure. I never use anything but BKADY RELIEF anl PILLS. THOS. J. JONES. Fp.riTi.AND, Iowa. Dear Sir: We are using; your medic.nes Sor Typhoid and Malarial Fevers with" tb greatest benefit. What R. R. R. and Radwavs Pill have done no one can teil. JOHN &CHÜLTZ. VALUABLE TESTIMONY! CROTO! lAJfDTNo. N. Y., June 23, IS88. Mssr. RadnsyA Co. Gentlemen: Last season I employe! about 150 men, and during the season they bought o' me sixteen dozen bottles of R&dwtjr'i Ready Relief, a larpe number of boxes of Pills and some Resolvent, They use the lualy Belief in their drinking- water, 11 to 15 drops in a glass of water, to prevent oramns s.i.l keep ort lever and ague; they also use it (externally) fur bruises, sore hands, rheumatic pam, sore throat, etc. If by any chance we run out oi' your medicines, we have no peace until our stock is replaced. L, miself, take R. R. R. he lore going out in the yard earV in tha morning, and am never troubled with fever s l ague. This year I was attacked with rheumatism, and your Pills did me more good than any other medicine I took. Yours trulr, ( Signed ) S. HAMILTON. JR. Mr. John Morton, of Verplanck Point, X. Ypro prietorof the Hudson River Brick Manufactur.aa Company, says that he prevents and cures attacks of chills and fever tn his lami'y and among the men tn his employ by ths use of Radwat's Ready Ritus Pills. Also the men in Mr. Frost's brickyard at th. same place rely entirely on the Ii. K. H. lor th cur and prevention ot malaria. There is not a remeJy agent in the world tiat will cure Fever and Ague and aU other Malarious, Biltoua and other Fevers (aided by RAD WAY'S PILLS) quickly as RsDWAY'S READY RELIEF. Radway's Ready Relief is a cure lor every pain. Toothache, Headache, Sciatica, Lumbago, Neuralgia Rhenmat.sm, Swelling of the Joints, Sprains, Bruises, Pains in the Rack, Chest or Limbs. The application of the Ready Relief to the part or, parts where the difficulty exists will afford lnstaa . ease aud com! ort. FIFTY CENTS PER BOTTLE.? Sold, by Druggists. lADWAY'S Sarsaparillian Resolvent The Great Blood Purifier. Pore blood makes sound flesh, strong bone and clear skin. If you would have your flesh firm, yon fhone sound and vonr complexion fair, na EADV, WAY'S 8ARSAPARILLA RESOLVENT. It possesses wonderful power in curing all forma of Scrofulous and Eruptive Disease, Syphiloid. Ulcers, Tumors, Sores, Enlarged Olands. etc ., rapidly and per, manentlv. Dr. Randolph Mclntyreof Su Ilracuithe, Can., aa'vs: "I completely and marvelously cured victim of Scrofula in its last stage by following yoor advice given in vour little treaties on that disease," J. F. Trnnnel," South .St. Louis. Mo., "waa cured of bad case of Scrofula after havLng boen given up aa incurable." Sold by all Druggist. ONE DOLLAR PER DOTTLE DIL RADWAY'S REGULATING PILLS THE GREAT LIVER AND STOMACH REMEDY. Terfcct Purgatives, Soothinjr Aperient, Actf. Without ruin, Always Ilcliftble w& Natural in. their Operation. Perfectly tasteless, elegantly eoated with sweet gum. purge, reiMilste, rloanse and strengthen, RADWAY'M PI I.LH for the cure of all disorders of tho Hönisch, Liver, Rowels. Kidneys, Bladder, NeTT ous Diseases, Loss of Appetite, Headache, ConsUpa lion, Cotlvenes, Indigestion. Dyspepsia, Uilioasne, Fever, Inllammstion of the Kowels, Pilrs and all de rangeinents of the Internal Viscera, Purely verelabla, conLaiuing no mercury, minerals or deleterious drnga. What a Physician Sayi of Radwiy' Pill. I am selling your R. R. Relief and your Reg-nlailn Pills, and have recommended them above all pills sei aril a grent many of them, and have them on bant alwavs, and use them in my practica and In my w(J tamily, and expect to, in pre.ereno of all pills. Yours repect ullr, DR. A. C. MiDDLLHUOOK. Dorsvllla, Ga. DYSPEPSIA. Pr. Rad way'a Pills ar a eure for this oomplsln. They restore strength to the stomach and enable tt tl perform Its functions. The svmptoms of Iyspepsi disappear and with them th liability of th system t contract disease. RADWAY'S PILLS AND DYSPEPSIA. KrwFonT, KT.-Messrs. Dr. Radway & Co Genta I have been troubled with Dyspepsia for about four months. I tried two different doctor without spT permanent benefit. I saw your ad. and two weeks Lought a boi oi your Regulator aud leal a great del better. Your Pills bsv done me mors good Ihsu all the Doctor's Medlcln that I bsv taken, et. I am, yours rerpecUully, KOhh-KV A. PAUK. lypepsla of Lonf Ptandinf; Cord. Pr. RadwsTI bav for tnany years been affllctel with Dyspepsia and Liver Complaint, and found bnt little relief until I got your Pi Us and Resolvent, an 1 thev mad a perfect cur. Tbey ar th heat wed tola 1 ever had In my 111. Your rr.end forever, Ulanchard, Miel.. YV1LL1AU NOONAN. Solrt by Drufnj!t. Price C3o pr Pom:, fcadwar Co-t No. I Warren-st, New York. To thm rubtio. e sure and ask for Radway's aud se tbat ths aam. RADWA.Y" lion what yo buy. J