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- "I came 30 adk your con- wii tor 1" ou "With my danghter exclaimed Mr. Morgan. "Betrothal! What, in. Heaven's name, can you be thinking of 1' "I do not, of course, mean that there was a definite e: tween us," said Fri repulse, tumn and other Mr, Morgan, inning to pace the | room with a op of perplexity and S'What folly will the annoyance. girl commit next' eltieat be % » Speaking all the more steadily because of this Of course we could not have thought of that until we had asked 'your consent. We agreed that I should come over this au- speak to you ahout it; nothing passed at Balholm but just the assurance that we loved each "Loved each other I' ejaculated ""Tell Miss Morgan want her in the drawing-room. sire her to come at once," The minutes of wai which fol- lowed were the worst Frithiof had ever lived Doubt, fear, Yopate while the oppressive consciousnees of his host's presence, and of the Agressive superiority of thi the room a contents. Perhaps the waiting was not alto- gether pleasant to Mr. Morgan; he poked the fire and moved about restlessly. When, at last, light footsteps were heard on the stairs; and Blanche entered the room, he turned toward her with evident dis- pleasure in his face. wore a dress of reddish At this Frithiof also rose to his brown with a great deal of plush "feet, of my love to your dau, her," he said. hotly. the angry color rising to his about it, and something in the way face. 'I should never have spoken r had I not been in a position to support "By your English standards I may not, per-| 3" it was 'made suggested the greatest possible contrast to the little sim- ple_travelling-dress she had worn in Norway. Her eyes were bright d eager, her loveliness as great haps, be very rich, but our firm is | 2% ever. one of the leading firms in Bergen. We come of a good old Norwegian olly said | burned in her cheeks. family. - Why should it be a for your daughter to love me?' "You misunderstand me," Mr. Morgan. one word against yourself, 'I don't wish to say How- ever, as you have alluded to the|®°T matter, I must tell you plainly that I expect my daughter to make a 'You wanted me, papa?' she be- gan ; then, as she came forward and recognized Frithiof, she gave a little start of dismay and the color '""Yes, I wanted you," said Mr. Morgan, gravely. 'Herr Falck's as just arrived." I am very glad to see you again," she said, forcing up a little very different marriage. Money I griiliei) laugh and holding out her can provide her with, Her husband | 2304: will supply her with a title." "What!" cried Frithiof, furioue- ly, "you will force her to marry some wretched aristocrat whom she But Frithiof had seen her first ex- pression of dismay and it had turn- ed him into ice; he would not take her proffered hand, but only bowed can't possibly love! For the sake formally. There was a painful sil- of a mere title you will ruin her happiness." "I shall certainly. do. nothing the kind," said the Englishman with a touch of dignity. .'Bit down, Herr Falck, and listen to me. 1 would have spared you this had it been possible. You are very young, and you have taken granted too much. You believed that the first pretty girl that flirted with you was your future wife. I 'can quite fancy that Blanche was well pleased to have you dancing attendance on her in Norway, but it was on her part nothing but a flirtation ; ehe doesn't care for you in.the least." "I do not believe it,"' said Fri- thioft, hotly. 'Don't think that I wish to ex- cuse her,"' said Mr. Morgan. is very much to be blamed. But she is pretty and winsome, she knows her own power, and it pleases her to use 'it; women are all of them vain and selfish. What do they care for the suffering they cause?' "You shall not say such things of ber," cried Frithiof, desperately. "It is not true. It can't be true!" His face had grown deathly pale, and he was {fembling with excite- ig Mr. Morgan felt sorry for m 'My poor feHow,'" he said kindly, '"don't take it so hard, You are not the first man who has been de- ceived, my child's foolish thoughtlessness should have given you this to bear. But after all, it's a lesson every one has $6 learn ; you were inexper- fenced Aud young." I "Tt not possible!" repeated Frithiof, in terrible agitation, re- membering vividly her promises, her words of love, her kisses, the expression of her eyes, ax she had Jislded to his eager declaration of ve. 