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â- * DARE HE? OR, A SAD LIFE STOR^ CHAPTER VII.â€" (Coiilinucd). "You look as if you had a hondnche, old chap," ho says, silling down upon iiis friend's bed. "If you had been going through as many kitclien ranges as i liavx- this morning, perhaps you wnuld liave a headache," replies Jim. gravely. "Yim know that I am going to bo married as jsoon as I get home." Byng nods; and Burgoyne, while in- wardly bl&ssirg Die tact that spares him any congralulalions, lakes hini.self to task for having made the uniiounceiiieiit so lugubriously as to render felicilaliuu obviously inapplicable. "When are you going lo inlroduce me to Mi.ss Wilson'.'" asks Hyug presently. â- "If you shirk it much longer I sliall think Ihat you are ashanioU of me." Jim glances aftectionalely, yet not quite comfortably, at his young friend, and the thought Ilashos across his mind that, in his last remark, the latter has put the saddle on the wrong horse. "You have so large an acquaintance in Florence already," he says, with some stiffness, "that 1 did not know that you would care to add lo it." "One cannot have too much of a good thing," replies the oilier joyously. "You know 1 love my fellow-crealurcs; and in this case," he adds civilly, "I do care very much." Burgoyno's eyes are bent on the paper before him, which contains the melan- choly enumcralion of his firearms- "A 500 double-barrelled express, by Henry, ol Edinburgh; a 430 single-barrelled unto, by same maker," etc., etc.â€" a'i he euys slowly: "I shall be very happy.' His acceptance of the proposition can hardly be called eager; but of this Byng appears unaware. "When shall it be then? To-morrowâ€" this afternoon?" "No-o-o; not to-day, I think. It has been arranged Ihat wo are lo go to San Miniatoâ€" Amelia, her sisler, and I." "Three of you?" cries r.yng. raising his eyebrows. "Then why not four? Why may not I cotno too?" There being, in point of t.ncl. no rea- son why he shoidd n.it, and Cecilia's morning prayer being still ringing in her future brolher-in-law'.s curs, he gives a dull and lagging assent; so that at about Uiree o'clock the two men present them- selves at llie door of the Wilson's apart- ment at the Anglo-American Ilolel. That Svbilla is not expecting visitors Is evi- dent by the fact that, at the moment of their entrance, she is taking her own temperatui-eâ€" a very favorite relaxation of hersâ€" with a clinical Ihermomcter. She removes the instrument from her mouth without indecont haste, and holds out a languid while hand lo Byng. ".So yon are going off on a long after- noon's pleasuring'/" she says, with a pathetic smile. "1 am so glad that nei- ther of my sisters is going to slay al home with me. We invalids must guard against growing sellish, though I Ihiuk that is perhaps ni'ue the danger with maludes imaginoires; \vc real ones have learnt our lesson of suffering but- ler. I hope." "You do not look so very ill, ' replies Byng. in his sympathetic voice, letting his eyes rest caressingly on the pros! rale figure, which has yet no smallest sign of emaciation about it. "Ah, that is because of my color." re- plies Sybilla, with an animullon slightly Vinfred with rcseiilnienl. "You, loo. fall into that common orinr. My I..indon doctor lolls me that there Is no such un- erring indicaliun of radicnl delicacy of ConsiUulion as a llxed pink color like mine; the more feverish 1 am. Ihc deeper il grows. It is very hard"â€" smiling again sadlvâ€" "tor one gels no pilyl" "Where Is Cecilia?" cries Jim, brusque- ly, and lidgetting in his chair. "\\ liy is not she ready'/" As he .speaks, the young lady in qucs- lion enters- so obviously arrayed for conquest, ill so palcnily ni w a hat, and such imn;aeululO pale gloves, that across Burgoyiie's mind lliore llusln-s, in vexed mii'lii, the recolleclion of Ihe immorlal