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LORD KILLEEN'S REVENGE. CHAPTER XXII. l^o«e; and ..on the evening of the ball, p-A M.. T>.._j ,• 1 <â-  ._i_ ..„»ii i'^'^* Ifi" miimtos lieforc dressuig: time, r«. DuDda. (in spile of oerialn small J ^„^ arrived for her from Uallyniorft ooraiK?nsations) began to feci bor lifi', in containing the uiiusk and domino prom- ♦ he littl* oonventional Irish place in fd. It conuined rather more than these, which her i>r«K>nt lot was cast, decid- Uenea'h the domino lay a i»ir of won- ... , ,, v. , u . I .1, 11 . derful gloves that reached almost to edly.tupld. She looked alwut her.there- ^er shoulder, and a fan pointed exquis- forn, t« find an outlet for tho overplus j iioly. in the style of a byjjone age. Con- o( vilality within hor that was always ' siantia's color came and went as she readj to bur«t forth, and finally electri- fied the quiPt couniry-side by sending out inri'atioua for a masked ball. There had be<'n a little trouble at firai with Mr, looked at the pretty thingsâ€" prettier trifles than she had ever before pos-sess- ed in all her sweet if somewhat penni- less life. ._ __ She donned the domino, and laughed Dundas. He had rather ' K*'''^ »t herself in her glass Then she . i I. »_ J- 4u ij i put on tao mask and laughed once more, hung l«ck from secondmg the Idea, re- ] Vhen the new. lovely, Tong glovea had garding it am an affair in a degree too j been drawn on and fastened by a lit- •tortling to find favor in the eyes of a j tie maiden called Norah, who was lost •pecially unsophisticated ueighl)orliood. 1 '"•?<'«'=*' I«w admiration, she took up J" ^ ^ . , , . , . , . the fan, and summoning George, went Bat she had oijoled, and ooazed, and | ^f f iq Ballymore. wboedlfd, and ,'lnally tormented him in- I She entered the large Ixill-room with to giving his consent. I * "omewhat nervous tn-ad; she could not i„„_„«i__i^ f\,^ _:i. .„^ ......f...«o,i ' divest herself of the feeling that all Accordingly die gilt and |«rf umed ^ ^^^ were turned upon .her. There was cards of invitation were filled up and ^isi>atched to every house that was not altogether impossible in the county. i a subdued hum oT voices all around, with little breaks of laughter now and lagain and the clicking of innumerable ,, , , i. 11 v J 1 J- I. J fans. Dis^iised tones met her ears on If a bomb^ell had been discharged ! ^j, aiaes, whilst she could see that acme Into each of these Purltanloal homes, it I deeming a whUper (as U is) the best rould hardly have created a greater a«- method of romeailng one's aroent, spoke tonishmsnt. The beads put on their °",',-^ beneath their breath. . , . , J .J^ -.j J I he many-<-Oiorea doniiiioes, the black •perUdea and regarded the gilded me»- g^tj^ masks, through which the eye* â- enger again, holding it out well from seemed to suarkle like living coals, the them an If a littls afraid of it. Would sulxiued ligbia from the lamps, which it Ko off I jwcrc purpo-sely lowered, all .seemed to *^ I'ontitantta to lend a weird and inter- It was fuob a strange, such an un- usual thing I One had heard of It, of course, and It suggested Venice at onue, and another word lieginning with V they did not like to mention liefore the youngsters, which was vice. A great many old Italian stories, as stupid an they were highly flavored, returned to them, ai they pondered over the in- nocent bit of card. A masked liall I Here In Irelandl It was out of |)Iucc and very absurd, but tbar was hardly esting effeot to the scene. The soft •train* «f the band, which was hidden behind a wall ot cool palms and ferns, and the dripping of fountains, appeared 1 Icnr together in one musical breeze that swayed to and fro, and was full of a curious sadness that was almost ecst- asy. ,Shr^ stood alone, amaisd, liewildered, pleased. She had liecome separated from her brother almo-it immediately on ent- ering the room; and no»v, as a strange voi e said s'imetbinK low in her ear, she stariel violcnily. She had. indeed.lieen dead Lo all save the strangeness and the question. Was it correct? was it glamour of her surroundings, and the respectablet was there not an element xound of her own name brought ber Of impropriety aliout It f They were full '*'''' "'{'^ • disagreeable haste to a ,, ','..., ,, ' sense of every-day existeme. •f fears for their ducklings. i she did not recognize the speaker, in There waa. indeed, much debating on ^ her confiuiion, and did not look at him. the eulijecl, and many hesitations, but , J"a' »• this moment there was a little fin*llv th» voiincr iKinnlA whn vira ".V "^ flowing of the human tide in her Iinally tbe young people, wno were j^e^,i^„ ^„j ^^^ j^,^ ,^^j.