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The key was inserted, turned half-round, and the mystery was in- stantly solved as that painted iron plate sprang outward from its place. . “Aha! that is indeed a very cle- ver arrangement!” remarked the president, in a tone of satisfaction; “and I am exceedingly obliged to you, Mr. Winchester, for taking the trouble to come to point it out to me!” “You are very welcome, sir,” Gerald courteously replied. . “I wonder if there is anything in the place now ‘2” said the other gentleman curiously. “I am quite sure there is not,” said Gerald. “Mr. Brewster did not mention anything but the two boxes when be commissioned me to come here for them.” I “It cannot do any harm to inves- ltigate,” the banker observed, as he thrust his hand deep into the aperture. “Aha!” he suddenly ejaculated again, in a tone of tri- umph, when, upon drawin it forth, Gerald espied a small boo clasped in his fingers. Bringing the light to bear upon it, they saw there was a label on the cover. “Notes of European travel, 15â€",” the gentleman read aloud. Gerald started violently, the hot color rising over his face. That was the very year of his mother’s marriage. _ “May I look at it, sir 2” he ques- tioned, with repressed excitement. “Certainlyâ€"certainly,” said his companion, as he cheerfully passed it to him. With a hand that trembled visâ€" ibly, Gerald opened it and hastily scanned a few pages here and there, his heart heating with great, start- led throbs as he read. “Mr. Bancroft,” he at length remarked, “I believe that this lit- tle book will prove to be of the most vital importance in the forthcom- ing contest for the Brewster for- tune, and with your permission I will take it to Mr. Lyttleton.” “Certainly you have my permis- sion. I have no right whatever to the book, and if there is anything in it that will bring that rascally guardian of the late Mr. Brewster’s been hustled off ; but father insisted that I must join mother in Paris by the eigth of July, and no other vessel would leave in season. I’m deuced lonesome, in spite of the fact that the governor sent Tom, his valet, along with me~â€"to preâ€" serve the importance of the family, I suppose, since we are going to the North Cape with a swell crowd. Bah! I abominate style, and I’ve no earthly use for a valet. Poor M.! It was tough on both of us, when we had everything planned for such a cozy time all by our- selves. The Germanic is a dandy boat, every convenience, fast sail- er, first-class table. The only thing lacking is the heart to enjoy it all; but that I’ve left behind me.” Every day of the ensuing voyage was noted, various items of interest recorded, the captain, crew, and passengers described, and in almost every entry there was also some alâ€" lusion to “M.,” which plainly reâ€" vealed a heart hungering for some loved presence. On the last day at sea there was this record: “Have written a long letter to my dear girl over yonder, which I shall mail the moment we land; but I feel as if I can hardly wait for the next vessel to arrive, when I shall surely hear from her.” There was nothing of special in- terest for several pages, until, un- der date ten days later, in Paris, Gerald read: “No letter! What can it mean? Tom brought me in a whole pile this morning, but not the one I wished for above all others. Surely M. cc uld not have neglected to write, knowing that I would be wild with anxiety if I did not hear from hcr by every steamer.’ ’ ' Page after page Gerald turned, searching for these significant allu- sions to the dear one so reluctant- ly left behind. There were various bright and animated accounts of people, places and things. Paris was described in a vivacious way, which betrayed that the writer thoroughly appreci~ pretty daughter to justice and give! ated the gay city and its inhabi- the rightful heirs the property, no one will be more glad that I. have believed from the first that the man was guilty of the foulest fraud. That was a sad fate the poor little girl met with!” Mr. Bancroft responded. It had been thought best not to reveal the facts regarding Allison’s wonderful escape and recovery un- til she should appear in court to confront the man who had so deepâ€" ly wronged her. w The young man then bade the banker go-(Kl morning, and, with the priceless little book buttoned close against his heart, hurried back to Mr. Lyttlcton’s office. “What on earth is the matter, Gerald 'l” thut'gcntleman exclaimed the moment he opened the door; “you look as. if you had seen a ghost l” “I havewa very tangible ghost of the past," said the young man, with repressed excitement. “I be- lieve that I have in my possession all missing links connected with my mother's history, and ample ma- terial, as well, to solve the mystery of my father’s apparent descrtion of her.” And eagerly drawing forth the precious book which had been dis- covered in the secret vault, he