'I' will mever believe it pos- Jible, vill I hear it from her own ps. things for I am. heartily sorry that ence, : "This is not the first time, of | Blanche, that you have learned what comes of playing with tools," said Mr. Morgan, sternly. "I heard from others that you had flirted with Herr Falck's son in Norway; I now learn that it was by your own suggestion that he came to England to ask my consent to an engagement, and that you allowed him to believe that you loved him. What have you to say for yourself 1' While her father spoke, Blanche stood by with bent head and down- cast eyes; at this direct question she looked up for a moment. "TI thought I did care for him just at the time,"' she faltered. "'It-- it was a mistake." . "Why, then, did you not write "She | 80d tell him so? It was the least you could have done," said her fa- ther. "It was such a difficult letter to write," She Sakiered. "I Jopt 2 putting it off, ai ping that he, too, would find out his mistake. And then sometimes I thought I could explain it all better to him if he came." Frithiof made a step or two for- ward; his face was pale and rigid; the blue seemed to have died out of his eyes; they looked like steel. "I wait for your explanation," he said, in a voice which, in spite of its most fiercely. 3% "Why do to from me?' na "Are De- | Feady YT was 'only last Sunday," # sobbed, TART meant te beautiful circlet of brilliants on her ird finger. SE 3 It seemed to him that giant hands 'seized on him then, and crushed out of him his very life. Yet the pain of living went on remorse- essly, and as-if from a very great | distance he heard Blanche's voice. "I am engaged to Lord Romi aux." she said. "He had been in Norway on a fishing-tour, but it was on the steamer that we first met. And then almost directly I knew that at Munkeggen it had all been quite a 'mistake, and that I had never really loved you. We. met again .at one of the watering- places in September; but it wae BE only settled the day before yester- day. I wish--oh, how I wish--that I had written to tell you !'" She stood up impulsively and drew nearer to him. "Is there nothing I can do to make up for my mistake ?" she said, lifting pathetic eyes to his, "Nothing,"' he said, bitterly. "Oh, don't think badly of me for it," she pleaded. 'Don't hate me "Hate you!' he exclaimed. 'It will be the curse of my life that I love you--that you have made me love you." He turned as though to go away. "Don't go without saying good- bye," she exclaimed; and her eyes said more plainly than words, "I do not mind if you kiss me just once more." i He paused; ice' one minute, fire the next, yet through it all aware that his conscience was urging him to go without delay. Blanche watched him tremulous- ly; she drew yet nearer, hl 'Could 'we not still be friends?" she said, with a pathetic little qui- ver in her voice. 4 "No," he cried, vehemently, yet with a certain dignity in his man- ner; "no, we could got." Then, before Blanche could re- cover enough from her sense of hu- miliation at this rebuff to speak, he bowed to her and left the room." She threw herself down on the sofa and buried her face in the cushions. "How I wish'T had 'written to him at once and saved yselt this dreadful scene! How could Ihave been so silly! so dreadfully silly! TS be afraid of writing a few words in a letter! My poor Viking | he looked so grand as he turned away. I wish we could anima have been frie: still; it used fo be so Pleasant in Norway; he was #0 unlike other people; he inter me, now it is all over, firmness, betrayed intense agita-|' tion... | Mr. Morgan, without sa word, quitted the room, and the two were left alone. Again there was a long,' oppressive silence. Then, with a sob, Blanche turned away, sinking down on an ottoman and covering her face with her hands. Her tears instantly melted Frithiol; his in- and I should have liked to show him over her to people. I should have liked to initiate him in eve: "3 . The clock on the el-picos Cros mirrors, 1 § got dignation' and 'wounded pride gave |' place to love and tendernon a | though sort of wild 6 'rose in' his mind. "Blanche! 