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«a... . nrwâ€"prâ€"uu:viii-awash." that. a. son had been born ' His -wifeâ€"â€"-your _._. . ._/-. ha+o+o+o+o¢o$o¢oto+oso§ § . . z : H15 3; t ‘2 GRACE g '$¢.¢.+c+o<>oeo§oeo¢oeogi 12. I was Walking up the Strand, on my way to Piccadilly, one ’l‘hursdufyr afternoon a few months ago, when the incident I am. about to relate ocâ€" curred. To tell the truth. I was going to meet Miss I-Iollibone, the head of the haberd-ashery at Felrâ€" ham and Smith’s; and I was just in the middle of a calculation as to how long it would be before she and I could be married and settle in a shop of our own, when a whiteâ€" haired gentleman with a-pleasant face ran into my arms. “I beg your pardonl.” he said. And then he started back. “Why, bless my soul!" he cried. "What an exâ€" traordinary thing!’ ’ He stood staring at me in such evident amazement that my curiosity was aroused. “What is an extraordinary thing?” I asked. “The likeness,” he said. “Would you mind telling-me your name?” “Sampson Banks,“ I replied; “thougliâ€"â€"â€"â€"" ' “At last!” he your father’s name wasâ€"_- I assumed the freezing stare which [I found ansWered very well when dus- tomers brought goods back. “I am not in the habit of disâ€" cussing my late father with strang- ers in the street,” I said. “Nevertheless,” said he, "I think you will find it to your advantage this time. But you are right; the street is no place to (liscuss,_an af- fair like this. Come up to my chambers." He walked on, and led the way to a big block of buildings in Chancery Lane, which seemed to consist mostly of dust and stone stairs; and though I kept my eyes open for possible tricks, the elderly gent’s manner had so impressed me that I followed him into a little, nicely furnished room on the third floor. “Now,” he said, seating himself a a desk, “we can talk comfortably. What was it you said your father's name Was?" “George Banks,” said I; “biitI-~'â€"â€"" He held up a fat white hand. “And your mother's nameâ€"before she was married, I mean?" “Amelia Tomkins," I replied. He» drew out a. little bundle of blue,._ legal-looking documents from the drawer of his desk. “Both yourâ€"aliâ€"parents, I take it, are no longer living?” he said. “That is so,” I replied. “And did they never tell you who you really were?” “There wasn't any need,” said I. “I knew.” “Worthy people," he said. “How well they carried out their trust! 'Now, look here, Mr. Banks, the story I am about to tell you is a very extraordinary one, but, at the same time, it is strictly true. Those good people were not your parents at all, and since they did not inâ€" form you as to your real identity, it becomes my pleasant duty to do so. As a matter of fact, you areâ€"the Duke of Broadlands!" I felt every vestige of breath ooze out of my body. Had anyone struck me in the face, I could not have been more astounded. ” s He saw I'was speechless and went on: ~ “The story is a somewhat long one in detail, but put briefly it comes to this: The fifth Duke of Broadlands was supposed to have died a bache- lor, and when he died the estate passed to his nephew, as a matter of course. But by a series of circum~ stances, which I will not go _into, it came. ’to my knowlc'dgethat the fifth duke had been secretly married, and to him. motheriâ€"h‘owover, ' was in a humble walk of life, and when she died he took a dislike to youâ€"his sonâ€"«and had you placed with some excellent people by the name of Sampson. They never knew the real facts of the case, and they were well paid to keep silence as to what they did know; and the old duke died without ever even seeing his son, or in any way atteiiipling to do him justice. You, my dear sir, were that son." "‘liut,” I stammered, “how do you know all this?" “I got my first suspicion from the likeness you bear to the old duke. It is simply remarkable. And, my dear sirâ€"I mean, your Graceâ€"I make bold to say that, with my help, within three months you will find yourself in enjoyment of your right- ful position in life.” And then he went into the matter of heirs male of the body, heirs-atâ€" law, and a Whole lot of other legal rigmaroles, which I could scarcely follow, backing up every statement murmured. “And 'I " he made with. blue documents and parchments as long as my arm, and covered with wheresoevers and whereases. '.I did not attempt to follow much of this. The principal thing that concerned me was that he seemed convinced that what he called my claim was pretty well sure to be es« tablishcd before long. 01‘ course, I left the matter entirely in his hands, and: lust as I was leaving he warned me solenmly to keep the whole matâ€" ter to myself. I passed my word, and after ar- ranging a future appointment I left the office like a man dazed. .â€"â€"â€"â€".