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 ^WRP" "^^m- '^mm' "â- '^SPPPPPI^BBP^P gpsjpnfpwwCTPHis^ MLBIAM. oihx Vl r CHAPTER II. ' ' â-  ,«e Before Mn. Sng had ldR loom the nexb marning, a lettifMf inui teunght to her. She divined wliMce it Mme, although she had never bef^e seen the hiuidwriting and it waaf «i^ more BerronsneBs than she would hava^buredto acknowledge that she 1»oke the atti. It was dated ihe pievionB night, and' began abruptly. .. **M; presence was, of canrse, no such snrpnse to yon as yours was to me. I rec»gnized yon instantly, it is necessary ihat we should meet alone for once there are some words rhat must be said between ns then I need trouble you no more. WU yon please select place and arrange time of meeting 1" Miriam perused this twice, a look of disdain on her face. Then came a knock at the door. 'lf you please, ma'am," said the house maid, putting in her head, 'che boy is waiting be^ow for an answer." 'H. shall not wait loig," sud Miriam, and, tearing the note into four oitces, she flang them carelessly into the fire burn- iaj newly in her grate. Then she tutnei to a devunport standmg in the window uf her pleasant room, and wrote her re- ply. 'You are mistaken your presence was aa gteat a surprise to me as mine was to you. I see nu necessity for the interview of which ou speak. Ic would be an an- noyaiice to me in every way. I decline ioerantit." Having despatched this concise epistle, Miriam proceeded with her interrupted j toilette, brushing her long hair at the ' glass which gave back to her vision scornful lip, a proud and steady eye. 'He thinks I knew th»t he was here ^e thinksâ€" great Heaven â€" I sought him fie shall find out his mistake," she said, and twisted her abundant wavy locks •bout her head with firm unwavering tonch. In the course of that day another letter "vas brought to her. "I insist on speaking to you," it ran. **1 will wait for you by the chapel on the ' Hewton road from three to four o'clock this afternoon. If you fail to appear, I shall call on Mr. Archer, and explain to him the difficulty ia which I am placed." To this Miriam deigned no reply "Let him insist, let him explain " she Kutttred. "I am not bouud tu do his bidding, I thank Heaven 1" However, as the appointed time drew near, she saw fit to alter her firsc deci- sion- "He shall not think I am afraid," she said. "Better see him, and have done with it " '"Going out?" cried Mrs. Arche»" in surprised accents, Itioking up frotu her bottk, as Miriam presented ht r.^^elf before her. "My dear, what a day Better by half stay at home over the fire with me " "The cay isn't so bad, Georgie â€" dull, but the wmd is high enough to keep off the rain. Good-bye. I shall be back be- fore dusk." "Come forward and let me look at you. Are you weU wrappad up " The girl sho*ed herself in her long sealskin coat and hat,her friend regarding her with admiring eves. "Mind no one runs away with you," Hhe said, laughing "You always look your best in your furs." ' Little fear of that " Miriam declared, as she nodded farewell. -The parish of Eistwlck was but a sub- urb uf Lhe low II of Newton, and the town encroached yearly on the suburb. The road along wjiich Miriam briskly walked w.iS adoraed with villa-residences, let and un'et, while many more were in the course cf buildiiig. The road was not pictureeqae in any w«y, no^* a favorite of Miriam's. The chapel, a thorn in the flesh jf f.ir Hubert Hicks and his protege, the Rector, stood by itself at the bound- ary of the parish. It was a dreary edi- fice enough, the villa-residences for the present holding aloof bat fields on either hand were marked out for buildin? purposes, and black boards therein on tall poles called the attentiun of the rich and speculative to the admirable sites to be disposed of. A dreary lane, looking miserable and uninviting enough on this bleak November day, ran up luo side cf the chapel, and it was »t the entrance to this laue that Kingston Keene