'Blanche!' he' cried. "It isn't true! It can't be all over! With a gesture of annoyance, Mr. the recy. got Fase sade u yor Ol 0 "Wi C! Then, as the door beltrang, "she : t up-a couvrette, sunk down n the sofa, and covered he ue breakage, ha Oyster shells or bone this mineral : tion of thicker she t handlers should exercise a tio would materially lessen the losses enumerated above and would add, to the pleasure of producing and of | consuming this important food, ggs may be a delicacy or only an ordinary, or even inferior, mater! al for food purposes, nding very largely upon the way they are handled by producer, middleman and consumer, KNELL OF OLD MILK PAIL, A wonderful system of ventila- tion has been devised for dairies, and its general adoptio: by all farmers who apply intell and scientific methods to their ventures proves its merit. But pure alr alone is not sufficient for cow barn, No dust must be pe to ae- cumulate, the barns should be in perfect sanitary form and animal must be subjected to fre. quent ¢laaning operations; Belen- tists have sounded the knell of the BE os; ls in favor, It offers less of an open: ing for bacteria that may fall into the milk during the process of milk- in; Bons 'bacteria invariably are found in milk. The laboratory shows, however, that these germs are beneficial rather than injurious to the human consumers, But the sanitary eondi- tions is at once & source of danger and a signal for medical warfare on the uridesirable dairy, "Keep the sow stable as neat and rogressive dairy- , They are in the ascendency. The eare old-fashioned dairy- n the handwriting on the 'wall, : "TREATMENT OF LIVE STOCK. 'Horsed and, in fact, ali domestic Ia are very mach more im: pressionable than they are ganer: have had a master, a man of but firm nature, show the ob of their associations as a d or strain. Years of good tment not 0 make an im- viduals, but are similar hprccaiition, Careful atten-|: n these important points} supposed to be. Cattle which | GERMANS DREAD 1913. Will Empire Fall Next Year As Prophiesied 'By a Sorceress. The recent Socialist victories in | 3 have revived the singular Mary of Emperor William I. and the fortune teller, which at the time 'of the old Kaiser's death was whis- pered with awe by the supersti- tious. There is now only one part of the prophecy left unfulfilled,, and the date for that is set for next year. 4 ~The story goes that in 1849 the rown Jeince who was ates 30 Ber come the first Emperor, found him- self in Baden, and heard so many stories of an old fortune teller that he was induced to go to see her. The sorceress was seated at a table, on which were spread various bits of wood bearing figures. = Her cus- tom was to touch these pieces of wood with a pencil, guided, as she assured her clients, entirely by in- #piration. ined in some way figures gave you the most ex- act information as to the future. "In what year will the German Empire be founded?" first asked the Prince, whose head was already full of his great ambition. The old woman took up the fig- ures 1, 8, 4, and 9, and formed the number of the current year. Then she touched various other figures and placed them one by one in a golumn under this first line. The Prince said when she had finished that the date 1849 appeared twice in different form, thus: 1849 ery 8 4 ° "Add them," said the fortune- teller, '"'and you will find the year in 'which the German Empire will be founded." 7 hs The prince did as he was told aad found the total to be 1871. next. A The sorceress made the date 1871, and then began ' touchin, again. ged Tay ancividuals, but be- | date come a breed characteristis, Inf: short, a keen judge can tell pretty] nearly what sort of association a ree has had by his temperament, The importance of creating goed temperament in a of pacing horse shetild. not be under rated. The horse with a good tem erament will do more work. and d better than: " 'has: not a well: 3 ¥ ne I! | "Add BR 2 "give the year in which you "They came to 1888 The Prino® put hi ;' third and Tast ; A third time the woman fixed last date and added four fig When she had finished the | BAW: 1888 'Add them and you have the date of the fall of the German Empire The figures came to 1913. This story was told when W liam I. died in 1888, after | crowned Emperor in 1871. haye the 61d witch's figures told th truth. © Buperstitious folk look a the election returns and. wonder what will be the empire's fortunes 1913; ? : Sa ee Me SARDINES AND SPRATS. Few Know Difference When Little 2 Fish Get in Tins. ~ Though they are totally different Species of fish meti them. Briefly, a sardine is a you Pilchard, In its immature state it | lives in the warm waters off the shores of France, Italy, and Bj ' though occasionally it is 'fo: 2 far from the coast of Devon and Cornwall, England. The mature pilehard is, however, a well-known g hand,"a sprat is & . small specimens one p the 'shops are fully-grown fish. Sprats are caught in enor- mous quantities off the coasts of the British Isles and in Norwegian wi In France there are no "When will T die?' 'he: asked |tr iB, yy ny a ak Gh Cm Br a ak A a A Rr SL RE