laid it before his friend and explained where and how he had come by it. “Gerald, if that is the case, you are a lucky fellow,” cried Mr. Lyttleton, starting up, all on the alert. “But here,” he added, after glancing at the label and passing 1!: back; “you must first read it by yourselfâ€"there may be some things in it that no one but yourself should know.” Gerald stood regarding it a mo- ment with an air of indecision. Then he took it mechanically, and, sitting down at his desk, opened it and began to read. The first entry in the book, which was evidently a ‘diary, had been made on shipboard, and read thus: tants. The affectionate welcome re- I ceivcd from his mothcr and other friends who were to comprise the party which was going to the “land of the midnight sun” was faithfulâ€" ly and ' vividly recorded; but through all there ran that plaintive noteâ€"~“No letter from M.” The reader followed the writer through Norway and Sweden, and many other places en route, and his own heart arched in sympathy with that of the impatient and unwilling tourist, whose hopes were never realized. It was evident that his anxiety so preyed upon his mind that he was at times really ill on account of it, for mention was frequently made of having been “laid up for a day or two,” and also of his mo- ther’s annoyance at having her trip interrupted because of it. Their tour had evidently been extended far beyond the time at first determined upon, for months were passed in traveling from place tr place. . Mention was made several times of a determination to break away from the party and go directly homeâ€"the “anxiety and suspense were becoming intolerable” ; but these resolutions were always ap- parently overruled by the cntreat- icâ€"s or commands of his mother. At last there came an entry that was almost paralyzing, for it com- prised but one word, and was the only one upon the page: “Dead!” The next entry was two days lat- er, and read thus: “Good heavens! How have I lived since receiving those home papers? Who could have sent me that New Haven paper with that paragraph marked? It looks as if some one had discovered our secâ€" ret, and was haunting it with cruel spite in my face. Dead! my dar- ling dead! No, no! I cannot-xvill “Germanic, 8 p.m., June 23. 18â€". ,not believe it. And yet there it is Sailed at 12 M., but I am, blamed if I like the way in which I have ,in black and white, and branded on my brain in letters of fire: ‘Wc years.’ That is once, to learn the truth. and a resident of this city for many allâ€"vague, mys- terious, maddening ! Where did she die, and when, and who cared for her? There is no date given! I shall go mad! I must go home at Oh, my love I my love !’ ' The record ended abruptly here, and for upward of six weeks no- thing more was written in the diary. Then the journal was resumed, in London: “Have been ill for many weeks, and would have been glad if the end had come; but my dreary life seems likely to be prolonged indefinitely. I thank the fate-s, however, that my mother is at last weary of wan- dering, and we are to go home some time within the next fortnight.” The next entry of any interest to Gerald was mode on shipboard: “Have been terribly seasick for two daysâ€"something unusual for me; but when the body suffers, the heart lets up a little. Went on deck for a while this afternoon, and met a Miss Porter and her sister. The latter’s a sweet little blonde who reminds me strongly of M. They are returning from a visit to some friends in England.” Three days afterward occurred this: “Had ail-enjoyable promenade on the upper deck with little Miss Porâ€" ter. She is a very winning little bodyâ€"she appeared to divine at once that I had some secret sor- row, and her manner was full of a_ gentle, indescribable sympathy. She makes me think of M. more and more.” There was nothing additional for a couple of weeks, and then there were three or four pages that were full of fire and passion: “Made a discovery to-day that has almost made a murderer of me, and I must let off steam, or do some desperate deed. I have been hoodwinked for months. I have been the victim of the most diaâ€" bolical plot that was ever conceivâ€" co against a human being. My father, by some means unknown to me, discovered the fact of my mar- riage to M. some time last summer, and, instead of ranting and tearing and denouncing me, he craftily set himself at work to part us, and he succeeded but too well. He plan- ned that trip abroad to Norway, Sweden, and all those other tire- some places for the sole purpose of getting me out of the way, to en- able him to mature some scheme to separate me from my'darling. Alas! grief and death aided him in this but too eflectually ; for, of course, she must have grieved her- self {to death over the belief that I had cruelly deserted her. “The cat was let out of the bag in a strange way. I wanted Tom to do an errand for me this morning