OR, GERVASE RICKMAN'S AMBITION. CHAPTER IV. On the day following this memorable to make the excursion spare for holiday-} i, , and not being very good at &. é@ a great poin er ease wilh him, having as- sured ermal! that he had -completely ubdued his passing fancy for her, was foath fo disappoint him, else she would thave found an excuse for returning to England and thus saving herself and Paul the embarrassmen { frequent se. Mrs. Annesley: (oo, sought a pretext Jor breaking up the party, harmo ef which had Sean &0 falally marred by ~ er nephew's nppearance; she feared that a crisis had been reached during Paul's row with Alice on. the afternoon ef Edward's arrival, but had no certain snowledge to act upon; she reflected, bowever, things had betler take their course. went, partly for the pleasure of being with Alice, and partly because he was loo proud to accept the part of a @isappointed suitor, and wished to culli- vate friendly relations wilh Paul and his affianced wife. But he wondered that the engagement was nof made public, and decided to pul the question point-blank @ Paul, considering thal he had a right 42 know how matiers stood. Paul, however, held him at arnys- gth, and there was no opporlunily of ceming to an expianalion before they started upon that ili-fated flour. Paul fhad taken a fancy to have some old damily jewels reset for his mother in Switzerland in remembrance of this his first lengthy excursion with her, and was busy that morning in getling them from the jeweller's. When Mrs. Annes- dey saw them, she was so dismayed al the tdea of travelling about with. gems of euch value in her sion that she He was » little cared that she would not wear the biooch and ear-rings. al Jeast in the evenings, and fought against her declaration that she would sgt meither her maid's jife nor her own by carrying such valuables abovl; bul at last, in the presence of the whole parly, who had been admiring the vrnaments, consented to luke them back, and tassed the morocco case carelessly into his breast-pocket. "I believe it is a! superstition." he said; "you lake the Annesley jewels for the Nibelungen * Hoard. You forget that the family curse is allached to the land alone." 6 Then he wenl oul into the town for the purpose, as every one supposed. of placing the packet in safely al the jew- elier's. he fell in with Gervase, 'who was silting under the plane-trees by the water-side, studying some papers intently, and mak- ing rapid notes upon them. Paul looked so earnestly thoughiful face, befor: the intention of nol disturbing him, upon his he wilhdrew in that Rickman, who could see things with his eyes shul, and perceived that Paul wish- ed to disburden his mind of something, {hrew his papers as:de in pure charity. saying that he had finished making his notes. "Whai a feliow admiringly ; vou are," Paul said. "even in your holiday-time you gel through naif a dozen men's | work "| um na drone." replied Gervase ; "pul T like a little play too.' "Look here, Rickmun," continued Paul, "you are very Kren al detecting motives. Do you know why Edward Annesley icined 'us? "Yes," replied Gervase. calmly, "he fame {o pay his auuresses to Miss Lin- ard. He mede up his mind to do o at peen " chi, " "Why then did he not with her all 'lhis time?" his impeluous way. ~ "Did he not communicate with her 2" replied = Gervase, innocently ; > "why should you suppose that?" The suggestion was as sparks to tin- in Paul's jealous. heart. Why, in- » fhould he suppose that? He .eap- al once to the conclusion that Edward "had written. "He was on te gallery -@ione with her lest night," he added, in "such tragic oi oe = ie lo -- mak- ag, ge speation : I thougmt het 'accident scfeaesty Asan returned Gervase, as if struck by 4 new idea. "On the gal- ery in the moonlight--ah! One can see that your cousin means business." » "Yet they never met till the spring. _ 'They know so lite of each other," said "Paul, jooking gloomily at the sparkling water over which boals were flitting rapidly in the sunshine. : things are soon done, Besides, "the very fact of their knowing so litle of each 'other heightens communicate he continued in PTE 444444444 644444444 4416444 64444444 4444444444 r} me Mrs. Annesiey's pew nee a eflaies When he returned to the hotel, his eyelashes, and then looking with an i ts gir The He saic circumstances, and let them get a thorough knowledge of each other's weaknesses. No man is a hero to his Do you remember old Rebinson, who used to live----" "Oh, I know that story!' Paul inter- rupted, impatienlly. "You are a keen observer, Rickman. and when, may | ask, did you first observe that Edward; as you say, meant Lusinessy and what do oy suppose are his chances of suc- cess 7?" "I confess that I keep my eyes open in going through the world, Annesley. And I think your cousin has about as good a chance of sucosss as anybody ever had. It's rather a pily. She ought to make a better match. Besides that, I doubt if he cares for her--I think 1 