caution addressed by Major 0"Dowd to his friend and comrade, "Moind your oi, Dob, my buy:"' Would he not do well to repeal it lo his friend? CUAITER VIII. Thev are off nov/, there being nothing furlher lo relard llif'in, leaving .Syl.iilla telc-a-U'le with licr Iheniioiin'ler. I'hey are oft, sociably packed in une llacre. "Four precious souls, and u'l agog To d:ish through thiei; imd thin." Not, indeed, thai Ih.ero is much dash atKiul the Kldiviilina c:'.l>-liorse.sâ€" s;\d- dc'it among Odm's many sud eiwi lures - with not a sound log among Iheni, \vi:h staring coats and slarting ribs, and pour broken kiicos; i:nd willi their sadmss onipl'.asized by ll'.e fea'liers stuck in tlK'ir tired hoods, as if lo mock llioir wrelchodness by a sort of tiielinioholy siiiai'lue^s! Snd as lliey are, it must K owned that thoy on- the only sad things ill the cheerful l-'loreiiline striH-'ls, where no one i>ectii3 over-busy, whi.re, out of Ihe dcep-eaved, greiin-stiuttcred houses, people lean, talking to acquain- tances on the shadowetl pavement be- low. All the narrow Ihoroughfares are full of bustling life: but there is no hag- gard squalor apparently, no dreadful gin-palace gaiety. It does not follow hero that a man must be drunk because lie sings. And down the straight, color- ful sireets one looks â€" down a vista of houses diversely tall, each with its cream yellow face and its green shut- ters, varied hero and there by the tow- ering bulk of some giant-blocked nioun- laiii-palace, through whose grim, barred windows a woman peeps, or a little dog shows his pointed no.s<^â€" looks to where, ill dwindling perspective. Ihe view is closed by a narrow picture of lucent puri>le hill, Fiesolc or fiellosgu.ardoâ€" names to which the tongue cleaves lovingly. Through the gay streets, over bridge and Blue Arno. our travellers go; their driver cmcking a prodigious whip, and with a tiny red dog. absurd- ly shaven, and with notliing but a small woolly head and tail left of the original design, .seated gravely beside him. Away they go, plepsuring; but pleasure and pleasuring are not always identical. Burgoyne sits opposite .Amelia: and as for Ocilia, it is to he suppo.sed Unit her heartache is for the moment dulled, since the same carriage rug covers her knees and those of Byng. Burgoyne docs not look at Amelia; nor though tii.i oyos are fixed upon the passing ob- jects,' does he at flret see nuglit of tlicm. His vision is turned inwards, and to his own soul he is mechanienlly re- pealing in di.'^mal recitative, "A double- barrelled, central-lire, breech-loading gun. by Lancaster; made strong enough al the breech to shoot a spherical bul- let." As for Amelia, her features are not of a build lo express any emolion Willi nmcli brilliancy; but over them lies a deep and brooding content. Aine'.iu bus not had much undihited happiness in, her life, but she is exceedingly happy lo-day. .She is even strangely free fnuii the carking fear which usually assails her, of praising mistakenly, of being enlhusiaslic in the wrong, places, and passing over the right ones uniioliccii. If she keep lo a vague generality of handsome adjectives, she will surely do well enough; and. on this high holiday that her heart is holding, he cannot be cross to her. As to Byng, he is emphatically of Ihe school of divinity taught by Tom Moope, nor was ho ever known, when lacking "the lips thai he loveil," to full I) make love lo the "lips llial are near." His taste is loo good for him to have chosen Cecilia for a comiiaiiion; but, since fate has allotted her lo him for the afternoon, he finds no diflicully in mak- ing the best of her. Nor, lo do her jus- lice, is she desliiule of charms of a certain kind, though her face has tlie inevitable air of commonness incident upon a ven' .short no."e and a very long upper lip. But she h(l,s a good ileal of bloom, and of