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MY LADY TONGUE. By Ainelle Illv«i>, Author of ur the I>«ltd." rhe Qnlok / They b»d ridden aboat twelve milea, vbiaUou^btou boKan witb aome astoniBh- ment to liuten to the tremendous beating of hia inouut'H heart. " Jiiat hear thia beast," said be to Judith. " I hope he's not going to die. I nevir hoard a brute's heart go like this." " What is it V" she said, reining ap. All her brown curls were in her eyea with the wind, aud the weird light from the weather-glim foil on liur golden horeo and hia trappinga. She waa perfectly beau- tiful, Phil thought, or, what ia so much better, imperfectly beautiful. Hho lautfhed a little when he told her what alarmed him, but looked worried. " Uad'd milea ahead by thia time," she Baid. " That isn't Trumpeter's heart. It's hij diaâ€" diaâ€" ohi I never can say it. He's foundered, you know. Get down, aud let's look at him." Hhe waa olT horae in an instant, andFhil beside her. " I'oor old boaatie," she said, Hiapping Trumpeter's creat coaxingly. " I aay.l'hil, do you know how to bleed a borao ? In the iieuk vein, you know. You don't. Uear me ! Well, then, I'll have to try. Give mo your knife. Uon't say you haven't one. Gad! how he's breathing. Thank good â-  nosB, you have one I Now, come on I help me." With Houghton's assistance she cat the bars of Trumpetor'a palate, and aa well as she could got the beat part of her own and her couaiu'B wliiakey-llaak down the poor brute's throat. Houghton was a good deal impressod, at the same time that he was provoked at being shown up in all his flagrant ignor- ance of the ilia that horaelleah is heir to. They had a tiruaome walk the reat of the way, for Judith would not remount Eye- brows, and poor Trumjietor, euiulatin); his name behind them, was anything but a cheerful cnmpaiiion. liow I'hil did wiah that he had been able to spring from the foundered horse, all the time having a full cognizance of what ailed biinâ€" have whipped out hia knife and bled him, and administered ho whiskey, all without a word from Judith. And how he fumed ovir that idiotic speech about Trunipter'ri heart. lie thought Judith muHt have a contempt for him. And, to tell the truth, ehe did. 8he blushed to think that some of the neighbors might have been with them, and beard ber oouain's remarks, and seen the helpteaa way in which he Htood about, while she righted tbinga aa bi>dt she could. Ucr eyes were â- till a good deal more rod than brown whenever she allowed her tbongbta to dwell apon hini. J hat night, as ho came into the drawing- room JQHt before dinner, ho found Judith in the arms of a slim young man in a very elaborate coatuine~or rather, if the truth must be told, < ill] Hlim young man waa in the arms of .1 lith, who appeared to bi< Alternately !'''.< 'ling and wiping her eyes •a lnt\it nhe cuuld on the lapel of his coat. As Dooghtou came in, however, she •too.l erect and put up her band to her ourls, which were a good deal rumpled. Her eyes were brown aa rain-washed •atnmn leaves now. No rod in them what- ever. " Dick, your cousin, I'liilip Houghton," ehe said, Hpi-aking pretty coolly. And Hout.')iton found himself in poaaeaaion of the ulim yunng man's hand. " l> (;lad to see youâ€" or, just from I'ari.i 'I Coid here, iaa't it ?" said the boy, lani:iii(ily. 11(1 wuH only a boy, after all, with a face Homethiiig like Judith's seen in a spoon, and thi) same reil'brown curls. Uis eyee, howivur, wore a pale gray. " No ; 1 am from start to finish," said Bonghtnn, gravely. " Kh't" H»id l>iok. lie did not laugh, neither did Judith. 6be Boratolicd the chin of the black kitten in the Toby collar, and looked gravely at Houtihton between its ears. " Ob, I see " eaid the boy, linally. " Heen ont hunting. ]> unn of a time you had, Judy hero tells mo. Horse foundered. Awful nuisance-, having one's horae foan- dere<l. Do you like hunting '.'" " I haven't done much of it," said I'hilip, honestly, wishing devoutly that he had. lie had eyes keen to look with aa well as to look at, and saw the little downward clip of tne girl'H month, aa alie went on coaaot- ing the little kitten. " I've done a lot of it in my day," pursued I)i.;k, laii^hinKly. "And 1 must say it rather bores m<!." "Oh, does it'?" said