â€".. II. To think that I, who had started life as a cash-boy, should be a real live dukeâ€"it seemed I must be dreaming! The highest title in the land, thireecastles, a great house in Piccadillyâ€"all this was mine! Well, at any rate, I must try and keep my head, and bear in mind what Mr. Maxteadâ€"for that was the elderly gentleman's nameâ€"Iliad said about keeping the think dark. So ran my thoughts as I walked toâ€" wards Charing Cross, and thenâ€"the first thing I did was to give the whole thing away. I had forg’otten all about Miss llollibone, and as I now came face to face with her I could see she Was in a redâ€"hot tem- per. “A nice time you’ve kept me wait- ing!” she said. That sort of greeting was certain- ly not so respectful as I now had a right to expect. “I have been detained,“ I said loftily, “by some business of the highest importance.”â€" “Fidldlesticks!” she said. "Highest importance, indeed! The only busi- ness that' could detain you, would be in the shop, and I saw you leave there two hours ago. Business of the highest importance! Who with, I should like to know?” _ She needed crushingâ€"I could see that. “I have been engaged with my soâ€" licitor,” I said coldly. “NOW, look here, Sampson Banks," she said softly, “you’re not talking to a girl fresh from the Boardâ€" school. If you’ve met Sarah Mait- land, or any of the. other girls, say so; but don’t try to make a fool of me with any of your highâ€"faluting nonsense, because,,â€"â€"louderâ€"-"I. won't stand it!” She took a good deal of crushing, but I was determined to do it. “Madam,” I said, “perhaps when you learn I have just discovered my- self to be a duke you will moderate your tone somewhat.” She took a step back, and looked at me as if she were suddenly frigh- tened. The murder was out now. I had broken my word, and so I told her the whole story. When I had finished, she burst out laughing. Then I let my temper get the better of me, and I said some bitter things. , “‘I shauld have thought," I finished up, “that a person of your class would have been proud to be the acâ€" quaintance of the rightful owner of one of England's proudest and most ancient titles.” - “Person, indeed!” she snapped. “Acquaintance! I su.ppose,. then, that since you’ve dreamed this abâ€" surd tale I’m not good’enough for youâ€"eh?" I ' “Circumstances have ' changed,” said I. “You must remember that I owe something to my family." She looked me straight in the eye for a moment, and than she swung round. ' ' "' ' - “Goodâ€"afternoon, your Grace!" she said over her shoulder, and disap- peared into the traffic. In order to keep my word to Mr. Maxtoad, I stuck to Feltham and Smith’s as long as I could; but Aga- tha I-lollibone made 'herself as un- pleasant as she could". She spread the tale all over the shop. .« Every _time I turned round I caught some- one laughing at'. me, and that made me badâ€"tempered. . A bad temper is the worst thing a shopwalkcr can have. and very soon that brought me into personal conflict with Min Feltham. Of course, I, a scion of one of Britain’s proudâ€" est families, could not stand being bullied. by a mere linendraper, and the long and short of -it was that I found myself out in the street, with the last month’s money I should ever _ get from Feltham and. Smith’s in my pocket. ' To tell the truth I was rather glad. I could now give my undivid- ed attention to prosecuting my claim personally. The three months mentioned by Mr. Maxtead' were nearly up. .l had received several very promising letters from him, and so, after all, I had only anticipated events a little. The next morning I went up to Mr. hfaxtcad’s Chancery Lane chambers to tell him what had hapâ€" pened. There was a Clerk 1. bro, and he asked me to be good enough to step into a little waitingâ€"room which gave on to the private office. \“Mr. M'axtcad has not yet arrived, your trace,” be said; “but I know he will see you immediately he comes.” ~ There were several other men in the waitingâ€"room. and I must say I never saw such a dignified-looking lot of clients in my life. From time to time others Were ushered in. and We stared at each other like bitter enemies. and coughed after the manâ€" ner of Englishmen who have not been introduced to each other. We waited for a. very longr hour. but still no Maxiearl arrivod; and at llast one of the ends who were wait- ing lighted a Turkish cigarette. Now, if there is anything ]. abhor with my whble heart, it is the fill-- speakable odor of a Turkish cigar- ette. “Palf,” I said, “put that beastly thing out!" The man who had lit it looked me lup and down. “I presume,” he said, “you are ad- dressing me? May I ask who the dickens you are, that you adopt such a tone?" “When you learn who I am," I said, with heat, “you will be sorry .you did not treat me with more re- spect. I am the Duke of Broad- lands!" ' ‘ “Eh?’