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TEI 06 O64 EH HS KE 0 CHAPTER XIX. "My dear Willard!" exclaimed 4he thin |' €aced, angular woman, "4 really think you must have taken leave of your wenscs," "My dear madam." I cried excitedly, "I haven't the slightest notion of your name. To the best of my knowledge, Tve never had dhe pleasure of meeting jou before this moment. Yet you have [oh boldness la assert thal you are mry wel The thing is absolutely prepcs- terous!" 1 laughed cynically. "You must be med to tuk like thist" fhe woman answered with some as- Y. . "I tell you that I'm not mad, madam," protested, "and further, I declars (hat bave never married," : "What rubbish you talk!" she said. "This accident to your head hss evident. 17 affected your intellect, You must rest, as Doclor Britten has ordered." "The doddering old idiot thinks, kke ourself, that I'm not quite respons 'ble 0" my actions," I laughed, "Well, we shall see." - "Il you w.re in your right senses you Would never deny that I am your wife," 8nswred the over-lressed woman. "The thing's toc absurd." "My dear madam." 1 cried, growing angry. "your allegat'ons are utterly ri- doulous, to say the least. Alb this is either some confounded oonspiracy, or else you mistake me for somebody clse, I tell you that I cen Wilford Heat nm, of Essex Street, Strand, a bachelor who kas neither thought nor inclination of marrying." "And I tell you that you are Wilford Hea on, my husband, and owner of this use," sre answered, her face grow ng redder with exoc:lemeont, The situation was certainly stranger than any otler in which a man could possibly be placed. That jt was no dream, but a stern reality, was entire ly plain. | glanced around the com- forlable library, and saw ¢h-re <v.denc- of wealh and refinement, while hrough the window beyond my gaze felt upon the wide park sloping away to a lange lake glistoning in the sun- shine, and through the treas beyond could be scen a distant glimpse of the blue waters of the English Channel, I slood uitorly nonplussed by the startling declaration of this artifigial- looking parson, who aped youth so ri- @iculously, and yet spoke with such an air of confidence and determ naticn. "And you actually expect me to be lieve this absurd story of yours, that I am your husband, when only last night I dined at The Boltons, and was then a bactelor? Besides, madam," I added with a touch of sarcasm, for | con'ess thal my anger was now thoroughly aroused, "| think the--well, the differ- ano2 in'our ages is sufficient to convince any one Thabt--" "No, no," she hastenad to interrupt me, as though that point wera very dis- tasteful to her. "Age is entirely out of the question. Am I to undersland that you dist'nelly deny having made me your wife?" "I do, most dec dediy," 1 laughed, for Lie very id a was really tco ridiculous fo enterlan. She exchanged a pilying look with Gedige, who stood at a Lidle distance, for none but a madman would d give credence to such a tissue of lice. "Doctor Britten cons ders oe brain is unbalanced, because not know. the. truth," she said calmly. "l quite agree with him. "l surely know who and what 1 am!" I cried. - "No, my dear Willard, thats just if. You don't know who you are," the wo man answered with a smile. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "Then very amusing to you, buf I assure you that to me it's the very reverse. "I can anly tell you who you are as I know you "o be," answered th: pow- dcred-faced, doll-like old lady, whose at- tempts at juvenile ccquelry sickened me. "to on," | said, preparing myse'{ for more attampts to befcol me. "I ask you first whether you are not Tewkesbury?" "Certainly." ness" "That is so unlortunately." "And you are mew .arryin® on busi ness as a financier in the City of Lon- don?" "I krow nothing of nance," I answer- ed. "This Mr. Gedge--or whatever his knowing myself, as 1 do, to be an ar- that the story is all bunkum."~ hand-writing?"' refarred 40 some huge financial transac appeared wonderfully like my own. "Some one has been imposing upon you, I tell you. This is a case of mis "But I tell you # isnt," Gedge. "AlN that your wife hae said is the absolute truth." "My wile!" I cried angrily. "I have no wife--thank Heaven) ~ "No, no," whined the ranted old wo- man, dabbing her eyes with har hand- kerchief, very lightly, however, so as not to disturb their artificlalty. "No, don't say that, my dear Wilford, don't say that! You %now that you are my husband--you know you are" "I know, my dear madam. that I do not position," I respondad very firmly. "But I can prove it--I can prove itl she cried wih a futile cffort ab fears, "Then 1 shall be mast interested to sec this extraordinary fict'on proved," | foid. po norhaps we shall then get down als." "The facts are as already stated, Gedge remarked. "Then x} § i i i i ! 