^,( f,<^ted longing to see themselves in some way ^ onward gently but irreeisiihiy, and pre- oonnectcd with another, and â€" as they be- jsently found herseli once again without lieved a wickeder world than theirs, [lor- * companion. auaded tbem that an acoepUnce should •;ra,..rd4':oVe'll"witi\»e'nt*^,^ *» »ent. • preciaiion of the hrilliant spectacle Ixv Kven after that, however, numerous . '°''e her, that a sen^ of being somfv difficultics arose. There were some who ! 'l?7 ^l"'^' 1°^*' '""T ^J*' ^^ ?**? ..J . , • . . 1 . ,1- I"'" not want to speak: she only wanted did not know how to set alwui getting ,„ watch, and enter into It really, and the requi'^iie maskN and dominoes; there I Ko imiin-s^ it uinm her heart that she were a few who. believing blindly' in i "''ould never turget. She bad read I heir dlctionariei, ihouKht a domino was ' ™°*lh """ °',""".S>,'" *l°'i'' " "'"• *°,1 _, , i, I, .u Ti "°" *"•' '*"' >t. The windows were all aimply a dress of abnormal length; and I thrown wide oijen. and the terrace out- side lay white in the moonshine. It wa« Imt a simple thing to imagine the water below all that, and the gondolas â€"the mandolinsâ€" the rhythmical rise and fall of the oar. * -As the nviny hues and dyes of the dominoes pa.«sed Ijefore her vision, it o<-- curred to her that tharo waa in the whole mot ley erowd no domino like her own. She rather marveled at this, until a «>lif<ht nioveineni of the throng nearest to her oiiened a side abbey, at the end of which a glimpse of some- thing brilliant caught her eye. She gazed al it intently. Yea, it was her own domino, exact in every fold and line. But an she looked more intently still, a small dlfforence, and one that would lie imperceptible to a casual ob- server, became clear to her. On her own, at the very tip of the shoulder, near the neck, a tiny Maltese cross had liecn worked in black filoselle. It was so small as to lie barely visible, hut on the shoulder of the other domino, down there was aiill another few who had grown up to the belief that dominoes were bite of ivory, with black spots on them, wiih which immoral Kranrhmen piayed a »ild and reckless game over their tafe nuir, which in itself was sug- g><.fiiive?)f much fast fe<-lliig. These last were greatly at aea. Ka<:b and all went to Mrs, Dundas, presumably to pay her a visit, but in reality to cull from her ttome word of advice. Tliatfthe saw through the simple artifice need no ilie said, uiid straight- way tihe bet them in i h<> right iwlb. Hhe was graciousnoss itself, even to those undesirable ones who sat u|xjn the con- fin«w ot society, and were just in It, lie- cause they were not out of it. A tip would have sent them over at any mom- ent. She was charming to every one, high and low; told ^ome where dominoes were to lie had; others how they rould Iw made by the local talent. For this there at the' end of the room, her young, purjiose^she lent jin old one of her own, sharp sight told her there was nothing. " " " â- ' " 11"' yellow figure she was gazing at It was »' tall figure, looking taller than it really was in the jet-black dom- ino that enshrouded it. liut this Con- stantia did not pause to consider. Hor hfart throlited quickly. It seemed to her that this must Ije Fealherslon. Had he seenâ€" foUoweiiâ€" iCiognizHd her ?. Ab, if that should be I So would a true lover see through all disguises! The stranger bent over her bind, as she turned suddenly and gazed searching- ly upon him. The moon just then had ?;one behind a cloud, so that only the set that he was of goodly statureâ€" tall as that one wliom she must favored â€" was known to her. "Will you, of your grace, deign to grant me one word 1" entreated the un- known in a whisjjer. She bad been waiting impatiently for the voire, but now she felt herself foiled. Still she could feel tbat there was in the tone, spite of the mockery, a substratum of deepest feeling. If he could feel like that I Happiness is a cordial. Her cour- age rose. "One 1" she answered, playfully, if a little nervously. "That would lie but an ungenerous gift. Surely