and when he did not answer the hell I set about hunting him up. I found him in his own room, over- hauling his trunk. He had just turned it upside down as I entered, and among a lot of rubbish I espied a letter that had a familiar look. I captured it. It was one that I had given him to mail to M. when I first reached London. I pounch upon him like a cat upon a mouse, and demanded the meaning of it. At first he swore that it must have got into his trunk by mistake. But my suspicions being aroused fright- ened the fellow almost to death, and he confessed that, by my fa- ther’s orders, he had intercepted every letter addressed to New Havâ€" en. He could easily do this, as it had always been his duty to attend to the mailing of all letters, as well as to the collecting of them, wherever we went. ' “Having gleaned that much from him, I went downstairs and faced my father, and we had it out be- tween us, hot and heavy. He‘saw that the truth mUst come, and be concealed nothing. He had heard of my attentions to M. while I was in college, and be commissioned some one to watch me; but it was only when I was on the point of graduating that he learned that I was actually married to her. He was in a terrible rage at first; he could not endure the scandal of such a. misalliance, for he at once set his wits to work to find some way for me out of the scrape. Hence his plot and his orders to go abroad. Tom, the valet, was sent along to act, with my mother, as a spy, and With instructions to in- , tercept every letter that was mailed to or sent from New;Haveu. This he felt sure would result in making M. feel that she had been desertâ€" ed in cold blood if kept up long learn with deep regret of the recent death, of quick consumption, of Miss Miriam Harris, who was a beautiful and talented young lady, enough, and so he rested and left matters to take their own course for a while. “At length he thought the time ripe for action, and he went to see her and try to browbeat her into suing for a divorce upon the ground of desertion- But she had disap- peared from New Haven, and no one could tell him anything about her. Later he received a paper from his spy in New Haven, and found, to his great relief, that it contained a notice of M.’s death. That settled everything. I was free, and there was no further need of making excuses to keep me abroad. The same mail that bore that fatal paper to me contained a letter to my mother bid-ding her come home, asummous which she would gladly have obeyed immediâ€" ately, but for my long illness. This is the cursed story which I wrung When it was fin- ished I left the house in a white heat of passion, swearing that I from my father. would never enter it again.” Two days later : “Have been to New Haven to seek some tidings of my dear one. get no trace of her. She Street some time during the winter. The place was sold shortly after, and Could left the little house on nothing was ever known of her af- terward,’except the fact of her Then I went to Ashton, 8. little town in Rhode Island, where I knew her parents were buried. Ah, me! There I found a new-made grave, which told its own sad story. My heart was torn asunder again, and I came away without asking a Am sorry now, though, that I did not hunt up the get the date of her death and burial, but that I can death. single question. sexton and dc- later.” Two months after, and written Boston, at the Parker House, Mass. : “Came to Boston on the tenthto attend the wedding of an old chum. Met the Porter sisters again. Miss enough, was a bridesmaid. She is really a charm- ing girl, and has promised .to cor- Alice, strangely respond with me.” There were various entries after this, but nothing of especial import- end of three “months, when the following was ance until at the written : done me. but I promised him the last twenty years.” ly for more than a year. that was the last record book : lovely Alice Porter. shall. knows anything about. I made three years ago. marriages are a. many sorrowful hours! never have had I was abroad. I trust the sequel will happier days.” (To be continued.) ._.....â€"-â€"-'!' ton, for fifty years. ing the whole of his life. - 3‘ paid for it. Like Britain’s island lies our steak, A sea of gravy bounds it; Shallots confuscdly scattered make The rockwork that surrounds it. “The governor died this morn- ing; sent for me last night, and beg- ged my forgiveness for the wrong I tried to be kind, but in my heart I could not forgive him ; that I would always care for my mother. He has left everything to me, and I am to carry on the banking business just the same as he had done for There was very little more relatâ€" ing to Gerald’s mother, although the diary was continued irregularâ€" Then there was a skip of nearly two years before another date was added, and in the “To-morrow I am going to marry She is very like my lost one, and I have grmvn very fond of her. I have never