stood as his wife catno up. She silently bowed her head i o him as he silently raised his hat, theu turned into the muddy Isne. "Will you be good enough to come this way " he said. "We shall not be inter- rupted here." Miriam walked by his side in silecce, her head well erect, an air of protest in her face, looking like a beautiful captive princess. He switched restlessly at the branches with his umbrella as he walked, a look of embarassment on his bronzed ce, a huskinees in his voice when he be- gan to speak. "I have asked you to come," he said. **It seemed right to me that a few thiogs ahoold be settled between us. I have to thank you for oomplyii^ with my re- quest." She biwed her head and, after a moment, he went onâ€" "It was a anr- piiae for me to see yon last night â€" a very great surprise " **It was not a less me for me to see Sa," did interropted. **I should not VB been likely to seek to make a home here, had I known." "And yet," he rejoined, *Ht was not aaeh a very onlikdy thing to contem plate that I might at one time or anotiier Tlsit my sister." **Ana could I gnees that Xady BSeks 'â- wa» yonr siater f" she aakedhotly, teamt inffWHBBthiDginhistone. **A BMii«iit's thMwht will remind yon tiiafe yon never told me aoythmK of youiaelf or yottr be- Igogings. Your after-oondoBt^OTed ^t fJL my iuiteoedaitB woe of importanoe to yonâ€" th«y were fanportaut enoi^ fm a pretext, at least hat yon did notoon descend to trest me as .Ik. ntii who might have poaaeaaed aome hi yours." "Whei^ we. togethir, eimimitted that mi^aet/fiveyeten ago,' he bq;aa. bat sh0 xnCerrop es him.. **I bM| four pwdon, the madneaa mm yours w(me; I -waa eaae enough. I sm^y 4itd as wias told, aa I had idways done. Jibe pM|ect=wa8 distastefnl to me,' as you ias68t- have hno*n all along, although you pretended that th4 know- ledge came upon on as a shock but my feelings in the matter were not consult- ed, if you remem'ier My mother's con- sent was asked and given." "Of course I mast leave yon your woman's privilege," he sneered. **You must make wild statements and use op- pr^brii us epithets unreproved but do not forget that something has to be said on my side â€" somethine!" he repeated, with a bitter laugh. "You were a child â€" granted but not so much a child that you could not tell right from wrong, nor know the meaning of what yon did not too much of a chi'd to have had lovers by the score, to have jilted them, to have been jilted by them not so much of a child that you did not know the meamng of the word 'adventuress' â€" and that your mother was â€" nor the meaning of the word 'convict' â€" and that yonr father was; not so childish nor so innocent but that you had learnt the art of making dupes, and yon made one of me 1" All the little color natural to the girl's cheeks faded at the cru 1 words, leaving her face white as marble*. "As Heaven is my witness," she said. In trembling, solemn tones, "of that last disgrace of â€" of my father, 1 knew nothing until that fearful day â€" I knew a no more than yon I knew that we had no money â€" my mother and I â€" that we were in debt, that we moved constantly from place to place, that â€" that I was to be married as the only chance of escape fiom such a life the rest had mercifully been kept from me." "And from me," he retumod bitterly, "till I learned it all too late â€" thanks tj your disappointed lover. And so you see the wrong u not all on your side. I was tricked â€" tricked into allying my honor- able name with onethat in every conceiv- able manner had been dragged through the dirt. I was to have been tricked into paying your mother's debts and spending my life with the daughter of a forger for my companion. I declined. Who could blame me There is nothing for which I can blame myself. You spoke just now of your poverty â€" at least, I gua[rded you against thatâ€"I saved you and your mother too from the Iffe you were lead- ing. That you are fortanately, however mysteriously, circumstanced