Suddenly there arcse a great clatter of hools and noise of rolling wheels from tho street below. Christine looked out onee more. Was it Brian?‘ "Then she reâ€" imembered that Brian would not come in a carrsage;, and especially not in such a carriage as was this one, whose appearâ€" ance on the squalid scene had â€"already caused a crowd to collect, and brought all the tenanrts of upstairs rooms wonderingâ€" ly to their windows. The equipage was a handsome brougham, and it was now ptopping outside theâ€"doorway of this parâ€" The fcotman opened the carriage door, and a lady stepped out. The lady was only a very well dressed woman of good class, hut to the staring crowd gathered about her carriage she was as unfamiliar an cibject 2 any human freak in a tray e‘ling show. The footman then investiâ€" gated the doorway, and his mistress apâ€" peared at first to shake her head omâ€" phatically at it, until she discovered, or ‘was informed, that it was the only way to chtain admission to the wretched preâ€" mises. Christine. from her post at the window above had recognized her as Lady Fordham herself. The girl underâ€" stood that she had been run to eanth. Standing for a moment as still as if she had been instantancously petrified, sho asked herself what she was to do. Should she go down and meet her friend and hostees, and turn her back from further gecent of the g:imy and dangerously â€"rotâ€" ten staircase, thereby at the same time @ivortinge her from any chance of seeing Ronald? She decided upon doing this, bui the decision came too late. Some: where, or from some one, the footman had procured a candle, and consequently the accent of the stairs was made quicker than Christine had calculated upon. The dcor of the room in which she stood reâ€" fused to shut under any cireumetances, and now stood rather more than usually epen. The footman‘s head and the candle which he disdainfully held appeared toâ€" gether in the opening. Then they were withdrawn to allow of the entrance of her ladyship, who held up. her silken ekirts with a carefulness born of disgust as she placed her daintily shod feet on the unpardonably grimy floor. Her beauâ€" tiful face had anger as well as . amazeâ€" ment and dicgust clearly visible upon it, &s by the light of the candle, with which the footman still considerately followed her, she recognized Christine standing waiting for ker approach. . ‘ t‘;’;-ï¬â€˜;:\r tenement house from which Chris time looked forth. z "So this is where I find you!" were the first words which her consternation enâ€" abled har to say. Bhe glanced round at the fcotmian. ‘"Gregory, you may go down and wait outside. Don‘t let those dirty people crowd round. the carriage door too clesely. Of all the places I ever set feot in in my ‘lifeâ€"â€"" . The servant havings departed, leaving the candle behind him _ to lighten the gloom which even the fullost summer dayâ€" ligzht never wholly dispelled from these abodes of poverty and filth, the Countess of Fordham drew a shamp breath. "Why, I wanted to know where you had goneâ€"I considered it my duty to find out, seeing that you are staying up here 4n town under my care, and so I made inâ€" quiries; and, as it happoned, Thomae‘s brother saw you come out of thfs place yesterday. Then, as this wretched street is & short one, I found it was casy enough to discover that a strange young lady ‘had beon visiting during the last tnvo days. There you have the oxplanaâ€" tion. And now you must come ‘away. I cannot let you stay in this den of dirt and misery another moment. What madâ€" mess possessed you to come here? What xa;:e ;'ovu doing here? Andâ€"why, what is that?" "Christine, are you mad?" she demanded angrily to know. "What are you doing in this human rathole, which any decent person wou‘ld sacrifice a fortune rather than enter ?" > "How did you know I was here?" Chrieâ€" tine answoered her question with another question. . 7 c se _The groat lady‘s eyes, growing used to both the gloom and the capricious flick CHAPTER XXIV.