told her of my marriage, and I never It is an episode in my life which I believe no one else living Life once more looks very inviting to me, and I will try to atone by my devotion to Alice for the great mistake which Secret device of his sa- tanic maiesty to trap the unwary and ruin the lives of innocent girls. Now, good-bye, my companion of I should you but for my promise to M- to keep a diary while I shall never talk to you again, for I am going to burn you as soon as the fire is lighted in my office in the morning, and so and forever the first volume of my life. which no one must ever read. bring me LIVED 94 YEARS IN ONE HOUSE The death has occurred at Brann- ton at the age of 94 of G. I’. Hart- noll, who had been church warden of St. Brannock’s Church, Brann- Hc was born in the house in which he died and had only slept away two nights durj A loafer may make a hit with some people, but he doesn’t get OW FEED FOR PIGS. In Bulletin No. '73 of the Mon- tana Experimental Station, Dr. Lindfield gives the results of sev- eral interesting experiments in pig-feeding. This bulletin is sum- marized as follows: (1) Experiments 2 and 6 are il- lustrations of the economy of feed- ing young pigs, when they receive the proper ration. In experiment 2, pigs averaging 35 pounds in live weight gained an average of 1-! pounds per day, and put the one pound of gain at a food cost of 3.5 cents. In experiment 6 pigs averâ€" aging 40 pounds gained .92 pounds per day, at an average cost of 3.62 cents per pound- (2) Peas make a more efficient hog feed than does barley, but be- cause of the greater cost of the peas. the barley makes a more ecoâ€" nomic ratlon. (3) A ration of gain, with skim milk as a supplemental food when -fed.to hogs gave: First the most rapid gains, and second, the most economical gains, but took second place to tankage as an efficient ration. (4) A ration of gain with tankâ€" age as a supplement food came secâ€" ond in rate of gain, but first in ef- ficiency ration. Because of the high cost of tankage, it makes an expensive ration when fed in the proportions given in these tests. (5) Roots as a supplement food also make a valuable addition to the ration, coming next in value to skim milk and tankage. (6) Clover or alfalfa fed as hogs will eat it, together with a grain ration, improves materially the rapidity of the gain and the feed mg. (7) In these tests the hogs fed grain alone made economic gains but the lowest daily gains, and on the average the most expensive gains were made on .such a ration. (8) Hogs fed a half grain ratio: on clover and half alfalfa pasture made, in proportion to the grain fed, much faster gains, and much more economic gains fed a full grain ration. (9) The central thought in these tests is that some supplement food is necessary in feeding a grain ra- tion to hogs if the most rapid ecoâ€" nomic gains are to be had. For conditions in Montana the value of the supplement food is: First, skim milk; second roots; third tankage; fourth pasture; fifth, clover and alfalfa. ' THE USE OF HEN MANURE. The following suggestions con- cerning the use of hen manure are worth consideration at this season by all so fortunate as to have a supply of this valuable fertilizer: There are two general methods of. using hen manureâ€"one is to put it on grass land as soon as it is taken from the house, the other to mix it with chemicals into a ferti- lizer. Some also use hen manure for corn and potatoes by scattering it in the hill or drill when plant- the increased labor and cost of mixing the fertilizer would not pay them. Another class of farmers claim that this mixing is very proâ€" fitable. They keep the manure in a dry place through the winter. By dusting plaster or “floats” under the roots and in the shed the ma- nure is kept in hard, dry chunks. Early in spring this manure is crushed as fine as possible. This is usually done by spreading it on a hard floor, smashing it with a heavy spade or maul and sifting it through a coarse sieve. Just be- fore planting a mixture about like the following is made; 900 pounds sifted hcn manure, 150 pounds ni- trate of soda. 750 pounds acid phos- phate and 300 pounds sulphate of potash. In some cases 250 pounds of fine bone are used in place of an equal weight of the acid phosâ€" phate. This combination has given good results as a potato fertilizer. LIVE STOCK NOTES. It takes as much judgment to buy. stock to feed for the butchers as. it does to purchase a stock of merchandise. It is natural for hogs They find things in the ground that their systems need. Hogs do better when permitted to live na- turally. . Do not allow farm stock to tramp around beehives, for they oftondis- Ifnrb the bees, and cause them in Hill themselves iiiliio-(-ns'w'-‘" ' ’. honey, ircv,'sumii:l).r vu- (lot-i ‘ " lâ€" tcry, and death will in: ii:- to root. armj WWW ' than those ing. 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