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diff --git a/old/66531-0.txt b/old/66531-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c88c77a..0000000 --- a/old/66531-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2237 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 44, Vol. I, November 1, 1884, by -Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, - Fifth Series, No. 44, Vol. I, November 1, 1884 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: October 13, 2021 [eBook #66531] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The Internet - Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 44, VOL. I, NOVEMBER 1, -1884 *** - - - - -[Illustration: - -CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART - -Fifth Series - -ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832 - -CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS) - -NO. 44.—VOL. I. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1884. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -HOW THE WEATHER IS MADE AND FORECAST. - - -In the minds of foreigners, it is held to be one of the many -peculiarities of the people of these islands that so much of their -casual conversation consists of remarks on the weather. The national -temperament is often held to be responsible for this failing; but some -of the blame must no doubt be laid at the door of the weather itself. -Our climate presents such a record of change and uncertainty, that we -need not wonder if it is always in our minds, and the first subject on -our lips when we meet a friend. Other lands may have their cold and -hot, dry, and rainy periods, that come round in the proper order year -after year with unvarying monotony; but with us it may be said of the -weather, that we rarely know what a day or an hour may bring forth. -Even the seasons seem occasionally to be independent of any necessity -of visiting us at the particular time of the year at which we have -been taught to expect them. Spring weather in November, or a winter -temperature in July, or a November fog in the merry month of May, all -seem to be amongst the possibilities of our climate. - -Happily, our meteorologists are at length beginning to define with -growing clearness and confidence the laws which underlie and regulate -the complicated and ever varying phenomena which we call the weather, -and many of these laws, like most natural laws, are beautiful in -their simplicity. Although ‘weather wisdom’ is as old as history -itself, the science of the weather or meteorology is a growth of the -last few years. The weather wisdom of our forefathers may in the -light of present knowledge be divided into sense and nonsense. Under -the nonsense may be included not only such proverbs as that which -attributed to St Swithin’s day and certain other times and seasons, -occult influences over the weather, but most of the information of the -old almanacs, which used to ascribe the character of the weather to -the positions and movements of the heavenly bodies and the age and -changes of the moon. The prevalence of the belief that the weather -was regulated by such influences, can only be accounted for by the -well-known love of the human mind for the wonderful and inexplicable. -Much of the old weather lore, however, had a large element of truth -in it, and was the result of the collective experience of many -generations, which had found that certain phenomena were generally -followed by certain conditions of weather. The saying, that a rosy -sky in the morning presages rainy weather, and the same appearance -in the evening, fine weather, was current weather lore before the -Christian era, and is recognised as being, in a certain sense, true at -the present day. Amongst sailors, farmers, shepherds, and such like, -weather maxims, the result of observation and experience, have always -been current, and the value of many of these is now recognised and -explained by science. - -The first step towards acquiring an insight into the causes which -control our weather is a study of the laws which regulate the flow and -changes of the winds in these islands. The air is the great medium -in which all the changes of weather are elaborated. We live at the -bottom of a great ocean of air, which extends for many miles upwards, -and which is always heaving and changing, like the other ocean which -it covers. The winds, which are the ever-changing currents which flow -through this invisible sea, are, roughly speaking, the principal -factors in the making of the weather. Many of us know very well the -general character of the weather which accompanies the wind from the -principal points of the compass, that which comes from the moist warm -south-west, for instance; or with the blustering, shower-bringing -north-wester; or with the harsh, dry, east wind in spring; but to most -of us the wind itself ‘bloweth where it listeth.’ The movements of the -air and changes of the wind are, however, subject to laws, a knowledge -of which is in some degree necessary before we can understand how our -weather is made for us. - -A simple definition of the wind which we ordinarily experience is -that it is air obeying the force of gravity, in seeking to return to -an equilibrium which has been disturbed. By the aid of the barometer -we are able to form some idea of what is constantly taking place -in the great ocean above us. The principle upon which this simple -and useful instrument is constructed is easily understood. The air -presses downwards upon the earth’s surface with a weight averaging -nearly fifteen pounds to the square inch. If a portion of the surface -of any fluid is relieved from this pressure by inverting over it a -tube exhausted of air, the weight of the air upon the surface outside -will force the fluid up into the tube until the weight of the column -counterbalances the pressure which the air would exercise upon the -amount of surface covered by the mouth of the tube. A column of mercury -in such a case will rise in an air-exhausted tube to a height of about -thirty inches; while water, from its lighter specific gravity, rises to -a height of about thirty-four feet before it counterbalances the weight -of the air above. The depth, and consequently the pressure, of the air -overhead is, however, constantly varying within certain limits; and the -column of mercury in the barometer enables us to keep a faithful record -of the movements of the waves of air in the great ocean under which we -live. At times, the depth of air above us is comparatively shallow, and -the pressure beneath is lessened; the column of mercury is not raised -so high, and the barometer is said to fall. At other times, the air -is heaped up in particular places; the pressure beneath is increased, -and the barometer is said to rise. In stormy weather, the column of -water in a water-barometer where the scale is very large may be seen to -pulsate with every change of pressure from the air-waves at the surface. - -The winds are nothing more than the rush of air from the regions of -high pressure to fill up the spaces where low pressure prevails. Thus, -if the column of mercury should stand 28.6 inches high at London, with -a gradual rise as we travelled northward, until the barometer-reading -was 29 inches at Edinburgh at the same time, this would indicate that -a region of depression existed over the former place, and we should -expect a rush of air in the form of wind blowing upon London from the -north. - -When the barometrical readings taken simultaneously at stations -distributed over a wide area are compared, the distribution of -atmospheric pressure can be ascertained, and it is possible to tell -from this the force and direction of the winds prevailing within this -area, and generally also the weather which is likely to be experienced. -The greater the inequality of pressure, the greater will be the rush of -air to the centre of depression, and the stronger will be the wind. The -wind, however, does not flow in a straight line from a region of high -to a region of low pressure. The surrounding air from all quarters has -a tendency to flow in, and, as with water, which rushes to the centre -of a funnel when it is flowing out at the bottom, a gyratory movement -is the result. The wind blows round a centre of depression in this -way, always curving inward towards the centre; and in the northern -hemisphere, this gyratory movement of the wind is always in a direction -against the hands of a watch, while the contrary is the case in the -southern hemisphere. These principles of the relation of the winds to -atmospheric pressure hold good without exception over all the world. -They were first definitively stated in America twenty-five years ago; -but Professor Buys Ballot of Utrecht first drew attention to them in -Europe, and the law expressing them is now generally recognised as Buys -Ballot’s law. - -In ordinary circumstances in our latitude, the winds are generally -regulated by the differences in pressure induced by contrasts between -continents and oceans. Where the air becomes heated, an area of low -pressure is produced, the warm air becoming rarefied and ascending, and -the heavier cold air rushing in from the sides to supply its place. In -winter, the weather over these islands is controlled to a great extent -by the winds which sweep round a large area of depression which exists -over the Atlantic, the mean centre of which is about midway between -the continents of Europe and America, in the latitude of the Orkney -Islands. This depression is the result of the contrast produced between -the comparatively warm air over this portion of the Atlantic and the -much colder air over the northern portion of Europe and America, -which is continually flowing in to supply the place of the lighter -and constantly ascending warm air. The winds sweeping round this -centre strike our shores from the south-west. This depression is not -stationary, but is continually shifting over a large but well-defined -area, and it gives rise to many subsidiary eddies, or small cyclone -systems as they are called, which sometimes skirt our coasts, or travel -over these islands, bringing with them the storms of wind and rain and -sudden changes of the wind with which we are familiar. In spring, the -prevailing winds from the east and north-east, so much dreaded by many, -are the result of a large cyclonic system formed by the sudden increase -of temperature over middle and southern Europe, as the sun’s rays gain -strength and the days lengthen. The temperature is not yet sufficiently -high to bring in the air from off the Atlantic, as happens when the -season is further advanced, so that the cold air rushes in from the -polar regions in a huge eddy, striking our coasts from the east and -north-east, and bringing in its train all the attendant miseries which -make our English spring a time to be dreaded by the weak and ailing. - -A knowledge of the general principles which direct the flow of our -prevailing winds is, however, only of general assistance in enabling -us to forecast the weather which we experience in these islands. This -is governed and produced to a great extent by the development of -subsidiary centres of depression in and between the great cyclonic -systems. These generally approach our shores from the west, travelling -in a north-easterly direction; and they are responsible for most of -the variable weather with which we are so familiar. They generally -carry with them a certain well-defined course of weather. The readings -of the barometer taken simultaneously at many places over a wide -area on a system such as that now controlled by the Meteorological -Office, enables us to determine the approach and development of these -small cyclonic systems, and so to forecast with a certain degree of -confidence the weather likely to be experienced in a certain district -from twelve to twenty-four hours in advance. Most of the disturbing -influences reach us from the west; and as the west coast of Ireland -is the extreme limit to which our stations reach in that direction, -we can receive only very short notice of their approach. This is -one of the principal reasons