know whom he would have chasen but for the golden seen on the other side, Though, to be these military men flirt righ and Tell. withoul the smallest regard {0 con- sequences," "We thought Siby} was the allrac- tion----- "So she was," replied Gervase, abrupt- ly. And he moved away, compressin his Lips with annoyance, Paul's allenlion to a quaintly rigged vessel passing by. Paul al once fell in with-his humor and changed the subject. He saw that Ed- ward's suil was as distasteful to wervase as to himself, thcugh for different rea- sons. Gervase evidently thought thal Sibyl] had bee. trifled with, and in spite oi what had passed belween himself and his cousin in their interview in his gar- den at Medington, he began to wonder if the latter had indeed preferred Sibyl un- lil he discovered the slenderness of her dower. J! was improbable, but there is nd improbabilily al which jealousy will not grasp. Just then, as they were stroliing lack to the house, they fell in with Edward, who was going in the same direclion with his sister. Paul looked. on his cousin's handsome face. and heard his light-hearled laughler -al some passing jest, and a deadly fecling look posses- sion of him: the bright young face drew him with an intense fascination; he saw in its gayely an evidence of triumph, an easy {triumph which scarcely stirred a sense df endeavor; ils beauty maddened him, @ hot passion surged uncorstrol- lably within him, the passion of a bitter halred. Just as Alice's mere presence had been won. to thrill him, Edward's thrilled him now ; he coujd not be in the same room wilh ither 6f them without an intense consciousness of their existence, with- out marxing the shghtest movement or most casual worl of each. following every syllable und gesture of the one Willh pussionale iove. and of the other wilh un equally passionate hase. All through the meal they took before selling oul for the Jura, he watched them both with burning gdances., equally at- tracted by both, his imagination lending in'en-e ineaning to the few casual re- mark= they exchanged in the course of the meal, and supplying words to the silences Which fell upon the unconscious Objects of his thoughis, neither of whom Were in) tune wilh tie cheerful holiday air assumed or fell by the rest of the pariy. Once Alice looked up and arrested one of Pauls fiery loohs. A shade of vexa- lion crossed her face. and she bil her , lips as she turned her head and address- | ed sume remars to Mrs. Annesley. In the raiway carriage there was a genera! tendency to consult books and newspapers. and Mrs. Annesley com- | posed herself in an attitude of dignified repose. By some chance or mischance, Puul found himself in the inner corner of the carriage with Eleanor, while Ed- ward was al the other end by the open door. sitlng next lo Alice, and imme- diately -opposile Mrs. Annesley, From behind his unread newspaper the jealous man centinued to watch the objects of his 'different passions. br ooding upon the pain which tore him 'nwardly until it reached a terrible pi'ch, He recalled the day of Edward's ar- rival al Medingion, and wished that day had never dawnc d. He rementbered his own expansion of heart and the unusual conlidences he had made to his cousin concerning his domestic misery, his poverty and his pu marriage. How changed his life was since thet day, tune had befailen him! and yet what would he nol have given to be once more ay he was thea, the struggling, unsucs cessful parish doctor, harrass with domestic troubles and money cares, but possessing the one. golden hope of one day winning Alice! On that day he had heard of the first in the chain of deaths by which he had become a man of wealth and slanding. Death, he mused, is a which no one can reckon; framers of Sstalistics may draw up imposing col- umns of figures, they may tell you to a nicety the percentage of -deaths at this age and that, in this condition and that, from this cause and that; and yet when you leave the abstract of masses thing upon * the romance of the situation," continued Gervase, furtively "sludyin g Paul's toner' Phorm from niet et come to the concrele of individual case +444 eee ae g and calling! what strange and unexpected good for-| i ies Torment + as \- Or. pa not Edward? a , was equally liable me wit, nalkd-to be sent ic savage places) and in indulge in savage sports. His heart it of Edward's death; He began think which still es They enthusiastic, and ro ropes, should have aller the Jura excursion for altempling some of the y unscaled summils ; and Mrs. Aa -- Bs: ra strain of age 4 wnich marked the conquest wee vane af peak, trying to coo} his ardor. if he would but carry out his intention, a slight momentary giddiness, a flaw in a rope, an _insteant's failure of nerve, the loosening of a stone. one false step on the part of one of the, travellers, not' to, aemen the thougand 'chances changes of weather,.or the many posei- bilities of losing the way or mistaking the ever-changing landmarks--what a difference this might make ! UnconsciowS of these terrible = onal Edward sat silent by Alice, reading his English paper, and taking a melancholy pleasure im being at least near her, while she perused her book with an under- current memory: of the romantic: -mo- ments passed on the balcony the night before. 