may as well save our spars and sails; we shall
not outsail her.”

Captain Romero approached at this moment,
and this conviction was shared by him.

The darkness which now had come over the
scene would have been terrific on land, but
the agitation of the waters left on their surface
@ phosphorescent glare, than which nothing
more ghastly can be imagined. In this weird
glow toiled the galleon, pressed down on her

side by the strength of the continually in-
~ Oreasing wind, under the immense cloud of
canvas she carried. :

The fact is, count,” said Captain Romero,
with some bitterness, “the schooner can keep
us in sight easily enough, owing to‘our size.
Iam going tochange our course, but Ihardly
hope to avoid the eyes fixed upon us.”’

He suddenly changed his course, reducing
his sails so as to present the narrowest possi-
ble’ surface to the pursuer, in the hope of
creeping out of her gaze; but the galleon was
hardly settled in her new course when it was
seen that the schooner had made a correspond-
ing change, and was coming on as silently and

grimly as ever.

‘*He sees us!” said the count, quietly.

And now there was asudden gust along the
sea, which threw up the caps of the waves in
@ white foam, and impelled the ga'leon through
the waves at arate of speed that was terrific.
The blackness of the sky increased, its face
being covered with serried masses of jagged
and fiercely rushing clouds; but still that
phosphorescent glow lighted up the akysses in
which struggled the pursued and the pursuer,
and presented the ghastly outlines of each ves-
8el to the watchers on the other.

‘We shall have to shorten sail, captain,”
said Oount Regla, after a thoughiful pause,
‘‘Make all secure against the coming blast,
and then return to me,”’

While these movements were in progress,
Riuy scarcely lifted his eyes from the outlines
of the pursuer. The thought that Yola was
in the hands of the pirate seemed to paralyze
his whole being.

“Could we not fight the pirate, Count Reg-

la?” he asked, with a choking sensation at his
heart.
“Yes, we might,” was the reply; ‘but fight-
ing is our last resort. The schooner carries
twice a8 many men as we do, is easily man-
aged, presents a small mark, and can run
when she pleases. We shall fight, of course,
when it comes to that, butit is clear that every
advantage is on the side of the pirate.”

‘And even if we should gain a victory,’’
said Ruy, ‘we could not rescue Yola. If ren-
dered desperate, our terrible enemy would not
scruple to kill her,”

The connt endeavored to mitigate the har-
rowing reflections of our hero, but what could
he say? There was no possibility of ignoring
either the peril of Yola or that of the galleon.
Captain Romero soon returned, reporting that
he had prepared against the gale, as well as
an attack, and that it only remained to see
which of the two vessels would best weather
the storm.

In an agony of grief, which we will not at-
tempt to describe, Ruy paced up and down
the deck, watching the pursuer.

‘One thing is certain,” said Captain Rome-
ro to the count, “the pirate cannot come
alongside in this tempest.”

‘And another thing,” answered Count Reg-
la, ‘*ho will not be likely to open fire upon us,
and so run the risk of sending us to the bot-
tom. He knows that we are loaded with sil-
ver,” he added, ‘‘and he will not imperil it if
he can help it.”

With the increased fury of the gale, Captain
Romero was called forward by a subordinate,
and the count conversed a few moments with
Ruy. For a moment the attention of all con-
cerned was distracted from the pursuer, and
when the glances of the count and his friends
were again bent in the direction where she
had last been seeu, she was gone.

‘Ts it possible?” said. Count Regla, bring-
ing his glass to his eye.

As surprising as the fact seemed, a long
scrutiny confirmed it; the dim outlines of the
schooner were no longer visible.

Again there was a lullin the tempest, as if
the winds were weary, or as if they were gath-
ering strength for a wilder display of their fu-
xy; an ominous hush, and the galleon rolled
and pitehed heavily upon the huge billows
the storm had already called into being.

And now that the waves no longer broke in
sheets of foam against one another, the ghast-
ly light emitted in their fury was withheld,
and a darkness like that of Erebus came down
around the vessel, and hung upon the waters,
and gave to the roar of the sea its full horrors.