â€"(Continued) ine Darkest Hour; Or, The Hope That Still Lived. ering light of the cheap candle, had at length discovered the miserable mattress on the floor in the upper corner, with the long human figure, sharply outlined un der a ragged blanket, resting heavily upon it. With a second exclamation she moved forward to make a closer inspecâ€" tion, but still not forgetting her gown and petticoat, whose dainty frills and wonderiful shades of hyacinthâ€"bilue conâ€" trasted so oddly with the dull hues of grimy wretchedness that surrounded her. Never before had the room looked so bare, so horrible, in Christine Dare‘s eyes as now that this coldâ€"hearted creature of brillliance and grace made its misery conâ€" spicuous. Slow!y she herself. followed now in the steps of her elegant society friend. "Why. who is this?" Lady Fordham preâ€" sently asked, turning her eyes full upon the girl‘s reddened eyes and alarmingly pale cheeks and lips. ‘‘Who is this? And what does it all mean? Is it this man you have been wcoming here to seo?" Christine faltered her reply, "Yese. Iâ€"I knew him. His name is Ronâ€" aldâ€"Mr. Ronald, and he died yesterday. I have been helping him a littleâ€"as much as I could. I am‘waiting now for Mr. Hardy to comeâ€"Brian, you know. He will do everything more that needs to be done. When he comes I will go home, but I cannot (before, because there is no one else ‘but me to watch here." Lady Fordham looked at ‘her still amazâ€" edly and a little doubtfully, and then looked back at the cold, moveless features and form of the ladâ€"he still looked no more than a ladâ€"whcse soul had gone back to the God that gave it. â€" 4 "But what have you to do with him? How is it your business to watch him?" Confused, Christine did not immediateâ€" y reply. Fortunately, Lady Fordham took her reply for granted. "It is another of your charitable works, I suppose," she went on again shanply. ‘"But.this is carrying it too far.= It is madnessâ€"nothing chort of madness. What do you think your mother would feel if she couldâ€" see you here nowâ€"here, in this dirty hole, keeping watch by a dead man with whom you have nothing whatever to do? Youâ€"a girl brought up as hardly to know what dirt and poverty mean! Why, it is unpardonable! And certainly I canâ€" not allow it. You must come away with me at once. It is extremely fortunate that I found you out so easily, and that the carriage is waiting here." Christine recoiled a little before the anâ€" ger that flashed in the speaker‘s eyes. Lady Fordham was a pleasant enough woâ€" man in ordinary cireumstances, but the sunprise of the present situation had lachâ€" ed her into a positive rage. The girl reâ€" sisted her, however, gently, but firmly.. "Dear Lady Fordham, I cannot, indeed, go with you now," she exclaimed. "I must wait until Mr. Hardy comes, becauseâ€". I have a message to deliver to him. It is a dying message, and I must not fail to deâ€" liver it. Ard I am eure that I shall not have to wait long! I am expecting Mr. Hardy at every moment. I cannot go now, but I will give you my word, if you mwigh it that I mvill come in an hour‘s time." es c e Her elegant friend and chaperone look ed. atâ€" her searchingly. "I thought I understood that your mo: ther and Lord Southport did not iwich you to meet this Mr. Hardy again," caid she, presently. "How can I be sure that you are not deteiving me about the reasâ€" on for your staying here, and that the real reason is not your> wish ito have some love talk here alone with Mr. MandyIUâ€"se â€"cneall nlnl o. xe The worldly society woman then _ supâ€" pressed because of the presence of death an uncomfortable desire to laugh which had been on the point of rippling from her prettily curved lips. 5 5 "The carriage shall return for you in an hour‘s time," she said with decision. "I shall expect you to be ready then." She went out and Ohristine lighted her way down the dilapidated staircase. Once "Lady Fordham!" Christine exclaimed in keen reproach. It was her turn now to show anger.. j > more the pecple of the squalid, lowâ€"class street had the pleasure of seeing what they had mever seen so near their homes beforeâ€"a real, fleshandblood English peerees, and the horses started again with the clatter of hoofs on the uneven cobbles of the narrow roadway; and before the noise had died into silence, and before the heads had been withdrawn from the rows of dirty upper windows, the ï¬guï¬e of Brian Hardy had z_lpfp‘eare_‘d upon I.LO Eo Oe ie ie c ies ieed oc es eese es mnatves sdene. He found, as if by instinct, the house he wanted to find, and made his way up the stairs as quickly as was posâ€" sible to the room in which Christine and her dead brother awaited him together. "Christine! Are you here alone?