to be able now to dispense with all assistance from me is gratifying no doubt to you but 1 am of course anxious to continue to do what is right in the matter." "Thank you," she said, with ironical calm "you are too liberal. Do not, ho^vever, imagine that the allowance to which you allude ever benefited me. Do you think that I would have touched your money," she cried, with sudden fire â€" "one farthing of it 1 My mother took what; you gave I could not help that but I â€" 1 wi rked for my brad. Idrudged for years in second-class schools until I had fitted myself for something better, lor when you freed ma from yourself you freed me from another bondage. I was a slave to my poor mother no more 1 have been mistress of myself since then, and shall ever be. When you wrote to me just now that you 'insisted' on an inter- view, did you think thac such a paltry show of authority would influence me 1 came entirely of my free willâ€" as, pres- ently, I shall leave. I acknowledge no right of yours, and i fear no threat." "Nevertheless," he remarked, "I mnst still ask you to answer oae question which" â€" with a cold smileâ€" "I fear I shall have to 'insist' on your answering. What are your means of support at pres- ent At the second-class schools did you make your fortune, or â€" " "Do not trouble to make any further conjectures," she interrupted quickly. "I have no objection in the world to tell you. My money â€" a few hundreds a year â€" came to me firom a brother o: my mother's, who refused to help ns while he lived, for the same reason which in- duced you to turn your back on us when we were in trouble and needed help." "And you selected Eastwick as a place of residence â€" not permanent, I ima- gine?" ' 'Why not I have every intention of making it permanent." "Eastwick," he said, "is hardly big enough to hold yon and me at the same time. One of us, I think, will havd to go " He spoke with intentional cruelty, his eyes fixed upon the darkening land- scape. 'One of us mnst go." "Then it will not be I," she answered, with quick decision. "Very good," he rejoined calmly. "In that ease yon leave me no choice." The short dull day was nearly over, the daylight fading slowly from the tikj. The wmd had dropped unnotioed as they talked, a drizziii4( rain had come on. Medumically Mr. Keene, having opened hlsumbrena, held it over his wife's pre- oconpied head so, walking aide by side, thoy xeffaiaad^he entrance of the lane. Here IGmm, lookiipg about her for the firit time, heoame consdooa of the in- cieaaiiig darknewii, (rf the down-follmg "If that Is all yon have to say to me, I dwold be glad to be gettinc hxnne," she said. • **I -think I need tooaUe yon no fnr- tber," he replied ^en, afttta moment's heaita^oii^'le is dttk apd ir«k, uid yon havB no ^mblrella I irili irilk by yonr nde. ir^« win idhnr ma." 'I ahoddriiot dnam of idbwiag it,** ahe anawered Aatfiy and, bowing her head, partly to face ib firom thaproteot- iBg mnhrdb, pacify In faraweU to Mr. Ke«ie, ahe lefthb ride and waited «inqr iquicUy down the sloppy mad. I« waa well perhaps that stepid some- thMig to take her mind bomflpib diamid- aaas df that retnm jwamey !^ere i^ not%ht enough to show hif wl^^j^to choose her way^. th« N«Mhm |%a- abovndad in pic-falls in thai *hafl|; «|f doughs of slushy mud and poda of m ta ndW i^ water the Earn etmo down int'V- ruita now, running iriff herlitde B e (|i )r la; luit in a^jreams overiunr Jace. She hlmied^; on, only dimly conscioos^ the disfom- foit, bntnnpleawntly conscious of the ir- ritation caused by the regular ere id of » footstep a couple of yahls behind her. She hailed with delight the comer where this annoyanca Wuutd cease, where she should turn off into the road leading to the Rectory, while he would still con- tinue his straight coarse to Eastwick Park. This welcome spot was marked by a pubUe-house â€" ^at what comer is there yhere human beings con^r^ate which 18 not so distinguished? The lights from the windows and door streamed upon the road, illuminating for a space its mud and its puddles. As Mir- iam reached this patch of lig.