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>-; U/y ) /J>j^^ â- ^4>N. â- ' » Tli« Ttirea Mttle CImini. Viihj hiX a1 ttio by tln< briftlit wood Aro, fflie ({t ay-bitiiL<<1 tlani * anil tbu aged &lrd, l>i.*»uiiii;{ of (l&yit gout) by. Tho t«ar-(Irfj]> f'^ll o:i uach wrinkled cheek; ^I'^y bolli had liiouKbta thoy could uut Bjioak, A-:d each heart uoiored a hl^h. For llJuir aa'J and fnnrrut ey<A duscrfA fnirVlitlle abalra placed »i'l(i by nido .f;;aiijiit UieNittiuK room wall - OM Tiuiliiniiod (Miouijh ah Ihure thoy Htood, Vhttir ftnatH of ilt^; itud tbelr frauK«s of wood, With tufir backfl ko hi^h aud tall. •riicn lUo fftthrr sliook Ilia ailveiy bead, AuJ with triMiibllDg vuiuo be goutly baid : " Mothnr, theat* euiptv i-bairs â€" Thny brJai{ uk euch Kid tuoufibCit to-nigbt, \{m'i\ pui tbuui for^Vt^r out of ai^jht Irittift buiall dark ro')iii uptitairs." But ^\us aii^wor<'d : ' Father, aotyt*t, not yet ; For- I I >ok a*, them arid I furij<«c '1 :iat ih < cbildruti are away. VliP b >yB com • ba';k, and our Mary tOd, VVi''i lior«i>'oij on of cbeokorod blu«, Atiil ait, Ueroev Ty day. JrihijTiy eonio.4 back from tli-t billows deejt ; Wi-J • waKe>-i (roll) \un battlo-Iieid hltjoji, T'l Bay Kord-niifht to imv Mar^ .: \ wiTit and uiotber no more, I)l'. .. Mred fliiui wh »He play i.-t o'er, A.i lu^iii>'i4 to rost at my kntn* fto le: tbein staad tbare, tbougb fnpty now ; And ('V'cy tiiiio wh -n alonn we bi*w â- \i tb« K:ith'sr*s tbroim to pray. Wh II ask Xaj :jieot ibo childron ab i/«j. To our tiavi'jur'ii home ^f ruet and l>jvo, Wljeio no i"bil J ^oetb away " BELINDA: A BEAUTY "Belinda, when we were both yoongâ€" the day will ooms, 1 hope, child, when you will syiiipathi/.e more with the triple and tomp'.atiuiia of othersâ€" when wo were both young, Kogcr Teinplo and I first met. And Ee orad forme." Dead Hileiice ; the widow confused and stroking do'.va the folds of her silk drees Kit'i her white lingers ; Uelinda'a slip of a ligare atftv.ding upright boaide the window, Ler arms folded, her lips and oyoa about as "Bynaathetic " as thoagh they had been carved in granite. " He cKred for meâ€" too much for bis own ^Acaâ€" but duty Ktood betwecu ua, ar.d we jiartcfil" Of this tha reader Hhall know inoro than by Iloae's btxy utterances. " We (larted. Kate was hard upon us both. And now â€" Ueli:ida, must I say more?" "Say everything, pleaft, if yoa want me to tinderatand you." " Roger Temple has aaked me to bo his wife at last, and I " " A:)l you â€" are going tj be married •gaiul" iiilcrrupts lieliiida cruelly. "For the tbird time! Tlien all I ciu remark is, you ara very fond of being married, Uose." A haartlesa, unwomanly speech enough; but U'linda, like many other raw girls of her ag", u a'jiolutel) heartlers in •nattTs of love; ami at this moment ?ias;:jiate, unreaaoaiog j^!a!oaay against ho rival of her dead father u i-C'Ddiug the Hood to her brain toi ijaukly for her to be vory nice in the choi -a of woide. " I'm inro I don't know how yoa can be â- o ii'ifesling," siya How, almost crying, "liutyou were alwaya the aami. Kven when you wer-j little yoa had no more â- Kr.-ii'jility than a stone. And lto;{ur always expresses bims.f so beautifully about you, And tlie Temples arc such a good family, «nj everything ; and then to aay that I â€" I, Ot all woman living, am fond of being mar- ried 1 I lio hope, Helir.ila, whatever your own opioioiia may ba, you will not cxpre<i.^ yc'jraelf in this moit heartbiia and induli- oato mtnnef before Captain Temple I" "Captain Temple'/" repeats Dclinda, nil Inrorinoe. " Why, when am I ever likely to see Captain Temple ?" " Yon will see him in St. Jean de hav. to-day." "C»ptain Temple in Bt. Jean ile I.n/. I Von mean to tell mo. Hose, that yon and a youMg man are travelling abo'it the world iogatlier ?" And Uelimla, the tirat and las: time in li> <' life auuh hypocrisy can be reoorded of 'A-, puts on uD air of outraged virtue edi- .