â€"here, in this miserable place?" "Brian! Oh, I could not have waited much longér! Thank Heaven you have come at last." #f Their eyes met in a long look that was in itself a caress. On Brian‘s part,. the look had a more passionate worship in it than even his loveâ€"lighted eyes had ever held for her before. But he spoke no further word then. He went to the corner where the poor makeshift bed was. and knelt down beside it and bowed his head. Christine }%r:x(elt there too, and they prayed together. e knew nothing as yet of how Ronald Dare had come to be livâ€" ing here and to die heré. When they had risen from their knees, the ginl who was to him<as his very second self hegan to tell him the story. When the telling was all over and the time was nearly come for the carriage to call for her, she asked him for the third time the same . ques: tionâ€" "Are you quite exire, Bnian, that we shall be doing right in telling no one?. Are you eure that I did right to promise. him that no one but you should be told?" Brian Hardy waited, looking down &t the eerene face of the twentyâ€"yearâ€"old boy whose soul had fled. ____ on wï¬i\fa‘ih'iw;fl;' God swill. forgive us for keep: ing his secret," he decided at last. "And in any case I am sure that the telling of TEDSee Sn s S e nipane o. Soon after that she went out, feaving him to do all that remained to be done for the poor young fellow whose. death seemed to her to have taken from her a part of her own life. And, in the moment of saying goodâ€"bye, after the discussing of Ronald‘s secret hbhad brought them eloser still to each other, had any word of Brian‘s led her to feel that he hoped still that her severance from him might not be for ever? se > s oo ie ie oi 2e in e e e en na i it would have ‘cut short your mother‘s life by many gea‘m"" P * Certainly her bounding heart had been conscious that something in his words conveyed that bold and wondrous hope. The thought of it thrilled her even amid The clatter of hoofe and the noise of rolling wheels announced once more to the muchâ€"impressed. inhabitants of the sordid street that the carriage which had surprised them an hour previously _ had returned: Christine heard, too, as she stood silent and agitated in the miserable chamber of death which the presence of Brian Hardy had transformed for het into a palatial room of brightness, of ze viving faith, and istill more goldenly reâ€" viving hope. She erossed the floor to the bed, knelt down beside her dead brother, and pacsionately and repeatedly â€" kicsed his cold forehead. Then, forcing back the sobs that were surging up anew in her throat, and yielding her own plutre forehead in its turn to ‘be kissedl by the man who a few weeks before had been her affianced husband, she went out from the room and from the house and into the waiting brougham. She gave an order to the coachman to drive he: to a certain address in the neighborhood of King‘s Crose. She was going for"the segond sime, her new and poignant sorrow NO Uis . RAOIRTS e en e oere e 21 as sho had said, to seo Harty Lewisham, the young man of whom her brother had spoken to her, and to try to save him. When she reached. his lodgings it was to be again disappointed. He was not at home, the landlady said; che did not know where he was, nor when he was likely to return. He had told her to make hisâ€" excuses to the young lady, if she should come. S 2 esnt ns n en e cure ce on NNNE CCCE Then Christine drove to Lombard Street to seek an interview with Mrs. Crookenâ€" den. But the great woman millionaire and financier was not in her office. She had been there early that morning, but had driven back to Grosvenor Square. Thither Christine followed her, and on arâ€" riving at the worldâ€"famous house that was said to possess mote genuine , ant treasures than any European museum, she was shown immediately into one of the drawingâ€"rooms. n entnine es diL e ied l ns Ni ep ie ol coen e eaes Could this be a mere drawingâ€"room, this veritable chamber of Paradise with, its wonderful ceiling paintings, its freceoes, its tapestrice from Gobelin, its soft, rich CHAPTER XXV canpets, iits marvelloug brocaded silks, its carefully arranged banks of exotic palms and ferns and white and rose flowers, its gold ornaments and its priceless treasâ€" ures .of Sevres and Dresden? Christine Dare was (well enough accustomed to splendid roome full of splendid and costâ€" Iy furnishings and ‘bmicaâ€"brac; but this room was such a one @s she had never ibefore dreamed of, much less beheld. She felt herself to be a janring clement in it in her plainlyâ€"made (black _ frock of mourning and of humility. She did not know that her face, marred though it was by pain and grief, was an ornament of so much beauty as made all these costâ€" ly treasures about her seem poor and inâ€" significant in comparison. "How do you do, Miss Dare ?" The owner and mistrees of the room