Houghton. "It doesn't Hnem to bore your sister." " Nothing bores Judy," Master Dick aaanred liini in the same languid tone. " 1 tell her to wait until she's grown up." " Hho'H a bit more ' grown up , than yon now, isn't she?" sail Houghton, dryly. "How do you mean'/" iJiok asked, allowing hia eycH to opan themaelvea, as it were, in despite of hia own will, while Judith stopped Hi^ratr.hing the kitten's ehin, and lookoil a good deal aatoniahod. " Wliy, aa yuu stand there together, I'm <|iiite sure blie'a a good inch taller," said Houghton, calmly, with one hand in hia pocket and the other meditatively at bin mouatauh-i. " Yoa, a good inch, I should any," he repeated. Diok lluah(d, but Judith grow poaitivoly scarli t. The intense bluali seemed to spread into liir viiry eyes, and they reddened omiiiounly. " You art) entirely mistaken," she said, in the .-mail, still voion which is generally suppoaed to be monopolized by conaoionce. " Uiohanl la a half inch talUr than niyeelf. Wo were mc'aaurinl oidy Ust .lune." " I'orhapa jou have gro.vn sir.oo am-," suggested ltoughtr)n, ipiite unmoved. "Not ia grace, eh, Jmly 'i'" put in the boy, good-naturedly coming to the rescue. " You've got her in a perfoot temper, cousin Phil." "How can you spoak so, Diok I" cried Judith, turning upon him, and dropping the kitten, which fell with a furry bounce upon the poliahed lloor. " I see that you have even leas coneideration than before you went away. And, besides, yon know very well that yon are a half inch taller than I am." " Huppoae wo teat it," said Houghton, who somewhat felt an nnaccountablo plea- flure in exasperating her. Perhaps he waa reveling in the delight of taking the euperior pose in his tarn. " Here'a a good bock to measure witb. H you will stand back to back with your brother " All the blush waa in her eyes now. Iler faoe had grown quite pale. " You ure insulting, " she said, with her teeth shot, and walked oat of the room. This was a great deal more than Hough- ton had expected. He stood staring after her with the book still in his hand, and then opened it blankly and looked in it aa if for an explanation. It was a volume of Misa Hannah Moore's private devotions, and so he closed it and replaced it on the little table whence he bad taken it. " Don't you mind her," said Diok, easily. " She's always twice as sweet after one of her tantrums." This seemed in truth to be the case. She oame in to dinner as suave aa May, and took her seat beside Philip with a smile. " How cross do you think I am?" she aaid, leaning toward him, and making a ouahion for her round chin with her palms, her elbows being on the table. "I am afraid I waa very provoking," he said, eagerly. " I am sorry ; will you for- give me?" She said notfaing, but wont on smiling, so he took hia forgiveness for granted, and partook of more green goose with a light heart. Now it was very dangerous to take any- thing for granted with this young lady, especially when there were little sparks of vermilion in her eyes, aa there were to-night. Bat Phil could not possibly have known this ; the smile ehe bestowed upon him was so enchanting that he did not look higher, and BO noticed nothing pecaliar about the eyea. Diok waa to stop over nntil Monday, and the next day all three went out for a wain. Tliia ramble happened to be very eventful. I may aa well state that there occarred the time-honored opisodo witb the bull, but Houghton neither transtixcd the infnriated animal with a pitchfork, nor leveled it with a well aimed blow from his muscular flat. It happened this way. They were pass- ing through what was then known at Cary- lon as the " Mill Meadow," when a peculiar kind of rumbling noiae attracted their at- tention. Diok waa the iirat to look back. "Good heaven'a I Judy,"^Kaid he, " it'a Priddio'a bull." " Is it ?" said Judith, losing color for an instant, and following the direction of bis eyes. " Yos, it ia. and not a fence within two hundred yards. Oh '. what are we to do?" " I tell you," said Honghton, straighten- ing himaelf and feeling an abominable clutch in the hollow between bis ribs, " run aa hard aa you can, while Diok and I Why. where ia Dick?" he said, blankly. " I'mâ€" going -forâ€" I'riddie!" oame back in broken hits over the