anâ€" an old friend might demand more than that?" "1 give all. I demand nothing," re- turned he, still in the low wbisiier. It occurred to Constantia now that there was an extreme sadness in it. As she wondered at this, he spoke again. "Hope is denied me," he said. "Faint heart," suggested she, gayly still. And then, as the meaning he might place upon her words oame home to ner, she biiuhed a warm crimson. True," said he. "Yet stout heart, be It never so valiant, may not always win 1" He spoke doubtfully; there was even a suspicion of despair in his tone. It was a tone so new to him., that a soft, lo.v laugh broke involuntarily from Con- stantia. It seemed so strange to her tbat he should need encouragement, that he should fear his fate with her I "Is that beyond question?" she asked, looking away from him, and trifling in an absent fashion with her fan. "If the heart be really strong, it would bo able to watch and wait forever. And time, we are told, will melt the most obdur- ate." It pleased her thus to allude to her- self as "the most obdurate;" it delighted her, and made her glad in her soul that he should thus sue to ber.that be should be thus Ignorant of how she was already won; it gave great comfort to her girl- ish sense of the dignity of woman. Her companion made no answer to her last siieech tbat was but half breathed. He was, however, gazing at her very keenly. This she felt rather than saw, ber eyee being on the ground, and the moon still obscured, and the knowledge, though strangely sweet, unnerved her. She stood slim and fair before him, with fingers closely locked, and pretty aead downbent. "Time I you recnmuiended me time!" he said at last. "Youl" And now the whisper was discarded and bis voioe rang out clearly on the air. "Do you know what that means to me? Hopel" With the first sound of his voioe, Con- stantia had started back aghast. "Vou, youl" she murmured affright- !edly. and noihtng more. Words would not come to her. The cloud had rolled heavily away, and now the moon shone out again, lighting up the cold white- ness or the terrace, and sjiecially, as It seemed to the stricken Constantia, that which she said had s<'<>ii s<'rvi(« ut a Imll given l>y the Priiice«se Dolgorouky during the carnival, Uis year iiofore last, bhc made quite a point by lend- ing this domino. It was received with much elation. A real domino,! hat seem- ed lo their eager Imagination «tn>-pcd in the tunny waruitli ut vine-clad Italy, in some sur|irise, was as tall as herself; the ioiwo folds of the cloak pjpvented her se-ing whether It was sfi^ider, or of a matronly mold. The yellow flow- ered silk shone and gliatoned lieneath the rays of the soft lamp-light, and the wearer, whone mask was very carefully wat precious in their slijht; and worn, arranged, was leaini-.g against a liank loo, in the iialaceâ€" was it palazzo?â€" of of crimson roses arli«tiially arranged in prin CsB I 'I'rinceisss," she had called one of the an additional a il â€" tluit seemed to givs flavor to it. Itoiina herself seemed delighted with hei iaiest whim. .Sb« talked of il by the hour lo lb a- anxious visitors. "They «o.il(l come'f Oh uould l)e such fun anterooms. As Constnntia watched her with an ever-gr6wing curiiwily. she puit out her hand with b little saucy gesture, and at once tho girl knew that it was Don- na. i-ioiiie aNtonishment filled ber breast yas, Ihey must. It on her disiovery, whh h was succeeded Very harmless fun, l.y u touch of grateful feeling. The ol ciurse, llariul6«s to dullness, but two di.minofw were also precisely simil- ar. II was specially good of Donna (who had a r<»ted objuclion ever to gown her- •lill, {Mubaps, a trifle less duU the u>iuai tuing." than Ihrv were all to keep on the masks self like other women) to have ordered and .lominoee uniil midnight struck; for her a di«tniise in no whit inferior to then, like tinderelU, their false gar- MuH. «li« bad ordered for herself. No m«nie were to slip fn.m them, and they suspicion of any latent treachery In the eUould oiand revealed as ihey really act disturlwd her mind. She felt only were. AH this jubglory business sxem- gratitude, and a little remorse In that ed r-nchaniiug to the girU, and filled she had so often known herself to har- Ihem full of delight for many days lie- , lor unkind thoughts of this kindly coua- fcy-ehand. in. In an interview with Constantia, | A