*t half a dozen men, noisy and hilarious, came out. For a moment she was in the midst of this boisterous and swaggering group than, seeing with dismay that they alao bent their straggling steps in the direc- tion of the lonely road sbe must pursue, she drew back, shnnking into the shadow for a moment and m that moment Mr. Keene waa agan beside her. "You are not frightened?" he ques- tioned and the instinctive desire to shidld what was weak and defenceless Iiad given an nnconscioudy softened tone to his voice. "I shall walk beside you for the rest of the way." Aud so fur that further half mile Mir- iam trudged through mad and rain at her husband's side, as though she had plaved Juan to his Darby for many a year. The path was narrow in many places, and he had to flounder in the gutter to give her the best of th^t way she never demurred, that loftily repudiated umbrelli now held carefully over her head was a signal of defeat to her she did not try ag«in to escape from its shelter she was beaten, she told her«elf, unnerved, unstrung I The excitement of the interview she had gone through, now that it was over, be- gan to tell on bar. How could she be dignified in her present wet and culd and draggled condition How could she at tempt to assert the independence of her spirit,whf n he had been a witness to the terror with which a handful of half- tipsy men had ibspired her Mr. Keene could only catch glimpses now and again of the pale face ba«ide him but he noticed the short quick breath she drew, and understood the de- jected droop of her head. In spite of his anger and unrelenting sense of injury, a feeling of pity and involuatary teuder- ness stirred anew at his heart ashe walked by her side. A few paces from the Rec- tory gate they encountered Mr. Archer sallying f rth at his wife's command to seek fur Muriam, and Mr. Keene resigned her to his care. When next Miriam heard Mr. Kee:ie'.4 name mentioned, it was an- nounced, amid some surprise, that he had left Eastwick Park, to the great dis- appointment of its inmates, and had be- taken hiciself to London, where he had basiness which would detain him some little time. Two days after this news was conveyed to her she was at.churoh, audit was somewhat of a shock to Miriam, in face of such welcome intelligence â€" having turned her head, at the sound of a firm footstep advncing up the aisle â€" to find Mr. Kingston K^ene quietly taking his seat in the Eastwick pew. After that hurried glimpse of him, she looked no mpre, but was uncomfortably conscious all through the service of that embarrass- ing presence, all insufficiently separated from her by the intervening aisle â€" was troubled many times by the certainty that Mr. Keene's eyes were upon her. "Why could he not have stayed away f ' she asked herself ashamed of her quicken- ed heart-beats and her neivous self- con- Ecionsness. 'He is riijht â€" there is not room in Eastwick for him and me." Little Mrs. Archer was a good and ten- .der-hearted woman, but she loved her ease and was a thought less devout than her indulgent husband would have pre- ferred. Standing jcloaked and bounded by his side for i^ternbon service on that same Sunday, she looked a little envious- ly at Miriam lying back in a b'g chair, luxuriouisly at eaae over the draw- ing room fire. I wonder James does not make you come to church as he makes me?' James's wife said, with a pout and a smile. Miriam looked up, laughing, into the face of her pastor and master. "He is wise enough not to strain his authority in my case," she said. "lam not his miserable down trodden wife, and, much as I delight in his cdoquence, I should rebel at having to lend an atten- tive ear more than twice in one day. I shall have little Tommie down di- rectly, and we will amuse onrselvea after our usual ardess Sunday afternoon fashion." '*0nly don't make him ill with sweets, as