ahoalder of the Hying youth, "lie canâ€" manage- him I" Houghton said nothing, lie turned again to Judith. " That's all right. Run, now, aa fast as you can, and I can easily keep him off with stones until I'riddie comes." " And leave you hero for that brute to I'oro and trample?" said Judith, bristling lu a moment. " I aee myself!" she added, with tine scorn All thia time the bull was making a tre- mendous tow-row, and using one of hia horns as a plow share. He waa coming nearer, too. They could see bis little red eyea distinctly. "Judith, I beg of yon," aaid Houghton, givinu her a not too gentle push, " Well, I will," eho aaid, suddenly. Khe lifted her walking-skirt, and with a <]uiok gesture, alippeil off the red balmoral petticoat which Hho wore underneath. Thia she took in her hand and started olT at a long, even run, before Houghton well reah/.('<l what ah" wii>i about to do. When she waa within fifty yards of hia buUship, she gave a view liitlloa which did more credit to her liingH thitii the occasion, and llonriahnd the ruii ekirt in the air. Houghton'u heart did actually Ktand still. Ho g&vi! a drag»;iiig breath, got the best of his horror, whi<-h wan inclined to make him week-knted, and started off after the girl. Hut the brnte wa^i bofore him, thunder ing on at a gri,'«l lumbcriug pace, only stopping now and then to plow the ground with that ugly left horn uf hia. Away went thia modern Kuropa, i:i the direction of tho nearest fence. Half way between it and lior pursuer ehe dropped the red [Mittiooat, and this hi) eminence tarried awhile to toas and worry and mix with the red clay. Honghtnn had an awful fancy which he had no time fortunately to coantenance. He Heemed to sco Judith being trampled anil mangled in tho uamo faahion aa her pretty aliirt, hy thuHfl brute foot and horns. Hut thaidi, lleavun ! it was only tho ntxt instant that aho reachi'd the fence and literally rolled over into the next Held. Then, for the liiat time looking back, she saw him. "(li)t ovorl (ill nv or!â€" ([uick!" she called, in what voice remained to her. " If he sous you ho will -kill youâ€" oh ! ' Thia aa Houghton jnut managed to put the rsild of tho olil miaUii fence botwoen him Bolf and tho bull, who rushed ali>ngaide bellowing like a bovine demon, with hia tall ail exact reproduction of Hogarth's lino of beauty. " Theâ€" straw ataoka," Judith panted, as Houghton reached hor. " He may- tearâ€" thatâ€" fenceâ€" all -to bita!" Ho took her hand, and they ran together to a group of straw stacks eome ton yards away, up whioh they sorambled toguthor, loosening avalaniihes of straw, and slip- ping auveral tiinea before gaining tho top. Once there, Judith caat herself down, making a little hollow of her two arms, into which ulio thruat her faoe. Hho waa ehaking from head to foot, not trembling, but wrenched with n convalaivo movement, whioh went to Houghton's already not too nalm heart. He loaned over and put hia arm about her aa uhe lay, and then, as she did not pull away or ioinonatr»lo verbally, ho venturod to reat Ilia other hand im the red-brown curls. Something in their soft, almost living clasp upon hia fingers went through Ilia veins strangely. "Judith," he said in a voice that he did not himaelf ijuite recognize. Then ho cleared hia throat and aaid it over again â€" " Judith," and then " darling I" That rouaed Judith better than aal-vo!a- tile or a pail of ioo water would have done. Bhe aat up, and a little away from him, and said : " There oomea Priddle â€" and Diok." I'riddie, armed with a pitchfork, was running with all hia might, and Diok, in the far baokgroand, waa running also, bat with very little of his. He had made at least thrice the time when he went for Priddie. Then the bull was secured, and marched off meekly, with a prong of the pitchfork through the ring in his nose, and the whildom pedestrians also betook them- selves dinnerward. The colonel swore extensively when he heard about it all, and called Priddis some very ugly names, which gave the soul of Boaghton in&nite comfort. He vowed, moreover, that he would not rest in hia four-poat bed untill that ball waa made into beef. " And gad ! if I wouldn't like to make that fool eat every square inch of him!" be ended, thunderously, fisting