had entered; a stately vision of mipe handâ€" someness in a roseâ€"colored yvelvet gown embroidered with gold lilies, whose pistils glittered each with a diamond dewdrop. ‘She advanced towards the girl in . her étateliest and coldest manner. Perhaps she had already guessed that her young visitor had come on no errand of simâ€" pering,â€"latterâ€"day friendship, or evenâ€"of peace. f 2C c S ~"You wished to see me? I have not much time to spare, but I can give you a quarter of anâ€"hour orce. ___ _ . "That is all I shall want," Christine re turned with a strange, new dignity in her manner. "What I havo come to Ssay will nottake long in the telling. I have come in the first place to ask you if you can tell me where. Mr.. Harry Lewisham is at present to be found." "May I ask who is Mr. Harry Lewis ham?" she icily inquired. Christine Dare‘s steadfast grey . oyes met her insolent dark eyes without flinchâ€" A elight surprice became visible on Mrs Crookenden‘s countenance. Her eyes, too became defiant. & t is ing EYou know very well who he is," the girl answoered quictly. ‘"He is the young bank clerk whom you _have lately led into the paths of dishonesty and dishonor in order that thereby you might fit him for your unscrupulous sserot gervice. I have heard about him, and I want to try to eave him. I have called twice at his lodgâ€" ings, but«he is not there. I gather that he has gone away on some errand of yours, and <I have therefore come. to ask you to tell me where I may follow and find him." The commanding figure of the millionaire stiffened ibeneath its ies of goldâ€"emibroidered velvet. "I am afraid, Miss Dare, that I must decline to give you the information you ask for," was her coldly contemptuousâ€"reâ€" ply.. ‘"‘May I point out at the same time that your incolence towards me may be disastrously imprudent ab a time when your familyâ€"or, to spéak more personalâ€" Iv, your father=is entirely dependent upon my fornbearance for the averting of immediate and irreparable ruin? You are aware," of course, that The Uplands, is mortgaged to me, and that upon your father‘s failure to pay the interest on the mortgage when it becomes dueâ€"a failâ€" ure which is practically cértainâ€"LI shall have it in my power to take the extreme measure of turning you all off the estate as econ as I choose to do so. It would therefore be wiser in you to take more care not to anger me." & "Â¥es." \The woman made powerful by greater riches than the world had ever geen possessed by one individual before had nodded quietly. ‘"Yes. You have hit on the right wordâ€"Vengeance. I have in very truth a cause for vengea.nce‘ against you, and a"l that youâ€"as a famâ€" ; ilyâ€"have suffered has been only a just | retribution. Once, more. than twonty years ago, your father did me a great | wrong. I am now revenging myself for that wrong. That is all. If I could live long enough to do it I would visit the sin of the father not only upon all the membens. of his present family, but also uwpon those Dares who are yet to be born â€"should there be anyâ€"unto the third and fourth generation. But that is impossible to any one whose sum of years will _ not equal the sum of years of Methuselah, So I do what I can in the <horter time allotâ€" ed to me." seals & oao + Christine Dare stood with consternation stamiped upon ‘her face. "What was the wrong that my father did you?" she asked presently, when she found strength and calmnees for speech. "What wrong can he have done vou twen: ty years ago, when he has only kncown you for less than a quarter of that time?" ies mt n ie t ud The woman, who was it this time the living representative of Mammon in Lonâ€" don, emiled again. _ "It is true that he has only known Mrs. Crookenden for a short period," she re: joined, still very quietly. ‘"But I was not Mrs. Crockenden when he dealt me the inâ€" jury for which I am now taking venâ€" gela_l_nce." NC s n s n 1. @BeC on "You were mnot Mrs. Crookenden?" the girl who confronted her gasped out. "Who were you then?" _ 5 = ie Eie enen se "That is what I do not choose to tell youâ€"not yet, at least. Neither can I tell you yet the nature of the wrong which your father did me. It may be that in the future I whall see my way to enlighten ‘5:%‘1};;‘;&&:@ The Duke of Wellington looked NC w°u5 / on Elley as ome of his cleverest apd w se ces | most reliable men. Indeed, at eyes still con | Waterloo few of our leaders were en sz an } ces !."‘.Z*gvfe}»“’if: an o Cc bx db 2e s taed Enc rrre mele C 5 '%;%"" ceb Li ds uo S t â€"acDces % u.I:.:1::1:!.'