crisp, showy-colored hair, and a very considei-able eye power. Byiio's attachment lo Ihe fair SOX being of tar too sinut a (lualily lo he blunted by such trilles as an inch loo much or loo little of nose or lip, he also, like Amelia, Is thoroughly prepared to enjoy himself. I'p Ihc turning via Cialileo they climb, to tlie Basilica at llie topâ€" stock (hive of nil tounst.sâ€" h;ickneyed us only Yiiiikeydoni and (.:oekmndum, rushing hand in hand Uirough all rnrth's siicredncss, can hackney. But even hackneying is powerle.ss lo h'ke off the freshness to the eye that .sees il for tlio lii>l lime, of Ihat view when he beliolils Ihe Lily City lying clo.-e at hi.s feel, so clo.se that il seems lie could Uiruw a stone into l:er Aino. They have left tht'ir fiacre. ,nnd, as naturally happens in a partie cnrreeâ€" more especially when one couple are lulroUied lovers â€" have broken iiilo pairs. Burgoyne leans pensively on llic terrace iwrapel, and his sombre eyes re.*t on the band of sisler liilLs, joining hand.s in perpetual watch round valley and town; hills over wtiieh, in this late spring, there is moie a iimmise Ihan n performance of thai green and many coloivd wealth of verdure mid blossom lli;it one n.ssociales wiHi Kireiize's fair name. But it is a pnuiiLie that is plain- ly on the verge of a boimleous fullll- liieiit. Then his look drops slowly lo l!ie citv herself. In what a little .space that is a Amelia is beside him, and Ihat he ought to say something to her. So he makes a rattier banal obsei'vation upon the smallest ol the enceinte that encloses so much loveliness. "Yes, is not it tiny?'" rejiliis she, with Iho eager pleasure of having a remark made to her which she cannot go wrong in answering. "Think of London I Why, the whole thing is not OS big as South Kensington or Bays- water!"" Me shudders. Must the accurecd su- burb pursue him eve;i here? "Let us go into the church," he soys, in a tone that a little dulls his com- panion's buoyancy. She follows him, creslfallenly, a.sking herself whether she has answered aini.ss here also. She does not trust herself to any comment upon the interior. Byng and Cecilia are standing before theliigh altar, from over which a mo- saic Madonna slitfly beams upon them; and as the other couple approach them. Burgoyne hcnns the wonls "drawing- room grate" issue from his Iiituro sis- ter-in-law's lips. "Bravo Cis!" he says, in a dry aside; you are gelling on nicely! I did not ihiiik Ihnt you would have reached the drawing-room grate till to-inorro.w.'" To avoid intruding further on her delicate confidences, and al.so to escape hoin two .Americans, who are nasally twanging Ilaie and Horner at each olhcr, varied by trips into Baedeker, he passes into a .side chapel made famous by one of the loveliest tombs that ever feigned to siuiulale in marble death's ugliness. The Yankees voices are high and shrill, but they had need to be hitrher and shriller still before thev could break the slumber ol him wliose resting place Jim has invaded in hLs llight from Cecilia and New Yoi-k. Was ever rest so beautiful as this of ttw young sleeper? A priest he was. nay cardinal, and youlhlul and lovely and chaste! and now in how divme a slumber is lie lapl ? But how should thai four Imndrcd year's slumber not be divine, watched by .such a gentle Mm-.v- Mother as is watching his: smiling as it to tell him that he does well to sleep, Ihat sleep is better than waking, death is heller than lite! There sunken look about his fair eyelids, as if he hud gone Ihrough suffering lo his resU and his reposeful hands are thin, but below him. as he lies in his spotless marble tranquilily, upon his sarcopha- gus, the rose garlands wave in lovely frieze, and Ihe riotcms horses rear and plunge in fulness of life Burgnyne has not perceived thai Amelia did not follow him. -She has, in point of fact, remained