tho table until the spoons and glasses gave tongae shrilly. Boaghton did not see Judith alone after that for more than a week. It waa within ten days of Christmas, and she was end- lessly occupied about something or other. But she found time, however, to give him plenty of smiles and gay words in passing. And he bad sent to New York for Bomething which he knew that she very much wanted, so that altogether, though tantalizing, it was not very unpleasant. Phillip, moreover, was rather anxious to find out whether he waa only deeply smit- ten, or very much iu love, and he thus found time to discuss that momentoas question witb hia inner manâ€" that indi- vidual who ia always such a loose or tight fit for hia outer representative. Of course the colonel had inaiated upon his remaining antil Christmas; and ho was to hang up hia stocking, of coarse â€" hal ha! And there should be eome young folks, and bonfires, and what not. Also, there were some aleigba sent ap from Richmond, and the place waa literally resonant with the voices of expectant nigs, big and little. On Christmas eve, however, Boaghton managed to tiud her alone, although Dick had arrived, and ehe seemed busier than ever. He waa going along the corridor to his room, when he caaght a glimpse of her through the half-open door of a little paneled room, which she called her "Tea Caddy." She was standing on tho grey deerskin rug before the tire, in the oream- white frock he liked, and wearing the identical blue beads and bow which he re- membered so well. Her feet were sunk ont of sight in the thick fur, but he fancied that she also sported the bron/.a shoes. There waa a glisten in her oyea which Houghton did not think was all firelight, and she clinked the beads of her necklace hurriedly together. " Do let me come in," he said, pushing the door further open. She looked up vaguely, as though from a dream, and aaid, "Certainly." So in he went, shutting the door behind him. It was a pretty room, with much blue chintz, on windows and farniture, and many hunt- ing traps about. There were two old chairs on either aide of the fireplace, which could have held six Judiths apiece, and in one of theae she now placed herself, still keeping her hand on the beads at her throat. Boaghton sat |down on the rag at her feet, Turk-fasbion, and took hia oroased anklea into a capable graap. " 1 never saw half auoh a pretty room," he remarked, looking about him. " It's you, Jndith, all over again." " Is it ?" she said, Hlill in that absent faahion ; and then added, with a sort of laugh : " Yes, it ia rather blue." "What? ,\re you blue?" Boughton asked, convinced now that the glisten waa not due to the firelight. "On Chriatmas Kve, too? That will not do the leaat iu the world. What's wrong?" She tossed herself back into tho open arras of the big chair with a petulant ges- ture. " Everything I" she criedâ€" " Every- thing!" Boughton sat a moment gaz.ing steadily to the Ure. "Judith," he said, at last, "can't you tell me, dear? 1 might help you, you know?" ' Von couldn't ! yoa couldn't !' she said, still v^aemciitly knitting her chestnut brows, which iu that position was absurdly like her father's. "Nobody can. I can't myself. Oh I dear I" It is impossible to express tho rebellion condensed into that one "Oh I dear." The room seemed to reverberate with it. Houghton could think of abjolutoly nothing to say just then, ao he edged along toward her over the dterakin rug, until ho could rest hia arm on the arm of her chair. "Tell me," he urged. " Do, Judith. One can never toll. Perhaps I may ba tho very ono to help you." Hut uhe said " No," very curtly, and stared over hia hoad into the lire. Pres.'iitly, ho ic ever, she burst forth agKin : " Was there ever such a wild place as the University of Virginia, do you thiuk?" she cried. At that, "Oh!" sail Phil to himaelf. Dick had of course boon getting into trouble, and had caat hia burden upon his aiater'a plucky little ahouldera, after his usual bravo fashion. "I don't know much about it, you know," he made anawor. " What baa Dick been telling you?" Hho looked at him a little aharply. " Why do you thiuk Diok haa been tell- ing lue anything?" aho asked, in a rather oareful voice. " How ulso should you know?" Houghton