little womler crept in, of course. Donna had declared her intention of , Why were the dommoee the same? If providing her pretty cousin with a hers had l»on a imle blue, she would, domino that should surpiws all others, she imagined, have thought It even love- »â- , a Utile gift from friend to friend, : lior. Yellow was a color she would • h delicate artiiU« l>;i arao clumsy i scarcely have chosen; but this, her way, ps beneath the fingers of country would have twen her folly, as she not incrs. Even tonstjiului s little dig- iced how extremely common on all shlei Hu b wra mill its, clever as thay undoubtedly were, would be unequal to the task. I'onstaiilla demurred. She blushed wariiiiy. She couM not, she said, al- low Donna loâ€" to â€" "lie at the exiH-nse of it 1 T'utI" said Doniiu airily. She curled up her lovely lipH, and looked supreme contempt. Was that renll.v it? Why, she was ordering half a ilo^en at least, for as many dis- tie'-scd damsels, and why should she not do as mm h for Constantia, who was her cousin, and hud therefore soiiie claim U|ion her? I'iff ! iiaff! stuff ami non- sense I The thing »cus; it was nettled, ar- ranged at all event H, il shoaild lie; and so lef there be no more follv almiut it. A country idiot of a dres.i-inaker might do very well for half that were coming; but for Constant la I No; she. Donna, would not hear of it. A really pretty girl was always of so much more con- sequence than an ordinary one. Constantia finally gave in, feeling, in- deed, that she had done soiiielhing gaui'iia and uncivilized In having at first refused the kiinlly offer uf her cousin. 8he thanked Douna very prettilv, who told ker sbs watt a dear, proud little were the pinks and blues and carmines, and that there was literally no yellow save hers and Donna's, The room was growing Insufferably warm, and there was a movement made toward the open windown liehind her. Thl« blocked her view of Ijer double at the other end of the room, or, rather, standing just Inside an anteroom; and Constantia, roused from her reverie, fol- lowed the multitude Dut-of-doors Into I he still, warm night. She stepped on to the balconv, and, moving down the steps that led to the broad stone terrace tielow, went over to the iNirapot, and, leaning her arms upon II, ga/ed dreamily into the swiftly flow- ing river down beneath- a email river, an angry, babbling, scolding, noisy lit- tle river, the rausio of which caught and held her, and entered Into the strangeness of thi^ si^eoe. She bad al- most forgotten all but It, when she waa rou-fed by a foot«tep drawing near her. She looked up quickly, and saw that, whoever the new-cdtner wa*i. he was ap- proaching her with all the air of one who had ao doubt abou,t whom he waa going to address. part from th» cspleglerie of it, a much easier thing, in her present confusion, to .sjieak to I'eatheraton in a fashion thus sulxiued, than to give her voice to bU criticism. She felt, too, an almost childish desire to Ixiffle him for a mom- ent ckr two, to dally with the happiness tlut had now surely come to her. Sir !" .she whispered, drawing back a little, and pretending ignorance. "It is too late for folly of tbat sort," said be, with ill-suppri*sod vehemence, "You know me, as well as I know you. .\nd though for an hour you have skill- fully avoided me, yet now I have found you, I will be beard." There was something in his manner that killed the girlish gayety in her. She placed one nand upon the stone [larapet of the terrace, and turned tim- idly toward him. Perhaps, however, unconsciously to herself, she was a little offended by his vehemence, because in- stinctively ber tall young figure took a rather maje,stic pose. "You sought to hide yourself from nieâ€" to deceive me," he went on, in a sort of angry agitation ; "but I watch- ed, and waited, and nowâ€" i» my re- ward I" Her hand was still lying upon the wall, and as be finished speaking, he caught it, and pre^d it to his lips with a fervor born of pajsiiloB.. Constantia, though a little Iroubled by this new manner of his was yet glad that the hand was so well cased â€" and the gloves, for once in her life, were long, and sug- gestive of the world of fashion â€" were lierfect as Donuas ownâ€" nay, as she rememl>ered quickly, they were the exact counterpart of Donna's. She did not withdraw her hand from his embrace, and a little tremor ran