‘When we are done with this lull,” ob-
served Captain Romero, ‘‘we shall see trouble.
There it is,” he added, almost in a shout,
pointing to the northward, ‘Dios mio! It
is upon us!”

As he spoke, a stream of the hurricane, in
_one of its wild evolutions and gyrations, came
down upon the water with a sharp rush and
roar, and tore along its surface, not a hun-
dred yards from the galleon, upon which it
seemed to be directed by some evil genius of
the wind, A wall of white foam was lifted
high in the air at the base of this wind-col-
umn, and the next instant it burst around the
Silver Ship, the wind and sea blended to-

gether in a rushing mist, and beating her
down upon her side, with the roars and wails
of ten thousand furies.

*“‘We must go before it,’”’ said Captain Ro-
mero to-his employer. ‘Now is our time!”’

He took advantage of a moment in which
the stream of hurricane seemed to turn on
itself, and eased off the galleon before it. The

\e9 next instant the wind-column took her in its

encircling pressure, and she was borne away
helplessly where it willed,

And now, from the midst of this abyss of
darkness, a light suddenly flashed upon the
gaze of the watchers, from a point about a
mile to the windward,

~ A vessel evidently,” said Count Regla,
“but can it be. that of our enemy? Would he
show a light?’

Before an answer could be given to the ques-
tion, a second light was seen beside the first,
and it was noticed that they both had a swing-
ing motion, like that of a couple of lanterns
suspended in the shrouds of a vessel,

“She nears ts!’’ said Ray. ‘It must be
our enemy, and he must be conscious of our
presence!”

Half-e-dozen additional lights sprung up
around the first two, revealing the two masts
of a schooner, and if was then clear that the
lights were aboard of the pirate and that she
was coming.

And now, with the approach of the lights
seen from the galleon, the watchers, began to
trace the outlines of the ropes and cordage
among which they were hanging. Other lights
were joined to them, with powerful reflectors
placed behind, until the entire deck and tig-
ging of the pirate-schooner wore a vivid glare.
On she came, with sails all closely furled, with
only one man visible, and he at the helm.

‘My God! she is coming directly for us!”
cried Captain Romero. ‘Will she seek to
board us or to run us down?”

And now the gale seemed setting into a
fierce stream of wind in which the two vessels
were being driven helplessly over the sea. It
licked up every piece of canvas that was not
closely fastened, and twisted off the topmast
of the galleon in their long plunges, as if they
had been pipe-stems.

And now the voice of the ship’s carpen-
ter fell coldly upon every ear—with tho re-
port that the galleon had sprung a leak; but
he was unheeded.

And now the winds and the waves seemed
to combine against the galleon, the first striv-
ing with her rigging and the last with her hull.
At one moment she appeared to be hurled al-
most out of the water, on the crest of 2 mad
billow, and the next she was plunged down
into a black gulf of waters, ag though she
would never moro rise,

And now the schooner was so near that her
every rope and spar under the lights which
had been flashed in her rigging, were revealed
with glaring: distinctness. She showed no
sailin the wind, no broken spar, no sound
of excitement or confusion; but preserved
the same silence and grimness which she
had before shown. Another moment, and
the commander of the schooner was seen, in
the glare of the lights, to come out of the cab-
in and advance to the bulwarks amidships,
with a figure under his arm. A covering fell
from a huge lantern, which had been lashed
in the foreshrouds, and a broad glare of light
descended upon him and his weird-looking
vessel,

And now that the schooner was so near, so
clearly seen, she seemed to advance upon the
galleon with a speed that was supernatural.
The eyes of all aboard the Silver Ship were
fixed upon her, and the hush of awe and ex-
pectancy kept every tongue silent. On came
the infernal-looking craft, under its bare poles,
and with the water rolling upin a wall of foam
before her prow, and roaring and hissing un-
der the fury with which her light hull was
driven through the waves—on, with her lights
glaring, and with that silent figure clasped to
the breast of its commander.