why, with the means at present at our -disposal, we cannot expect to make our weather science as perfect -as in a country such as America, where the central office receives -warnings from stations dispersed over the face of a vast continent. -Nevertheless, we have made great advances since 1861, when the first -weather forecasts were prepared and issued in this country by the Board -of Trade, under the superintendence of the late Admiral Fitzroy. The -forecasts at that time, although admitted to be of considerable utility -to the country, were thought to be scarcely accurate enough to justify -their continuance upon the system then in operation, and they were -discontinued in 1866. - -In the following year, the Meteorological Office was constituted -upon its present footing, and the daily publication of forecasts has -continued down to the present. Considering that—judging from the -forecasts published daily in the newspapers—the chances of a successful -forecast are on the average about seventy-nine per cent. for ordinary -weather, while the percentage of successes is slightly higher in the -case of storm warnings, it is evident that the Meteorological Office is -capable of rendering important service to the community at large. Every -morning, the central office in London receives telegraphic reports -from fifty-three stations. It also receives thirteen reports every -afternoon, and nineteen each evening. Besides the numerous well-placed -observation stations in the British Islands, there are twenty-three -foreign reporting stations, extending along the entire western coast -of Europe, from which information is received, in accordance with -arrangements made with the meteorological organisations in Norway, -Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, and France. The morning observations -are made at all the British stations at eight A.M. Greenwich time, and -are transmitted direct to the Meteorological Office, where they are -received between nine and ten o’clock. Thus are given the barometrical -and thermometrical readings at the various stations at eight A.M.; -the direction and force of the wind, and the state of the weather, -together with any changes of importance which may have been noticed in -the course of the preceding day. From these reports, weather charts -are made out, forecasts of the weather are prepared and issued to the -evening papers in London and the provinces; and a telegraphic résumé of -the weather, or, if necessary, intelligence of storms, is despatched to -various points on our coasts and to foreign countries. The forecasts -for the morning daily papers are issued at half-past eight P.M. on -the previous evening. They are prepared from reports received from -twenty-six home and six foreign stations; but although these are the -most widely distributed and read of any issued from the office, they -are much less complete than the eight A.M. forecasts. - -The _Times_ publishes every morning with the forecasts the weather -chart issued by the department. This chart shows the condition and -movements of the atmosphere over the British Isles and the vicinity; -the distribution of pressure; the temperature, state of the sea, and -the force and direction of the winds blowing within the area at six -P.M. on the previous day. - -The familiar dotted lines termed isobars, which are such a feature in -weather maps of this sort, are lines at all places along which the -barometer stands at the same height. Except where their regularity -is broken by the existence of subsidiary disturbances, these lines -extend in gradually widening circles around a centre of depression, -the barometer always standing highest along the outside curve, and -gradually and regularly falling towards the centre; so that if we could -view our atmosphere from above one of those centres of depression, we -would see a deep hollow, with sides sloping downwards to the centre, -towards which the revolving air was being gradually indrawn, like water -in an eddy. - -At intervals, we receive warning across the Atlantic, from the _New -York Herald_ weather bureau, respecting storms which are crossing -the Atlantic towards our coasts, and which are often described as -‘likely to develop dangerous energy’ on their way. Although many of -those warnings are subsequently justified, or partially justified, -it must not be supposed that these are storms which have left the -American continent on their way to us, and that it has been possible -to calculate their course across the Atlantic and predict the -time of arrival upon our coasts. Mr Clement Ley, Inspector to the -Meteorological Council, tells us that it is not yet satisfactorily -shown that storms cross the Atlantic from America, and he presumes that -arrangements must be effected by which the logs of passing steamers may -be consulted in America as to the character of the weather experienced -in crossing from this country; and from the information received in -this manner, it is possible to arrive at conclusions respecting the -direction and character of storms travelling towards this side of the -Atlantic, and to anticipate their arrival by telegraph, the warning -being flashed beneath the ocean in time to reach us long before the -storm itself. - -The variety and complexity of the phenomena which have to pass under -careful observation render the science of the weather an exceedingly -difficult one to study, more especially as, up to the present, we have -done little more than master its fundamental principles. The time ought -not, however, to be far distant when we shall have the means at our -disposal to enable us to forecast the weather with a nearer approach to -certainty than we can attain at present. The results already obtained -by the Meteorological Office are certainly encouraging, and it must -be remembered that, in attempting to forecast the weather in this -country, it labours under two serious disadvantages. The first is our -geographical position, which at present precludes us from obtaining -any but the shortest notice of weather approaching from the west—the -point from which most of our weather comes. The other drawback is of a -pecuniary nature, and it is to be regretted that it prevents us from -testing to the full limit the usefulness of the Meteorological Office. -It may be argued that, in this country, storms are seldom so sudden or -disastrous as to justify us in maintaining at a very much larger outlay -an organisation which would enable us to be warned of their approach. -It is, however, only necessary to take into account the enormous losses -in life and property occasioned every year by the weather in shipwreck -alone, in order to appreciate what might be the value to the nation of -a properly organised system of weather science, did it only succeed in -reducing, even by a small percentage, the annual number of wrecks on -our coasts. - - - - -BY MEAD AND STREAM. - -BY CHARLES GIBBON. - - -CHAPTER LIV.—POOR COMFORT. - -Madge awakened from the reverie into which she had fallen, to find -Aunt Hessy’s kind eyes resting on her inquiringly and with a shade of -sorrow in them. She, however, instantly awoke, brightened and spoke -with cheerful confidence, although there was a certain note of timidity -in her voice indicating that she had not yet quite recovered from the -effects of the scene in her bedroom. - -‘You see, aunt, how wickedly Philip has been deceived, and that I was -right to trust Mr Shield.’ - -‘Yes, but—Mr Beecham?’ - -Madge’s cheeks flushed, the smile disappeared, and the head was lifted -with something like impatience. It seemed as if the pronunciation -of Beecham’s name in that questioning tone revealed to her the full -significance of Wrentham’s insinuations—that she was not acting fairly -to Philip. - -‘I have told you, aunt, that he is Mr Shield’s friend, and that -he is doing everything that can be done to help Philip out of his -difficulties. You cannot doubt that whatever I may do is for the same -object.’ - -‘Ah, child, I never doubted thee. My doubt is that whilst desiring to -do right thou may’st have done wrong in giving the trust to a stranger -thou’rt afraid to give to those that love thee.’ - -‘Mr Beecham will himself tell you before the week is out that he gave -me such proofs of his friendship as would have satisfied even you.’ - -‘Well, well, we shall say no more, child, till the time comes; -but never expect goodman Dick to be patient with what he thinks -unreasonable. See what a handle this rogue Wrentham—I always felt -that he was a rogue—has made of thy name to help him in cheating and -bamboozling Philip! Take my word, we may turn our toes barely an inch -from the straight path at starting, but we’ll find ourselves miles from -it ere the end if we do not make a quick halt and go back.’ - -‘I have only held my tongue,’ said the girl quietly enough, but the -feeling of offended innocence was there. - -‘Holding the tongue when one should speak out is as bad as telling a -book of lies—worse, for we don’t know how to deal with it.’ - -‘I should be less sorry for vexing you, aunt,’ said the niece, ‘if I -did not know that by-and-by you will be sorry for having been vexed -with me.’ - -‘So be it.—But now let us finish clearing up the room, and we’ll get -the bedstead down in the morning. Dr Joy says that Mr Hadleigh is not -nearly so much hurt as was thought at first, and that they may be able -to move him in a day or two.’ - -When the arrangements for turning the sitting-room into a bedroom had -been completed—and there were nice details to be attended to in the -operation, which the dame would intrust to no other hands than her own -and her niece’s—Madge went in search of Pansy. - -Her sudden appearance in the kitchen interrupted the boisterous mirth -which was going forward. When she inquired for Pansy Culver, there was -an abashed look on the faces of those who had permitted the girl to go -without inquiring whither; but Jenny Wodrow answered saucily: - -‘She got into a state when I was talking about Caleb Kersey, and -slipped out before any of us could say Jack Robinson.’ - -The silent reproof in the expression of Madge’s tender eyes had its -effect even on this self-assertive damsel. Jerry Mogridge hobbled up to -his young mistress. - -‘I’ll find her for you, Missy,’ he said cheerily, for he was in the -happy state of mind of one who has enjoyed a good meal and knows that -there is a good sleep lying between him and the next day’s toil. - -They went out to the yard, and Jerry, opening the door of the dairy, -thrust his head into the darkness with the invocation: ‘Come out ov -here, Pansy Culver; what are you doing there? Missy wants you.’ There -was no answer, and after groping his way amidst cans and pails standing -ready for the morning’s milk, he returned muttering: ‘She ain’t there -anyhow. I’ll get the lantern, Missy, and we’ll soon find her, so being -as she ha’n’t gone to her father’s.’ - -Whilst Jerry went for the lantern, the moon began to light the -snow-covered ground, and Madge discovered Pansy in the doorway of the -stable. She was leaning against the door as if support were necessary -to save her from falling. Madge put her arm round the girl, and drawing -her out from the shadows into the moonlight, saw that the face was -white as the snow at their feet, and felt that the form was shivering -with agitation more than with cold. - -‘I knew it would upset you, Pansy; and intended to tell you myself, but -wanted to do it when we were alone.’ - -‘It doesn’t matter, Missy,’ answered the girl through her chattering -teeth; ‘but thank you kindly. There’s no help for it now. I’ve been -the ruin of him, and standing out here, I’ve seen how wicked and cruel -I’ve been to him. I knew what he was thinking about, and I might have -told him not to think of it—but I liked him—I like him, and I wish they -would take me in his place. They ought to take me, for it was me that -drove him to it.’ - -‘Hush, hush, Pansy,’ said Madge with gentle firmness; ‘Caleb is -innocent, and will be free in a few days. It was only some foolish -business he had with Coutts Hadleigh which brought him under -suspicion.’ - -‘Yes, yes, but it was about me that he went to speak to Mr Coutts—and -Mr Coutts never said anything to me that a gentleman might not say. -Only he was very kind—very kind, and I came to think of him, and—and—it -was all me—all me! And you, though you didn’t mean it, showed me -how wrong it was, and I went away. And if Caleb had only waited, -maybe—maybe.... I don’t know right what I am saying; but I would have -come to myself, and have tried to make him happy.’ - -This hysterical cry showed the best and the worst sides of the girl’s -character. For a brief space she had yielded to the vanity of her sex, -which accepts the commonplaces of gallantry as special tributes to the -individual, and so had misinterpreted the attentions which Coutts would -have paid to any pretty girl who came in his way. She had been rudely -startled from her folly, and was now paying bitter penance for it. She -took to herself all the blame of Caleb’s guilt, and insisted that she -should be in jail, not him. - -Madge allowed her feelings to have full vent, and then was able to -comfort her with the reiterated assurance of Caleb’s innocence, which -would be speedily proved. - -The fit being over, Pansy showed herself to be a sensible being, and -listened attentively to the kindly counsel of her friend. She agreed -to follow her original plan, namely, to see her father in the morning -and then return to Camberwell to devote her whole energies to the task -of reclaiming her grandfather from his foolish ways and bringing him -out to Ringsford. Madge was certain that this occupation would prove -the best antidote to all Pansy’s unhappy thoughts and self-reproaches. -Meanwhile it was arranged that Pansy should not have Jenny Wodrow for -her bedfellow. - - * * * * * - -Affairs at the farm had gone on uncomfortably from the moment -Dick Crawshay expressed displeasure with his niece. She made what -advances she could towards reconciliation; but she did not yet offer -any explanation. He was obliged to accept her customary service as -secretary; but it was evident that he would have liked to dispense with -it. Neither his appetite nor his slumbers were disturbed, however; and -he slept soundly through the night whilst the fire was raging at the -Manor. It was not until the wain with its load of milk-cans had started -for the station that he heard from Jerry Mogridge the report of what -had occurred. - -Then yeoman Dick mounted his horse and rode at full speed to Ringsford -to offer what help it might be in his power to render, grumbling at -himself all the way for not having been sooner aware of his neighbour’s -danger. Finding Mr Hadleigh in the gardener’s cottage, where there was -want of space and convenience, the farmer with impetuous hospitality -invited the whole family to Willowmere. The invalid could not be -removed until the doctor gave permission; but Caroline and Bertha were -at once escorted to the farm. Miss Hadleigh remained at the cottage to -assist the housekeeper in nursing her father: she was moved to do so by -a sense of duty as well as by the knowledge that Alfred Crowell would -come out as soon as he heard of the disaster, and he would expect to -find her there. - -In the bustle and excitement of the first part of the day there was -only one person who thought much about Philip and of the effect this -new calamity might have upon him in his present state. As the afternoon -advanced, everybody was wondering why he neither came nor sent any -message. The arrival of Pansy relieved Madge on this and other points; -and she was happily spared for that night the pain of learning that -Philip did visit the gardener’s cottage without calling at Willowmere. - -Postman Zachy delivered two welcome letters in the cold gray light of -the winter morning. Both were from Austin Shield—one for Mrs Crawshay, -the other for Madge. The first simply stated that his old friend might -expect to see him in a few days, and that he believed she would have -reason to give him the kindly greeting which he knew she would like to -give him. The second was longer and contained important information. - -‘Be patient and trust me still,’ it said. ‘You have fixed the week -as the limit of your silence: before the time is out I shall be at -Willowmere. Philip has acted in every way as I would have him act under -the circumstances, except in the extreme mercy which he extends to -the man Wrentham; but he pleads that it is for the sake of the poor -lady and child whose happiness depends on the rascal, and I have been -obliged to yield. At the last moment Wrentham attempted to escape, and -would have succeeded but for the cleverness of the detective, Sergeant -Dier. - -‘Be patient, and have courage till we meet again.’ - -‘Be patient—have courage:’ excellent phrases and oftentimes helpful; -but was there ever any one who at a crisis in life has found the words -alone satisfactory? They by no means relieved Madge of all uneasiness, -although she accepted them as a token that her suspense would soon be -at an end. In one respect she was keenly disappointed: there was not a -hint that the proofs she had given Mr Shield of Mr Hadleigh’s innocence -of any complicity in his misfortunes had been yet acknowledged to be -complete. Had that been done, Philip would have forgotten half his -worries. Mr Shield was aware of that—he must be aware of it, and yet he -was silent. She could not help thinking that there was some truth in Mr -Hadleigh’s view of the eccentricity of his character. - - - - -THE NEW MEDIÆVAL ROOM AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. - - -One of the rooms at the British Museum, left vacant by the removal of -the Natural History Collection to South Kensington, has lately been -re-opened, under the title of the Mediæval Room, with a collection -of curious objects, many of which possess strong personal as well as -antiquarian interest. The articles shown range from the twelfth century -downwards. Some of them have already been on exhibition in another part -of the building; but the majority are now publicly shown for the first -time. The various items have been carefully arranged and labelled by -Messrs Franks and Read, the curators of the Ethnological Department, -the fullness of the appended descriptions more than compensating for -the temporary lack of a catalogue. - -Among the curiosities of more modern date is a silver-mounted -punch-bowl of Inveraray marble, formerly the property of the poet -Burns, and presented by his widow to Alexander Cunningham. Not far -distant rests the Lochbuy brooch, a massive ornament four inches in -diameter, said to date from about the year 1500, and to have been -fashioned out of silver found on the estate of Lochbuy, in Mull. Its -centre is a large crystal, surrounded by upright collets bearing -pearls of considerable size. It was long preserved as a sort of -heirloom in the Lochbuy family, but passed out of it by the marriage -of a female representative, and in course of time became part of the -Bernal Collection, whence it was acquired by the British Museum. Hard -by it is a handsomely carved casket, made of the wood of Shakspeare’s -mulberry tree, and presented in 1769, with the freedom of the town of -Stratford-on-Avon, to David Garrick. The majority of the exhibits, -however, belong to very much earlier periods. There is a choice -display of horn and tortoiseshell snuff and tobacco boxes, two of -the latter—duplicates, save in some unimportant particulars—bearing -the arms of Sir Francis Drake, and the representation of a ship in -full sail. We are told that boxes of this same pattern are frequently -offered to collectors as having been the personal property of the great -admiral; but an inscription on one of the specimens here exhibited -shows that they were actually made by one John Obrisset in 1712. - -An ordinary-looking piece of rock-crystal in one of the cases claims -to be the veritable ‘show-stone’ or divining crystal of Dr Dee, the -celebrated astrologer and alchemist of Queen Elizabeth’s time. Dee’s -own account of the origin of the show-stone was as follows. He declared -that one day in November 1582, while he was engaged in prayer, the -angel Uriel appeared to him and presented him with a magic crystal, -which had the quality, when steadfastly gazed into, of presenting -visions, and even of producing articulate sounds. These sights and -sounds, however, were only perceptible to a person endowed with the -proper mediumistic faculty. This the doctor himself unfortunately -lacked; but such a person was soon found in one Edward Kelly, who -was engaged as the doctor’s assistant, and produced ‘revelations’ -with Joseph-Smith-like facility. Indeed, his revelations had more -than one point in common with those of the Mormon apostle, for it is -recorded that on one occasion he received a divine command that he -and the doctor should exchange wives, which edifying little family -arrangement was actually carried out, with much parade of prayer and -religious ceremonial. It seems probable that Dee really believed -in the manifestations, and was himself the dupe of his unscrupulous -associate. Kelly was accustomed to describe what he saw and heard in -the magic crystal, and Dr Dee took notes of the mystic revelations. -These notes were, in 1659, collected and published in a folio volume -by Dr Meric Casaubon, an eminent scholar of that day, who appears to -have believed that the revelations were really the work of spirits, -though of doubtful character. From these notes it would appear that -Dee was possessed of two, if not more, divining crystals of various -sizes. After his death, a stone, said to be one of these, came into the -possession of the Earl of Peterborough, and thence into that of Lady -Elizabeth Germaine. It subsequently fell into the hands of the then -head of the House of Argyll, by whose son, Lord Frederick Campbell, -it was presented to Horace Walpole. For many years it formed part of -the Strawberry Hill Collection, and there was appended to the leather -case in which it was contained a manuscript note, in Walpole’s own -handwriting, describing it as ‘the black stone into which Dr Dee used -to call his spirits,’ and recording the above facts respecting it. On -the dispersion of the Strawberry Hill Collection in 1842, the stone -in question is said to have been purchased, at the price of thirteen -pounds, by Mr Smythe Pigott; and at the sale of that gentleman’s -library in 1853, to have passed into the hands of Lord Londesborough. -As to the later history of this particular stone, we have no -information; but it is clearly not identical with the one in the -British Museum. Horace Walpole’s is described as being a ‘black stone.’ -Others add that it was in shape a flat disk, with a loop or handle, -and it is generally believed to have been a highly polished piece -of cannel coal. The one in the British Museum more nearly resembles -the descriptions given of Lady Blessington’s crystal, employed for -a similar purpose by Lieutenant Morrison, the Zadkiel of ‘almanac’ -celebrity. It is a ball, about two inches in diameter, of rather dark -rock-crystal, and, as Mr Read informs us, has been in the possession of -the British Museum for nearly a century. Assuming, however, that, as -stated in Casaubon’s notes, Dr Dee used two or more magic specula, this -may of course have been one of them. - -This mystic crystal is appropriately flanked by a collection of -oriental talismans, some in metal, for suspension from the neck; others -of agate or chalcedony, engraved with charms and cabalistic signs, for -reproduction on wax or parchment. Here also are a couple of bezoar -stones, formerly much esteemed as possessing occult medical virtues, -particularly as an antidote to poison. The genuine bezoar stone is a -calculus found in the stomach of the goat or antelope. The specimens -here shown are artificial, being compounded from a recipe in the -possession of Sir Hans Sloane. They claim, however, to have all the -virtues of the genuine article, which we think extremely probable! They -have a peculiar aromatic smell, which probably assisted the belief in -their hygienic properties. - -In another of the cases we find post-mortem casts of the faces of -Charles II. and Oliver Cromwell. A third, anonymous when acquired by -the Museum, has since been identified as that of Charles XII., king of -Sweden. The musket-wound in the temple, by which he fell, is plainly -observable. Not far distant are a leathern ‘black-jack’ and a couple -of ‘chopines,’ the latter, however, not being, as French scholars -might be inclined to suppose, the measure of that name, but a sort of -stilt about sixteen inches in height, with a shoe at the upper end, -and formerly worn by the Venetian ladies. Shakspeare alludes to this -queer article where he makes Hamlet say, addressing one of the female -players, ‘By’r Lady, your ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw -you last, by the altitude of a chopine.’ Here, too, are a couple of -the mallets and a ball used in the old game of pall-mall. The present -specimens were found in the house of Mr Vulliamy, situated in the -street of the same name, which adjoins the ancient Mall. The ball is of -wood, about two and a half inches in diameter; and the mallets, save -that their heads are bound with iron, are almost precisely similar to -those used in croquet at the present day. - -There are sundry curious ivories, among them being a drinking-horn made -out of a single tusk, elaborately carved, and mounted with copper-gilt. -It bears the inscription: - - Drinke you this, and thinke no scorne - Although the cup be much like a horne. - -It bears the date 1599, and is in general appearance like a fish, with -a sort of scoop, or spoon-bowl, projecting from the mouth. There are -indications that it was originally fashioned as a horn for blowing, but -was afterwards converted to its present purpose. A small tablet of the -same material represents ‘Orator’ Henley preaching. On the floor in the -centre of the building, presumably Henley’s chapel in Lincoln’s Inn -Fields, is seen an inscription indicating that the notorious Colonel -Charteris lies buried there. Immediately in front of the preacher -stands a bear on his hind-legs, holding a staff; and the congregation -are represented with horns, exaggerated noses, heads of animals, and -other deformities. The preacher appears to be uttering the words, ‘Let -those not calumniate who cannot confute.’ - -In another part of the room is a choice collection of ancient watches, -pocket dials, and timepieces of various descriptions, some of very -eccentric character. There are oval watches, octagon watches, and -cruciform watches; watches in the form of tulips and other flowers. -There is a dial in the form of a star, and another in the shape of -a lute. A gilt clock, of considerable size, in the form of a ship, -with elaborate mechanical movements, is said to have been made for -the Emperor Rudolf II. A pocket dial shown has a special interest, as -having belonged to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, some time favourite -of Queen Elizabeth. This dial bears the arms of the ill-fated earl, -together with an inscription showing that it was made by one James -Kynvyn, in 1593. - -Astrolabes, nocturnals, and other astronomical instruments, English -and foreign, are largely represented. There are ancient chess and -backgammon boards, with men carved or stamped in divers quaint -fashions; and a number of drinking-cups in bronze, rock-crystal, and -silver, among those of the last material being a small goblet of -graceful fashion long known as the ‘Cellini’ cup, but believed to be -in truth of German workmanship. An elegant tazza of rock-crystal, -mounted with silver-gilt, has a medallion portrait of Queen Elizabeth -in its centre; but whether it actually belonged to the Virgin Queen is -uncertain. - -The connoisseur in enamels will here find a large and varied -collection, ranging from the _cloisonné_ of the Byzantine to the _champ -levé_ of the early Limoges school, and the surface-painting of later -artists. Some of the specimens shown are extremely beautiful; indeed, -this collection alone would well repay the trouble of a visit. One of -the earlier specimens, a plate of German enamel, represents Henry of -Blois, Bishop of Winchester, and brother to King Stephen. Among the -more curious specimens of this ancient art are sundry bishops’ crosiers -of various dates, and a couple of ‘pricket’ candlesticks, in which the -candle, instead of being dropped into a socket in the modern manner, is -impaled upon an upright point. - -A small _pietà_ of the sixteenth century, placed in one corner of the -room, deserves a special mention. The figures are in wax, skilfully -draped with real silk and lace. Such a combination has usually a tawdry -appearance, but it has no such effect in this instance. The name of -the modeller has not been handed down to us, but he was unquestionably -a true artist. The look of death on the Saviour’s face, and the -heart-broken expression of the Madonna as she bends over to kiss -his blood-stained brow, are almost painfully real. The power of the -representation is the more remarkable from its small size, the whole -group being only about eight inches square. - -In a collection numbering many hundreds of items, it is obviously -impossible even to mention more than a very small proportion of the -whole. We have spoken more particularly of such as have some personal -or historical association connected with them; but on the score of -antiquity alone, such a collection as this must be full of interest -to thoughtful minds. Who can gaze upon these relics of the distant -past without yearning to look back into the far-off times when all -these things were new? What would we give to see, ‘in their habit -as they lived,’ the men who fashioned these ancient timepieces, who -drank from these crystal cups, and played tric-trac on these quaint -backgammon boards? It needs but small imagination to call up Burns and -his boon-companions carousing around the marble punch-bowl, with ‘just -a wee drap in their e’e;’ but who shall name the knights who wore this -iron gauntlet or that _repoussé_ breastplate? Their ‘bones are dust, -their good swords rust,’ and yet here is part of their ancient panoply, -well-nigh as perfect as when it left the armourer’s anvil four hundred -years ago. Truly, they did good work, these mediæval artificers. The -struggle for existence was not so intense; they did not hurry, as in -these high-pressure days. Believing, with old George Herbert, that -‘we do it soon enough, if that we do be well,’ they wisely took their -time, caring little to do quick work, so long as they did good work. -And so their handiwork remains, _monumentum ære perennius_, a standing -memorial of the good old time when ‘art was still religion,’ and labour -was noble, because the craftsman put his heart into his work. - - - - -ONE WOMAN’S HISTORY. - -_A NOVELETTE._ - -BY T. W. SPEIGHT. - - -CHAPTER V. - -Five minutes later, Archie Ridsdale burst abruptly into the room. -‘Here’s a pretty go!’ he exclaimed. ‘Read this, please, dear Madame De -Vigne,’ putting a telegram into her hand. - -Madame De Vigne took it and read: ‘“From Beck and Beck, Bedford Row, -London.”’ - -‘The guv’s lawyers,’ explained Archie. - -‘“To Archibald Ridsdale, _Palatine Hotel_, Windermere.—We are -instructed to request you to be at our office at ten A.M. to-morrow, to -meet Sir William Ridsdale.”’ - -Mora looked at him as she gave him back the telegram. - -‘The last train for town,’ said Archie, ‘leaves in twenty-five minutes. -My man is cramming a few things into a bag, and I must start for the -station at once.’ - -‘Were you not aware that your father had arrived from the continent?’ - -‘This is the first intimation I’ve had of it. You know how anxiously -I’ve been expecting an answer to the second letter I wrote him nearly a -month ago.’ - -‘It would seem from the telegram that he prefers a personal interview.’ - -‘I’m glad of it for some things. He has never refused me anything when -I’ve had the chance of talking to him, and I don’t suppose he will -refuse what I shall undoubtedly ask him to-morrow.’ - -Madame De Vigne shook her head. ‘You are far too sanguine. Sir William -knows already what it is you want him to do. He knew it before, -when—when’—— - -‘When he sent Colonel Woodruffe as his plenipo. to negotiate terms with -the enemy—meaning you,’ said Archie, with a laugh. ‘A pretty ambassador -the colonel made!’ - -Madame De Vigne, who had risen and was gazing out of the window again, -did not answer for a little while. At length she said: ‘Archie, while -there is yet time, before you see your father to-morrow, I beg of you -once more seriously to consider the position in which you will place -yourself by refusing to break off your engagement with my sister. That -Sir William will sanction your marriage with Clarice, I do not for one -moment believe. What father in his position would?’ - -Archie, when he burst into the room, had omitted to close the door -behind him. It was now pushed a little further open, and, unperceived -by either of the others, Clarice, dressed for walking, stepped into the -room. - -‘Naturally, he must have far higher, far more ambitious views for his -only son,’ continued Madame De Vigne. ‘As the world goes, he would be -greatly to blame if he had not. So, Archie,’ she said, as she took both -his hands in hers, ‘when you leave us to-night, I wish you clearly -to understand that you go away unfettered by a tie or engagement of -any kind. You go away as free and untrammelled as you were that sunny -afternoon when you first set eyes on my sister. I speak both for -Clarice and myself.’ - -Here Clarice came quickly forward. ‘Yes—yes, dear Archie, that is so,’ -she exclaimed. ‘You are free from this hour. I—I shall never cease to -think of you, but that won’t matter to any one but myself.’ - -‘Upon my word, I’m very much obliged to both of you,’ answered Archie, -who was now holding a hand of each. ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or -be angry. A nice, low, mean opinion you must have formed of Archie -Ridsdale, if you think he’s the sort of fellow to act in the way you -suggest.’ Then turning to Clarice, he said: ‘Darling, when you first -told me that you loved me, you believed me to be a poor man—poor in -pocket and poor in prospects. That made no difference in your feelings -towards me. There was then no question of a rich father coming between -us—and I vow that neither he nor any one else in the world _shall_ come -between us! I love and honour my father as much as any son can do; but -this is one of those supreme questions which each man must decide for -himself.’ - -‘I have said my say—the raven has croaked its croak,’ said Madame De -Vigne with a little shrug, as she crossed to the other side of the -room. ‘You are a wilful, headstrong boy, and I suppose you must be -allowed to ruin yourself in your own way.’ - -‘Ruin, indeed!’ exclaimed Archie as he drew Clarice to him. ‘I don’t -in the least care who looks upon me as a ruin, so long as this sweet -flower clings to me and twines its tendrils round my heart!’ And with -that he stooped and kissed the fair young face that was gazing so -lovingly into his own. - -‘Ah—boys and girls—girls and boys—you are the same all the world over,’ -said Madame De Vigne with a sigh. - -‘And you won’t be able to go to the picnic to-morrow,’ remarked Clarice -plaintively. - -Nanette appeared. ‘The carriage is at the door, sir. The driver says he -has only just time to catch the train.’ - -‘I’m going to the station, dear, to see Archie off,’ said Clarice to -her sister. - -‘Good-bye—for a little while,’ said Archie, as he took Madame De -Vigne’s hand. ‘The moment I have any news, you shall hear from me; and -in any case, you will see me back before we are many days older.’ - -‘Good-bye—and good-bye. Above all things, don’t forget the love and -obedience you owe your father, and remember—the moment you choose to -claim your freedom, it is yours.’ - -‘Ah, dear Madame De Vigne’—— - -She interrupted him with a slight gesture of her hand. ‘Do not think me -hard—do not think me unkind. I have to remember that I am this girl’s -sister and mother in one.’ - -‘But’—— - -‘Not another word.’ She took his head in both her hands and drew it -towards her, and kissed him on the forehead. ‘Bon voyage! Dieu vous -protège. The prayers of two women will go with you.’ - -There was a tear in Archie’s eye as he turned away. Nanette was -standing by the open door. A moment later, and the young people were -gone. - -Madame De Vigne stepped out into the veranda and waved her handkerchief -as the carriage drove off. - -‘He will marry her whether Sir William gives his consent or not,’ she -mused. ‘He is in youth’s glad spring-tide, when the world is full of -sunshine, and the dragons that beset the ways of life seem put there -only to be fought and overcome. Well—let me but see my darling’s -happiness assured, and I think that I can bear without murmuring -whatever Fate may have in store for myself.’ She stepped back into -the room, and as she did so, Nanette opened the door once more and -announced—‘Colonel Woodruffe.’ - -A slight tremor shook Madame De Vigne from head to foot. She drew a -long breath, and advanced a step or two to meet the colonel as he -entered the room. - -‘I told you that I should come,’ said Colonel Woodruffe, with a rich -glow on his face as he went forward and held out his hand. - -‘And you are here,’ answered Madame De Vigne, who had suddenly turned -very pale. - -‘Did you not expect me?’ - -‘Yes,’ she answered, as for a moment she looked him full in the eyes. - -She sat down on an ottoman, and the colonel drew up a chair a little -distance away. He was a tall, well-built, soldier-like man, some -thirty-eight or forty years old. - -‘You know the purpose that has brought me?’ he asked. - -‘I have not forgotten.’ - -‘Two months ago I had the temerity to ask you a certain question. I, -who had come to judge you, if needs were to condemn, had ended by -losing my heart to the only woman I had ever met who had power to -drag it out of my own safe keeping. You rejected my suit. I left you. -Time went on, but I found it impossible to forget you. At length I -determined again to put my fortune to the proof. It was a forlorn hope, -but I am an old soldier, and I would not despair. Once more I told you -all that I had told you before; once more I put the same question to -you. This time you did not say No, but neither did you say Yes. To-day -I have come for your answer.’ He drew his chair a little closer and -took one of her hands. ‘Mora, do not say that your answer to-day will -be the same as it was before—do not say that you can never learn to -care for me.’ - -She had listened with bent head and downcast eyes. She now disengaged -her hand, rose, crossed to the window, and then came back. She was -evidently much perturbed. ‘What shall I say? what shall I say?’ she -asked half aloud. - -The colonel overheard her and started to his feet. ‘Let me tell you -what to say!’ he exclaimed. - -She held up her hand. ‘One moment,’ she said. Then she motioned to him -to be seated, and herself sat down again. - -‘Has it never occurred to you,’ she began, ‘to ask yourself how much or -how little you really know about the woman whom you are so desirous -of making your wife? Three months ago you had not even learnt my name, -and now—even now, how much more do you know respecting me and my -antecedents than you knew the first day you met me?’ - -‘I know that I love you. I ask to know nothing more.’ - -‘You would take me upon trust?’ - -‘Try me.’ - -She shook her head a little sadly. ‘It is not the way of the world.’ - -‘This is a matter with which the world has nothing to do.’ - -‘Colonel Woodruffe—I have a Past.’ - -‘So have all of us who are no longer boys or girls.’ - -‘It is only right that you should know the history of that Past.’ - -‘Such knowledge could in nowise influence me. It is with the present -and the future only that I have to do.’ - -‘It is of the future that I am now thinking.’ - -‘Pardon me if I scarcely follow you.’ - -‘How shall I express to you what I wish to convey?’ She rose, crossed -to the table, and taking up a book, began to turn its leaves carelessly -over, evidently scarcely knowing what she was about. ‘If—if it so -happened that I were to accede to your wishes,’ she said—‘if, in short, -I were to become your wife—and at some future time, by some strange -chance, some incident or fact connected with my past life, of which -you knew nothing, and of which you had no previous suspicion, were to -come to your knowledge, would you not have a right to complain that I -had deceived you? that I had kept silence when I ought to have spoken? -that—that’—— - -‘Mora—Mora, if this is all that stands between me and your love—between -me and happiness, it is nothing—less than nothing! I vow to you’—— - -‘Stay!’ she said, coming a step or two nearer to him. ‘Do not think -that I fail to appreciate your generosity or the chivalrous kindness -which prompts you to speak as you do. But—I am thinking of myself as -well as of you. If such a thing as I have spoken of were to happen, -although your affection for me might be in nowise changed thereby, -with what feelings should I afterwards regard myself? I should despise -myself, and justly so, to the last day of my life.’ - -‘No—no! Believe me, you are fighting a shadow that has no substance -behind it. I tell you again, and I will tell you so a hundred times, -if need be, that with your Past I have nothing whatever to do. My -heart tells me in accents not to be mistaken that you are a pure and -noble-minded woman. What need a man care to know more?’ - -‘I should fail to be all that you believe me to be, were I not to -oppose you in this matter even against your own wishes.’ - -‘Do you not believe in me? Can you not trust me?’ - -‘Oh, yes—yes! I believe in you, and trust you as only a woman can -believe and trust. It is the unknown future and what may be hidden -in it, that I dread.’ She crossed to the chimney-piece, took up the -letter, gazed at it for a moment, and then went back with it in her -hand. ‘Since you were here five days ago, I have written this—written -it for you to read. It is the life-history of a most unhappy woman. It -is a story that till now has been a secret between the dead and myself. -But to you it must now be told, because—because—oh! you know why. Take -it—read it; and if after that you choose to come to me—then’—— - -Not a word more could she say. She put the letter into his hand, and -turning abruptly away, crossed to the window, but she saw nothing for -the blinding mist of tears that filled her eyes. - -Colonel Woodruffe, with his gaze fixed on the letter, stood for a -moment or two turning it over and over in his fingers. Then he crossed -to the fireplace. In a stand on the chimney-piece were some vesta -matches. He took one, lighted it, and with it set fire to the letter, -which he held by one corner till it was consumed. Madame De Vigne had -turned and was watching him with wide-staring eyes. - -‘“Let the dead Past bury its dead,”’ said the colonel gravely, as the -ashes dropped from his fingers into the grate. ‘Your secret shall -remain a secret still.’ - -‘’Tis done! I can struggle no longer,’ said Madame De Vigne to herself. - -The colonel crossed to her and took one of her hands. ‘Nothing can come -between us now,’ he said. ‘Now you are all my own.’ - -He drew her to him and touched her lips with his. All her face flushed -rosy red, and into her eyes there sprang a light of love and tenderness -such as he had never seen in them before. Never had he seen her look -so beautiful as at that moment. He led her back to the ottoman and sat -down beside her. - -‘Tell me, dearest,’ he said, ‘am I the same man who came into this room -a quarter of an hour ago—doubting, fearing, almost despairing?’ - -‘Yes, the same.’ - -‘I began to be afraid that I had been changed into somebody else. Well, -now that the skirmish is over, now that the fortress has capitulated, -suppose we settle the terms of victory. How soon are we to be married?’ - -‘Married! You take my breath away. You might be one of those -freebooters of the middle ages who used to hang their prisoners the -moment they caught them.’ - -‘We are prepared to grant the prisoner a reasonable time to make her -peace with the world.’ - -Madame De Vigne laid a hand gently on his sleeve. ‘Dear friend, let us -talk of this another time,’ she said. - -‘Another time then let it be,’ he answered as he lifted her hand to his -lips. ‘Meanwhile’—— - -‘Yes, meanwhile?’ - -‘I may as well proceed to give you a few lessons in the art of making -love.’ - -‘It may be that the pupil knows as much of such matters as her teacher.’ - -‘That has to be proved. You shall have your first lesson to-morrow.’ - -‘Merci, monsieur.’ - -‘By Jove! talking about to-morrow reminds me of something I had nearly -forgotten.’ He started to his feet and pulled out his watch. ‘Now that -you have made me the happiest fellow in England, I must leave you for a -little while.’ - -‘Leave me?’ she exclaimed as she rose to her feet. - -‘Only for a few hours. On my arrival here I found a telegram from my -brother. He has been staying at Derwent Hall, near Grasmere. To-morrow -he starts for Ireland. We have some family matters to arrange. If I -don’t see him to-night, we may not meet again for months. I’m sorry at -having to go, but you won’t mind my leaving you till to-morrow?’ - -‘Can you ask? Do you know, I’m rather glad you are going.’ - -‘Why glad?’ - -‘Because it will give me time to think over all that has happened this -evening. I—I feel as if I want to be alone. You are not a woman, and -can’t understand such things.’ - -Again his arm stole round her waist. The clock on the mantel-piece -struck the hour. Mora disengaged herself. ‘Twilight seems to have come -all at once,’ she said. ‘You will have a dark drive. It is time for you -to go.’ - -‘More’s the pity.’ - -‘To-morrow will soon be here; which reminds me that we have arranged -for a picnic to-morrow at High Ghyll Force.’ - -‘You will be there?’ - -‘Clarice and Miss Gaisford have induced me to promise.’ - -‘If I should happen to drive round that way on my return, should I be -looked upon as an intruder?’ - -‘As if you didn’t know differently from that!’ - -‘Then possibly you may see me.’ - -‘I shall expect you without fail.’ - -‘In that case I will not fail.—My driver will be wondering what has -become of me.’ - -‘Good-night,’ said Mora impulsively. - -‘Harold,’ he said softly. - -‘Harold—dear Harold!’ she answered. - -‘My name never sounded so sweet before,’ exclaimed the colonel as, with -a parting embrace, the gallant wooer quitted the apartment. - -‘Heaven bless you, my dearest one!’ she murmured as the door closed. -Then she sank on to a seat and wept silently to herself for several -minutes. After a time she proceeded to dry her eyes. ‘What bundles of -contradictions we women are! We cry when we are in trouble, and we cry -when we are glad.’ - -Nanette came in, carrying a lighted lamp. She was about to close the -windows and draw the curtains, but her mistress stopped her. After the -hot day, the evening seemed too fresh and beautiful to be shut out. -Nanette turned down the flame of the lamp till it seemed little more -than a glowworm in the dusk, and then left the room. - -‘How lonely I feel, now that he has gone,’ said Mora; ‘but to-morrow -will bring him again—to-morrow!’ - -She crossed to the piano and struck a few notes in a minor key. Then -she rose and went to the window. ‘Music has no charms for me to-night,’ -she said. ‘I cannot read—I cannot work—I cannot do anything. What -strange restlessness is this that possesses me?’ There was a canary in -a cage hanging near the window. It chirruped to her as if wishful of -being noticed. ‘Ah, my pretty Dick,’ she said, ‘you are always happy so -long as you have plenty of seed and water. I can whisper my secret to -you, and you will never tell it again, will you? Dick—he loves me—he -loves me—he loves me! And I love him, oh, so dearly, Dick!’ - -She went back to the piano and played a few bars; but being still beset -by the same feeling of restlessness, she presently found her way again -to the window. On the lawn outside, the dusk was deepening. The trees -stood out massive and solemn against the evening sky, but the more -distant features of the landscape were lost in obscurity. How lonely -it seemed! There was not a sound anywhere. Doubtless, several windows -of the hotel were lighted up, but from where Mora was standing they -were not visible. Dinner was still in progress; as soon as it should -be over, the lawn would become alive with figures, idling, flirting, -smoking, seated under the trees, or promenading slowly to and fro. -At present, however, the lady had the whole solemn, lovely scene to -herself. - -She stood gazing out of the window for some minutes without moving, -looking in her white dress in the evening dusk like a statue chiselled -out of snowy marble. - -‘My heart ought to beat with happiness,’ she inwardly communed; ‘but it -is filled with a vague dread of something—I know not what—a fear that -has no name. Yet what have I to fear? Nothing—nothing! My secret is -still my own, and the grave tells no tales.’ - -Suddenly a breath of air swept up from the lake and shook the curtains. -She looked round the dim room with a shudder. The tiny tongue of flame -from the lamp only served, as it were, to make darkness visible. She -made a step forward, and then drew back. The room seemed full of -weird shadows. Was there not something in that corner? It was like a -crouching figure, all in black, waiting to spring upon her! And that -curtain—it seemed as if grasped by a hidden hand! What if some one were -hiding there! - -She sank into the nearest chair and pressed her fingers to her eyes. -‘No—no—no!’ she murmured. ‘These are only my own foolish imaginings. O -Harold, Harold! why did you leave me?’ - -Next moment the silence was broken by the faint, far-away sound of a -horn, playing a slow, sweet air. Mora lifted her head and listened. - -‘Music on the lake. How sweet it sounds. It has broken the spell that -held me. It seems like the voice of a friend calling through the -darkness. I will walk down to the edge of the water. The cool air from -the hills will do me good.’ - -There was a black lace scarf hanging over the arm of a couch; she took -it up and draped it over her head and round her throat and shoulders. -Her foot was on the threshold, she was in the act of stepping out into -the veranda, when she heard a voice outside speaking to some other -person. The instant she heard it she shrank back as though petrified -with horror. - -‘That voice! Can the grave give up its dead?’ she whispered as though -she were asking the question of some one. - -Next moment the figures of two men, one walking a little way behind -the other, became distinctly outlined against the evening sky as they -advanced up the sloping pathway from the lake. The first of the two men -was smoking, the second was carrying some articles of luggage. - -The first man came to a halt nearly opposite the windows of Madame -de Vigne’s sitting-room. Turning to the second man, he said, with a -pronounced French accent: ‘Take my luggage into the hotel. I will stay -here a little while and smoke.’ - -The second man passed forward out of sight. The first man, still -standing on the same spot, took out another cigar, struck a match, -and proceeded to light it. For a moment by the light of the match his -features were plainly visible; next moment all was darkness again. - -But Madame De Vigne, crouching behind the curtains of the dimly lighted -room, had seen enough to cause her heart to die within her. - -‘The grave _has_ given up its dead! It is he!’ her blanched lips -murmured. - -Some minutes later, Clarice Loraine, on going into the sitting-room, -found her sister on the floor in a dead faint. - - - - -AN EDUCATIONAL PIONEER. - - -It would be difficult to find a more unique or more interesting -educational body than the so-called Brothers of the Christian Schools. -Founded some two hundred years ago by the venerable John Baptist de la -Salle, on lines which the best schools of to-day have not hesitated -to adopt, the influence of this Institute has spread over all the -civilised, and even to some regions of the uncivilised world. Its -extension to Great Britain is but of recent date, and only seven -schools have as yet been inaugurated. The thoroughness and practical -value of the instruction given are mainly due to a strict adherence to -the ‘object’ lesson principle. - -Hitherto, we have been accustomed to associate this with the -Kindergarten ideas of Pestalozzi and Froebel; but although their -efforts to lighten the intellectual labours of the young were mainly -instrumental in bringing ‘playwork’ to its present perfection, -recent researches have shown that the venerable Dr de la Salle in -his educational plan strongly urged that pupils should be taken to -exhibitions and so forth, where their masters could give practical -illustrations of special studies. Zoological or botanical gardens -were in this way to be visited, that the uses and benefits of certain -animals or plants might be demonstrated; and school museums, herbaria, -geological, mineralogical, and other collections were afterwards to be -formed by the pupils themselves. And not only did De la Salle institute -object-teaching, but he was also the first to introduce class methods. -Before his time, children were for the most part taught individually, -or, where this was not so, large numbers were collected in one room, -each in turn going to the teacher to have separate instruction, whilst -the others were allowed to remain idle, free to torment one another or -the little victim at the master’s table. Great care was taken by De la -Salle in examining and placing the children committed to his care in -the classes best fitted for them; and the success of his method was -so great, that the numerous schools opened by the Brothers under his -direction soon became overcrowded. - -His great object was to reach the poor, and to train them to a -knowledge of a holy life and an independent livelihood. The opposition -he met with was at times very great. The ire of professional -writing-masters was first aroused; the poor had necessarily been -debarred from learning to write, because only the well-to-do could -afford the stipulated fees, and writing-masters were therefore employed -to do all the correspondence of those who could not write. So, when De -la Salle undertook to teach every child who came to him what had been -in some senses a secret art, their fury vented itself in an opposition -so overpowering that they drove the Brothers from their schools in -Paris and threw their furniture into the streets. The opposition was -only temporary, however; and as time passed, fresh schools were opened, -not only in France and her colonies, but in every European country, and -many parts of America, as well as in one or two districts of Asia and -Africa. - -The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, though -nominally Roman Catholic, is truly catholic in its widest sense, for, -besides admitting children of every religious denomination, secular -learning is admirably provided for. Their greatest successes have -perhaps been achieved in the art of writing and drawing, as applied -to all technical industries and art products. One illustration of the -results of their method of teaching writing in a remote region where -the pupils are not the easiest to train, may be cited as an example. -When the treaty of commerce between France and Madagascar in 1868 was -about to be signed, Queen Ranavalona was much struck by the beautiful -caligraphy of the copy presented to her by the Chancellor of the French -Consulate, and she determined that hers should not be inferior. The -pupils in all the chief schools in the island furnished examples of -handwriting to the queen’s prime-minister, but without satisfying her -taste. At last, an officer who had seen the Brothers’ schools suggested -that one of their pupils should compete. A young boy, Marc Rabily-Kely, -sent in some beautiful specimens of different styles of writing; and -the copying of the treaty was at once intrusted to him. When the two -copies were presented side by side, a murmur of applause went round -at the sight of Queen Ranavalona’s copy, and all cried out: ‘Resy ny -vasoha’ (The whites are beaten). This is only one instance among many, -and shows how much can be done by systematic training in the art of -writing, a subject much neglected in the majority of schools. - -But De la Salle did not stop short at educating the poor; he was -the first to found training colleges for masters, and the first to -institute regular boarding-schools in which everything relating to -commerce, finance, military engineering, architecture, and mathematics -was taught, and in which trades could be learned. Besides these, he -founded an institution in which agriculture was taught as a science. -At St Yon, where the first agricultural school was started, a large -garden was devoted to the culture of specimens of fodder-plants, -injurious plants, grain, plants peculiar to certain soils, fruits and -flowers. The students of to-day study all this, and in addition to -working on model farms, visit all the best farms around, are sent with -special professors to attend certain markets and sales of live-stock, -and have special field-days for practically studying botany, geology, -and entomology. The innovations introduced by De la Salle extended -to other matters than practical education. Before French boys in his -day were allowed to study their own language, they were obliged to -learn to read Latin, and thus years were sometimes spent in acquiring -a certain facility in reading a language they never understood. De la -Salle changed all this, in spite of repeated opposition, and succeeded -in making the vernacular tongue the basis of their teaching instead of -Latin. Owing to this change, the poor scholars progressed much more -rapidly than those in other schools, and the Brothers’ Institutes were -soon far ahead of all the elementary schools of their day. The way in -which they have held their position even till to-day is shown by the -results of the public examinations in Paris during the last thirty-five -years. Out of sixteen hundred and thirty-five scholarships offered -during this time, pupils of these schools have obtained thirteen -hundred and sixteen. This in itself is an enormous proportion; but -it is even greater than it appears, when we consider that seculars -had more schools, fewer pupils per teacher, and thus a better chance -to advance the individual scholar, and as a rule, a richer class of -scholars to select from. These scholarship examinations have recently -been discontinued, though not until after the Brothers’ pupils were -excluded from competition in consequence of the so-called ‘laicisation’ -of schools in 1880, after which the Brothers of Paris gave up their -government schools and opened voluntary ones. - -The whole educational scheme of De la Salle was admirably complete; -but perhaps the most interesting feature of the whole—now that we -are familiarised with his systems for teaching special subjects by -their spread in their original or a modified form to most European -countries—was his very simple plan for enforcing discipline. He was -always loath to believe unfavourable accounts of any pupil, and in -the first place took pains to discover whether the failings were the -result of the misdirection of those in authority or of the pupil’s -own wilfulness. When there was evidently a necessity for punishment, -the culprit was put in a quiet and fairly comfortable cell. Once shut -in alone, his notice was attracted to stands obviously intended for -flowers, to empty cages and other things which reminded the little -prisoner that there were good and beautiful enjoyments for those who -deserved them. One of the first questions the boys generally asked -was why there were nails for pictures, cages for birds, &c., and yet -neither pictures nor birds. In answer, they were told that as they -improved they would be supplied with all these good things; that if -they left off using profane or bad language, a bird would be put in the -cage; that as soon as they became industrious and worked well, their -prison vases would be adorned with flowers; that when they acknowledged -their previous wrong-doing, pleasant pictures would be hung on the -panels; that when their repentance was seen to be sincere, they would -rejoin their schoolfellows; and that in time they would be allowed to -go back to their families. - -The system worked so well, and is still found to succeed so thoroughly, -that it is almost a wonder it has not become more general. It has -certainly many advantages over the plan of giving boys so many hundred -lines to write, which is a mere task, soon forgotten, and benefiting -no one. But as there are only seven schools, and those of very recent -foundation, in England, we may perhaps still have to wait before -hearing that this discipline is at all general. In the meantime, all -interested in the training of the young might derive valuable hints -from studying this and other methods initiated by the pioneer of -popular education not only in France, but in all Europe. - - - - -THE MISSING CLUE. - -A TALE OF THE FENS. - - -CHAPTER I.