^iog to behold. " Uoger met me in Paris and again in DordoauK," says poor Uose, bluBliing thr;;igli her rouge with vexation. " Itoger Traa the old friend I told yoa of. And there was aUvaya Bpencor- and we have taken caro never to stop at the aame hotel even Eu lias genu now to look for a lodging in qnit9 aiiotlier part of the town. If you fcne./, Uelindn, if yuu only know what a •onl oJho:i()r Itoger 'I'eniple has, jou would fiot talk HO lightly I" " Ah, but you muit remember I know nothing at all about him," retorts the girl, "and my education do<8 not diaposc ine to take any man's honor on truat. Never tnind, Kotin," she goes on with an assump- tion of pitying eomplaiaance : "I am Idi! i<cd, I own, but I will keep what I know to 1 :yaelf. I will not say a word, even to Bnrko." "And will you behave with feeling, with CODsidi-ratiun to Uoger Temple, for tny Kkk.iV' Before the girl can anawor a. nutn's stop â- onnda in the corridor, a knock coniea at the door. " Entifz," nriea out Belinda, in her clear young voice. "My tilings I" sighs the widow all in » tremor, her heart reverting to the posses- idons which lie nearer to it even than her lover â€" her bandlioxea. And the door opens. " Itoger I You have found your way idrnady, then ."' Uuae exclaims, with rather « forced little laugh, and retreating hastily from the light that falls nnbeooniingly full Opon her through the open window. " Belin- da, dearcat, my very old acquaintance, C'.ap. tain Temple. Now mind," with infantine candor, " 1 shall never forgive either of you H yuu don't fall in love with eaeh other at Once. I have been like that always Miaa Ingram iined to nay I was quite absurd. Wlioevor I am fond of must be fond of all fay friends I" lint, long before Hoae had ceased twitter- ing her small falaitiea, Helinda's eyes and Uoger Temple's have mot â€" met and spoken tbo truth. *â-  In life aa on railways," a master hand tras written, " at certain points, whether vou know it or not, there is but an inch, ibis way or that, into what train you are Bhnnted." Into what train has Helinda's passionate beart been shunted, all unknowing, at this moment ' CHAPTEH IV. VWUT ME.N CM.l, l.OVE. Kose spoke of the romance of two young lives, of love saoriOoed to duty, of a heart idowiy breaking during a dozen veara. Thia we may set down as the po«tio form of the â- tory about herself and Roger. Now let ai have it in the prose. The story, in the proae form, is simply thi j : Rose married in her girlhood to an eld< ily London lawyer and lannched into a narrow circle of dull, professional re- spectability, waa, at siz-and. twenty, as really fresh and iogennoas a young person as over breathed. Meithcr perru(juier nor I'ond ctroot chemist needed then. Iler ilaxsQ hair, smoothly braided according to the fashion of the day, adorned her youthful face. Ber complexion, innocent of cosmetic, was, in spite of iioma few freckles, like a just opened do^-roae. So Roger Temple met aud loved her. The Indian mutiny was just over at the time, and Roger, a fair-faced boy of nine- teen, had come back, wounded, after hia Qrst dark taste of soldier's work, to Eng- land. Uh made Rose Shemadeane's aoqaaintanco at an East London dinner party, and, not knowing, till deaaert, at least, that she was the crown and blessing of another man's life already, conceived for her SH wild a pnasion as ever fooliah lad conceived for still more foolish woman since the world began. The London season was at ita height, even Rose's humdrum life enlivened by an unwonted share of parties, theatre-going, drives in the park, visits to the /.oological ; country cousins who must be amused stay- ing in the bouse. Roger saw her, dogged her, worshipped her everywhere. One of the country conaiiia being female and un- married, it might be assumed that Mr. Temple's attentions were honorably matri- monial. Mr. Temple being well-born, young, handsome, of good expectations, was it not a manifest duty to offer him encourge- uient ? ThUK U'>3c, with small platitudes, stilled her small uouaoionce for a fortnight or so. Then