!55:?::;;ffffï¬f:ffff:Efi;‘f;’if:5::::EEEEEE::"'::;EEEEEEEESEEEEE;-‘-K’::Z“""~ fat r}l Smsce woman draperâ€" Ganada‘s first refined sugar, ‘"Ye Olde Sugar Loafe" of 1854, was REDPATH ; so was the first Canadian granulated sugar, in 1880, and the first Sugar Cartons in 1912. The leader in every advance, G@@WarA Sugar stands toâ€"day first in the estimation of fl tens of thousands of Canadian families. 131 | Ask for "REDPA TH* in Individual Packages. 2 and 5 Ib. Cartons. 10, 20, 50 and 100 lb. Bags. ~ CANADA SUGAR REFINING CO., LIMITED, MONTREAL, || you on these points; but I cannot do so now." "No," came the cold reply. "I see no reason why I should tell you." _ $ Christine bent her head, and moved across the room towards the door. After half a dozen steps, however, she stopped and looked back. es There was a long silence. Then Chrisâ€" tine saidâ€" "And in the meantime will you not tell me where I cam find this young man, Harry Lewisham?" "If I could only feel that you were a human woman I shou‘d plead to you for this young man," . she caid. ‘"But you cannot surely. be a human woman like the rest of us. You have a heart of stone. I can only hope that God will deal with you more mercifually than you have dealt with your fellowâ€"creatures." Whenâ€"she turned.again upon her out: ward way, it was to see the lititle broker, Ferdy Pocock, hurrying into the room. He gave her a glance of ‘gurprise, but otherwise took no notice of her. > _‘"Lord Bernard :Géuntle't will arrive in London this evening,‘" the girl heard him announce. Officers Who Started Their Military Career as Privates. That it is quite possible for a private to rise, step by step, through the British Army, to the rank of General, we are reminded by the news of the recent death of Sir Luke O‘Connor, who was one of the earliest rankers to do this. He enlisted in one of the Welsh regiments when a young man, went through the Crimean War, was given a commission for signal braâ€" very and ability, made a . groat name for himself when he was awarded the newlyâ€"created V.C. for saving the colors in iaction, and then rose, until at length his career was crowned by his being made a full general and a knight. But Luke O‘Connor was not actuâ€" ally the finst of these noted rankers who rose to be celebrated generalls. Probably Sirs John Elley could claim that distinetion. John Elley entered the Army by enlisting as a private in the Horse Guards, ~and the so won the confiâ€" dence and commendation of his suâ€" periors that he was given a comâ€" mission. In the end he became a "Sir,"‘ and a full general. E Joseph Brome founded quite a family of great soldiers, for since his death both his son and his grandson have become generals. _ In our own days we had General Hector Macdonald, whose tragic career is too well â€"known to need revision. Enough to mention here that Macdonald entered a Highâ€" "FROM THE RANKS." (‘To be continued.) ATUSEE f‘i[[! ...ul---alih|[H.i:{:..tfl.!:!!ff.fl....,:::;\‘ .-|."" ‘-..uiilu--........,,“.“"U_h oliP! macailll eougeff flis The disease germs that cause Distemper, Pinkeye, Epi Influenza, Catarthal Fever, are so easily destroyed an pelled from the System by using "SPOHN‘8." This ren®@ also multiplies and strengthens the health gorms in the ey$â€" tem and fortifes the horse, mare or colt against any cOnâ€" tagious (diseases. â€""SPOHN‘S" is always safe and ready, and never ifails to do its intended work. All druggists and turf goods houses, or delivered by manufacturers. c SPOHN MEDICAL, CO., . 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McBean. _ ‘"Tut, tut, sir! _ Why, the whole job didna tak‘ me twenty meemits !!‘ It is characteristic of the cool way he had of looking at things that, in response: to the congratuâ€" lations of his captain at his feat just described, he answered : Bilton : ‘What is the reason fot Jink‘s â€" sudden _ psuedoâ€"pompous, dignified manner ?‘ Tilbon : "He recently married, and he‘s trying to live up to. his wife‘s opinion of him." The date when the horse first beâ€" came a domestic animal is unâ€"â€" known, so long ago did this take place. German officers are forbidden to patronize matrimonial agencies. The time which elapses between the utterance of a sound and its reâ€" turn must be more than oneâ€"twelfth of a second to form an echo. cce When A Woman Wants her summer Dressesâ€" her "frilly things""â€"her fine linensâ€"to look their whitest and daintiestâ€" she is very particular to use Silver Gloss The Canada Starch Co. 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