said, easily. " Hut of course don't tell mo unlcaa you wiah." Hiiddonly sho leaned forward, setting ono hand back down in tho other as they rested on her knees. Her necklace swung forward from her bending throat, and the fire-light east daintv, circular shadowa from ita bonda upon tho snowy white of hor nock. "Yos, I will tell you," she said, suddenly. " Dick ia in debtâ€" that old, old story to eiatera â€" for how much do you auppoae?" " I don't know," aaid Boughton, atupidly. He was not thinking in tho least of Diok juat then. Ho waa wondering how many of thoae little aoft round shadows there were on her white breast, and whether he could count them if he tried. " Well, then â€" for eight â€"do you hear? - for eight - thousand dollars." " That's not ao very bad," said Boughton, reassuringly. "We can pull him through." " â-  We 7' " said the girl, haughtily, on the defensive at onoe. " Who do yoa mean b^ ' we ?' " All at onoo ho got hia arms about her. Sha felt hia breath in her hair, on her throat. " Who should I mean bnt yoa and Iâ€" you and Iâ€" yoa and I ?" he went on re- peating, in a sort of intoxication. " Judith â€"kiss mo!" " Kiss you ?" ahe said, " kiss yoa ?" She was absolutely rigid with fury. Waa ever man so blind as Boaghton ? â€" so deaf, one might say. He leaned forward and kissed the pretty blue bow, and the space of white flesh encircled by the blue beads. He looked ap and would have kissed her lips, but was stopped by the furioua light in her eyea. He started back and freed her in a moment. " This is the second time," ahe said, with abut teeth, as he remembered her once before to have spoken â€" " tho second time that you have behaved like a beast to me." "Judith !" he said. "Yes â€" a beast!" she said, biting down on the word, as it were, with her sharp little teeth. "Judith," he said again, "take care â€" take care !" "Take care!" she repeated. "Take care of what? Of the womanhood that you don't respect? There! Your lips have touched them, they are vik 1 Bhe jerked at the blue necklace with a sharp movement which broke it, and the pretty beads went rolling thia way and that over the fur rug and the polished floor. The kitten in the Toby-collar paraued one into a distant corner, and thought the episode gotten up for her especial benefit. One or two rolled down into Jadith's bodice, and felt very cold and disagreeable, but sbe was too much wrought up just then to think of pbysioal discomfort. She stood opening and shutting her hands in a sort of helpless gesture of rage. " How dare you treat me ao?" ahe aaid, breathlessly. " How dare you ? â€" dare you ? â€" dare yoa?" He was on hia feet, of coarse, by this time, and stood facing her with hia head well ap, and hia handa well down iu his pockets, an extremely angry man. The lover waa quite taken up by indignation. " How dare you treat me so?" he re- turned, with rather ominoua quietnees. " Do you think it ia very - erâ€" ladylike to call people ' beasts ?' " " ' Ladylike !' " panted poor Judith, who for the time being coald not resist echoing him. "Ladylike!" aho cried again. Ladylike â€" the Devil!" she said for a third time, bringing down her teeth with a vicious little snap over the terrible word. Boughton was actually livid. " Pardon me," he said, bowing and turn- ing on his heel. " Good evening." But as be reached the door he wheeled around and came back to her. "Judith," he said, in a voice that she did not at all find familiar, " I meant to ask you juat now to be my wife. Of coarse I leave at once. I will conooct aome story to tell your father and Diok. Good-by." He went without so much as touching her hand and closed the door, opening it again, however, to tbrast a little mat out of the way. He did not again look over in her direction. Then ho went finally. And ahe stood staring at the closed door, thinking in a vague way that it was Christ- mas Eve, and that she had better ring for her maid to gather together the scattered beads â€" and that Boughton had gone, and that she had lost her temper and forgotten herself utterly. There was a rigoroas wind a romp in the narrow hallways and the locuat trees without, and in a distant corner the kitten was still scrabbling about with ono of the fallen beads. It was (juite still