the end came the end of the prologue, not the play. Watohing the bippotamus together one July Sunday afternoon at the /^jological, the country coualns, tbo nonentity of a hus- band, all but within earshot, young Ma.ster iioger made a fool of himself. In stammer- ing, passionate whispers, told Mrs. Sbelma- doane a secret which Mrs. HI' ilmadeanehad been calmly aware ot for some time past, bat which it waa shooking, oh, unendurably shocking, ovjn to think of, the moment the uoafsssion happened to find its way into words. Bbe walked away from him, her fair young matron face abla/?, and, with the air of a new Cornelia, laid her hand upon her husband's arm. Three eveningi later â€"Rosa twenty-ail, remember, Roger nine- teen was waltzing with him at a ball to which duty bade her cbaperonehercountry cousins Ht the Hanovi i .Square rooms. Mr. Temple had h^eii wicked so wicked thtt it really took one's breath away to think of itâ€" lu daring to re^jard her, an hu.-iured nifu.save with feelings of iciest respect and est em. t i i - i it > ao, gentle soul, felt cjustrained to pity the poor mia. guided fcUo'A', to lead him, if it might be, 11.10 b.-tter ways. And that llloomabary Square life ai;<l huaband of bera, illumined by presen'. experienoe, were so hideously moootoaou), and the homage of a man, handsome, young, distinguished like Roger, was honey sweet to vanity. A batter woman, or a worseone.a woman inspired by imagination or guided by ex. pcrU'M'ie, might have been tnrritled at such a poiitiou. (Jood, passioulesa, uuimiiifiiia- tive. self-saturatcid Uose, the Urst little cold shook of the plunge over, felt no terror at all. What she did feel strouKeat, I think (when ori>) can disinter it sutllciently for aiLilysis from the mass of small vanities, triuinphi before partnnrleas country â- â- o:ixius, eti' , ill which it was embedded), wanâ€" gratified fiiisr of jMjwer. The infatuation lasted out the London season. Tiien old Shulmadeane carried his wife ofi to .Margateâ€" tardily suspioioua, perhaps, aa to the kind of HacritioH ahe waa making to duty â€" and Roger's leave of k'lj nee came li> an end. He was angry, Ijitter, sick at Heart ; lii-i divinity during their last interview having sermuuixed and sympathi/id, and altogi'ihnr tortured liim beyond measii".! ; detKriiuned to return to liili*, without S!ieiiighur again, determined to despise, to forget her. Long letters ptased between them, with or without Mr. rihelinadeano's knowledgeâ€" I refrain from speaking with certainty on this pointâ€" but letters certainly that Mr. Hhehiiadeaiie or any one else in the world uiigiit iiavu read with safety. Uose, indeed, half thoOKht at times that her victim re- pressed all alluxion to his tortares too suocessfully. I.very mail, every second mail at first; then once in three or four mon'h j ; then twice i'. year. So the corres- pondence attending Roger's ill-atarred passion was carried on. At last Mr. Hlielma- deane died. And Roger Temple, of course. Mew to Kngland to put in llrat claim for the poasea- uioa of hia beloved i oe'g hand'.' No, Roger Temple did nothing of the kind. He was awuj up the lountiy pig atiokiug, when the letter containing the newa of Roaie's widowhood reached him, iif ter aome delay. Aud he loved sport pasaioiiately. And the two or three men who formed the party liapponfKl to be hia closest friends. And inudt not wceda ho worn a decent time before they are replaced b\ wedding favors? Itoger iieillur rushed to Kngland nor WKitH any letliT designed to compromise hia Roaie's newly-gained liberty. It must be remembered that he had now been wasting in despair during a good many yearn; also that men got into the habit of everything, even of hopeleaa paasion, and against their better reason may feel dia- turbed by having to abandon a settled inood of thought. U') wrote the widow as exquisitely deli- cate a letter of condolence as was ever penned ; putting himself andhiaown seltlah liop^j and feara utterly away in the back- ground ; dwelling wholly on her and on her loss. He spoke tenderly, and with vagueness, of the long years of their separa- tion ; he spoke with greater vagueness still of the day ot their possible reunion. Uf marriage, of anything that could by poasi- bility b« constructed into a hint of marriage, ho spoke not a word An ordinary, intelligent woman, botore she had read auuh a letter to the end, would have known that her lover's love for her was over. Rose, guided by the irrefragable logic of a fool, deduced from it only a new proof of her slave's devotion to her welfare. " There is one far distant, who adores U10, hnt who is toohigh-sonled, toogeneroua, to think of anything but my grief I" she would lay to Major O'Shea, who got an introduction to the pretty widow, and indeed let steadily to work love-making, before her crape waa si.x weeks old. "Ah, Major O'Shea, if you bad only the ooa- BoientiouSLeas, the noble, forbearing, nn- selQsh nature of that poor fellow in India I" And then Cornelius would respond to ths efl'ect of his heart being stronger than his reason, of bis impetuous feelings hurrying him beyond the cold bond of conventional decorum. And the widow would sigh and blush, and wipe a tear or two, and call him a sad, sad man, as she yielded her band to be kissed. And the upshot of it all waa, that the next news Roger Temple got ot UoHB Shelmadeane was a tlaming announce- ment in the Tivies ot her infidelity to him ; by special license, an arobdeacon and three or four of the lesser clergy assisting, at Bt. Ueorge'u, Hanover Square. Singular perversity ot men's nature I The news of this marriage cost him not only the most poignant jealousy, but a re- vival of his love in all ita first freah ardor. The existence of a husband, of any husband seemed really some necessary, mysterious condition ot Uoger Temple's |«assion. You should have seen the letter of good wishes that he wrote the bride : bitterest veiled reproach discernible tbroagh every courteous phraae, every pleasant little con- gratulatory meeuage to Major O'Shea! Uosy cried herself almost plain for the day after receiving it ; hid il jealously from Cornelias, to whose philosophic mind the whole matter, you may beaure, would have been one of profoandeat indifference; and wrote Roger a pleading, selfextenuating reply by return of mail, with three violets â€" ab, did Captain Temple remember the bunches of violets be used tu bring her during ths happy days of their friendship in Bloomsbury Square enclosed. And Captain Temple, Itose has had his own word tor it since, kissed violets and letter both, and set ap tbo writer on the old pedestal in his imagination I was very nearly writing bis heartâ€" that she had ever held. Some slight insight into Rose's domestic grievances aa Mrs. O'Shea, the reader haa had already; we need not farther enlarge upon them. Cornelias apent hor money neglected her, went to America, where bia fate awaited him. And Rose, on her Cncle Robert'a death, foand beraelf once more free- freeand with a handsome httle in- come, villa at Brompton, plate, linen, and aocoasuriea, at herdiapossl. And then it was that ahe and her old lover looked again npon each other's faces. Uoger had returned to Kngland unexpected by hia friends, bis long leave having been given him some months earlier than be an- ticipated ; and on a certain May night, Uose at that moment believing him to be thouaanda of miles away in India, knocked at tho door of the ISrompton villa and in- (uired, in a voice whoee accents he vainly strove to command, if Mrs. O'Shea was at home. tVt last a UufTy-haired, brilliantly oom- plexionedâ€" alas, that I must write ill â€" iddic aged lady came forward to bim and bowed I a lady extremely overdressed or underdresscdâ€" as you like to term it. "I a:n not aware that I have the honor -" she began, looking at him strangely. And then be knew her voioe. Poor Ruse, if she could have seen into her ijnondam lover's heart just at that moment! He watahed h^r daring the next hour o" so with feelings about equally balau^uU of disappointment and blank surprise. Kvery woman's good looks must decline after the lapse of the twelve best years of her luaturity, and Rose's had really, in the common acceptation of the phraHS, "worn well." But it v.