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diff --git a/old/66659-0.txt b/old/66659-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 67d41fc..0000000 --- a/old/66659-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2225 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 50, Vol. I, December 13, 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. 50, Vol. I, December 13, 1884 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: November 3, 2021 [eBook #66659] - -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. 50, VOL. I, DECEMBER 13, -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. 50.—VOL. I. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1884. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -A GLACIER GARDEN. - - -The glacier garden lies far away on a steep hillside by the Lake of -the Forest Cantons. Close to the picturesque town of Lucerne, a little -path leads past the sandstone crag on which is hewn Thorwaldsen’s -famous monument, to the small inclosed space, overshadowed by trees, -where have recently been discovered vestiges of the most remote days -in the youth of our old mother-earth. Hidden away amongst tangled fern -and bright green grass, we see huge surfaces of native rock, some -furrowed with parallel lines, others, with curious petrifactions of -the sea; and giant boulders smoothed and polished that do not in the -least resemble the surrounding rocks, but which are travellers from the -Alps, left stranded here by the glaciers in the last great Ice Age. It -is indeed a wonderful garden, with a wonderful history, and although, -as unscientific observers, we cannot trace the different phases of -its development in the dim geological past, still, standing by these -gray old stones on which have been laid the softening and romantic -influences of countless ages, it is as if we had pages of the world’s -history unrolled before our eyes. - -The proofs of past glaciers are all around us in the grindings and -scratchings on the rocks—in the ice-worn stones—and still more in -the deep smooth circular hollows, which are perhaps the most perfect -known specimens of the singular phenomena called glacier-mills. These -erosions have been found also in Scandinavia and in the Jura Mountains, -and are caused by the rapid whirling of a stone by a stream from the -melting ice, which in the course of ages scoops out ever deeper and -wider these cavities in the rock. But in this little garden we can -trace the origin of the glacier-mills, from the tiny erosion just -commenced, to the grand basin, twenty feet in diameter, and more than -thirty feet deep, on whose smooth walls are clearly marked the spiral -windings caused by the whirling of the stone perpetually from east to -west. If you take up the glacier-stone that lies at the bottom of this -mill, you will see not only how strangely round and polished it has -become, but also that it is composed of totally different rock, and -must have been transported hither by the great Reuss glacier from the -granite slopes of the St Gothard. - -To look at these polished cavities, nobody would dream that they were -the mere evidences of the eddying action of an ice-stream upon a small -fragment of rock, and yet this is exactly what geology teaches us they -really are; indeed, there is no rock or mineral, even the flint and -agate, but what is permeable in some degree by the action of water; and -like granite and marble, most stones are softer and more easily wrought -before they are dried and hardened by air-seasoning. Are not similar -effects of the action of torrents in the erosion of rock seen in almost -every gorge through which rushes a mountain torrent? It seems all but -incredible that to a little rippling rivulet is due the tremendous -erosion of many alpine ravines, with their great height and precipitous -walls. But science tells us very strange tales, even that the mountain -streams in the present day are depressing the ridges of the Alps -and the Apennines, raising the plains of Lombardy and Provence, and -extending the coasts far into the waters of the Adriatic and the -Mediterranean. Thus it is easy to understand how, at that remote period -when a vast ice-sheet covered not only our garden but all Switzerland -from the Alps to the Jura, the loose stones which had become detached -from the moraine, and were met by some barrier in the ice whirled about -by rushing water, ground down first the ice, then the rock, and in the -wear and tear of unnumbered centuries grew round and smooth like the -basins in which they revolved. - -It is very seldom that loose fragments of rock exercise a protective -power upon the ice; but instances have been met with on the higher -glaciers of large stones warding off the rain and the radiation of -the sun from the ice immediately beneath them; so that as the glacier -wastes and lowers in the course of time, these glacier-tables remain -fixed upon elevated pillars of ice, which sometimes reach to a height -of ten or twelve feet above the general level. - -At Lucerne, it is impossible to forget, as we wander about the paths -in this archaic garden, that countless years before the great glaciers -planed away the old flora from off the face of the land, there was a -period of tropical heat and tropical vegetation which succeeded the -earliest epoch in the existence of our globe. Petrifactions of the -first stages of life are distinctly visible upon, the rocks—relics of a -primeval ocean. - -But with the story of the rocks there is mingled no trace of human -interest. For them Time has stood still and the seasons brought no -change, until a few years ago, when the ground being excavated for the -foundations of a new house, these unsuspected relics were brought to -light from amongst the sand and pebbles and ice-worn boulders. These -relics are unconnected even with the first traditions of the people of -the Alps, and had remained in quiet slumber beneath the glacial débris -for long ages before the earliest settlers raised their pile-dwellings -above the blue waters of the lake. Evidence, indeed, has been afforded -that the lacustrine dwelling-places were inhabited by generations of -men two thousand, or, as some authorities affirm, six thousand years -before the Christian era. Amongst the piles of oak, or beech, or fir -wood, rising occasionally in three or four tiers, one above another, in -the accumulated waste of animal and vegetable life found at the bottom -of the lake, were stone celts and other implements of bone or flint, -memorials of a people who perished at a period beyond the reach of the -most distant annals; very old, in an historical point of view, although -in a geological estimate they are but of yesterday. For what is the -antiquity of the earliest of these relics compared with that of the -latest records plainly written upon the smooth surface of the rocks? - -In the glacier garden we find not only the indefinable charm of a vast -antiquity, but a suggestiveness of the strange contrast between the -present and the past. On the one hand there is busy life, noise, warmth -upon the winding shores of the placid lake, magnificent mountains -girdled by forest trees, and woven in and out with verdant pastures and -far-off snow—all things lovely of the earth present before our eyes; on -the other hand, we have a glimpse into the remote and mysterious past, -when the sun shone down upon an illimitable white world of snow and ice. - - - - -ONE WOMAN’S HISTORY. - - -CHAPTER XII. - -Miss Gaisford had found a quiet nook in the lower grounds of the hotel, -well out of view from the windows, where there was little likelihood of -being disturbed by the ordinary run of visitors. Now and then, a newly -married couple, or a pair of turtle-doves who were not yet married, but -hoped to be before long, would invade her solitude; but such momentary -interruptions served rather to amuse her than otherwise. ‘Here comes -another peripatetic romance,’ she would remark to herself. ‘Now, if -those two young people would only come and sit down beside me, and -tell me all about it, first one telling me a bit and then the other, -till I knew their story by heart, they would do me a real kindness, -and save me a lot of invention. All newly married couples ought to be -compelled to write their Love Memoirs, which should afterwards be bound -in volumes (calf), and kept in a sort of Record Office, where we poor -story-tellers could have access to them whenever we happened to be hard -up for a plot.’ - -To this sheltered nook a table and chair had been brought from the -hotel, and here, on this Friday forenoon, Miss Gaisford was busy -writing. But she laid down her pen more frequently than was usual with -her when so employed, and had little fits of musing between times. - -‘I’m not i’ the mood this morning, that’s certain,’ she said at last. -‘My thoughts seem all in a muddle. I can’t get Mora out of my head. -She puzzles me and makes me uneasy. It’s mental illness, not bodily, -that keeps her to her room. Colonel Woodruffe had a long talk with her -on Wednesday, and then drove her back to the hotel, which he would -scarcely have done, I think, if he had been decisively and finally -rejected. There’s a mystery somewhere; but Mora is a woman whom one -cannot question. I have no doubt she will tell me all about it when she -feels herself at liberty to do so. Meanwhile, it’s a good lesson in -curbing that curiosity which certain cynical moralists of the inferior -sex have had the unblushing effrontery to affirm to be the bane of -ours.—But this is frivolity.’ She dipped her pen in the inkstand, and -running her eyes over the few lines last written, read them half aloud: - -‘“Next moment, Montblazon’s equipage, which was drawn by six coal-black -steeds, and preceded by two outriders in livery, drew up at the -palace gates. As the Duc alighted from his chariot, a woman, young -and beautiful, though in rags, pressed through the crowd till she -was almost near enough to have touched him. ‘For the love of heaven, -monseigneur!’ she cried in piteous accents. A gorgeously attired lackey -would have thrust her back, but an imperious gesture of Montblazon’s -jewelled hand arrested him. There was something in the expression of -the woman’s face which struck him as though it were a face seen in a -dream long ago. Montblazon, who knew not what it was to carry money -about his person, extracted from the pocket of his embroidered vest a -diamond—one of a handful which he was in the habit of carrying loose -about him to give away as whim or charity dictated—and dropped it -into the woman’s extended palm. Then without waiting for her thanks, -he strode forward up the palace stairs, and a few moments later found -himself in a saloon which was lighted by myriads of perfumed wax tapers -set in sconces of burnished silver. Montblazon, who towered a head -taller than any one there, gazed round him with a lurid smile.”’ - -‘Yes, I think that will do,’ said Miss Pen as she took another dip of -ink. ‘“Lurid smile” is not amiss.’ - -She was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. She looked up, and as -she did so, a shade of annoyance flitted across her face. ‘I thought -that I was safe from her here. I wonder how she has found me out,’ she -said to herself. - -The object of these remarks was none other than Lady Renshaw. It was -quite by accident that she had discovered Miss Gaisford. The news -told her by Mr Etheridge had excited her in no common degree; there -was no one in the hotel that she cared to talk to; so, finding it -impossible to stay indoors, she had sought relief in the open air. She -was expecting Bella and Mr Golightly back every minute; meanwhile, she -was wandering aimlessly about the grounds, and brightened up at the -sight of Miss Penelope. Here at least was some one she knew—some one -to talk to. She advanced smilingly. ‘What a number of correspondents -you must have, dear Miss Gaisford,’ said her ladyship after a few words -of greeting. ‘You seem to spend half your time in writing.’ She was -glancing sharply at Miss Pen’s closely covered sheets of manuscript. - -‘Yes, I do write a good deal,’ answered the latter as she began to -put her sheets in order. ‘I rather like it. Between you and me, when -Septimus is busy other ways, or is enjoying his holiday, I sometimes -try my hand at writing a sermon for him.’ - -‘Really now! And do the congregation never detect the difference -between your discourses and his?’ - -‘I don’t think they trouble their heads a bit about it. So long as we -don’t make use of too many hard words, and get the sermon well over in -twenty minutes, they are perfectly satisfied.’ - -Lady Renshaw was in possession of a certain secret, and although she -had given her word that she would not reveal it for the present, it -was too much to expect of poor human nature that she should not make -some allusion to it, if the opportunity were given her, especially in -conversation with another of her own sex. - -‘I understand that we are likely to have one or two important arrivals -at the hotel this evening,’ she remarked with studied indifference, as -she shook a little dust off the flounces of her dress. - -‘Indeed. A Russian Prince, an Ambassador, an Emperor travelling incog., -or whom?’ - -‘Dear me, no!—nobody of that kind. But my lips are sealed. I must not -say more.’ - -‘Then why did you say anything?’ remarked Miss Pen to herself. - -‘Still, when you come to know, I feel sure that you will be -surprised—very greatly surprised. Strange events may happen here before -to-morrow. But I dare not say more, so you must not press me.’ - -‘I won’t,’ responded Miss Pen emphatically. - -‘Why, I declare, yonder come my darling Bella and Mr Golightly! I’ve -been looking out for them this hour or more.—You will excuse me, my -dear Miss Gaisford, I’m sure.’ - -‘Certainly,’ was the uncompromising reply. - -Her ladyship smiled and nodded, and then tripped away as lightly and -gracefully as a youthful elephant might have done. - -‘Now, what _can_ the old nincompoop mean?’ asked Miss Pen of herself. -‘That there is some meaning in her words, I do not doubt. She is no -friend of Mora, I feel sure. Can what she said have any reference to -her? But I’m altogether in the dark, and it’s no use worrying. If -there’s trouble in the wind, we shall know about it soon enough.’ - - * * * * * - -‘He has proposed—I know it from his manner,’ exclaimed Lady Renshaw to -her niece as soon as they were alone in the hotel; ‘so it’s no use your -telling me that he hasn’t.’ - -‘I had no intention of telling you anything of the kind,’ answered the -girl demurely. - -‘What did you say to him in reply?’ - -‘Very little. You told me not to say much. Besides,’ added Bella slily, -‘he seemed to like to do most of the talking himself.’ - -‘Men generally do at such times.—But didn’t the young man say anything -about speaking to me?’ - -‘O yes, aunt.’ - -‘And very properly so, too. But you need not refer him to me just -at present; I will give you a hint when the proper time arrives. -Meanwhile, I hope you will not allow yourself to get entangled to such -an extent that you won’t be able to extricate yourself, should it -become necessary to do so.’ - -Bella was taken with a sudden fit of sneezing. - -‘Mr Archie Ridsdale’s affair is by no means a _fait accompli_,’ -continued her ladyship; ‘and we shall see what we shall see in the -course of the next few hours.’ She nodded her head with an air of -mystery and tried to look oracular. - -Presently Bella pleaded a headache and escaped to her own room. - - * * * * * - -Clarice was at the station at least twenty minutes before the train by -which Archie was to travel could by any possibility arrive. It showed -great remissness on the part of the railway people, considering how -anxious she was for her sweetheart’s arrival, that this very train -should be five minutes and fourteen seconds late. Such gross disregard -of the feelings of young ladies in love ought to be severely dealt with. - -At length the train steamed slowly in, with Archie’s head and half his -long body protruding from the window, to the annoyance of every other -passenger in the compartment. He was out of the train before any one -else, and as it glided slowly forward before coming to a stand, those -inside were favoured with a sort of panoramic glimpse of a very pretty -girl being seized, hugged, and unblushingly kissed by a young fellow, -to whom, at that moment, the code of small social proprieties was -evidently a dead letter. - -‘What about your father?’ asked Clarice as soon as she had recovered -her breath in some measure and had given a tug or two to her -disarranged attire. - -‘What about him?’ queried Archie, who was looking after his portmanteau. - -‘Of course he has not come down by this train, or you would have -travelled together. But I suppose you know he’s expected at the -_Palatine_ to-night—at least so Mr Etheridge told me.’ - -‘Etheridge! is he here?’ - -‘Yes; didn’t you know? He reached here a few hours after you left for -London. He brought a letter for you from your father all the way from -Spa.’ - -Archie scratched his head: even heroes go through that undignified -process occasionally. ‘Upon my word, I don’t know what to make of the -governor,’ he said. ‘He seems to get more crotchety every day. Here, -according to what you say, he sends poor Etheridge all the way from Spa -as the bearer of a letter which any other man would have intrusted to -the post; then he apparently changes his mind and telegraphs for me to -meet him in London. To London I go, and there wait, dangling my heels; -but no Mr Governor turns up. Then Blatchett receives a telegram from -somewhere—by-the-bye, he never told me where he did receive it from—in -which I am instructed to return to Windermere immediately, and am told -that my long-lost papa will meet his boy there. It’s jolly aggravating, -to say the least of it.’ - -‘Mr Etheridge says that Sir William may perhaps want to see me. O -Archie, I was never so frightened in my life!’ - -He soothed and petted her after the fashion which young men are -supposed to find effectual in such cases, and presently they drew up at -the hotel. - -They went at once to the sitting-room, the only inmates of which they -found to be Lady Renshaw, Bella, and Mr Golightly. The last had come -to inquire whether Miss Wynter would go for a row on the lake after -dinner. If she would, there was a particular boat which he would like -to engage beforehand. - -Lady Renshaw was doubtful. She was inclined to think that Bella had -caught cold on the lake in the morning. She had sneezed more than once. -It would scarcely be advisable, her ladyship thought, for Miss Wynter -to venture on the water again in the chill of the evening. Besides, the -clouds looked threatening, and to be caught in a storm on the lake, she -had been told, was dangerous. - -In short, without exactly wishing to discourage Mr Golightly, she was -desirous of damping his ardour in some measure for the time being. Till -she should be able to judge how events were likely to shape themselves, -he must not be allowed too many opportunities of being alone with -Bella; perhaps even, at the end, it might become necessary to give him -the cold shoulder altogether. - -Lady Renshaw was in the midst of her platitudes when Archie and Clarice -entered the room. On their way from the station Clarice had spoken of -her sister’s indisposition, so that Archie was prepared not to find -Madame De Vigne downstairs; but probably he had hardly counted upon -coming so unexpectedly on her ladyship. As, however, she was there, the -only possibility left him was to look as pleasant as possible. - -He greeted her with as much cordiality as he could summon up at a -moment’s notice, and then he turned to Miss Wynter, whose pretty -face he was really pleased to see again. There was a hidden meaning -laughing out of his eyes as he shook hands with her. It was as though -he had said: ‘You naughty girl, I should like to spoil your little -game, just for the fun of the thing, but I won’t.’ - -He did spoil it, however, a moment later, all unwittingly. Turning to -Dick, who appeared to be gazing abstractedly out of one of the windows, -he gave him a hearty slap on the shoulder. ‘Dulcimer, old chappie, how -are you? Delighted to see you again.’ - -Next moment he could have bitten his tongue out. - -‘Dulcimer!’ shrieked her ladyship, whose ears had caught the name. - -The young people turned and stared at each other in blank dismay. Dick -shrugged his shoulders, and was the first to recover his _sang-froid_. -The moment had come for him to take the bull by the horns. - -‘Dulcimer!’ again exclaimed her ladyship in a tone of hopeless -bewilderment, that was at once both ludicrous and pathetic, as she -glanced at the dismayed faces around her. - -‘Even so, Lady Renshaw. I am Richard Dulcimer, at your service.’ He -spoke as quietly as though he were mentioning some fact of everyday -occurrence. - -‘You, that Richard Dulcimer—that impudent pretender—that—that -cockatrice, who used to follow my niece about in London wherever she -went! No, no’—peering into his face—‘I cannot believe it. You are -amusing yourself at my expense.’ - -‘Nevertheless, unless I was changed at nurse, I am that cockatrice, -Richard Dulcimer. As any further attempt at concealment would be -useless, if your ladyship will permit me, I will enlighten you in a few -words.’ - -She only stared at him, breathing very hard, but otherwise showing by -no sign that she heard what he was saying. - -‘I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Wynter on several occasions in -London,’ resumed Dick. ‘Whether your ladyship believes it or not, I -fell in love with her, hopelessly and irremediably. I am a poor man, -and you scouted my pretensions, and forbade your niece ever to speak -to me again. It is not in my province to blame your ladyship for doing -that which you deemed to be for Miss Wynter’s advantage; but it by no -means followed that I should fall in with your views. I heard that you -and Miss Wynter were coming to this place, and I determined to follow -you. Had I not made some change in my appearance, you would at once -have recognised me, and my plans would have been frustrated. I took off -my beard and moustache, dyed my hair and eyebrows, donned a clerical -costume which I happened to have by me for another purpose, and trusted -to my good fortune to escape detection. The rest is known to your -ladyship.’ - -‘The rest—yes. You said that your name was Golightly, and you -introduced yourself to me as the son of the Bishop of Melminster, which -shows plainly what a wicked wretch you must be.’ - -‘Your ladyship must excuse me if I set you right as regards the facts -of the case. I said that my name was Golightly. So it is—Richard -Golightly Dulcimer; but I never said, nor even hinted, that I was -the son of Bishop Golightly. It was your ladyship who arrived at that -conclusion by some process of reasoning best known to yourself.’ - -‘Oh!’ was all that her ladyship could find to say at the moment. - -Archie and Clarice stole quietly out of the room. - -Lady Renshaw turned to her niece. ‘Am I to presume, Miss Wynter, that -you have been a party to this vile fraud?’ she asked in her iciest -tones. ‘Am I to understand that you have known all along that this -person was Mr Dulcimer, and that you have been cognisant of this wicked -conspiracy?’ - -Bella hung her head. - -‘Your silence convicts you. It is even so, then. I have nourished a -viper, and knew it not. But, understand me, from this time I discard -you; I cast you off; I have done with you for ever!’ - -Tears sprang to the girl’s eyes. ‘O aunt, forgive me!’ she exclaimed as -she sprang forward and tried to clasp her ladyship’s hand. - -The latter drew back a step or two and waved her away. ‘Touch me not!’ -she said. ‘Henceforth, you and I are strangers. You have chosen to -sacrifice me for the sake of this impostor. Marry him—you can do no -less now—and become a pauper’s wife for the rest of your days. That is -your fate.’ - -Lady Renshaw turned without another word, drew her skirts closer around -her, and stalked slowly out of the room. - -The weeping girl would have hurried after her, had not Dick put his arm -round her and held her fast. - -‘No,’ he said; ‘you shall not go just yet. She wants to make you -believe that she is an ill-used victim, whereas it is you who have been -the victim all along. Yes, the victim of her greed, her selfishness, -and her willingness to sacrifice you for the sake of her own social -advancement. What would she have cared whom you married, or whether you -were happy or miserable, if only, by your means, she could have climbed -one rung higher on the ladder of her ambition! Here is the proof: Now -that she finds you are no longer of use to her for the furtherance of -her schemes, she casts you off with as little compunction as she would -an old glove. Dearest, she is not worth your tears!’ - -But Bella’s tears were not so readily stanched, and for a time she -refused to be comforted. - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -Half an hour later, as Lady Renshaw was sitting alone in her room, -musing in bitterness of spirit on the mutability of human affairs, a -message was brought her. Sir William Ridsdale’s compliments to Lady -Renshaw, and would her ladyship favour him with her company for a few -minutes in his apartments? - -She rose with a sigh. Her anticipated triumph was shorn of half its -glory. Archie Ridsdale might be a free man to-morrow, and it would -matter nothing now, as far as she was concerned. Bella had made a fool -of herself, and doubtless Archie had all along been a party to the -deception. This thought coming suddenly, revived her like a stimulant. -What would her disappointment be in comparison with his humiliation -when he should learn that which his father had to tell him! Then there -was that haughty Madame De Vigne. For her, too, the hour of humiliation -was at hand. As she thought of these things, while on her way to Sir -William’s room, Lady Renshaw’s spirits rose again. She felt that life -had still some compensations for her. - -A staid-looking man-servant ushered her into the room. She gazed round; -but there was no one to be seen save Colonel Woodruffe, who was a -stranger to her, and Mr Etheridge. The latter rose and advanced with -his thin, faint smile. - -‘I was given to understand that I should find Sir William Ridsdale -here,’ said her ladyship in a somewhat aggrieved tone. - -‘I am Sir William Ridsdale, very much at your service,’ was the quiet -reply of the smiling, white-haired gentleman before her. - -Probably in the whole course of her life Lady Renshaw had never been so -much taken aback as she was at that moment. She literally gasped for -words, but none came. - -‘Will you not be seated?’ said the baronet; and with that he led her to -a chair, and then he drew up another for himself a little distance away. - -‘I will give your ladyship credit for at once appreciating the motives -by which I was influenced in acting as I have acted. I came here -incognito in order that I might be able to see and judge for myself -respecting certain matters which might possibly very materially affect -both my son’s future and my own. Archie was got out of the way for a -day or two; and the only person who knew me not to be Mr Etheridge was -my old friend here, Colonel Woodruffe, to whom, by-the-bye, I must -introduce your ladyship.’ - -‘It was really too bad of you, Sir William, to hoax us all in the way -you have done,’ simpered her ladyship when the process of introduction -to the colonel was over. She did not forget that elderly baronets have -occasionally fallen victims to the wiles of good-looking widows. ‘But -for my part, I must confess that from the first I had my suspicions -that you were not the person you gave yourself out to be. There was -about you a sort of _je ne sais quoi_, an impalpable something, which -caused me more than once to say to myself: “Any one can see that that -dear Mr Etheridge is a gentleman born and bred—one who has been in -the habit of moving in superior circles. He must have known reverses. -Evidently, at one period of his life, he has occupied a position very -different from that of an amanuensis.”’ - -‘Madam, you flatter me,’ replied the baronet with a grave inclination -of the head. ‘As I have had occasion to remark before, your ladyship’s -acumen is something phenomenal.’ - -The widow was rather doubtful as to the meaning of ‘acumen;’ but she -accepted it as a compliment. ‘And now, dear Sir William, that you have -come and seen and judged for yourself, you will have no difficulty in -making up your mind how to act.’ - -‘My mind is already made up, Lady Renshaw.’ - -‘Ah—just so. Under the painful circumstances of the case, you could -have no hesitation as to the conclusion at which you ought to arrive. -What a fortunate thing that I happened to find that scrap of paper in -the way I did!’ - -‘Very fortunate indeed, because, as I remarked this morning, it might -have fallen into the hands of some one much less discreet than your -ladyship. As it happened, however, although I did not say so to you at -the time, it told me nothing that I did not know already.’ - -‘Nothing that you did not know already!’ gasped her ladyship. - -‘Nothing. Madame De Vigne, of her own free will, had already -commissioned her friend, Colonel Woodruffe, to tell me without -reservation the whole history of her most unhappy married life.’ - -‘What an idiot the woman must be!’ was her ladyship’s unspoken comment; -but she only stared into the baronet’s face in blank amazement. -Recovering herself with an effort, she said with a cunning smile: -‘People sometimes make a merit of confessing that which they can no -longer conceal. You will know how to appraise such a statement at its -proper worth. You say that your mind is already made up, Sir William. I -think that from the first there could be no doubt as to what the result -would be.’ - -‘Very little doubt, indeed,’ he answered drily. ‘For instance, here is -a proof of it.’ - -He rose as he spoke, and crossed to the opposite side of the room, -where was a window set in an alcove, which just at present was -partially shrouded by a heavy curtain. With a quick movement of -the hand, Sir William drew back the curtain, and revealed, to Lady -Renshaw’s astonished gaze, Mr Archie Ridsdale sitting with a skein of -silk on his uplifted hands in close proximity to Miss Loraine, who was -in the act of winding the silk into a ball. The young people started -to their feet in dismay as the curtain was drawn back. It was a pretty -picture. ‘There’s no need to disturb yourselves,’ said Sir William -smilingly; ‘I only wanted to give her ladyship a pleasant surprise.’ -With that he let fall the curtain and went back to his chair. - -‘A pleasant surprise, indeed! You don’t mean to say, Sir William’—— Her -ladyship choked and stopped. - -‘I mean to say, Lady Renshaw, that in Miss Loraine you behold my son’s -future wife. He has chosen wisely and well; and that his married life -will be a happy one, I do not doubt. In the assumed character of Mr -Etheridge, I made the acquaintance of Miss Loraine, so that I am no -stranger to her sweet temper and fine disposition. If anything, she is -just a leetle too good for Master Archie.’ - -Lady Renshaw felt as if the ground were heaving under her feet. In -fact, at that moment an earthquake would hardly have astonished her. -Most truly had Sir William been termed an eccentric man: he was more -than eccentric—he was mad! She had only one shaft more left in her -quiver, but that was tipped with venom. - -‘Then poor Archie, when he marries, will be brother-in-law to a person -whose husband was or is a convict,’ she murmured presently, more as if -communing sorrowfully with herself, than addressing Sir William. Her -eyes were fixed on the cornice pole of one of the windows; and when she -shook her head, which she did with an air of profound melancholy, she -seemed to be shaking it at that useful piece of furniture. Sir William -and Colonel Woodruffe exchanged glances. Then the baronet said: ‘Will -you oblige me, Lady Renshaw?’ - -He led the way to the opposite end of the room, where anything they -might say would be less likely to be overheard by the young people -behind the curtain. ‘Yes, as your ladyship very justly observes,’ -said the baronet, ‘when my son marries Miss Loraine, he will be -brother-in-law to an ex-convict—for the fellow is alive—to a man whom I -verily believe to be one of the biggest scoundrels on the face of the -earth. It will be a great misfortune, I grant you, but one which, under -the circumstances, can in nowise be helped.’ - -‘It will be one that the world will never tire of talking about.’ - -‘Poor Madame De Vigne! I pity her from the bottom of my heart; and you -yourself, as a woman, Lady Renshaw, can hardly fail to do the same.’ - -Lady Renshaw shrugged her shoulders, but was silent. - -‘What a misfortune for her, to be entrapped through a father’s -selfishness, when a girl just fresh from school, into marriage with -such a villain!’ resumed the baronet. ‘But in what way could she -possibly have helped herself? Alas! in such a case there is no help -for a woman. When—years after he had robbed and deserted her, and had -fallen into the clutches of the law—she received the news of his death, -it was impossible that she should feel anything but thankfulness for -her release. Time went on, and she had no reason to doubt the fact of -her widowhood, when suddenly, only three days ago, her husband turned -up—here! I have told you all this, Lady Renshaw, in order that you may -know the truth of the case as it now stands, and not be led away by any -distorted version of it. Ah, poor Madame De Vigne! How was she to help -herself?’ - -‘That is not a question I am called upon to answer—it is not one that -the world will even condescend to ask. The fact still remains that she -is a convict’s wife, and as such the world will judge her.’ - -‘Yes, yes; I know that what we term the world deals very hardly in such -matters—that the innocent are too often confounded with the guilty. -But in this case at least, the world need never be any wiser than it -is now. The secret of Madame De Vigne’s life is known to three people -only—to you, whom a singular accident put in possession of part of it; -to Colonel Woodruffe; and to myself. Not even her sister is acquainted -with the story of her married life. Such being the case, we three have -only to keep our own counsel; we have only to determine that not one -word of what we know respecting this most unhappy history shall ever -pass our lips, and loyally and faithfully carry out that determination, -and the world need never know more of the past life of Madame De Vigne -than it knows at the present moment. As for the fellow himself, I shall -know how to keep his tongue quiet. I am sure that you agree with me, -dear Lady Renshaw.’ - -A vindictive gleam came into her ladyship’s eyes. The time had come -for her to show her claws. Such a moment compensated for much that had -preceded it. - -She laughed a little discordant laugh. ‘Really, Sir William, who would -have thought there was so much latent romance in your composition? -Who would have dreamt of your setting up as the champion of Beauty in -distress? To be sure, if you persevere in your present arrangements, -this Madame De Vigne will become a connection of your own, and regarded -from that point of view, I can quite understand your anxiety to hush -up the particulars of her very ugly story. Family scandals are things -always to be avoided, are they not, Sir William?’ - -‘Always, Lady Renshaw—when practicable.’ - -‘Just so. But as Madame De Vigne, thank heaven! will be no connection -of mine either near or distant, you will pardon me if I hardly see -the necessity for such extreme reticence on my part. The world will -get to know that I have been mixed up to a certain extent in this -affair—somehow, it always does get to know such things—and I shall -be questioned on every side. What am I to say? What reply am I to -make to such questions? Am I to tell an untruth, and say that I know -nothing—that I am in absolute ignorance? Or am I to prevaricate, and -insinuate, for instance, that Madame De Vigne is a lady of the highest -respectability and of unblemished antecedents—a person, in short, whom -any family might be proud to count as one of themselves? You will -admit, Sir William, that the position in which I shall be placed will -be a most embarrassing one?’ - -‘Most embarrassing indeed, Lady Renshaw—almost as much so, in fact, as -if some one were to say to you: “I was past your grandfather’s shop in -Drury Lane the other day. The place looks precisely as it did forty -years ago. Nothing is changed except the name over the door.” That -might be rather embarrassing to you, might it not?’ - -All at once Lady Renshaw looked as if she were about to faint. The -rouge on her cheeks showed up in ghastly mockery of the death-like -pallor which had overspread the rest of her face. Her lips twitched -convulsively. She sat staring at Sir William, unable to utter a word. - -‘In most families, Lady Renshaw, nay, in most individual lives, -there are certain secrets, certain private matters, which concern -ourselves alone, and about which we would infinitely prefer that the -world, and perhaps even our most intimate friends, should remain in -happy ignorance. It could be no gratification to your ladyship, for -instance, if the circle of your acquaintance were made aware that -your grandfather started in life as a rag and bone merchant in the -fashionable locality just named—“Solomon Izzard” was the name painted -over his door—and that your ladyship first saw the light under the -roof of that unsavoury emporium. No; certainly that could be no -gratification to you. Your father at that time was just beginning to -lay the foundation of the fortune which he subsequently accumulated as -a speculative builder. My father owned certain house property in the -neighbourhood, and he employed your father to look after the repairs. -Hence it was that, on two occasions when little more than a youth, I -was sent with business messages to the Lane, and it was on one of those -occasions that I first had the distinguished pleasure of meeting your -ladyship. You were a mere child at the time, and your father used to -call you “Peggy,” if I mistake not. He was holding you in his arms, -and you struggled to get down; but he would not let you go. “She wants -to be off with the other children,” he said to me; “and then she gets -playing in the gutter, and makes a nice mess of herself.” Those were -his exact words. Your ladyship will pardon me for saying that you -struck me at the time as being a remarkably pretty child, although it -is possible that your face might with advantage have been a little -cleaner than it was.’ - -Never before in the whole course of her life had Lady Renshaw had -the tables turned on her in such fashion. Scalding tears of rage and -mortification sprang to her eyes, but she bit her lip hard and kept -them back. At the moment, she felt as if she could willingly have -stabbed Sir William to the heart. - -She sat without uttering a word. What, indeed, could she find to say? - -‘Come, come, Lady Renshaw,’ resumed Sir William smilingly; ‘there is -no occasion for you to be downhearted. The best thing that you and I -can do will be to draw up and sign—metaphorically—a treaty of peace, -to which Woodruffe here shall act as witness. The terms of the treaty -shall be these: you on your part shall promise to keep locked up in -your bosom as a sacred secret, not even to be hinted at to your dearest -friend, that knowledge respecting the married life of Madame De Vigne -which has come so strangely into your possession; while I on my part -will promise faithfully to keep undivulged those particulars concerning -your ladyship’s early career of which I have just made mention—which, -and others too that I could mention, although you could in nowise help -them, I feel sure that you would not care to have published on the -housetops. Come, what say you, shall it be a compact between us?’ - -‘As you please,’ she answered sullenly as she rose from her chair, -adding with a contemptuous shrug, ‘I have no wish to injure Madame De -Vigne.’ - -‘Nor I the slightest desire to humiliate Lady Renshaw.’ - -Was it possible that this man, whose tongue knew how to stab so keenly, -could really be the same individual as mild-mannered, soft-spoken Mr -Etheridge, who had seemed as if he could hardly say Bo to a goose! - -Her ladyship seemed to hesitate for a moment or two; then she said: -‘I will see you again to-morrow—when you are alone,’ with a little -vindictive glance at the impassive Colonel Woodruffe. - -‘I shall be at your ladyship’s command whenever and wherever may suit -you best.’ - -He crossed to the door, opened it, and made her one of his most stately -bows as she walked slowly out, with head erect and eyes that stared -straight before her, but with rage and bitter mortification gnawing at -her heartstrings. - -‘We have still that scoundrel of a Laroche to reckon with,’ said Sir -William quietly to the colonel as he shut the door upon her ladyship. - - - - -RECOLLECTIONS OF AN ANGLO-INDIAN CHAPLAIN. - -BANGALORE—THE ENGLISH CANTONMENT. - - -About a mile distant from the old fort and city of Bangalore are -the English cantonment and modern native town. Conceive a field or -parade-ground a mile and a half in length and a quarter of a mile -in breadth, lined on each side by avenues of large beautiful trees, -overshadowing the encircling footpath and carriage-drive. Along the -southern boundary of this parade-ground are the houses and shops of -the Europeans and Eurasians; whilst to the north are lines of barracks -for both European and native troops, from the midst of which rises -prominently the tower of St Andrew’s Church, which is, or was, the -finest and highest building in Bangalore. Many are the beautiful roads -stretching away from this parade-ground into the country, where are the -picturesque dwelling-houses of civilians and officers, whose encircling -gardens all the year round are in perpetual bloom—for Bangalore, -though in a tropical region, has an Italian climate. The fortunate -Europeans who are stationed there are not scorched up by the terrible -heat under which their unlucky countrymen must swelter at Madras and -in the southern plains; and Christmas comes to them at Bangalore, not -wreathed with snowflakes and pendent with icicles, as it does to us, -but beautiful with roses and variegated garlands of flowers. - -It was rather a novel thing for my friends Dr Norman Macleod and Dr -Watson to be taken on a New-year’s day, as I took them in 1868, to a -magnificent show of flowers and fruits in the ‘Lall-baugh’ Gardens of -Bangalore. In his usual happy style, the celebrated Norman thus relates -his visit: ‘The European quarter is as different from the Pettah as -Belgravia is from the east end of London. Here the houses are in their -own compounds with shrubs and flower-gardens quite fresh and blooming. -Open park-like spaces meet the eye everywhere, with broad roads as -smooth and beautiful as the most finished in England. Equipages whirl -along, and ladies and gentlemen ride by on horseback. One catches a -glimpse of a church tower or steeple; and these things, together with -the genial air, make one feel once more at home; at all events, in a -bit of territory which seems cut out of home and settled in India. -There are delightful drives, one to the Lall-baugh laid out in the -last century by Hyder Ali. Our home feeling was greatly intensified -by attending a flower-show. There was the usual military band; and -crowds of carriages conveyed fashionable parties to the entrance. -Military officers and civil servants of every grade were there, up -to Mr Bowring, Chief Commissioner of Mysore. The most remarkable and -interesting spectacles to me were the splendid vegetables of every -kind, including potatoes which would have delighted an Irishman; leeks -and onions to be remembered, like those of Egypt; cabbages, turnips, -cauliflowers, peas, beans, such as England could hardly equal; splendid -fruit, apples, peaches, oranges, figs, and pomegranates; the display -culminating in a magnificent array of flowers, none of which pleased -me more than the beautiful roses, so redolent of home. Such were the -sights of a winter’s day at Bangalore.’ - -Around the English cantonment, more especially on the north side of -it, is the modern town of Bangalore, containing about sixty or seventy -thousand inhabitants, who are chiefly Tamulians, the descendants of -those native camp-followers and adherents who accompanied the British -forces from Madras and the plains of the Carnatic when they conquered -and took possession of the land. There are likewise at Bangalore a -goodly number of English and Irish pensioners, who have chosen rather -to abide in India than come back to this country; and certainly, with -scanty means, they are better off there in a warm and genial clime than -they would be here, with our long and dreary cold and icy winters. And -when those pensioners are sober and industrious, they have abundant -opportunities in India to enable them to support themselves and their -families in great comfort, and even to become what we Scotch people -call ‘bein folk.’ I could give many pleasing instances from amongst -them of ‘success in life.’ I knew three Scotch gentlemen who were -highly respected bank agents, and who had gone to India as artillerymen -in the Honourable East India Company’s service. But although it be -thus a pleasant fact that many of our pensioned soldiers have done -well and prospered in India, yet it is melancholy to relate that a -goodly portion of them are sadly wanting in sobriety and industry, and -consequently their continued stay in that country is not for good, -but for evil. So impressed was I with this that, when asked by a high -military official for my opinion as to whether the government ought -to give greater encouragement to the time-served soldiers to settle -permanently in India, I at once and decidedly said No; because, when -freed from military discipline, their lives too frequently were such -that they lowered the prestige of the English name, and helped to -injure the salutary respect which the natives have hitherto had for -their white-faced rulers. - -In a pretty little village near Madras, called Poonamalee, as well -as in Bangalore, there dwell very many of those pensioners with -their families. I was wont to pay periodical visits to this place on -professional duty; and certainly I found it at first not only strange -but grotesque to see young men and maidens and numerous children, -with faces as black as a minister’s coat, but yet bearing some good -old Scottish name, and speaking the English with an accent as if they -had been born and bred in the wilds of Lochaber. My beadle, as sable -a youth as could be, was a M‘Cormick, and proudly claimed to be an -Inverness-shire man. I remember, towards the close of the Mutiny, -of driving with my wife, on a moonlight evening through a beautiful -‘tope’ of palm-trees, when suddenly our ears caught the distant strain -of the bagpipes. There was no mistaking it; faint though it was, we -could distinguish it floating and wailing through the silent night as -_M‘Clymont’s Lament_. Gradually the music became louder, until we were -able to discover whence it emanated. I got out of the carriage before -an opening in the trees, and winding my way by a narrow path, I came -at last to a small bungalow where a man was strutting up and down the -veranda playing on a genuine pair of Scottish bagpipes. His garments -were white, but his face was perfectly black. He was astonished at my -appearance, and so was I at his; and my astonishment was not diminished -when in answer to a question as to his name, he replied to me in a -pleasant Argyllshire accent: ‘My name is Coll M‘Gregor, sir; and my -father was a piper in the forty-second Highlanders, and I believe he -came from a place they called Inveraray.’ Poor M‘Gregor! from that -night I knew him well. Black though he was, he was a most worthy man; -and one of the last sad duties I performed ere leaving India was to -visit him when dying in the hospital, and to bury him when dead amongst -the sleeping Scotchmen in St Andrew’s churchyard. - -In the _Illustrated London News_ there is a picture entitled ‘Recruits’ -which gives a very faithful representation of the composition of the -British army. A smart recruiting sergeant is leading away captive a -batch of young men—the thoughtless, reckless shopboy, the clownish -rustic, the discontented artisan, and the downcast ‘young gentleman’ -who has wasted his substance in riotous living. The picture rekindles -in my memory several instances of the last-mentioned type. In the -following stories, it will be seen, from obvious reasons, that where -names are mentioned, these are fictitious. - -There is a clump of trees in the immediate vicinity of Bangalore which -is known as ‘the Dead-man’s Tope.’ In it there is a solitary grave, -that of a young Scotchman. For many years the natives alleged that his -‘ghost’ was to be seen walking mournfully amongst the trees, for they -said he could not rest until his appointed years had been fulfilled. -He had been a corporal in a Scotch regiment stationed in Bangalore, -beloved by all his comrades, but unfortunately hated by the sergeant -of his company. At last, goaded by the unjust treatment he received -from this sergeant, he struck him down in a moment of passion. In those -days, discipline was stern; the young corporal was tried, and condemned -to be hanged in the presence of the whole garrison. The execution -took place; but so great was the feeling against the sergeant, that -he had to be sent away from the regiment down to Madras, protected -by a military escort. The general officer who told me this story was -a witness of this sad scene, and was the interpreter to the native -soldiers of the reason of the execution. That young corporal belonged -to Glasgow, and was connected with many respectable families in the -city. - -Here is a happier tale. John Home, after many years’ service in the -Honourable Company’s artillery, retired on a pension, and settled at -Bangalore. He became editor of a small local paper, and so for a few -years was a prominent member of the community. He married, and had an -only son. This boy was but an infant when the father died, his death -being hastened by intemperate living. On Home’s private writing-desk -being opened, his relations found, to their amazement, a sheet of -paper with the handwriting of the deceased telling his real name—for -Home was a fictitious one he had assumed on his enlistment—and whence -he came, and where his relatives were to be found. These disclosures -were made, so the paper said, for the only reason that perhaps on some -future day they might benefit his boy; and were it not for this hope, -the secret would have gone down with him to the grave. Strange to say, -not many months elapsed when an advertisement appeared in an Edinburgh -paper signed by a legal firm, asking for information about this very -man, giving his real name. Of course the Edinburgh gentlemen were at -once communicated with; and after all the evidences were submitted, -and no doubt well scrutinised, the claim of the widow and her child -was acknowledged. The boy was brought home and educated; and I trust -still is, what he was a few years ago, the proprietor of a ‘snug little -estate.’ Such is some of the romance of the ‘rank and file’ of our army. - - - - -COLONEL REDGRAVE’S LEGACY. - - -IN FOUR CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER III. - -The spinster sisters held a council of war on the day following the -events we have described. They were not disappointed at the failure of -the marriage proposals to Miss Fraser; for that young lady was by no -means the kind of guardian they would select for their brother as a -bulwark against the troubles and vexations of this mortal life. The way -was now more clear than ever for the success of their original plan. -Septimus had learned their ideas and wishes, and had gradually become -more amenable to reason. The beauty and talent of the handsome widow -had been fully descanted upon. Nor were her monetary qualifications -lost sight of by the practical Penelope. The question of suitability as -to age had been delicately but firmly touched upon by both the sisters. - -‘Mrs Fraser is only ten years your junior, Septimus, and that is the -difference which should always exist between husband and wife. Indeed, -I see no objection to even a greater disproportion, but that is the -minimum necessary to conjugal happiness. I am certain that Mrs Fraser -has a _tendresse_ for you, and that any proposal from you would meet -with every encouragement.’ - -Septimus left the room considerably mollified, and immediately after -he had done so, Penelope turned to her sister, and said: ‘I trust, -Lavinia, you approve of all I have been saying to dear Septimus?’ - -‘Entirely, my dear sister; but’—— Lavinia paused. - -‘You have always a “but,” Lavinia. Pray, speak out.’ - -‘Well, I have a suspicion that Mrs Fraser has a lurking sentiment for -Mr Lockwood.’ - -‘Good gracious, Lavinia! you certainly conceive the most extraordinary -notions.’ - -‘I do not say for a single moment that the sentiment is reciprocated,’ -replied Lavinia. - -‘Why, Frank Lockwood is young enough to be her son!’ indignantly -exclaimed Penelope. - -‘Hardly, Penelope, unless Mrs Fraser was marriageable at the age of -six,’ Lavinia continued. ‘Then I cannot help thinking that Frank is in -love with Blanche.’ - -Penelope made a gesture of assent. ‘That is highly probable, and would -account for her rejection of Septimus.’ - -Finally, the sisters mutually agreed that it would be politic to -prepare Mrs Fraser for the possible proposal of their brother. - -We trust the reader will not contemptuously label the spinster sisters -as ‘matchmakers;’ for surely matchmaking is a fitting task for the -angels, if it be true, as we are often told, that marriages are made in -heaven. - -At this moment the widow chanced to enter the drawing-room where -the sisters were sitting. Her features still showed traces of the -disappointment she had recently experienced. - -‘We have not seen you all the morning, Mrs Fraser.’ - -‘I awoke with a slight headache, and sought the solitude of the Chine, -my sole companion a book,’ replied the widow. - -‘I trust you are better?’ said Lavinia. - -‘Yes, thanks. I never enjoy Tennyson so much as when surrounded by -murmuring foliage, and my ears filled with the sound of falling waters.’ - -‘How charming to have preserved your sentiment till _now_,’ said -Penelope in marked tones. - -This remark may seem ill calculated to put the widow in a good-tempered -frame of mind. But Miss Redgrave had uttered it advisedly. The more -fully Mrs Fraser was impressed with her own increasing years and -fading charms, the more likely she was to listen to the suit of the -elderly-looking Septimus. - -For a moment the widow coloured, as if in anger. ‘That is not exactly a -complimentary remark, my dear Miss Redgrave.—Now, don’t apologise, for -I am not in the least offended. How can I be, when I have a daughter, -not only marriageable, but actually engaged to be married!’ - -The sisters simultaneously left off their needlework, and gazing in -astonishment at the speaker, sat as mute as the twin sisters carved in -stone in the sandy Egyptian desert. - -‘Yes; Mr Lockwood has asked my consent to his marriage with Blanche, -and I have graciously accorded the same. Heigh-ho! it will be a great -trial for me, when the hour of parting comes.’ - -‘I congratulate you most sincerely, my dear Mrs Fraser,’ exclaimed -Penelope. ‘We have known Frank from a child. He is everything that a -man should be, clever, accomplished, with good prospects, and of high -moral principles.’ - -The widow sighed. ‘I shall be very lonely. I have not an affectionate -sister as you have; and when a woman has once known the happiness -of married life, and the comfort and protection of an affectionate -husband, life is indeed a blank when she is left utterly alone.’ - -Like a second Wellington, Penelope saw her chances of a successful -attack. In love and war, the occasion is everything. She gently laid -her spare fingers on the plump hand of the widow, and softly whispered: -‘Why should you be utterly alone, dear friend?’ - -Mrs Fraser directed an inquiring glance in response at the speaker. - -‘We know of one who would be only too happy to be your companion for -life,’ pursued Penelope. ‘Of a suitable age, amiable, and rich.’ - -The countenance of the widow was suffused with a soft blush as she -said: ‘Where shall I find this earthly treasure?’ - -‘In this house, Mrs Fraser. Our beloved brother, Septimus.’ - -Mrs Fraser had much ado to avoid making a wry face, as she mentally -contrasted the white-haired ‘brother’ with his vacuous expression of -countenance, and the black-haired Frank Lockwood, with his bright -intelligent glance and fascinating smile. But it was now quite as -probable that she would marry the Emperor of China as the solicitor of -the Redgrave family; so she softly murmured; ‘I had no suspicion of -anything of the kind.’ - -Rapidly the widow reviewed all the attendant circumstances of the case. -Von Moltke himself would have envied her comprehensive glance at the -pros and cons of an important conjuncture of events. Septimus was of -good family, of suitable age, possessed of ample means, and last, but -not least in the eyes of the widow, was not too clever; and therefore, -in all probability easily manageable, that indispensable desideratum in -a husband. We are not sure that Mrs Fraser was correct in her deduction -on this point, for foolish people are frequently obstinate, under the -false idea that they are thereby displaying firmness. - -‘If I were to accept Mr Redgrave on the instant, in consequence of your -recommendation, my dear Penelope, neither he nor his sisters would -respect me. I have always found great pleasure in the society of your -brother, and have a great respect for his character. More, I am sure, -my dear Penelope, you would neither expect, nor wish me to say.’ - -Both the sisters cordially kissed the blushing widow, and expressed -themselves as quite satisfied with the avowal, Penelope adding: ‘I have -more than a presentiment that in a few weeks we shall be enabled to -give you the kiss of a sister.’ - -No more was said on the present occasion. - -The widow retired to her chamber, and as she contemplated her -features in the glass, soliloquised: ‘No—at forty, one must not be -too particular; and there are twenty thousand excellent reasons why I -should change my name from Fraser to that of Redgrave.’ - -It is needless to say that the sisters did not allow the grass to grow -under their feet with respect to the proposed alliance between the -families of Redgrave and Fraser. Much stress was laid by them in their -conversations with the widow as to the shyness of their brother, and -the necessity of some encouragement being extended to him. At length -Septimus screwed his courage to the sticking-place and resolved to -learn his fate. By a singular coincidence, he found the widow seated -on the identical bench occupied on a similar occasion by her youthful -daughter. An involuntary sigh escaped him as he mentally instituted a -comparison between the sylph-like figure of Blanche and the more portly -form of her mother. As he sat down by her side in response to her -invitation, he felt his courage oozing away. On the former occasion, -he had been bold as a lion; but in the presence of the keen-witted -woman of the world, he fully realised his mental inferiority. Some -commonplaces ensued, and then Mrs Fraser, laying down the newspaper -which she held in her hand, suddenly observed: ‘What is your opinion of -thought-reading, Mr Redgrave? Do you believe in it?’ - -‘I scarcely know whether I do or not,’ responded Septimus. ‘Do you?’ - -‘Implicitly,’ replied the widow. ‘Shall I give you a specimen of my -powers?’ - -‘I should be delighted. Can you read my thoughts?’ said Septimus. - -‘I can. But you must promise two things: That you won’t be offended at -my guess; and that you candidly admit whether I am correct in my guess.’ - -‘I promise.’ - -‘Give me your hand.’ - -Septimus placed his trembling fingers in the strong grasp of the widow. -‘You are at this moment contemplating matrimony.’ - -‘That is correct,’ said Septimus. - -‘The lady is a widow.’ - -‘Wonderful!’ cried Septimus. ‘Can you tell me her name?’ - -‘My powers do not extend so far,’ returned Mrs Fraser. - -‘Your successful guess, my dear Mrs Fraser, has helped me out of a -great difficulty.’ - -‘How so?’ - -‘You have half-performed my task for me. Do you think a lady, handsome, -rich, and well-bred, and still comparatively young, would consent -to unite her fortunes with mine? I am some ten or a dozen years her -senior. I have been a bachelor all my life, and may have thus acquired -peculiar ways. But I would settle the whole of my cousin’s legacy upon -her, if she would take pity on my solitary state. Dear Fanny, can you -not guess, without thought-reading, the name of my enslaver?’ - -The widow looked down and managed to blush becomingly, and impart a -slight tremor to the hand which still held that of Septimus. - -‘I will not affect to misunderstand you, Mr Redgrave; you are making my -unworthy self an offer of marriage.’ - -‘And you accept it?’ - -‘I do.’ - -Septimus sealed the contract by a chaste kiss on the cheek of the -widow, and felt a sensation of inexpressible relief that the Rubicon, -for good or evil, was passed. - -‘I may now tell you, dear Septimus, that Blanche is also engaged.’ - -‘I know it.’ - -‘Impossible! I only knew it myself forty-eight hours ago!’ - -‘Do not ask me at present, dear Fanny. I learned the fact by an -accident.’ - -The widow presently retired to her chamber, under the plea of nervous -agitation, but in reality to inform her daughter of her engagement. But -it was reserved for Septimus to perform that pleasant duty. Scarcely -had Mrs Fraser retired, when Blanche appeared on the terrace. ‘Have you -seen mamma, Mr Redgrave?’ - -‘Mrs Fraser has this moment left me.—Blanche, I have a favour to ask of -you.’ - -‘Of me!’ - -‘That you will not breathe a syllable to your mamma that I proposed to -you three days ago; at least, not for the present.’ - -‘Certainly, Mr Redgrave.’ - -‘You will at once see the necessity for my request, when I tell you -that I have this day proposed to another lady and been accepted.’ - -Blanche indulged in a merry peal of laughter, which she found it -impossible to repress. ‘Pray, forgive me, Mr Redgrave. I congratulate -you that you have so speedily recovered from your late rejection.’ - -‘Yes, Blanche, as I could not be your husband, I have resolved on being -your father.’ - -Blanche remained petrified with astonishment for a few seconds, then -exclaiming: ‘I must go at once to dear mamma and congratulate her,’ -prepared to enter the house. - -But Septimus seized her hand and said: ‘Now, tell me the name of _your_ -future partner. Though I shrewdly suspect, yet I think in my new -position as your father I am entitled to know for certain?’ - -‘Mr Frank Lockwood,’ replied the blushing girl, as she broke away and -ran into the house. - -There was not a happier circle round a dinner-table in the island than -that assembled in Oswald Villa that evening. The engaged couples were -mutually satisfied with their matrimonial prospects, while the spinster -sisters saw the wish of their hearts gratified in the engagement of -their beloved brother with so suitable a person as Mrs Fraser. But at -that moment a cloud was forming on the horizon which was destined to -effect a great change in the fortunes of the betrothed couples. - - - - -A SAMPLE OF MARSALA. - - -Time was, long ago, when certain of us thought that Spain was the place -where the then despised Marsala wine was made. Struggling to obtain -the favour and recognition of the public, and held as a kind of humble -cousin of sherry, cheaper to buy and meaner in all its conditions, -Marsala had no honour in England some thirty years or so ago. Those who -gave it gave it for need; and for the most part tried to pawn it off -as its more aristocratic relation, thinking that no one would suspect -the truth when that silver label, shaped like a vine-leaf with ‘Sherry’ -cut out in Roman capitals in the centre, was hung round the neck of the -heavy cut-glass bottle. And as sherry was certainly a Spanish wine, -the false reasoning born of association of ideas made one think that -Marsala also was a Spanish wine. - -The way to Marsala from Palermo is exceedingly interesting. The country -is beautiful with all the grand Sicilian beauty—broken foregrounds, -noble mountain forms, the dark-blue sea, of which the splendour is -enhanced by the gray green of the olives and the contrast of the golden -hue given by the lemon-trees hanging thick with fruit. All the waysides -along the railroad are rich in flowers, making the land look as if -enamelled. Rugged capes and fertile plains, small smooth exquisite bays -and inland mountains, orange-gardens and vineyards, fields of pale -lilac flax, woods of beech and ilex, and rivers running down in song -to the sea—there is not a feature of Southern scenery wanting on this -lovely way. And the sea, where the white sails of passing ships gleam -in the sunlight like the wings of birds, is as beautiful as the land, -where here a ruined temple crowns a height, and there a modern mansion -stands sheltered on the slopes. Among the beautiful things of the sea -is the uninhabited rocky island called ‘The Island of Women’ (_L’isola -delle femmine_). The legend is that in old times, when pirates -abounded, the ‘Barbari’ used to seize such hapless Sicilian women as -they found wandering by the shore, and lodge them on this island till -they had finished their fighting on shore; when they would return and -carry off their prey. - -In time the beauty of the lovely road fades away, and the country -becomes utterly uninteresting. Still, even when there is no more -flowery charm and no more golden colour, there is always association, -and the way up to Segesta and Solinunto, with the ruined temple visible -on the crest of the mountain, brings before the mind the long train of -glorious images by which the ancient history of Sicily is thronged. -For we are skirting the base of Mount Eryx, now Monte Giuliano, -whence Acestes the king came down to meet Æneas when he landed on his -return from Carthage; and where Æneas—so they say—founded the town of -Acesta, which afterwards became Egesta, and is now Segesta. And all -the well-known story repeats itself. ‘Selinus rich in palms,’ and ‘the -shallow waters of Lilybæum’ which were ‘left behind;’ the race, and the -beauty of the contending youths; poor Dido’s sad story; the death and -burial of Anchises, the father whom Æneas saved from burning Troy by -carrying on his shoulders—it is all living and palpitating as in those -youthful days when imagination touched the pages with light, and made -the dead words breathe with love and sorrow and passion. It is worth -coming here, if only to realise Virgil and his matchless poem! But we -draw up at a station, and the present puts the past to flight—the real -blots out the ideal born of imagination and poetry. - -Armed _carabinieri_ are at every station. This is not usual either -in Sicily or elsewhere in Italy, where soldiers keep order at the -stations, but are not so numerous nor so heavily armed as these. The -district about Trapani, however, in which we are, has not a good -name; and the government knows what it is about when it takes extra -measures of precaution for the safety of travellers. That it does take -these extra measures insures the safety of the wayfarers. At Marsala -itself, the whole train is taken possession of before it has well come -to a stand, and long before the passengers have got out. The crowd -swarms into all three classes indiscriminately; and there is much -rough pushing and hustling, but no actual brutality. Still, it is -sufficiently like the return of ’Arry from a Crystal Palace fête to be -unpleasant; though for all that, the Italian ’Arry is a good-natured -soul, with no malice in him. What he wants in malice, however, he makes -up in garlic. There has been an Easter-week procession here—it is -‘Holy Thursday’—and all the neighbourhood has sent its young men, each -township and village its quota, till they have come in their hundreds, -and have to be taken back again the best way they can. - -Near Marsala is one of the three promontories which give Sicily its -name of Trinacria—Cape Lilybeo, the very Lilybæum whose ‘shallows -blind,’ ‘dangerous through their hidden rocks,’ caused Æneas to land on -the ‘unlucky shore’ of Drepanum. Here in calm weather you can see the -remains of houses beneath the sea, as at Pozzuoli, near Naples. But the -point of the whole visit is the wine-stores of Ingham—the largest and -most important of all the Marsala wine-factories. These stores seem to -be interminable; and the perspective of arches, from each side of which -branch out these huge above-ground cellars, is a sight at once strange -and picturesque. The _balio_ or inclosure wherein the whole concern -stands—storehouses, workshops, dwelling-house, garden, fields, &c.—is -really like a fair-sized estate. To ‘walk in the grounds’ is quite -enough exercise for any moderate-minded pedestrian. The oldest two -stores date from 1812, and are the parents of all that have come after. -They are picturesque little places now, covered with glossy dark-green -ivy and flame-coloured bougainvillia; but, like the fathers and mothers -of prosperous families, they are set aside as comparatively useless in -the presence of their stalwart children. - -In going through the stores, one is struck not only with the number, -but also with the enormous size of the wine-vats. Some are of huge -proportions, not quite equalling the famous Tun of Heidelberg perhaps, -but coming pretty close to it, and holding wine to the worth of an -astounding figure. The value of one store alone comes up to a moderate -fortune; and there are thirty in all. Once a boy went to sleep in one -of those weird receptacles, and was not found till the next morning. -The fumes had overpowered him, but he came out none the worse. Some -of the wine given us to taste is fifty years old, and is delicious in -proportion to its age and preciousness; and some of the finer sorts -of younger date are unsurpassed in any wine-store extant. Then there -is the huge vat of _vino cotto_ or _vino madre_; and there is the -distilling apparatus, which is very beautiful and dainty. The Custom -House is jealous and exact. It seals up all with a letter-lock, waxen -seals and silken threads; so that no tampering is possible with the -retorts or the receivers. The cool obscurity of the cellars, where -these immense vats are ranged like so many transformed giants, gives -one a sense of restfulness and shelter; while out of doors, the sun, -lying keen and bright on wall and pavement, casting shadows as sharply -defined as if purple paper had been cut with a pair of scissors and -thrown on the ground, has the sentiment of passionate vitality peculiar -to Sicily. Men in coloured shirts, with blue or red sashes round their -waists, add to the general picturesqueness of the scene; and the white -wings of the pigeons shining like silver against the blue sky, complete -a chord of colour to be seen only in the South—that fervid South where -to live is sufficient enjoyment, and where artificial wants as we -have them are neither known nor appreciated, being of the nature of -encumbrances and superfluities. For what else is wanted than the sun -and the sky, the fruits and the flowers, the charm and the glory of -nature? Nevertheless, the material luxury of the North and West is -invading the hitherto frugal and, in one way, ascetic South; and France -and England both, are being imitated even so far as Marsala, where once -the house was held as merely a place of refuge where tired Christians -might sleep at noon and at night, but in nowise as a place of enjoyment -worth the spending of thought or money to make beautiful. - -From the vats full of their golden treasure to the casks in process of -making, the transition is natural. Here, again, light and colour give -a certain charm, making a novelty of that which is so well known at -home. For