you didUtft Sunday," the Rev- erend James atiipnlated, aa ho draw his wife away. Miri a m sat and dreamed on for another half hour, with a aomewhsb lad and troubled fine, then aronaed herMflf with a sigh, and ran np to the nuaeiy. Tom- mie, a omall and dmbby nnhih j[pst pro- moted to knlbkerbodcera, ran to her at (m^e, and oanght at her ds^sa. "Toimnd9 gp down with Mim," he an- nouneed, wi^ie 4 fat oherab of a year- old balnr; iidw Attention to ifcaeU by muA InaWane eJrpwktg. Miri«in«aiiffht bead qgiJnst bar own ned: aa dw iwiiied hat down atain, while marter IVnnaia, to her diam, hringiiq; down bodi fat abort l^s on to ramvked jmiievedly that â€" wen ft badJpirHer n'oughtn't to 4iiii Mid to wantip «ome down with ^le^aosa b|BT ppere pnlvjk ba^ •^hir i^aciln't Ipifc'a '4iMr laBfi W""'*^^ ' 'wei#bit*" '""â-  "â-  â- '*.•â- "-â-  Tmcmb fanday;itftfliBoonB sp^njb innn Intennptid «ijoymentrf Afim'a aocte^, witbb]fev| to play^ with bar wkteh w^d th« li^;vjMA(el|a$ bari. tht«at,.tp aeaioh herfkienPlbt tiy^'slNBeties irlMClh aliray iorkiSd thdire, were times of intehsest en- joyment to Tommie. Hb^ay his plea- sure was a good, deal ma' red by the un- called for preaenoe of baby, who had, as yet, he considered, no chdm to the en- joyment of life, -lie eyed her discon- tentedly as she sat sucking her fingers and placidly staring at the blaze of the fire from the shelter of Mim's arm. That waa his place on a Sunday afternoon, as baby ought to have known, and '*Her's greedy!" he declared, with a grieved quiver of his lips, when the intmler inad It evident she would not consent, to be ousted from that pleasant restins place. Then Miriam kissed the sweet trembling mouth, and made room for him beside her in the big arm chair. The three of them made a pretty pic- ture sitting th» reâ€" Miriam in her back dress; her dark silky hair a little ruffled, the fire playing upon broad bands of gold at her throat and wrists, the children's curly flaxen heads nestled against her. "Tommie waiits a song?" the little man announced presently-^"not a Sunday song, not a hymn." So Miriam, in her rich sad voice, sang softly to him all the nursery rhymes â€" not a few â€" that she could remember. Tom mie was a quiet and appreciative listener. Baby, from the soothing effect of the singing, or of the finger she incessantly sucked, had fallen luleep, when there came a ring at the door, Miriam stopped for a moment. "Who can that be, Tommie? Some one to see nurse, 1 expect." But Tummie was impatient. "Go on," he said â€" "go on! You hasn't snog me that about the p'g yet â€" that little pig what left his mummie." " 'Where are you going to you littl pig? ' " began Miriam, singing Tom Hood's words to an improvised tune of her own. This tragedy of the pig was given in a manner which thrilled Tom- mie always. Neither Miriam nor he heard the door open, nor noticed that some one stood for half a mmute earnestly regarding that group by the fire, imprinting a picture on his memory that he would never for- get, thas he was to look at many a time afterwards with such a pang of longing and regret as his heart had never before known. " The butcher is coming, I've grown so big,' " sang Miriam, in tragic accents of woe, they broke off suddenly, with a start which woke the child in her arms and made Tommie clmg closer to her. Had the butcher really come? he won- dered, looking with terror at the strange man who stood before him, putting out a hand to Miriam, which she could not or would not take. Instead, grasping the children, she roso from her chair, and moved towards the door. "Do not go," said Mr. Keene; and Miriam, hesitating, looked him question- ingly in the face, nhile baby, h^viag :b- spected the stranger, broke into a loud wail, hiding her face on Miriam's breast. "I find that there is still a word I must say to you â€" ^youmust suffdr me to say it now." Then Miriam rang the bell, and gave the child into the nurse's srms, Tummie, as he was led from the room