save for theae noises, and the sound of the wood fire, which waa busily " treading snow." She stood there until the room seemed receding in a golden haze, and then she turned atilUy, and, stooping down, began to pick up the blue beads from the floor. The kitten, seeing her kneeling, ecampered ap, expecting a frolic. Btie lifted the pretty little brute to her white bnu^c, and held it thus while she went on in her laborious search. • • • tt « Judith did not sea Phil again until three yoara afterward, when sbe was 21, and the civil war had broken out in all ita hurrura. He waa a colonel on General 'a statT, aud happened to be encamped rear Char- lottesville, and Colonel Page asked himaelf and the general to dinner. The latter declined for some reason or other, bat, much to Judith's amazemeuti Houghton came. She watched him dismount from bis horse, looking through her closed window blinds, and her heart emulated the action of poor Trumpeter'a diaphragm on the memorable ocoaaion three years ago. Sbe aaw that ho had broadened a great deal and was browner â€" very much brownerâ€" in fact, i|uite dingy aa to complexion, and that hia undreaa uniform waa abominably shabby. Then sho turned slowly away and went down stairs. She had thought a good deal over her toilet, laying out the four gowns in her poaseesion on her narrow bed. Among them was tho creamy one with tho little bluu bo.v at the bodice. Sho waa as slender aa ever, and could have worn it very well, but she tossed it aside decidedly. Sho finally clad herself iu a gray serge, which had originally been a vivid pink, and belonged to ono of hor great aunts. A rosy tinge was still discernible here aud there in the folds, after tho fashion of that in a gray cloud at sunset. Bhe put on a little tucker of old lace, which, alack, had been " done up " with bluing, but there wero no bows, nor beads, nor bronze ahoeu thia time. Aa for herself, ehe looked pre- cieoly tho same as she had done thrco years ago, save that there waa rarely any red uowadaya in the brown of hor eyea. She wont down slowly .coming loahaltou each ahallow stair of the oak stairoano. She waa not at all sure of htir rooeption. Would ho stare grimly, and bo very ioy to her ? Or would he merely ignore her 1 Or would he indulge in covert sarcasms, that only she could understand ? Bhe made up her mind at last, however, and turning the knob of tho drawing-room door, entered abruptly and noiselessly. The colonel waa established in his red- leathern half-way house, with hia gouty foot on a stool, and Boaghton sat astride of one of the various spindle-legged chairs, with his arms resting on its back, and his chin on hia arms. He got up when Judith entered, and oame forward to moot her, holding out both hands. " Well, my Lady Tongue," said he, with the smile she remembered. There was not a trace of bitterness, of aaroaam, of coldness in his voioe. It was abaolateiy natural, if a trifle misohievoaa, ^ and somehow this perverse yonng woman wished that it bad been either one of tha other three, rather than what it was. Sha found spirit enough at her command, how- ever, to answer saucily : "Well. Sir Oracle!" He still held her hands, and looked down a', her. " Yoa haven't changed the leaat," he aaid, presently. " Er â€" that ia â€" have you?" " No," she aaid, with all her old cartneaa this time, resenting the still very decided mischief in bis tone. " I don't know that I'm aorry," he said, gravely, and then the colonel called to him, and be turned away to answer. They saw him very often daring the next fortnight. He waa always riding down at unexpected moments, and stopping in to dinner or tea. It is true that hia conversa- tiou was chiefly with the colonel concern- ing war matters, and what had been, and what waa to come, etc. Dick had juat joined Boaghton's regi- ment, and the Colonel was aa anxious to know all about him as though he bad been in several engagements, whereaa he had BOt been in any. He came jingling down with Boughton one day, in all the pride of his new trappings, flushed and really look- ing quite gallant. Judith had atill the advantage of that half inch, but the boy was sturdier than at seventeen, and carried himself very well. They arrived about sundown, and the Colonel, being