-’â€" . It seemed that every man in that room had spoken at once. The man with the Turkish cigarâ€" ette laughed nervously. “Don’t talk such ridiculous nonâ€" sense!” he said. “I am the Duke of Broadlands!" "Excuse me!" broke in another. “I am the Duke-â€"â€"" “Not at all! It is I who am the â€"‘â€"â€"" . In thirty seconds it was well es- tablished that ,every man in the room imagined himself to be the Duke of Broa'dlands, and it became ,pretty plain that the whole thing was an elaborate swindle. , Maxtead had had the best part of £300 out of' me for what he called law costs, and the thought that I had been done made me feel that faint I could have dropped Where I stood. But I had not been victim- ized to nearly the same extent as most of the others, and there Was some comfort in that. Of course. we immediately broke into the private office, and equally, of course, We found it bare and empâ€" ty. There was nothing to be done but to call in the police, tell your stories, and then go home and curse ours-elves for a set of gullible idiots. 5(- _‘l‘ ,G l- .. ll I have obtained another situation, but as a mere assistant this time; Fellliam and Smith’s reference was too lukewarm to get me a place as shopwalker. But somehow the story has got round, and I am only waitâ€" ing till I can get enough money to- gether to pay my passage before I shall get aWay to one of the colon- ies where. perhaps, people will have more consideration for my feelâ€" ings than to call mo “Your Grace" fifty times a dayâ€"London Answers. â€"â€"+ AFRICA’ S . CAVE DWELLERS . Caverns Whose Origin is Shroud- ed in Mystery. Major Powellâ€"Cotton of the British service has been taking flash light pictures of the interior of one of the great inhabitath caves on the slopes of ,Mount Elgon, a large mountain near the. northwest coast of Victoria Nyanza, in central Africa. The best of his views shows a numâ€" ber of reed huts that have been scattered irregularly over the wide floor, their tops extending to within about three feet of the black wall above them. Wicker baskets and other utensils of the household are sprinkled here and there, and large masses of 100k, harder than most of the stone that was» dug “away to make the subterranean home, j,ut out into the big room, filling it with cor- ners and recesses. . His visit was to the east side of the mountain. All sides of it have now been visited, and the west, South and east slopes are found to be dotted with these inhabited caves, some of which have been dug at an elevation of 7,500 feet. Perhaps no other. mountain has a similar title to' distinction. Its top, even under the tropical sun nearly reaches the snow line, and its green sides are indented with deep pockets â€"the homes of. many hundreds of huâ€" man beings. Powell-Cotton says doubt that the whole inside surface of these caves was hewn by the hand of man, but. the present owners are quite incapable of having executed so stupendous a task. They have no tradition as to who the makers were. The. explorer thinks a syste- matic examination of a considerable number of the caves might throw an interesting light on their original in- habitants. Some of the visitors to Mount Elgon believe that . THEY ARE. NATURAL .‘CAVES. They Say they found no evidence that the' caverns Could possibly be 'the work' of man. . ‘ They also report that years ago the natives fixed on the plain in or: dinary villages, using the caves at times as places of refuge from their enemies, until they finally made them their permanent abode. The more scientific explorers, on the other hand, say there is no mis- take about the caves being of artifiâ€" cial origin. Joseph Thomson, who discovered them, said that they were cut out of compact volcanic agglom- erate, and he believed that they were mines in some past age. The works were evidently too Vast to be achieved by 'the simple savages who now inhabit them, and he won- dered what superior race could form- erly have occupied that region. Sir Harry Johnson also says that there is no possibility that the caves could have been artificial. These two explorers, as well as Powell-Cotton, speak of the interior of the caves as being very irregular, as the hard-er part of the rock has been left jutting out in most inconâ€" venient corners, while "the softer stone was cut away. Powell-Cotton made an entirely new discovery, north of Mount El? gon, of a tribe living on the tops of two mountains in two story houses. No huts of the kind have hitherto been reported among the barbarous tribes of Africa, It is possible that they conceived the idea of the two story house to provide more room iin their habita- tions, for as they live on the tops there is no _ l ROUND my; THE WA LsAvns FROM THE DIARY or A BRITISH OFFICER. Efficiency of the Japanese aLes- son to the British Soldier. A British officer sends home a number of highly interesting notes from the theatre of War in the Far East, which throw some very useful sidelights on the general situation. I have covered most of the ground, lie says, from Japan to Port Arâ€" thu,r, and have listened to the opin- ions and narratives of men of many nationalities and shades of senti- ment. I might summarize a good many by quoting the dictum of a German acquaintance as he gazed on the British and Japanese flags fly- ing in the harbor at Chenuilpo. “Be- hold,” he said, "the banners'of the Rising and the Setting Sun. Soon we shall have cried ‘Le Roi est Mort! ViVe 1e Roi!’ ” He did not intend to be unpleasant although it may have been inspired by a little of that apprehensive bitâ€" terness which Seems to have seized all Germans out here in presence of the triumphs and irristible efficiency of Japan; but it undoubtedly marks the humble place in the general esti- mation to which“Great Britain has been relegated by the nerveless policy of our foreign office in the Far East. It would really seem as though every one were waiting for our shoes. When I was at Weiâ€"'Haiâ€"Wei a shOrt time ago there was a strong suspiâ€" cion' that the British government, desperately anxious to get rid of the place, over the acquisition of which there was such a fanfare a little while ago, were actually goingr to al- low Germany to add it to her pos- sesions in Sh'ajatung. At all events, when I was there A GERMAN CRUISER was in the place, and her oifficers, as usual, were entertained and shown OVer everything they cared to exam- ine. When they were leaving after their few 'days’ stay they were asked if they Were going to repeat the visit. “No,” replied the German commander; “we shall not pay a visit next time. When we come again it will be to take it over from you." ' « The British government have al- ready put up “House to Let” at Weiâ€"Hai~Wei, and it is one of the first holdings belonging to the poor old “Setting Sun" which the Ger~ mans will endeavor to acquire. It would immensely strengthen their poâ€" sition at Kaio-chau, and their hold over the province of Shantung. In German hands it would become the Gibraltar of the Gulf of Pechili. -I got into Port Arthur and out again before the War commenced. I was able to examine the town, barracks and dock yard. There were some splendid palatial buildings in the former, including a magnificent ca- thedral, all of which ‘I hear have been more or less destroyed by Togo. The barracks also were quite the best I had ever seen, possessing dinâ€" ingâ€"rooms entirely separate frompthe sleeping quarters. The only dock for repairing purposes could not posâ€" sibly have accommodated anything larger than a secondâ€"class cruiser. Thousands of men were at work ev- erywhere, but I was Warned that if I approached the fortifications I should at once be arrested as a spy._ The Russian soldiers I saw were a fine looking lot of men, but intensely animal, and in appearance mental-1y deficient. , 1 However that may be, they have learned to use their guns on the sea- ward batteries. The British naval attache at Tokio', who has now re- turned home, was with Togo on his flagship during all the first attacks on Port Arthur. IIé had a good deal to tell on the subject, and exâ€" plained for the first time how it was. that. 339140 took. . . ., , SUCH CARE, or HIS. SHIPS, andzdid not, assome seemed to think he might have done, send them in . and attack the Russians much clos- er on several occasions when their vessels came out. The British naval witness, how- ever, says the fire of the Russian sea batteries and from Golden Hill was so wonderfully accurate that even at six or seven miles distance the Russian shell was bursting all around about the Japanese ships when they approached to that range. None â€"â€" excepting the mined vesselsâ€"ewes ever badly damaged or required to be sent to Sasebo; but that Admiral Togo exercised a wise discretion in the management of his offensive tac- tics of‘f Port Arthur we can Well un- derstand after the British attache’s report. A good deal of minor damages have been sustained, but with Togo’s fleet are several dockyard ships, which have been doing splendid serâ€" vice, ranging alongside any deranged vessel ‘and carrying out all repairs in a thoroughly effective style. And besides. these‘tlieJapanese have ar- ranged cxti‘li'llfdci‘iitics on"'some of the islands slffcethey obtained" un- disputed supigemucy at Sea. . The more oii‘e' secs‘of the Japanese afloat. and ashore, one cannot help longing that‘iGrcat Britain were able space to their dwellings without en- croaching upon their tilled lands. inmost under the. equator, they suc- ceed in raising crops on the of mountains they cannot give much summits of high mountains. vary 1 t to boast of similar all-round effici- ency. not to say determination; for. it «is this preâ€"emzinent quality in the nation, and the government standing behind the fighting men, which helps to render the latter so formidable. I learned from a Japanese