“OQ, my God!” cried Ruy, leaping upon the
bulwarks of the galleon, as the. girl in the pi-
rate’s arm strove with him, raised her head,
and sent a piercing cry over the waters, ‘‘it is
Yola!” 8

There was no time to say more.

Clasping her form in his grim embrace, asif
making her a protecting shield, the pirate
chief leaped into the shrouds, under the glar-
ing lantern, and fixed his gaze upon the help-
less galleon. His huge form seemed to ex-
pand to giant size, as he shook his clenched
hands toward it, and a hollow laugh broke from
his lips, On he came, rushing along the wake
of the galleon, and only turning aside sufii-
ciently to admit of passing in safety. On he
came, with mocking gestures and triumphant
laughter, mingled with the cries of his cap-
tive, and in another instant he was borne
alongside of his intended prey—so near that
they could see the gleaming of his savage eyes
and hear his chuckles of delight as he shouted:

‘Well met, Ruy Leol! Well met, Count
Regla! Ihave the lovely Yola here, and shall
soon have those millions of silver! Mine! all
mine! I swear it, or my blood shall mingle
with the waters beneath us! Adieu till the
morning—then we meet!”

And then the schooner swept ahead of the
Silver Ship, and a general cry of excitement,
grief, and horror arose from the galleon’s
decks. Unheeded were the cries of the car-
penter, who was still dancing about and ery-
ing that the vessel was sinking;. forgotten
were the wild billows and the howling blasts
still sweeping the sea; and forgotten were the
millions of treasure in the hold of the doomed
ship. For, with the screams of Yola still ring-
ing in their ears, and with that terrific specta-
cle. driving on before them, the observers
could hear nothing and think of nothing but
the terrific cry with which the pirate chief had
left them; ‘‘Adien till the morming—then we
meet!”

CHAPTER XX,
THE PREY,
The schooner swept past the prow of the
Silver Ship, and the cries of Yola ceased to be

heard, she being borne below. The lights
were removed from the pirate’s rigging and

 

extinguished, and the darkness that succeed-

ed seemed all the more terrible by. contrast
with the recent illumination.

away to the leeward, and then the spectral
outlines of her hull and spars faded out from
the view of the watchers.

‘*Thank Heaven!” exclaimed the Countess
of Regla, who had remained at her husband’s
side, despite the tempest. ‘‘She’s gone!”

The gale now being at its height, its roar
was such that she was obliged to speak ina
high key, and place her lips close to the
count’s ear.

“Gone?” the latter repeated. ‘She hag
gone only to come again. She will certainly
be with us in the morning, as threatened,
Meanwhile, she will not for one moment lose
sight of us. Shs can see us without being
seen, she’s 80 smail—so bare!”

‘But she’s scudding before the wind, light
as afeather, and gaining on us——’”’

‘She will not go far,’’ interrupted the count.
“She will lie to at intervals, and wait for us,
She knows that we ere clumsy, and must con-
tinue this course comparatively helpless.
Nay, with such a craft, manned by such a nu-
merous crew, the Bloodhound can sail around
us a.dozen times before morning. No, no—
he will not lose sight of us!”

‘Then there’s no hope of our escape?”

‘None. That terrible being does not de-
ceive himself. Just so certainly as that poor
girl is in his hands, just so certainly will he
have our silver—our lives! I foresee what
his course will be in respect to our capture,
and am sick at heart!”

The countess sighed, wiping her tear-wet
face. She had been terribly moved.

“Poor Yola!’’ she said. ‘Our young pilot
is greatly to bo pitied. What a blow her cap-
tivity is to him!”

‘*Yes, it’s horrible,
can to console him!”

They. advanced towards Ruy, who had not
once spoken since the voice of Callocarras died
away on his hearing, He zemained clinging
to the bulwarks, deathly pale, and completely
erushed in spirit by the fall realization of
Yola’s peril and misery. Senor Leol had
joined him, endeavoring to comfort him, but
had not been able to inspire him with any
hopes respecting the captive. The truth was,
Ruwy’s clear perceptions had already told him
the same sad story which had come to the
count’s understanding—that there was no
present help for her!