through her. Never before bad hs been Tike thisâ€" never before bad be been so pronounced in his wooing. It was a thrill of hope and joy mmgled, that rushed through her. but with it, and almixit overpowered by it, was a curious sense of resentment. She could not explain it to herself, and it dead- ened hex joy, but she knew tbat she shrunk, not ao much from htm, as from this unknown vehemence ; and present- ly she took her hand out of bis grasp, slowly, and veiy gently. "I did not deceive. I did not know," she whispered ; emotion, rather than settled purpoee, now making ber voice sink to this low level. "Is tbat the truth?" demanded be, fiercely. "for all thta time tbat I have searched vainly for youâ€"can you Cell me honestly that the avoidance waa not of you^ making ? I mistrust vou as keenly as I love you. That other woman in yellow ! did you put her pur- posely in my path to mislead and dis- tract me ? Time wasted, if so, for I am not one to be thwarted when once my feet are set upon a poith." His voice sunk a little, and grew soft and tender; the fire, the anger, died from it. "Though yon have flouted, scorned me," he said, "yet now tbat I am with you I forgive you all. Constantia could not speak. Waa it all real? What tender humility I Who would have believed be could have so abashed himself, even at the shrine of all-governing love? She was bewilder- ed ; she trembled. Was this quite what she hoped for, even in ber wildest dreanutf She felt she ought to speak, yet some instinct held her dumb. (To Be Continued.) corner of it. at which Ihey stood. Stronge could see now her lii>s quivered, bow ber shamed and sorrowful eyes avoided bus. He understood as perfectly as though she bad given sfieecb to the cruel certainty, that tbat gentle word of hope liad not lieen meant for him. All through she had mistaken him for â€" His heart contracted within blm. Cy>nstantia by a violent effort collect- ed herself, and com|ielled herself to apeak oalmly, and without emotion. "It is indeed a surprise to nee you hero masquerading," she said, "when I believed you still in Shropshire. To make an affair of this kind altogether sun-essful, half the people asked should think the other half at the other side of the world. When did you return?" "Too soon I" he said, m a low tone, full of despair. He tumtd and left her. Conalantia's eyes tilled with tears. She made no effort to recall him, feel- ing It was better he should go. The mistake made had l«en a thorough- ly unfortunate oneâ€" bitter to her as lo him â€" but she had not hptsn in fault. It was some faint fXin.solation lo know that hs would hav•^ >'.i ack- nowledge that to himself. She wai full of tear least he had understood for whom her wonls were meant. Her brow grew orlmeon as she tried to re call everything she hail said, and won- dered with a sickening sense of shame If she bad betrayed herself. He knew nothing; it was impossible he could have understood. Surely he thought only that alie waa answering him idly, with- out meaning, not knowing who hs was, and not dreaming of another. She had wlthurawu into a secluded nook, where a stone seat had been scoop- ed out of the wall. She knelt on this, and once again gaied down into the rushing stream below ber. The riUn had fallen heavily last night, and now the tiny thing had swollen beyond Its own knowledge, and sung with foolish triumph as It baated ever onward to its end. In all ber later years Constan- tia never forgot It, or Its wild muslo, or the mad sparkling of the ohllly moonlnaxBs on Its breast, Hhs oould see it at any momenit if she closed her oyeti, as well as the great river, its goal, lying fax, far awayâ€" against the borl- xon, as It were â€" placid, motionless. "So calm, the waters scarcely seem to stay ; And yet they glide, like happiness, away." Was her happiness going ? A sad sei«e of disappointment filled her heart. She had so suirely nelleved that It was ho, that tM awalCenlnf had crushed ber spirit, Would a time ever come when, face to face with her, hs would declare his love andâ€" She started convulsive^. Again a footstep hurrying towara her, caught ber ear ; agam a disguised figure met ber vtew. Btit now, now there was no room for doubt. She would know that step amongst a thousand. Fool I u> have bean nefore unmindful of It. Bar faoe paled, and she rone tremulously to ber feet. &U voioe reached-her. "At