—THE ARRIVAL AT THE ‘SAXONFORD ARMS.’ - -If any misanthropic subject of His Most Gracious Majesty King George -II. had wished to withdraw himself from the bustle of public life and -turn recluse in real good earnest, he could scarcely have chosen a -district more likely to suit his retiring taste than the country in the -vicinity of Saxonford. Scarcely aspiring to the dignity of a village, -the place so named was merely a cluster of cottages formed upon the -edge of a rough highway leading apparently to nowhere. In ancient -times this spot had been of somewhat more importance, for it was here -that a religious house of no inconsiderable size had flourished. But -those days had long passed away; and in 1745 the only remnant of the -monastery which survived the depredations committed by man and the -all-effacing hand of Time was a gray skeleton tower, a silent witness -to its departed conventual magnificence. Being erected, as was usually -the case with fen settlements, upon a rise of comparatively high land, -the remains commanded a view of an almost unbroken horizon. Standing -at some distance from the hamlet which had arisen round the monastic -ruin was a quaint dilapidated structure, known to the scattered natives -of those parts as the _Saxonford Arms_. Whatever might have been the -causes that induced the architect to build such an inn—for it was -by no means a small one—in so lonely a part, must remain a matter -of conjecture. A visitor was almost unknown at the old inn. There -it stood, weather-beaten and time-worn as the gray old tower which -overlooked it, and much more likely to tumble down, if the truth be -told. - -At the time we speak of, the scene appeared unusually calm and -beautiful, for the day was drawing to an end, and it was close upon -sunset, a period which is seldom seen to so much advantage as in the -low-lying districts of the fens. The weather had been unusually hot, -and the sinking sun shed a warm glow over a tract of well-browned -country, making its rich hues seem richer still. In the glassy water of -the river, the vivid sky was reflected as in a mirror, while the tall -tops of the sedge-rushes that bordered it were scarcely stirred by a -breath of air. A rotten timber bridge, which might have been erected in -the time of Hereward, spanned the stream at a short distance from the -old inn; crossing this, the road dipped down and led the way between -patches of black peat, cultivated land, and unreclaimed watery morass, -straight towards the south. - -A small party of strong sunburnt fen labourers were seated on the rough -benches in front of mine host’s ancient house of entertainment, some of -them swarthy, black-bearded men, others with light tawny hair and blue -eyes. True types of the hardy race were they; their strong, uncovered -brown arms, which had all day long been working under a baking sun, -upon a shadeless flat, telling a tale of sinewy power that came not a -jot under the renowned strength of their mighty ancestors. Mine host -himself, a ruddy-faced man of middle age, was there too, smoking a long -well-coloured pipe, and gazing in a thoughtful way across the long -stretch of fen, over which the shades of night were steadily creeping. - -‘What be ye gaping at, master?’ quoth one of the brawny labourers, as -the landlord shaded his eyes with his hand and endeavoured to make out -some indistinct object. - -‘What’re ye looking after, Hobb?’ asked another one in a bantering -tone. ‘Can’t ye believe your own eyes, man?’ - -‘Nay, Swenson, I can’t,’ returned mine host, lowering his hand and -turning to the person who addressed him. ‘I want a good pair sadly.’ - -‘You’re like to get ’em staring over the fen in that way, my boy!’ -remarked Swenson with a hoarse laugh. - -‘Lend me your eyes here, Harold,’ went on the innkeeper. ‘Take a squint -across that bank and tell me what you see.’ - -‘What be the good o’ askin’ me?’ returned the man. ‘I can’t tell a -barn-door from a peat-stack at fifty yards’ distance.’ - -‘I’ll tell ye, Dipping,’ cried a young sunburnt giant, starting up from -the bench on which he had been sitting. ‘Where is’t?’ - -‘You see yon tall willow?’ - -‘Him as sticks up there by the dike?’ - -‘Ay. Look out there to the left o’ it, across the fen, and tell me what -ye see.’ - -The fellow’s blue eyes were directed with an earnest gaze towards the -distant spot which the landlord pointed out; and then he turned sharply -round and exclaimed: ‘It be two horsemen.’ - -‘Are ye sure?’ asked mine host, as he bent his brows and vainly tried -to make out the far-off speck. - -‘Quite sure,’ was the reply. ‘They’re coming up the road by the old -North Lode.—There; now they’re passing One Man’s Mill.’ - -‘I see ’em!’ exclaimed Swenson, pointing towards a solitary windmill, -the jagged sails of which formed a slight break in the long line of -misty flatness. - -‘Perchance they be travellers, and will want beds for the night,’ said -mine host, roused to action by the mere possibility of such an event -occurring. ‘I will see that the place is got ready for them.’ - -‘Hobb Dipping is soon counting his chickens,’ remarked one of the -uncouth fenmen, laughing, as the landlord of the _Saxonford Arms_ -disappeared. - -‘Ay, it’s like him all over,’ rejoined Swenson, while he gathered up -some implements and prepared to go.—‘Are ye coming with me, Harold?’ - -‘No, my boy; I’m agoing to stop and see who yon horsemen may be. News -are scarce in these parts. If you’re off now, why, good-night to ye.’ - -Swenson nods, bids the man good-night, and then strides off in the -direction of the old gray tower. The major part of the loiterers go -with him; but three or four still linger, looking along the misty road, -and waiting as if in expectation of something. - -A light up in one of the windows of the inn tells that Hobb Dipping -is preparing his best room for the reception of the approaching -travellers, in case it should be needed; and a savoury smell of hot -meat which issues forth through the open doorway of the hostel makes -the few hungry watchers that remain feel inclined to seek their own -supper-tables. At length mine host has finished his task, and the most -presentable apartment that the house contains is ready for instant -occupation if necessary. Honest Hobb Dipping gazes wistfully out of a -rickety diamond-paned window, and thinks that his labour must have been -in vain. The moon is rising from the shadow of a thick bank of vapour, -its dim red outline as yet but faintly seen through the misty cloud. -It is getting late; the travellers must have passed by the bridge, and -ridden along the flood-bank. ‘If they know not the way well,’ mutters -Dipping to himself, ‘they’ll lose themselves in the fen for certain. An -awkward path that be, specially binight, with a damp fog rising.’ - -At this moment, a clatter of horses’ hoofs breaks the silence, and -two horsemen canter over the shaky timber bridge and draw up in front -of the old inn. Mine host bustles about shouting a number of confused -directions; the one youthful domestic which the place boasts of running -helplessly to and fro and doing nothing. The foremost rider, suddenly -leaping from his horse, strides into the inn, and flings himself into a -chair, ordering a private room and supper to be made ready at once. - -Honest Dipping hurries about, unused to strangers of distinction, -bringing in liquor and glasses, meat, platters and knives, besides a -quantity of other things that are not wanted, the stranger meanwhile -having taken possession of the room up-stairs which had been hurriedly -prepared for him. - -Presently follows the gentleman’s servant, a short muscular fellow, -with a sullen, lowering countenance; and a short conversation takes -place between the man and his master. - -‘Are the horses put up, Derrick?’ - -‘Yes, sir.’ - -‘And the pistols?’ - -‘Here they are, Sir Carnaby.’ - -‘Loaded, of course?’ - -‘Ay, sir, both of them.’ - -‘Right! Now, what think you of this part? Is it not quiet enough for -us? I never was in such a dead-alive wilderness before; and taking that -into consideration, I fancy it is possible to last out a few days even -in this ghastly shanty. After that, I shall ride to Lynn and take ship, -for, as I live, the country is getting too hot to hold me.’ - -Derrick gave vent to a sound resembling a grunt, and muttered a few -words containing seemingly some disparaging reference to the ‘king over -the water.’ - -‘Hush, you fool!’ exclaimed his master in a low whisper; ‘you should -know better than to speak of what does not concern you. Be wise, and -hold your tongue.’ - -‘Your pardon, Sir Carnaby,’ replied Derrick; ‘it shall not be spoken of -again.’ - -‘And mind, Derrick, in case we should be inquired after, let the rustic -boors know that I am Mr Morton, a landowner from somewhere or other. -You, Derrick, are John Jones; so mind and answer to your name. D’ye -hear?’ - -The attendant’s face relaxed into a sly grin as he answered: ‘I hear, -sir.’ - -The truth is, Mr Morton—or to call him by his proper name, Sir -Carnaby Vincent—was a young baronet of good family, and reputed to -be enormously rich. In consequence of his being mixed up in some -disturbances occasioned by the Jacobite party, he had found it -necessary, at a previous period, to avoid the cognisance of the -authorities. But a certain nobleman having interested himself in -the youthful plotter’s behalf, the affair was hushed up, and Sir -Carnaby returned to society once more. Having a relish for all kinds -of intrigue, besides being of too excitable a temperament to exist -long in a state of quiet, the madcap young fellow again entered heart -and soul into the intrigues of Prince Charles’ followers, and this -time succeeded only too well in attracting notice. A warrant was -issued for his apprehension; and Sir Carnaby once more had to seek -safety in flight, taking with him a quantity of valuable papers, and -the blessings of all his companions engaged in the perilous cause. -He was accompanied by only one person, his servant Derrick, a rough -but doggedly faithful retainer, who had followed the fortunes of his -house for nearly thirty years. Derrick himself cared not a jot for the -Jacobite party to which Sir Carnaby was so attached; his first thought -was to follow his master, and share the dangers which he might have -to encounter. Their retreat from the metropolis was safely effected, -much to the satisfaction of the baronet, who was really seriously -alarmed at this second unlucky discovery. From London they journeyed -through Cambridgeshire, Sir Carnaby’s plan being to lie quiet for a -few days in the heart of the fens, then afterwards proceeding to some -obscure seaport on the borders of the Wash, to take sail for a foreign -land, where he could best forward the fortunes both of himself and his -hapless Prince. - - -CHAPTER II.—THE JACOBITE. - -‘Where did you place the saddle-bags, Derrick?’ asked Sir Carnaby, when -Hobb Dipping had quitted the old wainscoted apartment in which his -distinguished visitor was about to partake of supper. - -Speech was a gift which nature had bestowed very sparingly upon the -attendant; moreover, he was possessed of a rough, unmelodious voice. -Pointing towards a chair in one corner, he slowly ejaculated: ‘There, -sir—underneath.’ - -‘Good!’ said Sir Carnaby, seating himself at the table.—‘By the way, -Derrick, I think it would be just as well to look after the innkeeper: -his glances are a trifle too curious to please me. When I have finished -my supper, you had better descend into the public room and try to -ascertain his opinion of us.’ - -‘Right, sir,’ replied the attendant. - -‘Come from behind my chair, you varlet,’ said the baronet, motioning -him at the same time with his hand. ‘Draw up to the table and break -your fast with me; we shall gain time by so doing.’ - -Derrick sat down respectfully at the farther end of the board, and -gazed in a thoughtful way at a dark patch of sky which could be seen -through the diamond-shaped panes of glass in a window opposite him. - -‘You seem in no hurry to refresh the inner man,’ remarked Sir Carnaby. -‘What are you thinking of, Derrick?’ - -‘A dream, sir.’ - -‘A what?’ - -‘A dream, sir,’ repeated Derrick—‘one I had last night.’ - -‘Well, as your mind appears to be somewhat uneasy,’ remarked Sir -Carnaby, with a slight smile playing over his features, ‘I should -recommend open confession as being the proper thing to relieve it.’ - -‘There’s little enough to tell, sir,’ said Derrick; ‘’twas only a bit -of dark sky up there that brought it back to me.’ - -‘Well,’ said Sir Carnaby simply. - -‘It seemed to me,’ continued the attendant, ‘as if I was riding alone, -holding your horse by the bridle. The moon was up, and the sky looked -the same as it does out there. I can remember now quite plain that I -felt kind of troubled, but what about, I know just as little as you, -sir.’ - -‘Is that the whole story?’ asked Sir Carnaby with a laugh. ‘Well, I -can tell you, good Derrick, so far as riding alone goes, your prophecy -is likely to prove a true one, though I certainly don’t intend you to -carry off my horse with you.—See here; this is something more important -than a heavy-headed dream. You must start to-morrow for the Grange. Be -in the saddle early, and don’t spare your spurs.’ - -‘Am I to go alone, sir?’ - -‘Certainly. The journey has no object beyond the delivery of this -letter; and as inquiry is sure to be pretty rife concerning me, I shall -stay where I am and await your return.’ - -Derrick received the sealed envelope which was handed to him with a -gruff but respectful ‘Right, sir,’ and then relapsed into his customary -silence. - -‘I shall leave it to your discretion to find out the way,’ said Sir -Carnaby. ‘Of course you will go armed?’ - -The attendant opened his coat without speaking and touched the hilt of -a stout hanger which he wore at his side. - -Sir Carnaby smiled. ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘you are ready enough to play -at blood-letting; but that sort of thing is best avoided. Let your -movements be as quiet and speedy as possible; and when you reach your -destination, seek out Captain Hollis by means of that address. Give the -note into his hands, then make haste back. I shall have other work for -you when you return.’ - -‘More plots,’ thought Derrick, but he merely uttered a grunt and -pocketed the letter. - -‘This room,’ continued the baronet, ‘seems to be parlour and bedchamber -in one. So far well. If there should be any occasion to consult me -again before you start, one rap at this door will be quite sufficient -to wake me. I am a light sleeper.’ - -‘Anything more, sir?’ - -‘Nothing more to-night; you have all my orders for the -present.—Good-night, Derrick.’ - -‘Good-night, sir.’ - -When the last faint clank of Derrick’s boots has ceased to ring upon -the staircase, Sir Carnaby Vincent rises and locks the door, glancing -outside first, to see that no one lurks without. This being done, he -carefully bars the shutters over the window, looks inside two cupboards -which the room contains, and then having ascertained that he is not -likely to be overlooked, draws forth the afore-mentioned saddle-bags. A -strange look of anxiety passes over the fugitive’s face as he plunges -his hand into one of them, and brings out a small, shallow, oaken box, -black with age. Its contents are apparently of no little value, for -the lid is secured by two locks, and a corresponding number of blotchy -red seals, upon which may be deciphered the impression of a crest. Sir -Carnaby turns the box over and examines its fastenings, then rises and -walks slowly round the room, as if in search of something. His manner -at this moment is most strange, and the light step with which he treads -over the old flooring does not awaken enough creaking to disturb a -mouse. Four times round the room he goes, with a curious expression on -his face which would puzzle even a skilful physiognomist to interpret, -then stooping down, he places the box on the floor and appears to -listen. - - - - -THE MUSK-RAT OF INDIA. - -FROM AN ANGLO-INDIAN. - - -The musk-rat is from six to eight inches long, of a slatish-blue -colour, with a long movable snout, and diminutive eyes. Its skin is -very loose, and quite conceals the extremities, only allowing the feet -to be seen. This formation occasions the peculiar pattering of its -run. The tail, broad at its base, is pinkish and bare of everything -except a few hairs; ears are diminutive. Loathed and detested by all, -this creature leads a charmed life; only a few dogs will kill it, and -then there is always sneezing and a little foaming afterwards. Cats -follow but won’t touch it; it is, moreover, equally avoided by more -aristocratic rats and mice. As the animal runs along the wall of the -room, it emits a kind of self-satisfied purr, which, if alarmed, breaks -into a squeak, and immediately the scent-bottle is opened. If there is -light to see the tiny creature, you will observe it scanning with its -nose all parts of the horizon in search of what caused the alarm; the -eyes apparently being unequal to the task. - -Musk-rats have a singular habit of always running along the walls of -a room, never crossing from one wall to the other; hence, as they are -not swift movers, they are easily overtaken, and a blow from a cane -instantly kills the animal. Traps are of little use in capturing these -creatures; and if one is captured, that trap is for ever useless as -regards ordinary rats and mice, which won’t approach it after being -contaminated. ‘Muskies’ are omnivorous and very voracious. During the -rains, the insect world is on the wing. If at this season you place -a night-light on the ground near the beat of a musk-rat, you will be -amused at watching its antics in trying to catch some of the buzzers -round the light, or those crawling up the wall, and will be surprised -at its agility. The captives are ruthlessly crunched, and the animal -never seems satiated; at the same time its enjoyment is evinced by -its purring. Woe betide him should another musky invade this happy -hunting-ground! War is at once proclaimed, and immediately the two are -fighting for their lives, squeaking, snapping, biting, rolling over -and over, and all the time letting off their awful scent-bottles. You, -in the comparative distance, just escape the disgusting odour; but the -insect invasion catch it full, and quickly leave the scene. And so the -fight goes on, until you happily catch both the combatants with one -blow of your cane, and the stinking turmoil ceases; and having thrown -open the doors to ventilate the room, you are glad to retire to rest. - -I was awakened one night at Arrah by the squeaking and stench of two -musk-rats, which were in mortal combat near my bed. Quietly rising and -seizing my slipper, I smote the combatants a wrathful blow, to which -one succumbed, and the other escaped through the venetian. I then lay -down again, but only to hear the hateful p-r-r-r-r of ‘musky,’ who had -come to look after his dead brother. Seizing him, he carried him off -to the venetian, and there dropped him with a squeak, as I rose to my -elbow. Bringing the dead rat back and laying my slipper handy, I again -lay down. Very soon I heard the disgusting purr and saw the dead musky -being carried off; and now the slipper was true, and both muskies lay -prone. - -Apropos to this, if you throw out a dead rat or mouse, he is at once -swooped upon by a kite or crow; but both these scavengers will avoid -a dead musk-rat; the kite will swoop and pass on as if he had not -noticed the odour, whilst our old friend the crow will alight at a -safe distance, and with one eye survey the dead shrew. Perhaps in that -glance a whiff from the scent-bottle reaches him, for he hops off a -yard or two, caws, and then rubs his beak once or twice on the ground. -Then he takes an observation with the other eye, caws, and flies up -into the overhanging nína tree. No one will touch the dead musk-rat; -even those faithful undertakers, the burying-beetles, avoid him. - -Now, what is the scent of the musk-rat like? When I was last at home in -1875, I went into a greenhouse on a hot summer day, and found it given -up to the musk-plant. ‘Muskies! muskies!’ I exclaimed, as I fled from -the stifling, dank, and fetid atmosphere. Get up that combination—a -hot day, a dank, humid, and suffocating greenhouse given up to the -musk-plant, and you will have the full effect of only one full-blown -musky. The odour of the plant, heavy when close, is delicate when -diffused; the scent of the musk-rat, on the other hand, is heavy when -diffused, and insupportable when near. The marvellous diffusibility of -this odour is illustrated in many ways. It has long been maintained -that the musk-rat has only to pass over a closely corked bottle of -wine to destroy its contents. I have tasted sherry so destroyed, and -at the same time have placed corked bottles of water in the runs of -musk-rats without any defilement. The odour won’t permeate glass, so -the bottle of sherry must have been contaminated by a defiled cork. -Place a porous water-goblet (_sooráhí_) in the run of a musk-rat, and -defilement is secure; and if that goblet endures for a hundred years, -it will during that century affect all water which may be put into it. -These animals seem to enjoy communicating their disgusting odour to -surrounding objects. It doesn’t follow that mere contact conveys it, -for I have often handled these animals without contamination; but there -is undoubtedly—setting aside the scent-bottle as a means of defence—an -instinctive marking of objects for purposes of recognition, sheer -mischief, or for the easing of the secretion organ. - -Another anomaly pertains to this animal: though so disgusting to -others, it is not so to itself; and it is one of the tidiest and most -cleanly of animals. Its nesting arrangements, too, are very peculiar; -nothing is more greedily utilised than paper, which it tears up. Some -years ago, I lived in a boarded house, and used to be nightly worried -by a pattering and purring musky dragging a newspaper towards a certain -corner. Arrived there, it disappeared down a hole and pulled the paper -after it—that is, as much as would enter the hole. If I gently removed -the paper, the inquisitive nose would appear ranging round the hole, -and shortly after, the animal itself in quest of the paper. I had the -boarding taken up, and there, in a paper nest, lay five pink and naked -muskies, all heads, with hardly any bodies, and quite blind. - -I cannot find one redeeming trait in the character and conduct of -_Sorex cœrulescens_, and I must admit that he is an ill-favoured beast, -and of questionable utility. - - - - -A DAY IN EARLY SUMMER. - - - A little wood, wherein with silver sound - A brooklet whispers all the sunny day, - And on its banks all flow’rets which abound - In the bright circle of the charmèd May: - Primroses, whose faint fragrance you may know - From other blooms; and oxlips, whose sweet breath - Is kissed by windflowers—star-like gems which blow - Beside pale sorrel, in whose veins is death; - Larch-trees are there, with plumes of palest green; - And cherry, dropping leaves of scented white; - While happy birds, amid the verdant screen, - Warble their songs of innocent delight. - Surely they err who say life is not blest; - Hither may come the weary and have rest. - - J. 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