‘Our hearts bleed for you, Don Ruy,” said
the countess, pressing his hand. ‘There's
no mistake, I suppose—the captive is really
your betrothed?”

Ruy replied affirmatively, and a pause suc-
ceeded, partly owing to the difficulty of con-
yersing in such ascreaming tempest.

Captain Romero had comprehended the re-
port of the carpenter, and gone \away with
him.

“There is a matter, Don Ruy,” said the
count, after a thoughtful pause, “that we
shall discuss with you when an opportunity
offers, The more we see of you the more we
are drawn to you. For certain reasons we
have been struck by your appearance and con-
duct, and your very name is a tie. Bat we
will not now intrude upor your grief. Suflice
it to say that we are your friends, and that
we will stand by you to the last moment.
Ah! see there!”

The schooner was again visible, lying to a
little off the course of the galleon, and appa-
rently waiting for her to pass. In fact, the
instant the Silver Ship had again taken the
lead, the pirate fell off before the wind, under
& fragment of sail, which looked like a dusky
wing, and again followed her prey, thus mak-
ing a complete circuit around her,

‘‘A vulture does not circle around its prey
more surely,” said the countess. ‘You said
truly, querido mio—the eye of the enemy is
upon us!”

They continued watching the schooner un-
til she had again passed near the galleon, and
was fading out of sight ahead of her, and then
Captain Romero reappeared to report on the
leak.

“The ship is strained a little forward,
count,” he declared, ‘‘and I find that she has
taken in some water, but the leak can be kept
under by a moderate use of the pumps, I
doubt not, and may be effectually stopped at
daylight, when the gale has abated.”

He added that he had put working parties
at the pumps, and was now intending to make
another effort to give the pirate the slip in the
darkness,

‘Very well, captain,” responded the count.
“Do what you think best. We will leave you
in fall possession !’’

He took Ruy by the arm and drew him and
the countess away to the cabin.

The efforts of Captain Romero to escape the
enemy were so fruitless that we will not linger
upon them. It is enough to say that every
movement of the galleon was foreseen and
provided for, and that the schooner, now visi-
ble, now invisible—at one moment ahead of
her prey and at another behind her—contin-
ued to move as she pleased about the doomed
vessel,

All the night long the Silver Ship contin-
ued to be tossed helplessly on the waters, the
storm raging furiously for hours, or till near
day, and then beginning to abate. With the
breaking of day, the count and Ruy were on
deck, looking at the schooner, which was still
in sight. There she was, about a mile to the
windward, with reefed sails, and with her deli-
cate spars outlined against the gloomy sky—
all as safe and uninjured as though she had
spent the night in her land-locked retreat near
Isla Grande.

“The wind will give her no further trouble,”
said the count, bitterly. ‘She will now run

We must do what we

 

down tous. The pirate will make your be-

For a few mo-,
ments the dread visitant. was visible, driving

 

trothed, Don Ruy, one of the means of our
capture!”

“Shall you fight him, count, or will you
surrender ?”

“That depends upon the circumstances un-
der which he approaches us,"’ was the reply.
“I may say, however, that I shall not imperil
the life of your betrothed. It is hard to lose
our wealth, but its loss can bear no compari-
son with the loss of such a life; “Since the
pirate, in having such a captive, wields a ter-
rible power over us, it would be neither brave
nor wise for us to resort to acts of despeya-
tion. We will do all we can, in accordance
with humanity, and leave the rest with the
great Master of life, Keep your eye on the
schooner, Don Ruy, while I say a few. words
to the eountess.”

Proceeding to the cabin he found his wife
pacing the floor in a state of great anxiety,
She had neither slept nor rested during the
night, although she-had shown a quiet firm-
ness worthy of herself.