lafitr he cried, softlyâ€" carefully, as it aeemed to hexâ€" but with undenV able and very passionate eagerness. OHAPT£R XXIII. All suddenly, in the midat of hw gladiMsa, a very Innocent but over* powering ooquetry took possession of CoMlantia. Stronge had spoken to her a wbtoper, ana the ruse nad been AN EFFECTIVE LESSON. In suooessful. She, too, her voioe; It seemed to would dUgulna her, Inceod. How â-  Baltr Cared (be Drinking KabU In UU rather. It has remained for a woman in St. Louis to devise a simple and effo^ive scheme for getting ber husband out of a barroom In which he had been spend- ing too much of his time and all his money. Sho not only Induced blm to go home, but to wish that he luu) nev- er been In a saloon. The wxxnao who did It was Mrs. Frits Leugbt. who Is not only young, but very pretty. She and Lt^ught have tieen majrrled a little over a ytiar, and have ooe child, a pretty, curly-haired babe. For some re>ason, which Leugbt says now be can't explain, he got-into the habit of frequevnting one of the bar- rooms in St. Louis. He got so enamored of it be failed to go bomB when through with his work in the evening, prefer- ring to puss all his leisure time In the Itarroum. His wife pleaded with him to keep out of it, l)ut without avail. He went from bed to worse and soon lost his positkuvi lS£att«n got ao bad that when she wanted to see her husband Blrs. Lt'ugbt was obliged to go to the tciloun to do BO. Thai made her des- perate, and she resolved to adopt beroio measurm in an effort to bring ner hus- band to hla senses. So one day recently, when Leugbt was In a liaok room of the bar, a young and pretty woman, neatly dressed, and oar- rymg In her arms, a bundle, walked boldly Into the saloon. She looked about her calmly, as if in search of some one. Tbvn she walked up to the bar, d«pualted the bundle thereon and started to leave the place. The bar- room wsa full of man at the time. When the woman entered they became quiet and then aatontshed, as she laid the bundle CO tbe bar very gently. As ahe started to leavs the place one of the waiters stepped forward and stop- rd ber. At the some time there waa movement in ths bundle, and a baby's head peeped out of tb? toilds ot olotb. The baby looked about at the garish furniture, with wide, staring eyee and began tn ory. The effect was eleotri- oaT. All the nuen orawiiod up and tried to quiet the child, which retua- ed to be quietod. Even the hartend- ertB Joined in the effort to amuse the yoxuMBter. "T&s baby w«iited to see hia father," Mrs. Leugbt explained to the orowd, "ao I Drought nim to the only plaoa wbera his fa.thM' can be found. He ccua take oare ox the boy now, beoauae I've got to work to make a uvlog fair myaeu aad the child." That seUlai^^ it with the orowd. Leught wsa bMilad out of the back room, and almoat before hs knew what blaA hapueiwd waa walking d6wn the atreet bralde his wUa. with the ohUd In his aims. He g>9t hia fomiAr position baok a few days Utsor, and biam't been in the saloon slnoa. nbatlt'Vurnbd. "SlaUu Alios la angaged," said the terror ot the family as he opened the door to Da Blaaqus's ring. "So am I," rwtortsd De Blan<iue eas- ily; I just oalled to exohaogis oongrat- ulatloni," A FENCE 400 MILES LOKB. BUILT TO KEEP THE RABBIT OUT OF QUEENSLAND. How tbe Aa»lrallaiu Are TrytsK t* Deal With the Pe»l-AU Efforts to Ex(cr< mtnaie Them Appear «• l>e lf»ele»»â€" luL-rcasIng Fanter Thaa 'They Are De> (trajed. The New South Wales Government it may be remembered offered a reward of £25,000 to any person or persons who could suggest an efficient method of getting rid of tbe rabbit; but, although the liberal reward led to^ the receipt ot no fewer than 2,000 schemes from all parts of the world, none of them waa regarded as satisfactory, and tbe offei was withdrawn. Tbe domestic cat was introduced, and in certain limited areas did duch service. Poisons were largely resorted to, and ferrets, stoats, and weasels have been imported in thousands into some of tbe colonies, and have increased fast. Bat hitherto the rabbits, owing to the rate at which they multiply, have managed not only to hold their own, but to constantly spread over new ground, carrying d»> struction with them wherever they go. In South Australia, for instance, the direct loss from the rabbits has beea put down at £250,000 per annum, and the Indirect loss at a similar