in the body of Ihe church, immersed in her guide- book steadily working through the nuirlile sci-een and pulpit, and still five good minutes off the side chapel in which her lover stands in so deeply brown a study, that he is not aware of Iho inU-usion upon liis solitude of two wonu-n. until he is roii-sed with a leap by the voice of one of them addressingâ€" not him, of whose presence' she is ob- viously as unaware as was he of hers, until lliis momentâ€" but her conipaniiii. "Oh. mollicr! am I not a fool, at my age, too? but I cannot help it, il makes me cry sol'" Burgoyne does not need the evidence of his eyes. His ears and his startled heart luivo enough as-sured him wlm.se are tlio teni-s called forlh by that indeed most toiieliing eHlgy at which he him- self has been so pensively staring. The mollier's aiLSwer is inaudible; and then again comes llie voice of Elizabeth Lo Murchaiit, tearful and vibrating. "You know I have seen so few beau- tiful things in my life. I shall get iKst'd t) them iirescntly; it is only slieer hap- piness Itiat makes me " .She stops abruptly, having evidently discovered tor herself, or bcii made aware by tier mollier of his vicinity ; and even it she had not done so. he leels Unit he must lose no time in an- nouncing himself. , "Florence is a place that does make one f.fteii clmUy," ho says, eagerly tak- ing llw tuui'l. which she hesilatingly, and with some confusion, offers him. It is not (|uitc tiTie; Florence has never made him feel choky; and, if he is ox- pcrieiicing Ihat scnsatinn now, it is cur- laiiily nui the dead caidiiial of Portugal who "is giving it to liim. "I am a tool, a perfect fool!" replies laizabolh, hastily and shanielacedly wipii)'; away her tears. To give her lime to recover hcreclf. and also because he has not yet greeted the girl's iiiulhcr, Jim turns lo her. "Did not I tell you that we should meet heiv?'" There is such undi.-;guised joy and Iriuinph in his torn', that iierhaps .Mrs. 1.0 Mareliaiit has not the heart to dash his elation; at all events, he is eon- sciouis ill her tone of a less resolute de- tenuinatioii lo keep him at arm's length, than on their two lust meet- ings. "I do not Ihiiik that I contradicted you," slii: answers, smiling. He may steal another look at Eliza- beth now. She is not crying any longer. Indeed, despite Iho real mois- ture on her chocks, she sirikes liiin as looking happier than al their la.--l meet- ing; and though the interval between she out have had it ten years ago; how comes he to have forgotten so sweet and strange a peculiarity? "11 is delightfulâ€" perfectly delighlful!" "Large enougti to receive your friends in, after all'.'" But the moment that the words are out of his mouth, he peireives that he hius made a false step, and is somehow treading dang^TOUS ground. Elizabeth's smile goes out, Uko a light blown into nothingness by a sudden wind. "Wo have not many friends," murmurs, "we â€" we are not going at all." He hastens to change his cue. "Byng and I are at l.ie Minerva,"' h« says, beginning to talk very fast; "I wonder if. by any chance, you are in our neighborhood; have I forgotten or did you nevi^r tell nie where the Entre- sol lies? Whore is il, by-tlie-bye?'" Ensnared by the wily and brazen suddenness of this demand Miss I.e Murchant lias evidently no evasion ready, and, after an almost imwrcep- tible pause of hesitation, answers: "We are al 12 Bis. Piazza d'Azeglio." She is looking doublfuUy and half uneasily in his face, as she gives him this answer, but he has scarcely lime for a fiush of self-congratulation at having obtained the infonnation. which h^ had never realized the eagerness of his desire for until this moineut, before ho becomes aware that his interlocu- tor's eyes arc no longer meeting his. but have wandered to some object over his shoulder. What Ihat object is he is not limg left