confined to hia room by a very sharp attack of gnat, they bad some chocolate in Jadith's "Tea Caddy." Tha hard times of sweet-potato coffee and black- berry-leaf tea had not yet chanced, and Judith's ohocalate was above praise. Boughton cast a rather curious look aboat the room aa be sat down, and Judith handed him one of the wide, shallow caps that he remembered. It waa all just tha aame, all except the kitten in the Toby- collar, who was now a sedate matron with two children, who bad each inberited a Toby-collar, as much like their parent's â- â€¢ poaaible. Boughton took one upon bis knee, and Dick captured the other, while Jadith min- istered to their mamma, with bits of oaks soaked iu tha chocolate. " I say," remarked Dick, suddenly, " bf I if it isn't only a week from Chriat- raas. Do yoa remember the way yon trotted off and left ua un Christmas £vt> three years ago. Cousin Phil ? You do, don't you, Judy ?" Juaith said, " Oh ! yes," that she n- membered, of coarse. Boughton, who was smoking one of [the colonel's old Cabanas, lazily stroked tha paw of the kitten on his knee with the un- occupied fingers of bis cigar hand. .Tnditb thought she detected a smile â€" the wraith o( a smile behind the smoke haze. She drew hcraelf up, and a very haughty look cama over her clear, flrelit features. " Aasurcdly I remember it," said Boaghton. all of a sadden, when Diak» who waa busily engaged in tormenting hii kitten by pulling ita Toby collar half ovar its ears, had forgotten that he bad pat tha (|aestion. " I should think I did," he went on. " The thormomeler was only 15 abora zero, and the waggon got stalled in a snow- drift before we were half-way to the sta- tion."' Judith again waxed perceptibly taller. Bhe would have added two or three oilbita to her stature if sho could have done so. Hhe told herself that she hated her cooain Philip Houiihtoa very much indeed. "Well, Jude certainly made a lovely present out of you, anyway," laughed Diok. ".\nd I must say she appreciated it. I don't believe it's been otiof her arm for tha last three years." Houghton could not repress aiiaiok look in Judith's direotion. She was making a fire screen out of one of her long bands, and he could not see her expresaioa for tha shadows from her fiugera. But by-and- by, when Dick went out for something or other, ho pitchei hia cigar iuto the flce^ and went over beside her. (Tu b« Coucinued). Another Trifle. " Bend it, mum ?" " Ub, dear, no ! Most of the things we had sent last year came along about a week after Christmaa. My husband will carry it." " But iau't ho rather heavily loaded, mum ?'" " Not a bit of it. He says he carries a millstone round his neck down town, and I'm sure these little things won't bother him mnch. Here, Sammy â€" another trifle." Ue Wautett to Copy. Mrs. Jasonâ€" "Jehiel, I've had theawfal- est scare. I opened tho door aud found the worst looking tramp I ever saw. Why, I couldn't aay a word for ten minutes." Mr. Jason â€" " Do you know which way ho went 7 I would like to get Lis make-up if it had that effect." â€" Vcrre Haute Ex- preia. ( Words Could Kxpremi It i aiuluUy Well Young Borrowe (who haa been acoom modated with a small loan â€" guahingly) â€" Oh, my friend, words cannot express the extent of my obligatiou to you for this kindly action 1 Old Van Loan â€" Eh ? Yea they oan. Juat sit down here and make a little thirty-day note. The Proper Title. lu the Boudoir. -Uadiant young wife (arrayed for the reception)â€" You aolemn old boy ! Uon't you like my now dress? Bearish old hinband (oritioally, through hia eyegUa:i)â€" ll'raâ€" well â€" 1 liko it for the honsaty of its title. It i-i decidedly a naJeJ dreea. I.OHt lliuHil>ll. " What, IS everybody wicked, mamma dear?" " Yes, Bertie." "Are you wioke yourself, mamma, dear ?" " Not so go aa I ought to bet" "Andâ€" the police ?| London l^tnch. Largo iiaantities of lambs and she are being shipped from Elmira, Ont., Buffalo. Teacher â€" Tommy may tell na what aha] the world is. Tommyâ€" It is roan Teaoher â€" How do you know it is roanc Tommy â€" 'Caase you told me yoarae Teaoher â€" Yes ; but my telling you t world is round dooin't make it round. He do I know it's round ? Tommy â€" I s'po omebody told yon. tl i • â- ! •, t i â-  i m '^^^