amount. ^In Victoria tbe active operations for the destruction of rabbits on Crown lands have been carried on by the Government since 1880. and from that date to the middle of 1894 a total of nearly £300,000 bad been spent by the State on that object. As for tbe money spent by private individuals for tbe same purpose, that is almost in- calculable, but it may be mentionecl that on one estate alone upward o( £15,000 has been expended by tbe ownea with tbe view of clearing his land ot the pest. In tbe seventeen years ending witk 1893 nearly 68,000,000 RABBIT SKINS valued at £402,000 were exported from Victoria without counting the largS quantities used by bat manufacturen in tbe colony, one aetabliahment alona using 874,000 every year; yet, notwith- standing all this slaughter, the present infested area throughout the colony ia estimated by tbe chief inspector at no less than 37.750,000 acres. Adding to the direct expenditure tbe depreciation of tbe grazing value of tbe land, ths losses to the colonies concerned amount to millions of pounds aterllng. The final outcome of Boyal oom- missions, of Intercolonial conferences, and of the testing of every practical method of eztermmation, is that tha most effectual method of dealing with tbe evil is found to be the construction of rabbit-proof netting, by means of which the animals can be kept frooa acres not yet infested, can be shut ofc from food supplies, and can be ^aora effei-tually dealt with locally. The length of some of these fences Js enormous. There is one starting ak Barriugun, on tbe Queensland border, and following the Main Trunk lina from liourke to Corowaâ€" a distance of 407 miles; and there Is another along the entire western boundary of New South Wales â€" a distance of 346 miles. The Queensland Government, too, has erected a siuiilar fence along a con- siderable portion of tbe northern loundary of New South Wales, but tha Surveyor-General of Queensland.in tha report already referred to, says that "the rabbits must have come tbrotutii the fence in MOBS AND DROVES of innumerable multitudes at soms time," and thus have established Uuim- aelves in Queensland as well. This, of course, is the weak poiK. ^ regard to fences, which are liable jo break down in places, more especially in times of flood, and where they crosa over creeks, while the keeping of con- stant supervision over the fences, so that immediate repairs can be dona when openings appear, Is quite imprao- ticalile where the dislam^s are so great. In many instances countloss iboiLsands of rabbits have been seen on one side ot a fence dead or dying of starvation, after eating all tbe available food sup- plies, and leaping up at the fence in iheir attempts to surmount it. Ono can imagine how they would rv^h through In the event of any opening ippearing, and bow a single t>reak va che fenca might ho tbe doom of a( country not previously Infested. There have l>een many projects for tlie commercial utilization of the ani- mals by sending them over here In or- der to conitrlbute both to our food sup> plies and to the cost of their own in- struction, but hitherto the enterprisa has not been vary profitable, wbila some of the moi| competent authorU ' ties in tha colonies tbmk tbat it it should be followed up tbe result may be to oowiarve tbe rabbits instead ol gett'i'ti rid of them. On the other bar .' too, the ehlapliMi of sonte hun- dreus of thou;:.2xiais, or even a millioa or two ot rabbits lo Great Britain every year would not t>e likely to make any appreciable differences in the numbem left behind to ooiutltutc what ia feared must ne regarded as a peat now alto- gether ineradicable. THE QUEEN'S STATURE. Queen Victoria is very short, a good deal tinier than most of ber loyal sub- jects think. But, woman-like, eba makes the most ot ber Inches. She drives out seated upon a very cunningly ar« ranged seat of cushions, which oauset ber to look almost aa tall as her com- panions : but see her at a concert in the first row of the royal box at tha Albert Hall, where such a ocmtrivanoe baa not been made, and the differenca is at once perc3(>tible. TTntU she found standing too tiring, Her Majesty went through her atate drawing rooms stancU ing on a footstool ; but no one knew she was thus raised, for her drawini^ room dresses were Invariably made sev- eral Inches too long, wbioh hid ths foot* atool from view.