5 Presently "the* newspaper was laid aside; Edward folded his 'arms. and gazed downward in silent thought. Gervase was wriling with a rapid pencil. Sibyl looked up from the Tasso she carried with her, and said something to Eleanor, who was deep & novel. Eleanor Jaughed, and pointed warningly {) her aunt, whose sluinbers were now deep. Alice looked up and smiled at the two girls; Paul continued to gaze as if fascinaled al Edwerd, who had not slirred, and to wonder what his thoughts were, Edward's downward glance rested on the folds of Alice's dress, which swept his. feet. He was thinking, as Paul sur- mised, of her, picturing her at Gledes- worth, the head o a great household, moving through the long suiles of 'stately rooms with a gentle grace, courted by the local notables, honored by those be- neath her, cheering and blessing the sorrowfu) and the poor; charming. all. He saw her at the head of Paul's table, Paul sitling opposile, matching her win- ning é with his courtly ease; he saw. then surrounded: with guests great and small; he saw them alone with in- timate friends--hinnsell, he hoped among them--by the winter hearth, or beneath the great elms and mighty oaks of their lovely demesne in the summer sunlight. She was made fer @ life so full of lei- sure and dignity, he wondered that he could. ever have dreamed of asking her to share his lowlier loft--how well would fill every place her wealth and station would assign her, whether charming great people in brilliant assem- blies, or dispensing kindness in poor cotlages !-- everywhere she must loved and honored, especially by him, and would she perhaps have a kind place in her heart for Paul's cousin and friend? Would the shadow of his aunt's, fiery nature fall across her home? Would her chiléren--he saw them clinging about her, large-cyed. round-faced--would théy inherit the only authentic family curse? Or would (be wholesome sweetness of her nature prevail over the fiercer strain? He stirred uneusily ; something slipped from Alice's pockel to the ground as she took out her handkerchief. He picked up her purse, and restored it with a laugh- ing comment on her carelessness, and Paul thought they linger d over the ex- change so thal their hands might touch; but il was not 60---the purse was given = taken too daintily for that. Vhy did we nol bring ~~ Leal sighed Sibyl, petulantly. "I sO thirsly this hot afternoon !" "I will get you some at the next halt," Edward replied, and, despite a warning from Gervase that there was no time, he sprung out the moment the train stop- ped. and made for the buffet, leaving his friends te speculate on the extreme im- probability of his return before they moved on. The blue-bloused 'porters Icisurely re- moved a trunk or two; the guards shut the doors with a nonchalant air, and made obscurvations with the aid of his fingers and shoulders to a friend; the time went on; the engine panted impa- tienly. It suddenly occurred to the guard that it was gelling late; he ex- rep one last remark with his friend, laughing, gave the signal to start with a preoccupied air. and the train steamed slowly out of the litle station, followed by a parting jest from the chef-de. gare, who lounged, wide-trousered and majes- tic, across the platform; and. then only did Edward return [rom--his foraging expedition, and dash madly after moving train with the intenlion of boar s @® 1g. "Hi! hota! cried the indignant chef de gare, roused to a slight interest in railway matters by this glaring infrac- tion of rules. But Edward dashed over the rafls, upsetting a blue-bloused porter, who feebly aliempted to detain him, ants gaining the fool-board, made for hi carriage, followed by official extcretions on the English and all their mad, ways. In the meantime the sneed had in- ereased, they were approaching a tunnel, the door stuck, and, on gpening with a burst at last, délached Edward from his foothold so thai he fell, clutching at the rail. with one hand and hanging thus for the lower if woukl} : «you } thing fellow !" sobbed ad been | seryed you right, that-it would 1" and } }e | Slopes, the farmsteads and villages had the | rack of a hotel, which seemed to Ed- "Really, it jooked for a time as if every- d-} ward's troubled imagination to claim} thing was all over. But I wasn't going previous acquaintance with him,|/to give up like that if I could help #@ ai * : -- i Sine: a = SLEPT AT A CONCERT. But Mr, Dwillginby's night by the co nd draneed 'him 'inciefore he nad} time. even to know that Alice's hands were aLLempNNe the same kind office . with Gervase's. Diplomacy "The you. grea gai ee said, Smoothed Everything Out to et uae his séat. "l am afraid mh oy