in doubt. Whether it is a genuine accident, or one of those spur- ious OIK'S, ot wliirh those who profit by them are Iho artificers, Jim does not know; and, as ha is at Ihe time, and will be when ho thinks of the circum- stance to the end of iiis life, too angi7 to question Byng on the subject, il is pretty certain that he never will know; but so il is that al this moment, the voice of his protege breaks upon his ear. ' "You are not going to give us the slip like this, old ctiapâ€" oh, I beg your par- don!" But begging pardon ever so sweetly docs not alter tlie fact that he has rushed, liko a bull in a china shop, in- to the middle of the dialogue. .\I1 four look at each other for a second; then, since there is no help for it. Jim pre- sents his disciple, and the next moment the latter has slid into talk with Eliza- bclh, and slio is responding with an easd and freedom from embarrassment such as hud never marked her sparee and hardly won utterances to the elder man. Byng had the advantage of him, as he somewhat bitterly thinks. Byng lias no connection with "old times;' those poor old tiiiies wliieli she and lier ino- Iher have so iiiiuecounlably taken en grippe. lie seems suddenly relegated, as by some natural afiinily, to the mo- ther. On their two last meelings the oogemess lo converse has been all on his side; yet now he has nothing to say lo lier. It is she \\!io addresses him. "I hope Ihat you found your young lady nourishing." she says civilly. lie gives a slight inward start, though â€"OS he is thniil;fiil lo feel â€" his body is quiet. "His young ludy!" Yes, of course he has a young lady! Ih^s Ihere been any danger during Iho last five minutes of his torgelliiig lluit fact? and has Mrs. f..o Marcliaiit done him an un- nei;e.ssary service in recalling it? "Oh, yes. thanks, she is nil righU" "Is she still in Florence?"' "Yes, she is h<-re; by-ttie-bye"â€" look- ing round with a sudden sense that he ought to have mi.s.>ed herâ€" "what has become of her? Oh, here she Jsl"' For even while liie words are on his lips. Am-'lia and C.eciliii come into sight. .Amelia wilh a shut Baedeker, and the serene look of an easy conscience and a Ihorouglily jirrfornied iluly on her amiable face; Cecilia wilh a somethiiig of search and disquiet in h-r large roll- ing eye, which Niould have made him laugh ut nnolher lime. (To be coiiliiuied.) BRITAIN'S GREAT RECORD BLILDING TIJi; GREAT BATTLESniP DllEAONOtGIIT. Can Turn Out Warship in Half th« Time .\ny Oilier Nation Wonld Take. The English naval anlhoritles hav» built in one short year the most pow- eifu! „tiip in the world. Their most spe,,i, rival, they believe, could not do what they have done in double tha time, and so thev can build two ships while lliat rival is building one. even supposing her plant to be larger. "En- gineering," London, says: "We can now afford to begin the construchon of a ship almost a vear later than any for- eign nation, with the advantage of full knowledge of their design, and still have il ready for war as soon as tlicy. MANY FIRMS BEADY. "There are eight or nine British firms willing to complete a ship of the Dread- noiiglit class in two years and three ir.onttis; four or live could qiute readil.v undertuke lo repeat the periormance ."I coiiipleling a Dreadnought in eighteen iiiunlhs. Tliis is esp(?