‘The Bloodhound has indeed scented his
prey,” said the count, folding her to his heart.
‘You must prepare to see him. First, re-
move these jowels, lest they invite the sword
of some lawless pirate.”

The countess calmly removed her diamond
ceinture, rolling it up and putting it in a large
casket, and then took the jewelled sprays from
her purple-black hair, the rings and bracelets
from her hands and arms, and placed them
beside the splendid belt,

‘Shall I have to fling them into the sea?”
she asked. ‘If Senor Nerle was a spy for
Callocarras, he has doubtless made a report
on my jewels, Can I hide them?”

‘Instead of hiding them, you had better
put them in the keeping of Ruy Leol,” said
the count. ‘The pirates will not suspect him
of having them, and it is possible that he may
escape. In that case they would be a fortune
tohim. We owe him our lives, you know,
love!” :

‘You are right, husband. I feel in him the
deep interest you experienced in him at your
first meeting. Please call him.”

Ruy was summoned, the jewels confided to
his keeping and concealed on his person, and
a few less costly ‘ornaments were left care-
lessly on the table.

‘If we die, Don Ruy,” said the countess,
“consider the jewels a present from us!"’

He pressed her hand respectfully and re-
turned to the deck, followed by the count.

A goneral buzz of excitement had now
arisen on the deck of the galleon, for the
schooner was approaching rapidly, with the
most of her sails set, and her crew swarmed
at their stations, all ready for action. Sud-
denly, while all was bustle and preparation on
the Silver Ship, Callocarras came out of his
cabin, bearing Yola in his arms, and in an-
other moment had lashed her to the foremast.

“You see, Don Ruy?” said Count Regla,
with an air’ of sorrowful resignation. ‘The
villain makes your betrothed his shield, as I
have foreseen and expected.”

The preparations of Captain Romero for a
desperate fight were paralysed by this move-
ment, and a general cry of horror arose from
the galleon’s decks. Nearer came the schoon-
er, with the wind falling and the sea growing
calmer, and she was soon within easy hail,
when she rounded to, and Callocarras shouted,

“We hope you will not fire upon us, Ruy
Leol. You might harm your best friend.”

His hoarse voice rang over the water with
startling distinctness.

Ruy reeled as if smitten a terrible blow, and
became as white as a corpse, his nostrils di-
lating, his eyes flashing, and his bosom heay-
ing convulsively with his awful emotions.

his eyes—so near that he could mark the ter-
ror and anguish written upon her pallid fea-
tures!

“Base and contemptible miscreant!’’ ex-
claimed Count Regla, ‘There are some men
so wicked that they are best left to the Great
Avenger, and this is one of them. Have no
fear, Don Ruy—we will not fire!”

The critical moment of the galleon’s fate
having come, her crew thronged around the
count and Ruy, excited and expectant. By
the count’s desire, Captain Romero addressed
them briefly, showing them the terrible ad-
vantages of the pirates, and advising and
commanding a quiet surrender. The facts in-
dicating this course were that Callocarras
would surely murder his captive, in case of
resistance, and that he was not likely to kill
his prisoners, if they made no resistance,

‘‘And so,” concluded the commander, ‘as
the least of two evils, we will surrender. The
count will not be entirely beggared by this
event, and if we escape with life there will yet
remain a career before us—-an opportunity for
vengeance!”

(To be Continued.)

CaEStieor:

The Neglected Warning ;
OR,

TRIALS OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL
THACHER.

THE

By Mary Kyle Dallas.

CHAPTER LI.—(Conrinvep.)
ROTH WOOD’S STORY,

‘In this, at least, she has told the truth,” said
Rothwood. ‘“Sheis my brother’s wife. I remem-
ber well the day when he first brought her home.
It was a day tobe marked with black in the his-
tory of my life,

“My brother was more than twenty years older
than myself—a tall, powerful man—who led the
life of a gentleman farmer, and had some money
at his command, which he wasted in improve-
ments, which horrified the old-faghioned farmers
about him, and which, somehow, were seldom
successful in his hands, whatever they were in the
hands of others. ‘Old bachelor’ he was celled in
our family, and old bachelor he seemed destined
to be, for at forty he was yet unmarried.