^as not any fading due to age, it waa not time's natural footprints on cheek or brow that allocked him tbua, it was the abaolnte, startling transformation of her whole personality! He had not really dined, Mrs. O'Shea diseovured; had arrived hi London late that afternoon, and, forgetful of bodily sustenance, had rushed away to call on her at ouc<'. So a little supper was organized, accompanied by a bottle ot Uncle Robert's beat champagne. And then this man and woman, who h:>d played at love so long, bi>;>ii looking into each other's c-yea, to talk of all that thoy bad auflered (in imagina- tion or reality) since they parted. Aud the cruel intervening years laded away. They were whispering beside the hippopotamus, thoy were murmuring farewells upou the Margate beach, again. And by and by Rose's hand, youthful and white still, found ita way into Captain Temple's. Ittrumbled; he pressed it to reassure her. Rose, with a sigh, made a feint of moving away. And then, for the Urst time in their lives, their lips met, and Roger's fate was sealed. The wax lights bad burnt low by now, and Rose kept her face well in shadow, nay, hid it bashfully out of sight, on her lover's breast. And when he kissed her lieautitul golden hair it never ooourred to him to think from what dead head it might have been aheared ; and when at last she lifted up her face tti falter out softest promises of life-long truth, he did not even see the rice powder it had left upon his waistcoat! Who loves, cavils not ; and Roger Temple, i>r Roger Temple's imagination, loved during this hour's intoxioalion at least. What he thought and felt next morning, wheu he had to review bis position, and Mrs. O'Shea'a complexion by daylight, none but Uoger Temple ever knew. CHAPTKH V. lOMI'LIUENTS, NOT (AHEHHEU. Belinda's eyes have met Uogor'a and, in spite of all her foregone jealous resolves, the girl linda t hard to Bteal herself agaiust Uoae's future husband. Never in her whole vvgabond, loveless life has such honest human aunehine shone on her as shines now in Uoger Temple's smile. " I don't know about tailing in love, but I am sure Belinda and I mean to be friends, UoKie," he eays, advancing. "Do wa not, my dear'?" And before she can tlnd time to put her- self on guard. Captain Temple's bronzed muaataohe has touched her cheek. It is the kind of salutation that could scarce, by the very iciest prude, be atigmatixed an a kiss, and yet it bears suuh a signifioantly marked family reBemblanco to one to be un- pleasant in Rosie's sight. " Iâ€" I, really, Roger Belinda looks so ridionloasly younger than she is!" " Not a bit," orie» Uoger, and now be rests bis hand kindly on the little girl's shoulder. " Belinda is fifteen yeara oldâ€" you told me, did you not, that ahe was tlfteen? Well, and she looks it. Don't mind Rosie, Relinda. Rosy turns rusty at the thought ot having a grownup daughter." " I shall be seventeen the week after next," sayi Belinda, holding up her chin. " I don't know what people mean by taking me for a child. I have certainly seen enough of the world and its wickedness to make me feel old," she adds, with the acoustomed bard, little ring in her voice. " Belinda will look different I trust Belinda will look totally different when she is properly dressed," aays the widow, glancing down at her own elegantly flowing draperies. "I must really have a serious talk with Miss Barke about these short skirts." " Ah, bat Miss Barke is not here to be talked with, Rosie," cries Belinda. " My natural guide and protector haa been away in Bpaiu a week or more, collecting facts for her book, and I am knocking about alone, as you see â€" me and my dog Cssta." " Aloce!" stammers Rose, shocked not so much, perhapa, at