Miss" Lingatd, _ Her Satisfaction. a bei i " Dwillginb. Nothin ie mu tries to be had, : Fieve fst bad," sald Mr. Os suppose, he narrowest ext time you commit suicide, Fthat any ane ree had. 1 came within. the breadth of a very narrow hair off losing the loveliest girl that ever lived,. tiresome, good-tor-no- Lucretia Gimply, and ali yabonac my go-- Eleanor. "T wish ing to Sleep at a classical concert, killed--it would have|. "I love music as much as Miss Gimply does, but I think perhaps our tastes in. this way are somewhat different. I love y <i i 'guid Mré. "Annesley, severely, hate | the goouness . not to do it in my presence." you bh "Sorry to have: frightened you, my dear aunt. It was the door sticking that up- set me. But it was not far to fall," he apologized. "Nell, if you make such an | Heme' idiot of yourself--I'll--I don't know what | S'wanee River,' 4 won't do lo you." publishers cal] mother songs, and i thes. "Give her some mulberries," suggested | sort of thing. the preceen yp est yah: which Elea-| "I like any music that's beautiful; and. nor began to , and console |! don't think my taste can . herself with the 'ery G caechaset fruit ; | fully. awful, because I've heard plenty of }ranquility was rest cand the con- ' that I want-to.cry over, and versation fell upon the merits of the |t in gs that made me all cheepy and miulberri 2s. lingly and dreamy; Unat lifted me right Paul was very thankful when he saw | out of myself and filled me with pure de- his cousin hauled in scathless. In those | light, and that's the sort of music I like- few moments of peril Re had some ink- |--things that are soft an d ling of what it might be to have a fel- low-creature's life upon one's conscience. SWEEPING AND MELODIOUS: Then he looked. at Alice, and saw that! , she was very pale, and made no contri- Bul, now, Lucretia doesn't go in for bution to the conversation. At that sight | 'hat sort of thing at all. What she likes the flerce tide of hate surged back into | 'he classical; the old masters and the his heart, rd | new ones that are great on pode te bo were lying "dead jand that show their mastery chiefly by Gea which they had glided imme- {doing ae rong and difficult stunts, diately on his rescue. u see, | judge a man by the ward, too, observed Alice's pallor, | W8Y rie lays some beautiful thing that is- and reproahced himself for having given | {@miliar to me, If he can put new heart. her a shock by his fool-hardiness. The | 4Nd soul into il andi make it lovelier than. thought came to him like balm, that if| ever to me, why, | love him and I think. 2 had been killed there and then she} he's great; while the player that Miss might have shed a kindly tear over him.|Gimply Ubinks is great is the man that She hac a heart full of pity, he knew; | Performs some classical piece in a man- he remembered her trowble about the| mer that appeals to her as being a little: consumptive Reuben Gale, and bethought | better than she had ever heard it done- him to ask her if they had given his| before; and naturally it's the -- classical plan of entering the army any 'turther|conceris that we. go to, mostly; and it consideration. was al one of these, a piano recital this. "Phat would never have done," Alice | Was, thal the incident happened that al- replied. "Bul 1 am quile happy about | most left me sidetracked. Reuben now. Your cousin. has procured; "There was a programme made up of him a situation with Mrs. Reginald An-| about eleven numbers, of andantes and: nesley, who is to winter in Algeria. | concertos, and nocturnes and allegrettas: Reuben wii] be with her there." and such things, a ragular barbed wire "Of course," he thought within himself, | fence of a classical programme, bristling "Paul does everything for her now. She/fali over with hard and difficult pieces. wants no other friend. Bul the day may | But it was clear from the start that there come---- Well, I am a fool! but I will | was nothing here to worry this pianist. at least enjoy these few days with her!" "He salt down and tinkied a few cf the And he went on talking about the Gales, | high notes up at the right hand end of and heard that Ellen did not like to see} the piano with his right hand, soft and the new doctor, and that Paul still visi- | gentle, and then he let his left hand fait ted her, and meant to do so till the end. | like a pile driver on the bass noles at the It was very pleasant, in spite of the |} left, hitter of Paul's success. The stations passed too quickly by; the great while peaks were left behind, the country be- came greener and greener, the vine-| yards had vanished, greal solemn pine- woods brooded darkly upon the hill AND*THEN HE WAS OFF. And he pranced and pirouetied and. flung one hand over the other and sky- reckeled and pinwheeled. a some- times he'd bound off tng piano and then come back at it again and jump and dance around on il some mivee, skipping and cavorting from one end lo «..e other, gerzoop and kerflimp, and tum tumty