commenting loudly on his sister's behavior. "Her's a coward!" he declared, as he trotted off. "Tommio's not a coward; Tommie '11 take c-ire o' Mim," Miiiam's face had grown pale; but she spoke with ordinary quiet self posses- sion, standing proudly before her hus- band, looking with unwavering glance into his face. "I had hoped that we had had our last interview," she said. "Is it not passible that you can spare me this?" "No," he answered, "it is not possible," then he pan fed a moment. " Will you not sit down'" he asked; but Miriam shook her head, standing erect and proud and fearless before him. ♦'Since I saw you," he began present- ly, speaking with some hesitation and even nervousness, "I have thought a great deal over things which yon said. I have reviewed the circumstances of the cade, a 1 that took place five years ago. I have always told myself that I acted then in the only wavpi i#hioh it was poi^ible for me, for any honorable man to apt; butâ€" I don't know â€" ^you have also your way of looking at matters, and I would not wish to have done you a wrong. My impulse was luiturally to save my name from dis- honor and my life from a too prohable cUsgrace. I still think the aotien defen- uble, dthongh It may have'been, aal now see,, an action aaught with more terrible ii^portance, both to you and me, than I hav6 ever somehow considered it btf 18." He paused a moment; she wiMi still standing before him,. regarding bim with toe same nttwaveiing eyes. **I have Mid ailtliatl have to aay ontba subject," she replied coldly. "It aeoms to me as anneoaasaiy aa it ia onpteftMnt to open italli^) agsin." **Btit I have totd you that I bad yet Bomethbigtosay." He turned aligbtly nom hetM^ 8peice,ftnd,)cpn|ag 4!n one !»»»««^tbe Jiianto^»iece,h)olKd down mtodiee; tbe^ ' oaiB»totadi»^" yon ahai» inyl^ and my Wnn^ttw S»i*l?^£!a^ll^bok2$^^ thofiraaadtuaadto bwHafa^iuttar- â-¼paanaBB gone homhSm^waim and Ho bdd ont bis hand to b«r. iy CO the it eai "Never she repUed, throogh whit»L fiwnbnfcnVl «»I neverl Hw ' you si^iMialar^MBimomant that! oooseilto thaif For what ninnj wiMnaf do ydtitake mef Don't vod' tbiatlsioald infther be dead tbu wife now, thai I would sooner kiiH seH?' Then, be remain^ edeiitt ffave a Kttle scjtnful laugh, and sryli"^] ft lighter tone. "Baridevyou aS oameat," she went on; "you h»vi â- officiantly oooned the cost. Tais ii day of my pro^pfrity cartamly, aah was the day of my necessity and heU' ness; but I am still the daughter of mother, remember, and the daughto' my father. You would still run the^ of sullying that honorable name of « And â€" and trouble might come ag»i.' s ime one might vitify and slanaer once more â€" who knuws? Wnen you had owned me as your wife, it not be so easy for you to turn yonrbi on me, tddmk away and leaven....- bear the burdenalone. No; you hsveil^^d properly considered the risk you run ii'T^^* Keene." Vj^?® His face had grown ^almost as wldte|Sff b«^ hers; the hand wuioh had lain on the a»3oodfish telshelf grasped the marble now wi!li,S^nii uncor scions powerful grip; his voice ,^Lto am hoarse when he spuke. 2Ss a oi "Is that your final answer?" he itkt Zadl bun "F.nal, though you asked me every j, ISer ai of your life on your knees for thaj^iken years," she answered. aivred "1 shall not do that. But you are st| ggecn p'H perhaps that, if it were worth my »^ ^^oa sau â€" ^if I liked, I could ccmpdl you to^ agreeable sent to my proposal. " ^ijng wi "I do noc beleve it," she said caliri honrs, st' "Laws are to protect liberty, no: to i spoon, a sure oppression. And if it were not a 'water *to t if I faded wi Ji the tale which I shoi GriiBO tell to prove my right, in spite of anylnp^^pgR to keep myself as far as might he Inâ€" f^tever from youâ€" why, then, as I said, I wai^tt fi ied kill myselfâ€" tuat is all." serving it And she meant it. The man knew thgwool^o pc full well, looking at the proud fesrkior tbrec eyes, listening to the passionate scorBitko fire u; her voice. y4»n