 

“At that time business or pleasure, I forget

There was his betrothed, immediately before | us

 

 

which, took him to New Orleans, and there he
tarried, week after week, month after month, to
the astonishment of his ‘friends, who considered
him a stay-at-home body, who would not willing-
ly have exchanged his farm for all the pleasures
of all the world besides,

‘He was absent nearly a year. Toward the
last of that time, we received a letter, written has-
tily, and ina manner.which renderedit. difficult
of comprehension. Something was intended, but
what—save that he would be home at 4certain
date and would bring somebody or ‘somethin
with him—that the house was to be cleancd an
freshened throughont, and large fires kept every-
where, and that our sisters (married all of them),
an old aunt and myself, were to be in readiness to
receive him, and—who or what could not be
guessed at. ie
| “A joke,’ said one. ‘It is some dog or sheep,
probably.’ ‘A friend,’ said another—‘some South-
ern gentleman.’ ‘Perhaps he has adopted a
child,’ suggested a third. And my sisters, with
visions of their own offspring before their eyes
hooted the idea. Why should he do such a thing?
The very idea was preposterous!

‘So we waited, and the time appointed—the
week before Christmas—came and passed, until
it was Christmas eve—a cold day, with high-piled
snow upon the ground, and not a path to be
seen, whether one looked toward the village on
the right, or the woodland on the left.

"Ho must come in sleigh or not at all,’ wo
said. Andif he came not that day Christmas
would pass without him, Soat dusk the women,
anxious and impatient, gathered about the win-
dows of the great parlor and looked out toward
the spires and roofs of the village.

“There they stood until the sun went down, and
the round yellow moon arose in the clear winter
sky. All in the distance was silver with her light,
or black with shadow; but about the homestead
it was red, for every shutter was flung wide opea,
and every room glittered with light and fire.

“We men, my brothers-in-law and myself, sat
near the parlor fire, smoking (by generous per-
mission) each a fragrant cigar, and looking ai the
women clustered together at the panes—my statc-
ly aunt, in her black satin and lace cap, in the
midst; the two elder sisters in matronly robes of
purple and green color, the youngest a bride, in
white, with glossy green leaves and scarlet ber-
ries twined in her hair. She was kneeling, her
forehead touching the glass and her eyes strain-
ing themselves to peer into the shadows.

“Suddenly she started up with a glad cry.

SA sleigh!’ she cried; ‘I see a aleigh!—I’m
sureIdo! There! now the moonbeams catch the
horses’ heads! Itis brother Oliver! Iam sure
it is brother. Oliver!’

“In araoment we all declared that sho was
right, and soon the jingle of the bells came to us
through the still night air.

‘The sleigh came our way to 4 certainty, andin
a moment the parlor was forsaken and we were
all out in the broad hall, the door wide open,
waiting to welcome Oliver.

“The sieigh came to the gate and stopped; E
was beside it in an instant, and there was Oliver,
who greeted me in the tenderest manner, with
something of excitement unusual to him. Then
he turned toward the sleigh and litted from it a
woman wrapped in furs, and taking her hand led
her up into the brightly-lighted hall and stood
amongst those whose joy was now mixed with
astonishment,

** "My wife,’ he gaid, and not a word more, and
she dropping her furs from her splendid shoul-
ders, stood before them in all her exquisite beauty.

‘* ‘He told me he would surprise you all,’ she
said. ‘You scarcely expected his wife, did you ?’

‘They were scarcely glad to see her, The
marriage of a wealthy bachelor brother is seldom
hailed with joy by his relatives, but they were
ladies and greeted her ag ladies should. The
men, I think, judging by myself, were too en-
tirely overwhelmed by her beauty to think of any-
thing else,

Here Rothwood paused and covered his face
with hig hands, The story was hard to tell.

