IN AUSTRALIAN

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 30, 3 February 1894, Page 1 (Supplement)

IN AUSTRALIAN

MILLIONAIRE.

BY MBS A. BLITZ.

BOOK II

CHAPTER 11. ROLAND BREAKS HIS PROMISE.

Mks GoIdWIN and her son sab down to partake of their dinner, which was as strictly jeremonious and gloomy as that particular moftl generally was at Goolgun. The large dining-room with its heavy oak furniture and Bombre-curtained windows; tho long rfhinz-table with its service set for two 0 Inquiring bub one-fourth of its length ; Sthe lad in buttons flitting about ib and Sing them diehes within easy reach of Sir own hands, made dining cumbersome or Roland always, bub bhia nighbmore so han ever, aa he waited impatiently fordese?t knowing thab attendance would be no SSor necessary for thab course, and be 3d be able to speak witboub reserve oE Washington Larry, in the confadenb hope fhablilß mother would surely coincide with to v ewa on this subjecb if nob on any other, and consent to receive Larry as a SU Mrs Goldwin's additional years had not mi*ed over, her head without a rough sweep »t her beauty. Hair and complexion retained their loveliness ; form and gaib were hHI graceful and girlish, as her son had affirmed to Larry ; bub there were curious little lines which were incipienb wrinkles under tho ejes, and deep indents from nostrils to lip corners, and about the contour of the chin, which had not been so decidedly .aaerted until latter years; and the lips wore paler and drawn, while tho eyes, leas lußtrous.-worean everlasting expression of anxiety. In truth, ib was a sour, unhappy coaotenance. and the beautiful Isabella Goldwin was spoken of as somebhmg that had been, but was not. Quite unwittingly she led the way, as soon as they were alone, to the proposition which was tinging on Roland's tongue. ''You went oub early this afternoon, she began, while in the act of paring a p£. ay e ' B _to Gobong,' he replied. 'If you call to mind tho date, you will know why.' She did call to mind the date, bub only inthatmomenb. Nob wishing to confess as much, she said : 11 am aware of the date, even if Ido nob choose to commemorate ib in the way you do, and take a pleasant railway drive to a suburb with two chabbering girls ; for, of course, you wenb in bhe train as usual with Una and Jessie, and enjoyed the little trip, Idareaay.' . 'You would nob have accompanied me if 1 had asked you, for you always have refußed, though you should be my companion there. I thought ib useless to ask you today.' Roland answered, nob pleased wibh her reference to the ' chatbering girls.' 'You are quite right, so ib would have been. You and I look ab these matters under different lights ; but you are allowed to please yourself, and thab should contenb you. For my part, I can'b underoband what good such visits can do to the dead or to the living. The dead are dead. Whab do bhey know of bhe people who stare ab or cry over their tombstones, do you think ? Bub bhe living are alive bo bhe horrors the eighb of suoh a crowd of sbones jnusb inflict. You may like ib if only to poio for sympathy, and upon my word'— We one of her thin derisive laughs irritated Roland's ears — ' you are a pretty subject for pity when one comes to reflect —you, bhe heir of a millionaire, and so painfully overburdened with expectations !' Roland toyed wibh some loose grapes on his plabe, &ad evinced no desire to laugh wibh her.

• You misunderstand : the heir does not call for pity, the fatherless lad does. I crave to know the father of whom all who knew him apeak so highly to this day. Surely he musb have deserved the praise and esteem he won. You can'b understand Low svreeb a pleasure ib would be for me to have him with us, that I might make his honourable age as perfectly happy •as is possible in this world. Money can't buy him back to life. Money can'b re-construct a nature, else I would forfeit much of my coming wealth to alberyours and attune it to mine. 1 pray daily, as I pray yearly at his grave, thabl may be able to emulate his virtue? ; and I appeal for guidance in my future stewardship of that wealth which his abiliby and hard industry have gathered, which will be a burden witboub that aid. I wanb to do as he did—make people happy.' Mrs Goldwin bib at her peach, and said nothing. Her eye 3 glittered according to their wonb when some suppressed emotion made her heart beat a little faster; bub she did nob soften to this only child, who cried out with such filial passion for the father he had nover known. She looked at him covertly as he, with fingers nervously rolling bia grapes to and fro, continued : I wanb to make people happier and to know how best to do it. Only to-day I met one who knew father well, and said he was always trying to make him happy. Perhaps you know him, for he did father a service never to be forgotten.'

'Indeed !' she said. • I really can't say. My husband had numerous friends—of a kind—scattered about the colonios whose names I have no particular wish to remomber.'

' Bub this one, mother, saved his life.' . Mrs Goldwin dropped her pearl-handled knife and fork with a clatter on the plate. Koland thought ib an accident, especially as eho spoke quite coolly: 1 Yes ? Did he tell you his name ?' ' I aßked ib when I found he was such an old friend of my dear father. Washington Larry he proved to be.1

Mrs Goldwin evinced no surpriee at the name she had expected to hear, but she said, with a harsh tremble beyond her restraint :

' I tliouehb he was dead and done with.' Roland looked up from his plate and ab her. There was euch vindictive hate concentrated in her face and her eyes, that it boded ill for the request he was working up to.

' You know him, then ?' he said. ' I loathe Mm !' she cried, now glaring ab ber eon. ' Aud I forbid you to speak of him.