the fact itself, as at havingthe fact exposed before Roger. " Yoa don't mean actually alone, my dear 7" " Well, no; I have my chums, ot course, the fellows who were with me in the street when yon arrived. Now, Rose," she goes on, pitilessly, " tell the truth : Were you or were you not ashamed when you hrst saw me'i"' " I â€" I was sarprised, Belinda" says Rose, in her sweetest little feminine treble. "It is not usual in England, you know, to see a girl of seventeen wearing her dress above her ankles. And then those fearftlâ€" What must I call them, Belinda? -what do they call those fearful door-mat things you have on your feet?" " Thoy call those fearful things a^/iar^eCiu in Spaniah, eipudrillei in French," answers Belinda, cooly holding out a ragged, san- dalled foot for inspection. " It you played paume on the hot sand for hoars together as I do you would be glad to wear espadrilles. Rose : yes, or to go barefoot altogether, as I do, oftener than not." A bluah of burning shame rises over the widow's face. " Our dear Belinda wants a year or two of Bouud English training," she remarks, in a tone that to Roger sounds dove-like, but that Belinda remembers and interprets only too well. " That is the worst of con- tinental education. One has to sacrifice so many good solid English qualities for ac- complishments. Still, in these days, a girl must be accomplished. A oouple of years in a select English boarding-school will, I have no doubt, render Belinda all that our fondest wishes ooald desire." Belinda, on the conclusion of this little tirade, looks hard into ber step, mother's eyes tor a moment or two; then, shoulder- ing her scbistera, ihe moves acroea to the door. " I must be off," turning and bestowing a nod fall of caustic meaning on the lovers. " And unless you want me to join some gang of wandering gipsy players, as I have often ^lought of doing, yon had better not talk about boardinii-schools any more. My accomplishments, Captain Temple," look- ints with an air of mock modesty â€" " Rose talks of my accomplishments, for which the good solid English (jualities have been saoritiucd ! I will tell you what they are," checking off each accomplishment on her dark, slim tin,^er8 as she proceeds ' bolero dancing, slang paume' â€" of each a little. Knowledge, learnt practically, of how to keep myself and dog on twenty sous a day board-wagea. And a taate for ballhghts so strong, oh ! so Htrong," this with an- affected enthusiasm, "that I would sooner go without meat for a fortnight and church for a year than miss the chance of going to one. For farther particulars apply to Mr. Augustus Jones." And HO exit Belinda, whistling â€" yea. Rose, whistling ; keep from fainting if you can â€" as she goes. " .V quaint little original, our future daughter," says Roger, whose eyes have certainly opened wider during the conclu- sion ot Belinda's tirade. " But agoodhearted child, I'll be bound. You must not be too hard on her. Rose." 'I hard!" sighs the widow, looking at him reproachfully. " When was I ever harden anyone? If you knew, Roger^ but ot coarse men never understand these thingsâ€" the trial that poor girl haa always been ! I can aasure you I look upon Belinda as a chastisement, sent to me for some wise purpose by Providence." She seats herself on a sofa, disoroetly away in the half light, and with an air of resignation takes out her pocket handker- chief. "I have made sacrifices no real mother would have made for her â€" can I ever forget the devoted, blind attachment of her poor, dear papa for me? Sending her away. Heaven knows at what expense, to the Continent, and always writing that she should have the best of masters, and everything ; and now this is the result. How painfully plain she is. " " Plain ? No, Rosie, anything but plain. Belinda is just at that awkward age when one does not know what to make of girls, and her dress is not ()uitelikeother people's, in it ? But she has magnificent eyes, and a pretty hand." " A pretty hand I Belinda's hands pretty ! Why, they are enormous, aix and threo- luarters at least, two sizes bigger than mine, and as brown ! But you think every one you see lovely, Roger," says Rose, pettishly. " I declare one might just as well be ugly one's self. I have never heard yon speak of any woman yet that you could not find something to admire in her." ' .