‘‘Winnie,” he said, sadly, “youll hardly care
for me when you know what a weak rascal £ have
been. Perhaps you will turn your back upon me
and leave me to myself.”

Winnifred did not answer, but she put her
hand upon his shoulder softly, and kept it there
as he went on.

‘Her name was Aurelia,” continued Rothwood,
‘and we knew nothing of ‘her even when she had
been amongst us for a long while, save that she
was the daughter of a Southern planter. That
evening we knew not even this; but we could sce
that Oliver adored her. He sat beside her, and
as if against his own will his hand sometimes
rested on her beautiful black hair. She was a
brunette, with cheeks of pure crimson, and teeth
white and even as a row of pearls. But to de-
scribe her as she was would be impossible, The
description would as well portray a hundred other
women,

“She was twenty-one; my brother forty odd
and old looking for his yeara. My firat thought
when I saw them, side by side, was, how did he
win her? She married him from no romance; f
knew that very soon. My youngest sister, the
bride, said so openly when they had left us later
in the evening together in the parlor.

‘She married Oliver for his money,’ she said;
‘I’m sure of it; and I dislike her; I always will
and always must. There is no affinity between

‘Except that she is beautifal,? whispered the
young bridegroom in her ear, and my elder sister
overheard it. “Ihe Rothwoods are not an ugly
race,’ she said, ‘but don’t compare such a bons
fide beauty to any of us. The only fault you can
find in her face ig one that has nothing to do
with feature or color. But I’d rather have my
sister the homeliest dowdy under the gun than to
look like that’ woman |’

** ‘Why ?? queried the speaker’s own husband;
and she turned on him a little sharply.

** ‘Because she looks neither chaste nor trae,”
she said; ‘and little Martha Brent, who can just
read and write, and knows enough of good breed-
ing to courtesy to the minister, and nod to her
acquaintance,and whose hands are red and rough
28 & Washerwoman’s, would have been welcomed
by me as a sister-in-law, with better grace,
Though Oliver’s wite is beautiful, accomplished,
and fitted for a court, sue'll lead poor Nail a -ter-
rible life, I fear !?

“The others did not ‘contradict this assertion,
yet the men were thoroughly fascinated.

“Christmas time passed merrily enough, despite
the regolutions of this feminine cabinet council,
But all invitations to tarry longer were refused;
and by the next evening the house was empty of
its guests. My aunt, Oliver and his wife, and my-
self alone remaining,

“My aunt had been our housekeeper, and Oliver
evidently expected that this state of things would
continue; but in a week, the old lady gave warn-
ing of her intention to seek another home. She
should reside in future with my sister Margaret,
she said, who had several small children, and
really needed her, :

“Oliver felt hurt. Imuch guessed Aurelia felt
very glad. She told Oliver so in her own coaxing,
childish way when my aunt was fairly gone.

“ IT never felt like the mistress as long as she
was here,’ she said. ‘She ruled things with a rod
of iron, AndifIlooked from the window, or went
out into the garden, she had something to say
against it. Ishall be happier now!’ And Oliver
kissed her, and said, :

“Then it is best so, Aurelia.”

“JT wish my aunt had remained with us. Inever

would have had this story to tell if she had done
80, for she was ® watchful woman, keen of eye
and true of heart. Winnie, the worst is close at
hand.
“My brother kept within doors during the win-
ter, and we were seldom alone together; but as
spring came on, his farm occupied him once more,
and Aurelia and I were often for whole hours
alone. Sometimes, at his bidding, I 1ode out with
her, or drove her where she wished to go. Oliver
approved of it highly.

ane @ younger brother of him, Aurelia,’ he
said.

“A younger brother ! I was but one year young-
erthan bis beautifidl wife—at least, I was old
enough to fallin love with her; and, Winnie, I

fell in love with her, madly, passionately, desper- ,4 zy
ately. A love based only on her beauty, for I did Z RY i

notrespect her, and knew sho waa not good. ,
“Iwas not so bad at first as to think of telling (Ay
her so. My brother's wife would have been ss- AS