friend the, story of the first attack on Port Arâ€" thur, a story in very truth of a. government which knew its own mind acted accordingly with cir- cumspection and resolution. As soon as-evci' the die was cast the Japanese fleet left Sasebo, while the Japanese consul at Chefoo went into Port Arthur to bring off his icountryl'nen, and, together with his servant, a naval officer in disguise, to have A FINAL LOOK AROUND. When they left, the Russian fleet had taken up its fetal position in the roadstead outside. They steamed in the direction of Chefoo, but instead of making that place stood eastward} and met the Japanese fleet under Ari- miral Togo at sea, when they at once described the formation and po- sition of the Russian squadron, and a few hours later it was caught. and scattered by the Japanese destroy- ers. As a soldier I have, naturally, been more struck by the Japanese military movements which 1 have been able to witness.‘ I was in Chemulpo at the time of the destruc- tion of the 'Variag and the ICoriet‘Z, and witnessed the really wonderful disembarkation and departure of a; Japanese division for the front. As soon as the Japanese transports ar- rived on that fateful evening the long sea front assumed a quiet, su- stained activity which bctokened the absence of any necessity for impro- visation. Even landingâ€"stages pro- leciing into the shallow waters of the bay made their appearance as if by magic, to which the samfpans brought their endless loads of men, horses and guns, These streamed away into the town to pie-ordained- billets with an uncanny precision which suggested that somebody! somewhere was turning a handle and Working the whole business by ma- chinery. ’ What; one particularly noticed was that with it all there was no shoutâ€" ing of orders or galloping about of fussy staff oyflicers, as there would have been in any other army. The J apaueso officer seems to' have learn- ed a strange, silent method of leadâ€" ership, whose marked feature is an absolute confidence in himself. Nothing before or since has ever impressed me so much asr‘that night in Cheiuulpo. The Japanese division was in tawn, there was no doubt of it; but not even a bugle broke the comparative quiet of the place. I explored the streets to see what had become of THESE UNUSUAL SOLDIERS. I found .them _in the shadowa of verâ€" andahs, withinthe shelter of gardens and compounds, resting or cooking their food by little fires that were flickering in num'b'erless different di- rections. They seemed to have no use for-orderlies or staff officers, for. everything seemed to be ready, pre- pared andvcomplete. -()f if any passâ€" ed to and fro lhey seemed as noise~ less as the very shadows in which they moved. ~ I watched the. soldiers cook their suppers, eat them, and go to sleep all in the same stillness, and I did not quit this fascinating scene until an early hour of the morning, when a new wonder encountered me in the departure of this silent. host. I pass- ed where a whole battalion had Livouacked. It was quite dark. The Wind of the morning was blowing. cold, but not a streak of dawn had appeared. There was not a sign. of any one awaking them, but suddenly, there was a. stirring among the dark masses of recumbent figures, and 'in a. moment or two every section moved to its piled arms, unpiled them, formed fours, and, without a word, the whole battalion moved off in the same weire’d silence, like ghosts, in- to the, darkness and the unknown; wliitliei‘nonc could guess, Sand no one ventured into the black'waste of snowâ€"covered country beyond to disâ€" cover. We learned since that most went north, some by the awful Koâ€" rean country over hill, and bog, and drcar interminable mud wastes to Ping-Yang. and some by transport) again to Chinampo. But it was a; lesson to a British soldier in a scale of efficiency which had never entered into his purview before. There was a sense of omnipotent and masterful simplicity about it all, and as these Isoldiers came and Went with their strange precision and working withl an unerring and remorseless certainâ€" ty never previously attained in the history of war. One could not doubt that such men went forth conquering and to conquer. .___.+____._. llflllllLlN l-‘UNl'Il'lAli. PTLE. When .l-‘rau Clara l-f'alm, the wife of a prominent llerlin gentleman, from whom she was separated, com- mitted suicide. she left instructions in her will that everything she pos- sessed should be burned on a funeral pile. The police carried out these orders. to the letter, burning no fewâ€" er than eleven chests filled with dresses, some. packages of linen, ten boxes containing hats. three dozen “1'13, and hundreds of love-letters. “An-kl do you think," he asked, "that mrn progress after death?" l“\\lell,” she replied, "if they don't. ‘ Would alianost seem ‘usewssl for some of them to die.” ‘59" -vV'v“v‘a â€" W‘v