tum tum, until it didn't seem as if any; man alive could ever strike on a piano a more complicated lot of noles. "The first thing | knew he seemed to, be hilling all the keys at once, and he pounded 'em that way for a minute and then he jumped up and bowed and bow- ed, and all the peopl applauded. "'Isnt he a wonder? said Miss Gim- ply. to me, and I said he sure was; which was just what I thought. "Then the wonder played on* through other things. ali with more or less fingers. and frills and explasions in 'em, till he came {to number 7, and in thet piece there was quite a stretch that was easy and pleasant, a place up in noles where he twiltered and ltweedled along for quite a spell, playing the same thing over and over again with varia- tion, and it' was very pretty and sort of monotonous like and soothing. "Id been up late:at the office the night before and what with this and all I felk asleep as he played and drea there - was a meteor crashing down thro the roof and woke with a start to find: thal what had starlled me was the sound cf the professor beating the box, though even that wasn't so startling as some- thing thal happened to me a minute! laler, when I turned quietly toward Miss Gimply and found that young lady not listening to the music but coldly stering' . t me, FUR GOING TO SLEEP! ' "She was chilly to me when I left her after laking her nettgg and chilly just the same when I cae the next en ; and when I asked her why she said 1 knew well enough. 2 "4 orenzo Dwilingby,' she said, 'I never could marry a man who would go 1) sleep when Schocklehausen was play- ing Beethoven's magnus opus in X flatt I will return your presents in the morn- Y ing. steeper roofs and straighter oullines ; tillage beeame scarcer, the cow-bells tinkled mausically in the distance, the tunnels were fewer, and the country more thinly populated; they were in the heart of the Jura, and the journey was coming to an end wilh its sweet compan- ionship. Edward would have liked to travel on-thus by Alice's side, silent him- self, hut within sound of her voice, be- tween {he green mountain-walls, by the rushing streams and shadowy pine woods, for ever and ever. Perhaps it would be better so. 'Ine enchantment was too strong; it ought to be broken. He had his life to live, and its duties to fulfill, Some day, no doubt, he would find a wife for himself--and here some vague thought of Siby! flitted through his brain--and. all the usual-home-ties ; but it would not do to go on dreaming over what was now another's right. One day more, only one, and: then, having heard decidedly from Paul's own lips what their relations really were, he would congratulate them and withdraw from the perilous fascination till time had hardened him against it. Paul, too, was pufposing lo withdraw after one day more, one day in which in despair he would try a last apeal---not to Alice this time,-but to Edward. All {hat was manly, and al] that was in the best sense gentle in him rose up against his own. behavior in* remaining with Alice after what had passed in the boat; but something stronger than the in- stincts of a 'gentleman held him, to his own shame and inward contempt. The bitter-sweet journey came to an end at last. The train slackened and drew up by a little way-side stalion above a bleak, sleep-roofed village. Ed- ward stepped out inlo the sunshine of the golden evening and handed Alice wn. Mrs. Annesley drew in ber skirts and wailed till the others were oul and her maid had arrived for orders; and, then, the luggage having been claimed, they wound slowly down through the echoing, emply street, to the vast bar- and finally 1 managed to pacify her. "ft explained to her why it was, just: why I happened to go to sleep, this this be-# ue entirely to my loss of s the; - night before and thet being dus am extra effort 1 was Pesan to ee ee money enough to furnish our corn pletely when. we were married instead, of our being compelled to wait a while fora part of rn things, as we had been expecting to do. "1 set all this out to her clearly, 80 that there. couldn't be any m ; about it, and fortunately she was rilting: to listen to reason. though he could never bave seen it un- less in dreams. (To be confiiued). ---- js Teacher--*Jonnny, I don't berleve you've studi d your geography." Johnny --"No, mum. 1 heard pa say' the map of the world was changin' every day, ami J thought I'd wait-a few years Iill things get settled." " "Star of my life,' whispered the love- lorn: youth. and whétewould yo call me?" asked, _ the: beauliful * e nur " one dreadful moment, during which Paul endured a lifetime of emoti His t ble wish was: being. fulfilled before his , eyes; he saw the man he _ -- ~ &: -" "But 1 would rather be Salven," vawhy, my fair one?" "Because Saturn Naa a new "So now, happily, everything is all, right again fora: lime, anyway; but it's, clear ms me that Ive got to pulityese a' <i vaste for clas music." ving occassionally." ve p RENE ke sles Se 'Seinen yg ae