have "No," she went on more calmly, 4iieat of ci cannot be forced to live with yoa, u dtruEO you cannot be forced to let me go entisFnt five i ly free. I know so much of the laws ivlth one the land." til the e( "Of the latter part of your assertitthorcugh] you have probably assured yourselit 'kslieed t i remarked suspiciously. slMpped t For the first time she turned away knd a qi eyes from him, and a rush of color staiiiiito thin ed the pale face. llie Boi.p " Fhe matter was inqui'-ed into for s^dowly, bi she said. "There is no reasen that I ehetfaet to boil not tell you that." and the si At sight of that suddenly crimsoM boors. S face he started upright, hiihands clinch* ffdly. his blood on fire with the hitherto i JfMBO guessed at madness of jealousy. "Qi nuBoil fuiir ed a momenn to control his voice. take '^S tl "Some gentleman probably pro3?Mi« whatever those inquiries?" keep the 1 At the sneering tone, she lifted 1»^^'®' eyes again calmly to his face, and answp^" *^ ed deliberately â€" "Exactly' Yon are right; gentleman." " And supposing that I had be«*^*^^°™^ dead, or the law had been more C3b5? j ' plasant?" â- *^®*^' ^^ "In that case I should have been ^^^.^ portion ol hewas^i*°^^'^^' â- mmer s wife now. eiit in w The look which came into his face ii8«rf ^j Iy daunted her for a moment. ^!* ,? "How dare you teU me this? ' he asked^^'i^* suppressed fury in his voice. "H jw dae ***?. _„„o.i ' gnmbo, a y°" ^thoutt Why should I not daret Of wkij* bq as t should I be afraid? But, htving told y» yiQn^ so much, I will tell you more, that, whei^^ once it was found to be impossible, 'If^IItg of once we knew that I muse for my life «a j- „g.f, yours be bound to you, heâ€" this niaat£~^ whom you grudge the title of gentleman- ^the i and 1 said farewell for ever. We knoi~.^„ ^i^ how to accept the inevitable. He wod -_j j' |. jj have died rather than have run the till ^^^^g^ of causlng^fresh trouble to me." 4_ «rfivin "Cunt mud him!" Kingston KemJ^f^^" SMd, through clenched teeth. "Oonfoss ^Jon.pe, -^^ ^^K) bihb Miriam looked at him, infinite osi Sirjoraii tempt in her eye. the pot "He anathematised you," she saidW^JJ^jJyoi terlyâ€" "perhaps with better cause." ^mie vin (to BB OONinroBD.) JO'i P'^f _^ wine. 'â- â- " ' ' '"â-  flhopped, The Eiiffineer*s Story Of tlieBrafet i«»»^ Several years ago I wa" mnning a f« '^® ' express. One night we were three hoe •* *^ /^: behmdtime,andif there's anything i f^*".* the world I hate it's to finish a run behii *y ^*j schedule. These grade crossings of o» ^T*^/ horse roads are nuisances to the tm ?Kl^°°^ lines, and we had a habit of failing I stop, merely slackening np for 'em. J one croaking I IukI never aeen ft train that time of night, and so I rounded tl ouive out of the cut at fall tile. I « astonished to see that a freight train « standing right over ^otomuiuf, evidtf ly intending to pat ft few oai;a on switch. I gave the danger whistle tf tried to stop my train, but I had sev* heavy sleepers on, ftnd we jast slid do thftt grade spite of everything I could i Qiiioker than I can tell yoa the btak« man on that freight train nneoap?ed ' jost ba^ of our erowing fti^. signaUt hiaongtneor to go ahead, Irlleh he f diarply, btit boidy in iimd to let through. In fibt, the pilot of my eogi took the boffer off the rear car. Throil that little hde we slipped, and lives property wer^Bftved. Noir j the brak* ^nan itam oiHy a common railroader. J that delation at ft glance. The nt!S5, al( Tbey ar botcher. The Tar eiten 1,0 ni â- cl is [y for s wit htfaU r*^^? T"7.'^Sr^^ "tF M»t mtoation at ft glance. TW fe^asfced-" yoa, .wip^^«B^^jnm to whS^ train offt Ton aremyirife;wifl ctypbg, nofoWi bSf of it-barely ti^ afsping, i|6r even ball of itâ€" barely tif »aU i^«iioioijr«ltegtb by pi^p ,qi* ff;edc./r^kcfrt,]biBwit8 about him si, tion,if notaiylife. Ho is now o divi^, â- aperintondent on one of the best ra» bithiaeoia^. Con en iian red 1 dran rlii look e. •rait ons I we t nth( Swii l( idr It itocfi