cask-making in Marsala is very much the same as cask-making -in England; and only the men, with very minor details in the method -of manipulation, are different. It is the same drying of the wood, -the same setting of the staves, the same hammering on of the hoops in -regular succession of blows, and we fancy the same kind of white oak, -of which the staves are made, shipped from America for England as well -as for Marsala. Hans Christian Andersen might have written a sprightly -sketch of the oak as it stood in its virgin forest, with grizzlies and -panthers, pretty woodchunks and sweet wild birds all about, till it was -cut down by the forester; packed into a raft and started down the Big -River by the lumberman; brought over to Europe by the huge steamship; -made into casks, and filled with the golden juice of grapes beneath -the glorious sky of Sicily—the wine to be drunk at the marriage of the -bride, the birth of the heir, the death of the master. The place where -they clean the barrels, some in the old-fashioned way of hand-rocking, -with chains inside; the sheds where they cut the hoops and make the -bolts—the drill and the circular saw going through iron and wood like -so much butter or cheese; those where they steam the barrels and those -where they mark them—these, too, come into the day’s work of visiting -and inspection; as well as the cooking-place and the dining-shed for -the three hundred men employed. - -These men are noticeably clean and smart in appearance; they are, too, -as industrious as they look; for no loafers are allowed, and he who -does not know how to work with a will soon receives his dismissal. -The touch of English energy and English precision is plainly visible -throughout—with one result, that, unlike Southern workmen, as generally -found, these do not care to keep all the holidays which are so frequent -in Roman Catholic countries. They work about ten and a half hours in -the day; and each man is searched and numbered on coming in and going -out. - -The word Marsala recalls the time when the Saracens ruled the land, -just as Mongibello for Etna, Gibbel Rossa at Palermo, and all -Sicilian agricultural and irrigatory terms recall them. It is really -_Marsh-Allah_, ‘the port of God.’ Round about our _balio_ are many -interesting things, principally the caves where, not so long ago, a -murderer hid in perfect safety, and where in lawless times brigands and -outcasts took refuge and found security. They are interminable, and it -is impossible to visit them all; but our guide takes us through some of -the most practicable, where we have occasion for a little gymnastic -exercise here and there among the broken rocks and steep sharp pitches. -An army of brigands might hide away here undetected and unseen. -Fortunately, at this time there are none to hide. No organised band of -brigands exists anywhere in Sicily, and the stranger is absolutely safe. - -Besides these caves, there is a strange folly in the shape of a -ballroom and banqueting-room cut out of the living rock. There are -tables and the place for the musicians, benches and divisions, all -made in the rock underground. These odd rooms have been used, and it -is to be supposed enjoyed. When we see them, the only guests are black -beetles, a couple of dirty little lads as unkempt as wild Highland -cattle, and a half-maniacal shock-headed Dugald kind of creature, with -an atmosphere of garlic, which makes us rejoice when we turn out once -more into the fresh air blowing over the breezy flower-clad upland, -with the blue sea in front and the bright sun overhead. - - - - -CONCERNING FLORIDA. - - -A contributor, who is conversant with his subject, sends us the -following important items, which we commend to young men who -contemplate emigration. - -‘Heads of families,’ says our correspondent, ‘with “little to earn -and many to keep,” with several sons growing up and having a desire -to go abroad and see the world, will be glad to know that there are -ways for providing for the olive branches other than sending them to -Australia or Manitoba to earn merely nominal wages as farm-labourers. -Until recently, the United States depended almost wholly upon the -enterprise of foreigners for their supply of oranges; but, as if by an -inspiration, the discovery has been made that they can, amongst the -numerous other industries for which they are remarkable, grow their own -oranges, and that, too, of better quality, both in size and flavour, -than those which are imported. The great and unequalled facilities for -cheap and rapid transportation have opened up nearly the whole of the -peninsula of Florida to settlement; and what was only recently very -correctly described as a vast expanse of swamps, lakes, and sluggish -rivers, is now a vast system of drainage-canals and railways. - -In Florida, four hundred pounds will buy forty acres of land, ten of -which may be cleared, fenced, and planted with orange-trees. A house -may be inexpensively erected at an average cost of ten pounds per room. -The orange-tree will bear five years from the bud, or ten years from -seed; but a man left in charge—say the son of the owner—would have no -difficulty in supporting himself by the sale of small fruit, which, -coming to perfection in the middle of winter, commands the best prices -in the New York and other Northern markets. In ten years, oranges are -handsomely remunerative, and the crop steadily increases in value with -every succeeding year. For those who cannot wait so long, the lemon -and lime may prove more attractive, as they bear much sooner. They are -almost as profitable, though not quite so hardy. - -The list of things which can be grown profitably in Florida is -so long and various as to include such dissimilar articles as -potatoes, cocoa-nuts, plantains, guavas, mangoes, tomatoes, -pine-apples, pumpkins, water-melons—which frequently weigh a -hundredweight—grape-fruit, citron, cotton, sugar, strawberries, coffee, -tea, tobacco, mulberries, pears, quinces, apples, Scuppernong grapes, -&c. The woods and forests which have been slumbering all these years -are now alive with settlers, who are actively employed felling timber, -clearing land, erecting fences, planting groves, building houses, and -in numerous ways expending their energy on the improvement of the -land. The old cry, “Go west,” has been changed to, “Go south;” and -now thousands of families from the Northern States are there, having -orange and lemon groves, with pretty cottages simply but comfortably -furnished, situated on the banks of rivers and lakes. - -For the man who is fond of outdoor exercise and has a taste for -gardening, the life in Florida has a charm all its own, for -fruit-growing is nothing but gardening on an extensive scale. The soil -in Florida has the most unpromising appearance, looking like nothing -so much as silver sand. Yet what a charm it possesses! Seeds put in -this apparently hopeless material spring up almost immediately; and -cabbages, lettuces, radishes, and turnips may be eaten three weeks from -sowing in the middle of January. Fish of large size, from ten pounds -upwards, abound in the rivers and lakes, and being easily caught, make -a very welcome addition to the larder. Deer, wild turkeys, quail, and -numerous other kinds of game have not yet learned to shun the haunts of -men. - -Extensive drainage-works have made available for settlement vast tracts -of land which have probably been submerged for centuries, but which -now, thanks to the remarkable system of drainage-canals, is as dry -and firm and as healthy to live upon as the best land in the State. A -pretty site judiciously chosen on the banks of a lake will eventually -enormously enhance the value of the property when the surrounding -country is settled up. The plan suggested for persons of small means is -to take up forty acres. Having ten acres cleared and planted at once, -the whole might be fenced in, and a comfortable house built in the -middle of the allotment. The remaining thirty acres can be brought into -cultivation by degrees, and in the meantime will serve to graze cattle -and sheep, which, being turned into the grove at night, fertilise it in -the most effectual and inexpensive manner.’ - - * * * * * - -Another correspondent has favoured us with the following notes: - -‘Upon landing at New York City in the beginning of April of the present -year, the weather was particularly disagreeable—cold, rainy, and -sleety, and I was only too glad to leave the inclement North for the -bright sunny South. - -On the morning after landing at New York, I took my ticket for -Jacksonville, Florida, and on the journey, stopped a few hours at -Washington, and also spent a night at Savannah, Georgia; reaching -Florida, the land of flowers, romance, and orange groves, in three days -from the time of leaving New York. - -Florida was first discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497, and after -various vicissitudes in its history, became one of the United States -in 1845. It is gratifying to know that the undoubted advantages and -attractions of this country are becoming better known, and more and -more appreciated, by all classes both in the United States and England. -A great amount of English capital and English energy is now being -attracted to Florida, which is a country offering inducements to the -capitalist, sport to the sportsman, novel and romantic scenery to -the tourist, health to the invalid, and very considerable advantages -to the intelligent emigrant. The area of Florida comprises sixty -thousand square miles; and the soil is adapted to an infinite variety -of products, such, for instance, as corn, oats, rice, beans, peas, -potatoes, turnips, cabbages, strawberries, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, -oranges, lemons, limes, peaches, figs, &c.; and in South Florida, -cocoa-nuts, pine-apples, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables -too numerous to mention. The climate is charming. In winter, the -thermometer seldom goes below thirty degrees, or in summer above -ninety; and although the State is the most southern of the United -States, hot nights or oppressive days are comparatively rare. This is -accounted for by its peculiar position, shape, and surroundings. The -constant breezes, either from the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, -purify the atmosphere, and render the Floridian climate enjoyable the -whole year; and I may add, that after a four years’ residence in the -State, I know of no disease that is indigenous or prevalent. - -Jacksonville is situated on the grand St John’s River, and is the -largest and most important city in Florida. It has a population of -over twenty thousand, and will ere long take rank with Savannah or -Charleston in commercial importance. This is the point at which all -Northern visitors enter the State, and from which they radiate in -search of health, work, or sport. Here there are fine buildings, shops, -churches, schools, and about one hundred and fifty boarding-houses and -hotels, the latter being filled during the winter months with invalids, -principally consumptives. - -The most absorbing question of interest to the greatest number now, -however, is the great money-making business of orange-growing, which -is peculiarly adapted to the Florida soil and climate. Since I first -visited the State (in 1873), this industry has gone far beyond the -commercially experimental stage, and I have been an eye-witness to its -undoubted success. It is particularly interesting and instructive to -travel over districts now, and observe _bearing_ orange groves, the -owners of which are securing handsome incomes, where ten years ago not -a tree was planted. In Orange County, many emigrants who first went -to Florida for their health, have improved sufficiently to earn their -living and raise an orange grove in addition. Many of them took up one -hundred and sixty acres of land under the Homestead Law, and selling -off portions of it to later comers, have realised enough money to -cultivate the balance retained. Others, who knew a trade, worked part -of their time for their neighbours, and spent their unemployed hours -in planting an orange-tree here or there for themselves, until they -finally had a five or ten acre grove, of sixty trees to the acre, which -when bearing would give them an annual income of from three hundred to -one thousand pounds. Owing to recent railway and shipping facilities, -a man nowadays may—if his land is well selected—grow early vegetables, -&c., without interfering with his orange-trees, and ship them north to -Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York, and realise profit sufficient to -enable him to pay his expenses whilst his grove is coming into bearing; -for it must be borne in mind that the Floridians can grow any vegetable -in winter which the Northerners grow in summer; and the Northern people -are quite willing to pay a high price for such luxuries as peas, -tomatoes, or strawberries at Christmas. - -These are some of the attractions Florida holds out to the man who has -industry, perseverance, and ordinary intelligence.’ - - - - -ARSENIC IN DOMESTIC FABRICS. - - -Chronic poisoning by arsenic in domestic fabrics is without doubt -an important subject, affecting the public to such an extent as to -render attention to the question essential. Serious illness frequently -arises from this cause, in some cases even attended by fatal results. -A very general effect is a lowered condition of the system, such as -to render the individual more susceptible to the attacks of other -diseases. Action has been taken by the Medical Society of London, the -Society of Arts, and the National Health Society, on the question of -the prohibition of arsenic in articles manufactured for domestic use, -such as wall-papers, dyed furniture materials, paint, distemper, &c. -The fact is remarkable, that although this question has been thus -brought prominently before the public, those supposed to be interested -in the sale and use of arsenic have hitherto maintained a judicious -silence, manufacturers abandoning the use of arsenical colours to a -very large extent, instead of defending it. This silence has, however, -now been broken by Mr Galloway, M.R.I.A., who deals with the question -from a chemical point of view, describing his own special mode of -manufacturing emerald green in an article in the _Journal of Science_. -Mr Galloway asks: ‘Has it ever been conclusively proved that persons -who inhabit rooms stained with emerald green suffer from arsenical -poisoning?’ Notwithstanding the fact that Mr Galloway leaves the -question unanswered, as though it were unanswerable, the reply shall -now be given—though in certain quarters it is still doubted—that it -_has_ been proved, and that by the careful observation of medical men -of eminence in all parts of the country. - -Proof of the injurious effect of arsenic in domestic fabrics is found -in the development of certain symptoms in the patient exposed to an -arsenical fabric, followed by recovery on removal of the fabric in -question. The occurrence of these circumstances in a sufficient number -of cases leads to the conviction that the arsenical fabric was the -cause of the malady. We act on similar proof with regard to sewer-gas; -no one has ever absolutely seen the injurious action, but the fact -of various diseases of a particular character frequently following -a discharge of sewer-gas into a residence, has convinced medical -men that the gas, or some germ contained in the gas, is the cause of -illness, and that it is therefore desirable to exclude it from our -homes. - -As above stated, the same conclusion is arrived at, from the same -line of argument, with regard to arsenic; and this proof alone would -be sufficient. But with regard to arsenic, there are opportunities -of observing what may be classed as experimental proofs, such as -could not possibly occur in illness arising from sewer-gas. This -further proof consists in the frequent alternate recurrence of illness -and recovery—illness on exposure to, and recovery on removal from, -arsenical surroundings, followed by final recovery on substitution of a -non-arsenical fabric in place of that containing the poison. - -Change of air is in all probability often credited with the benefits -arising from removal from some unsanitary condition of residence, -office, or workshop. - -The effect on men employed in hanging or removing arsenical wall-papers -is another proof of their injurious quality: men have frequently to -leave their work unfinished, being too ill to continue under the -poisonous influence. - -Arsenic in domestic fabrics is so easily dispensed with, that there -is no valid reason for the continued use of these poisonous colours. -Several paper-stainers have for years conscientiously excluded all -arsenical colours from their works, yet have still maintained their -position in the open market, thus deciding the question both as to cost -and quality of non-arsenical wall-papers. It is an interesting question -to medical men and chemists, how it is that these minute quantities of -arsenic, or of some combination of arsenic with other ingredients, when -breathed, should be so injurious, when larger quantities can be taken -into the stomach as a medicine with advantage. This question, however, -is of no consequence to the patient. His course is simple enough: -having found out the cause of illness, get rid of it, and be thankful -it can be got rid of at so small a cost. - -Arsenic also is found in the dust of rooms papered with arsenical -papers, thus proving the presence of arsenic in the atmosphere. - -Mr Galloway alludes to a curious and interesting fact, namely, that men -can be employed on arsenical works, some without being affected at all, -others suffering much less than might be expected. The same singular -fact of the immunity of those constantly exposed to evil influences -is illustrated in the case of men employed in cleansing sewers; they -work continually in the very atmosphere of the sewers, but do not -suffer from those diseases which arise from the escape of sewer-gas -into houses. No one, however, in consequence of this fact, doubts -the importance of good sanitary arrangements, notwithstanding that -these involve a considerable outlay. The exclusion of arsenic, on the -contrary, costs nothing, and, moreover, there is nothing to be gained -by the admission of these poisonous colours into our houses. The simple -antidote for arsenic in domestic fabrics is therefore—exclusion. - -Those desiring to see further details, illustrative cases, and modes -of testing for arsenic, will find them in the pamphlet _Our Domestic -Poisons_ (Ridgway), or in the lecture under the same title, delivered -at the International Health Exhibition, and published by the Executive -Council. For more numerous cases of illness, especially in the families -of medical men, see the Report of the Committee of the Medical Society -of London. - - - - -WASHING BY STEAM. - - -It may interest many housewives to know that dirty clothes can be -thoroughly and effectively washed by means of steam, with a much -less expenditure of time and trouble than by the old way of boiling -and rubbing. Anything that lessens the labour and discomfort of -washing-day will be welcomed as a boon by every housewife. Numerous -washing-machines have been before the public for many years, and -have been used with more or less success, and we venture to describe -one constructed on this principle which has given satisfaction to -ourselves. The chief merits of the Steam-washers made by Fletcher of -Warrington, and Fingland, Leeds, &c. are—rubbing and boiling of clothes -are done away with, and with their method, no servant or housewife -need spend more than three hours over a fair fortnight’s washing. -Fingland’s Washer (Morton’s patent) consists of a fluted copper -cylinder, made to revolve in a strong polished copper case or box. -Into the cistern-shaped box, water is put to a depth of three inches, -then caused to boil by means of a gas-fire below. The construction of -the Washer is based upon the fact of the expansion of the water into -steam. The water is continually throwing off a large quantity of steam, -which forces its way through all parts of the clothes in the cylinder, -and in so doing slackens and carries away the dirt. The articles, duly -soaked in water overnight, are put into the cylinder; a few finely cut -pieces of soap are laid between each layer; then the lids of cylinder -and box are closed, and the handle is turned once or twice. It now -stands until the water is boiling, when the handle may be slowly turned -for ten or fifteen minutes, reversing the motion occasionally. The -steam having permeated the clothes in the cylinder, they may be taken -out and rinsed first in cold, and afterwards in blued cold water. The -water in the cistern needs to be changed every fourth or fifth boiling. -Prints, flannels, and woollens require slightly different treatment. -The clothes come out pure and clean after rinsing, and an ordinary -washing can be accomplished in one-third of the usual time, and at less -expense. Attachment with an india-rubber tube to an ordinary gas-pipe -will usually give sufficient gas; but sometimes it is better to have a -thicker pipe than usual with a special connection. - - - - -PARTING WORDS. - - - Although my early dream is o’er, - I ask no parting token; - Nor would I clasp thy hand before - My last farewell is spoken. - How coldly fair, thy thrice-false face - Dawns on my sad awaking; - No anguish there mine eyes can trace, - Though this fond heart is breaking. - - Be as thou wert before we met; - Heave not one sigh, but leave me; - Those studied looks, that feigned regret, - Can nevermore deceive me. - The faltering tones that mock me so, - Betray the fears that move thee; - Cease to degrade thy manhood.—Go! - I scorn thee while I love thee. - - Shall I forget the rapturous hours - Of my too radiant morning— - The hand that culled the dewy flowers - My girlish brow adorning? - Ah, no! for she who scorns thee now, - Will miss its dear caresses; - And sorrow to remember how - It decks another’s tresses. - - Alas! this tortured soul of mine, - Though by thy treason riven, - Can never cast thee from its shrine - Unwept, or unforgiven. - Nay, I, when youth and hope depart, - The mournful willow wearing, - Must still deplore that shallow heart - That was not worth the sharing. - - And have I sold my peace for this? - Or am I only dreaming? - To wake beneath thy thrilling kiss - From this most cruel seeming. - Oh, bid my fainting heart rejoice; - One word would make it stronger; - Then wherefore mute, thou magic voice? - Say, am I loved no longer? - - The world thou hast deceived so long - May smile on thee to-morrow; - While I alone must bear the wrong, - The bitterness and sorrow! - O cruel world! O world unjust! - That passes by unheeding, - Where love betrayed and blasted trust - Low in the dust lies bleeding! - - Go thou thy way; deceive it still! - (Its praise is false and hollow); - Ascend to fortune’s loftiest hill, - No ban of mine shall follow. - The memory of these days will be - To me a life’s regretting. - Most faithless lover! what to thee?— - Only an hour’s coquetting. - - Shame, shame! to look, to breathe, to live, - To mock my loving madness! - The thought alone that I forgive, - Should fill thy soul with sadness. - No wonder heaven should strike thee blind, - To see me bowed before thee; - Most shameless wretch of all mankind - How, how could I adore thee? - - In haste to go! Oh, cruel one! - Stay, stay, a moment only! - How shall I face, when thou art gone, - The world, so vast, so lonely? - Thy words are like my passing knell: - Ah me, and must we sever? - Forget that I have loved thee well— - Adieu! adieu for ever! - - * * * * * - -Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, -and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH. - - * * * * * - -_All Rights Reserved._ - - * * * * * - -[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text. - -Page 799: arsensic to arsenic—“testing for arsenic”.] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 50, VOL. 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