\nd all because ot you, my dearest !" ories Captain Temple, with warmth. "When a man admires one woman sqpremoly, can you not imagine that every other woman, \ ea, even the plainest, must possess some- thing fair in his sight for her sake ?" He comes acroaa to her, stoops, and rests his hand on his betrothed's fair head. It is a favorite action of Roger's and one that Rose would be exoeedingly well pleased to see him abandon. Who can tell what horrible trick jii>.-<ticht' or plate may not play one in some unguarded moment or more than common tenderness? â-  I shall be quite uahappy about my drosses if they do not arrive soon," Rose goes on presently. " Ten large cases, yoa remember." Does not Roger remember those awful ten cases well ; in Paris, Bor- deaux, everywhere ? " And a bit of blue ribbon on each. There can be no mistake if the railway people are honest, but abroad one never knows. I'm sure nothing would have been easier than (or Belinda to ran back to the station ; still, she did not offer, and in my delioate position as a step-mother, I hava never required the slightest attention from the poor girl. Oh Roger," Rose's hand is in her lover's now, and he ii beaide her on the sofa. "If I dared, how much I should like to t«U you a aeoret â€" lomethiiig we are all oonoemad in I" Roger's natural reply is, what ahould prevent her telling it ? Ought there to b« any secret, present or to oome, between persons whose lives, like theirs, are to be spent in one long, delightful oonfidenoa? " Well, then â€" I'm a very naughty girl, I know," Rose avows, kitteoisbly, " and I dare say you will scold me sadly, but I've been match-making! It is not quite by accident that Mr. Augustus Jones ia in Bt. Jean de Laz!" " Accident or no accident, the faot ia a deuoed unpleasant one," remarks Captain Temple. "How or why Mr. Jonea cama here is Mr. Jones's own conoera, but the bore of having to encounter him I I really did hope. Rose, that we had seen the last of that actrocioua man when we left Lon- don." " Y'oa are prejudiced agair.at him, air. I'm afraid you don't like poor Auguatoa because he was a little too attentive to me." "Rose!" " Ob, oome, Roger, I know what yoor ruling passion is, and always has been. The green-eyed monster, sir ' " Rosie, I swear '' " Well, we cannot help these things, my dear ; I am ridiculously without jealooay myself. Poor Major O'Shea often said hs wished he could see me a little more jealoiu, bat I can make every allowance for it ia others. I ought to be able to bear all tha jealous suspiciousness of men's natural after the experience that I have bad !" There is silence for a minute, and any one watching Roger Temple's face at- tentively might discern there a good deal the look of a man who ia trying to repreaa hia weariness under the perpetual, exacting babble of a child. " 1 duu't think yoa judge of me correctly. Rose," he remaria after a time. " Who ever judges anotbar correctly ? Who can read but by his own light ? We were talking of Mr. Jonea, wen we not? Ah. yes, and yua think me jealooa of Jones! So be it, my dear. Poor littla Ruaie," he beads forward and salutes tha widow's cheek â€" very tenderly, I may almost say fearfully. Roger is better ao- qoainted with fern' nine weakness, as regard* rioe powder especially, than he waa on that first fatal night at Brompton. " And now what about this grand secret of yotirs? Yoa have been match-making, have yon? I hope you dua't mean to marry oar littU daughter Belinda to Mr. Augastas Jones 7" " Ha would be anextremely nice husband for her, from a worldly point of view," say* Ruse, taming over and over the diamoiid, a gift of Roger's that rests oa her plump tbird finger. ".