2 ih} i 1 I FE i i Fe} E i FE jou kindly inform me. Al} this may| i iil Rik i ¢ i % it BF i g i t R ¥ TH |_Tasy jis k Wilford ton, of Heaton Manor, near I ER "And you were once sir.cken by blind- it il | i \ Erg % ag ir i i ; 7) : 3 i : H i i E § mame is--has t0ld me some absurd fairy- tale about my position in London, but : g ; : i i . § BE §8 2 : For a moment she stood m hes ; j . i rant duffer at figures, I'm quite positive 8 § i : g fo be fast asl tried the door, which i i i "Them how do you account for these memorandum forms," mquired Gedge, taking some {rom the table, "and for these let'ers? Are dhey mot in your i i £ gE $ i up to across sl to -into a trai Essa part in 'the plot for the Alexander : 857 : ie I glanced at the let'ers he held. They ! : d tion, and were certainly in a hand that g & £ | g i 0 § i "the revolationist and arresls escapas without parallel, ugh the medium of bath is a national uthority which thinks , knouting and stary. never refuses a de. i i taken identity--it must be, my dear sir" Hl 3) he escaped thro: & : { i i i : g i : § : & ie {th ag zg: i i 3 there dppears a3 yet no trace i FEARESS eth i i} uhiil ip a I'ever quarried in Bri was time ago from the Plankinglon Norwich. It was in one pi {crack or flaw, and wei] five 7 i ide on . On the Belgian State Railway. newspapers left in the trains belong the Government. They are sent to ti paper mills, madé into pulp, and afterwards as railway tickets. 00 -| tons of newspapers are collected 'every thai she was freed |" ear. 1 un "Birds can eal and digest from ten thirty times as much food in' pr to their size as men-can, If a'm enl as much in proportion fo his A'sparrow is able to consume he, need a whole sheep for dinner; a cou of dozen chickens for breakfast, ai turkeys for his evening meal, One of the mos. ou ous nines Ix a world is In Ton 8, na; 'wi yn a sand formation, at a depth of from 14ft, t+ 201t., there is a deposit of the stems trees. The Chinese work this mine for the timber, which is found. in" good oon- dition, 'and is used in making coffins and troughs, and for carving and other u 'Fish to the value of $40,815,000 landed in England and Wales in the year, as. compared with $38,825,00( 1608, The total weight of wet fish 'w 14,001,000 cwt., against 12,104,000 ewt. 1906, whilst there were in addition 35. 874,000 oysters, 4,676,000 crabs, ° lcbslers; and 553,000 cwt. of other shel fish. . Alter five years' work Australia's' | transcontinental rabbit-proof fence | been completed. Its length is 2 d 1036 and the cost of its erection has been ly $1,250,000, 1t is furnished at inf 1 of five miles with systems of hich hundreds of rabbits are captu and destroyed daily. Tnside the arsier g watching in silence. "Pcor Witlord! poor Wilfordl" she ejaculated in a tone of sympathy, and, acdiess'ng the man who called himself {those of five wild. gibbons. -and ray cecrelary, sald, "It se ms quit: true what the Coctor has declared; {he blow has uysat the balance of his m'nd." "Madam," I cried very determinedly, "you wil) obHge me by not adding fur- insult to your altempted impasture --far such sympathy is insulting t> me." She clasped her hands, turned her ®yes upward. and sighed in the manncr of the elderly, "You believe that I'm mad, Therelore jou are trying ¢o impose upon mel" | Went on furfously. "But I tell you, my dear madam, that 1 am just as sane as yourself, and am fully prepared to prove that 1 am not your husband". "Ask Mr. Gedge whether 1 speak the or nal," she said, turning do the secrefary, .. "Certainly," an-wered the man ad- Qressad, Icoking straight into my face. "I have no tes'tation whatever in bear ing out Mrs. Heaton's stalement." t's all humbug!" I cred, 'uining save agely upon him. "I dant know this woman from Adam," : "Well," he. laughed aynizally, "you ought to know her pretty well, at any rale." in It was apparent from his fone that he dad no very high opinion of her, "I'm pleased #o say that until 'h's pre- t moment we have been strangers." 1 said, for 1 was notin a humer to} words, % play. ent. compliments "Cerificate stolen!' | cried. ingenious excuse. | quite antcipated it, although it, unfortunately, exhibfts no originallly, Thie steal marriage certifi pawn them, you The woman T. "And whery did this marriage between us {ake lace, pray?' I » mot without wae, "At St. Andrew's, Wells Stet." "Wells S'reet, in London? "Yes, You surely rer you! The chuich ts Circus," i E § brain of a male full-grown'