--ially the case wilh the firms who themselves manu- facture the armor, guns and gun-mount- ings, as well as tlie maqhinery mid tho hull. ^ , . "While Germany (imtinues what is regarded by some hs a 'menace" to Bnt- ivlT naval supremacy, we may wait for such lull knowle.dgo of her designs a3 our Naval Intelligence Department will provide, as we ni»y then not only pro- duce ships superior in fighting quah- ties, but in greater nmnber.s. oud with- i.a a much shorter period of lime. WHAT THEY CAN DO. "The prospects, therefore, "re "'"t j" 1908 ,10 continental nation will have m lighting condition one .single .sh . of ho Dreadnought type, wher.as if tbe bnt- ish Admiralty c<mtinue the rate of con- slrucli.m attained with Ihe ship to ta "tru^ next week, they then have one de up of six Dreadnoiiglils, ciinpanilively does the Florence that is I now and then is loo short for any such immortal liel The Duomo, Ihe lily C.nmpanile "made up of dew and sun- shine." the Baptistery. .Sanio Croce, Ihc Palazzo Vecchio; he could compass them in a ten mimiles' walk. And around tills small nucleus of tlie undyhig dead and their work, what a nation of gleaming villas of the polyglot living- a nation of every tongue, and peo))Ip, (iiul language! All over Iho hills is Ihe slieen uf white walls, i'-.- vonliirc ot tended gardens; thoy sl'i''i away al- most to where the .Aieiml-ies rai.se their roll! white fronts against the '^ky. He rouses himscU lo rcmenilicr that .iltcrntion to have taken place in reality, yet he cannot help imagining that Ihe liollows in those very cheeks are less deep ttiaii when they stood to- giHlior before the groat Vandyke in Ihc Brignoli Sala Palace. "And tlie Enlro-sol? is it all you fancy painted il?" he a.sks quickly, feeling a sort of panic fear, thai if tie stojis pul- ling (luestioiis for one ininulo, they will slip out ol his grn.s)) agiiin, us they did in Iho CiC'ioese Pulace. F.lizabelir.i face breaks into a soft bright smile. She has a diniplo in one I civoek and iiol in the oilier. She iiiuoli ♦- roMPEirs PATiiivnc end. Lady (at bofjk store)â€" "I want to gel n goud novel to read on the Irani â€" someMiing rather palhelic." .Sale-viuaiiâ€" "Let me see How wi'Uld "The Last. Days of Pompeii do ' Lady- "Pompeii? I never heard cf hiiii. \\ hat did he die of/' Salesiianâ€" "I'm not ipiite .sure, ma'.iin â€" some kind of an eruption, I've lienrd." should lx» ro The Sea Lords *iMii!uiron will iiii^'i .-,..»-., â€" "â- ". â- ', , :"«e enormous "^-"'XVin^tine •ind easilv man pulaU'd flglilmg li"C. ^:Z 'secxmd -sauaaron Win have for- lu f-inch cuns, and nity-iwo .'.- i"<-" g':n^ Both^will be enormously superior U, anv squadron of an equal number tf ships' of any other navy. MAKES FOB PICACE. "By 1008, too, the BriUsh nation will know whether foreign "'"*"".' "J ^â- ';,';/'^^ -rs^^^avSioii^y!'^ a^:pi hon ullimateiy maintain .n'"st-'-.\^:^' e s a. If this desire for '''""'ne "â- â€¢"»; menu is not rceipr. caled. tneii Uur- sull rcqu' 1 unanimity in continuing build- i;/ororat:ons to maintain our supre- niu. v at all costs, flier, mistake about tins view. after all, have the coufidcnce 'A will not waver as to Ihe vi- tal principle of supremacy. Foreign nalHins. and notably Iho German peop e, nuiv realize that their conlinuancc ill the d eiopinent of their naval programme -involving as il dues in tieir case no 0P.lv an enormous sum for sh ps but <;..niell,iiig like ton million sterling for n v lening of Ihe Kiel cnnal--^annot in even the mxslery of I'e German ncean-llio ambition of the '."vdmiral of the Allanlic' AMEH1('..\NS BF..VfEN. "Where the Americans stand in thi.s n-'ill'T niav 1-e sen from Ihe tact that ul' the rorislructive .'^peed-trial between Ihe Louisiana and Crinnectieul these Iwo b'lllle.'^liips occiipii"! not far troiii Hireo years in building. We are evidenllv not yel in a position to cmpete v.itli tha En'-lish in this kind ot coutost." who, tlio iia'ion. II was al a cl'.aiity dinner Ihat a care- Ic.s waiter spill a plate of .sou)) over one of Ihe chrgymen present. "What 'â-  he conunenred. Then, renieniber- ini, him.self. he turned lo his neighbor and asked: "W'ill Siimo layman kindly Miy a few words appropriate lo the oc* ciision?'" !>IDVT r.KLIEVK IN SIG.NS. "Il' w ninny time^i have I told you. Lena, that you sliO.;!.! a'.- -lys sland al Ihe loft of your guest iu serving'."" "Loi", n,u:ii. I'm nut so suporstih 0i:sl"