\ad aa to educatiouâ€" old Mr. Jonea waa sensible of his own deficien- cies, and had his ton coached ap by the most expensive tutors. Any one hearing Augustus talk would say that he was quits well educated eouughâ€" for a married man." " And presentable enough, refined enough? The eort of husbard a girl could not only love, but be proad of? Well, Rueie, man- age it as you ohonse. If you like Mr. Jones, and if Belinda likes Mr. Jones, you may ba sure that ' shall not forbid the banna." ' Ab. there is the difficulty. Belinda does not like Mr. Jones. Belinda and I never liked the same thing or person yet." Poor Rosie, if the mantle of prophecy ooold but fall upon her shouldersat this moment! " But )oa could help me so much, dear, it you wouldâ€" and you will, I know?" apraisiog her ejes coaxingly to her lover's. " Y'ou will help me in my plans for Belinda's happiness? It was all through me, Roger â€" dou't be cross with me if I confess tha truthâ€" it waa all through me that Mr. Jones came to St. Jean de Luz." " Throagh you that Mr. Jones came to St. Jean de Luz ! And why should I be cross with yoa, yoa little goose ?" Rosie talks like a girl of sixteen : Roger treats her like a girl of sixteen â€" yet is aen- sible, mournfully sensible, ever, of the grotes<)aeness o.'so doing. " Y'oa see, I knew that Angustua waa anxious to marry. I suspected, feared," saya Rose, with modest grace, " that his hopes in some directions might have been juat a little blighted.and the thought struck meâ€" as he was going abroad and bad asked me to plan hia tear for him â€" the thought struck me to bring him and Belinda to- gether. What he wants is connection, what she wants is money -" " But Belinda ia a child still," interrupts Roger Temple. " Yoa are building all these castles in the air, dear, kind little soul that you are, Rosie. for her good, but the thing is ridicalous. Belinda's home must be with us for the next three or four years. Ample time, then, to begin match-making. How could a child ot her age possibly decide," goes on honest Roger â€" "how could an innocent hearted child ot Belinda's age possibly decide whether she ought or ought not to sell herself for the so many thouBands a year ot a snob like Jones ?" " Koger. my dear," answers Rose, in her sweetest, moat angelic tones- whenever she is annoyed, Mra. O'Shea's angelic pro- clivities become more marked "excuaeme if I tell you that all those romantic ideas about selling one's self (or money are oat of date. Belinda never was a child. Be- linda has not one youthful sentiment be- longing to her ; and as to innooenoe, poor thing !â€" you heard what she said about bullfights, without fainting! Those fine interesting-looking fellows in such danger, and the horrid bulls goring everybody. I'm sure to see a picture, to read a description of one, ia sickening enough." " A matter ot custom and nerve, Roaia. I have known some Englishwomen capable of worse cruelty than being present at a bullfight." " Aud the very beat thing for the girl's aafety and our peace of mind will be to gat her respectably aettled asquiokas possible.* My own opinion o' Belinda -I would aay so to no one but you, Roger â€" ia that ahe is without heart. Aud a woman without heart -" But the generalization is opportunely oat short by tha arrival of the boxes and blue ribbons. In her joy over her recovered finery, Rosie forgets all other haman con- siderations; and her lover, with ordeia only to smoke one cigar, and to be back at the post of duty in an hour at latest, recovers a breathing space ^>t liberty. (To be Continued). I â-  r The Boys Are Imprortnir. An exchange tells of a soboolma'am who has introduced a novel system o( spelling in her school. When one of the girls misses a word the boy who spells it correctly ia permitted to kiss the girl. The boys ai« improving, but it is (eared that the girls will soon (orget how to spell their own names.â€" TiofMita {Pa.) Democrat. S < X