If ebe had thrown her half-consumed peach at hia head Koland could nob have been more surprised or more ropelled wan ho was. He rose excitedly from his Chair,

~. "">' • I have promised to meet him ins nisht, and I thought), being who he is ar-a what he was to my father we owed nim much—hospitality, kindness, conaeration, leniency. I thought that per-Jaw-I thought of-that is ' He floundered painfully, and she pub an end M once to hia appeal on Larry's behalf. one also stood up, and her words rang «>nlly a 8 she leaned forward with both bands pressed on the table. ■v. v'Z a dare t0 ask him near theßo doors,' ens an but, screamed, « you are a hypocrite with your prating about tho dead coming a ill -? 00 mißhfc do honour. What ">a» be said of the living to whom you owe £«re tha n duty-more than gratitudetofro than you will ever know ? That mar, m,?£- V ot man-i» indebted to me for nothing bub hate ! He insulted me ; he would have ruined me. If you don't know ™ y°ur duty lies after hearing this much, then ! way you are a hypocrite !' R n i»n!i y°u-would have ruined you ?' ttSILT*1? I 'fluahed and «»ft»»i n°» snowing how to construe her worda.

1 Yqs, shall I say ib again ?' she asked, scornfully. 'Never mind the why and wherefore; Borne day, when you know more of the world, I may tell you, but not now. Only heed what I tell you this day. Yes, it is true he saved Jeremiah Goldwin's life—by a fluke, no doubt—and made capital out of it. Ib assured him the position of an independent man for his life; that debt has been-wiped off long ago. He had reason to love one who treated him so much better than he deserved, but hs hated that one's wife ; he was jealous because I took his mate from him. He was a sneaking, crawling, prying idiot, and his insult has never been repaid. Now perhaps you will tell me where liea your duty—to the dead man or to the living woman who has done so much for you.' She gave oub all this with a wild vehemence which he had never witnesbod in her before.

• Sib down and calm yonrself,' he entreated, with firm but low accents, unexcited to loudnoss. ' There is really no occasion for this undue rage. I hope I shall always know my duty to you without compulsion from you.1 His gentleness presented such a contrast to her violence that it stirred a sense of shame within her for her exhibition of passion, and made her obey him with a strange docility when she said by way of explanatiou. ' His very name maddens me,' and next caught at her handkerchief convulsively to bury her face in it and actually sob aloud.

The whole scene was painfully novel to Roland. That his mother was hobtempered, and could 6ay cruel, biting things when her temper waa raised, he knaw; bub that she could be capable of such a volcanic eruption of wrath as just displayed, and which in its way fell like lava on his head, was quite a new phase of her disposition. She was nob a woman addicted to weeping over trivial matters, and, moreover, a woman's tears will upset the equanimity of any man who can boast an ounce of chivalry in his composition. Roland was rather liberally endowed with this quality, and, considering the circumstances, he had reason to be thoroughly distressed. Ib was not likely that he could listen to her and remain unmoved, or feel now so strongly prejudiced in Washington's favour. Ib was nob likely that he could give him his hand in pure friendship. His heart had gone out to the old man, white-haired and bent, whose hand had gripped his almost to pain, whose whole attitude towards him was a benediction;, and there followed a revulsion of feeling. Ib was as if he had drunk unwittingly from a poisoned brook with waters sweet and refreshing to hia palate, bv.b now infecting his blood and making him writhe in torture. What was he to do ? Ib was nob bhe age for him bo rush to.the offender and throw down the gauntlet at his feet, to be followed by the clashing of swords, even if Larry's hoary head did nob protect him. But it was his sacred duty to champion any insulted woman, and this woman was his mother, to whom he w*3 not passionately attached, bub who held a powerful claim on his obedience, nevertheless, because hia filial instincts were strong. 'Certainly,' he said to himself, 'the greater absorbs the lesser duty. I must defend her by breaking my promise to Mr Lairy, and by avoiding the intimacy we mutually desired.' He, still standing, moved nearer to her, and placed his hand gently on the coil of golden hair as she bid her face in her handkerchief, and said : • Mother, enough of this; dry your eyes, I shall treat Mr Larry as his paao conduct to you deserves.' And then he walked out of the room bo hia study, and wrobe a note, which was soon despatched to the Virginia Arms., and over which Larry still pondered, when bhe writer, having regained composure, had Bebbled to his sbudies. Leaving Roland bo his books, we must burn to Unaville. once Bachelor's Nest, and now tenanted by Captain Pennacove, who had changed its name ou tho adoption of his niece. Ib was a warm nighb, and the windows of its drawing-room were open. They overlooked the front verandah, which receded some distance from the street, behind a neatly-kept flower garden, diamondbedded, and with gravelled paths. Ihe drawing-room was the same apartment as thab in which Larry had made his unhappy communication to Jeremiah Goldwm. The same, yeb nob the same, for its old individuality had departed. Now it was rich and sofb with admirably blended colour It was adorned with pictures, sculpture, coßtly ornaments and knickknacks, valuable and quainb odds and ends of grotesque art.. It was draped with curtains and garnished with flowers and completed with a grand piano. The tout ensemble declared the presiding genius of a retined and cultured woman.

It was occupied by two men, who were sibbing oopoßite to each other at a chesstable, Paying chess. One was Captain Pennacove, the other was a young man of about twenty-tive years, who was fond of visiting Unaville, ostensibly for a game of chess with the captain, or to sing his sones to Miss Ponnacoves accompaniments, and receive her instructions thereon, bub in reality for far more cogent reasons, which shall be gathered later on. He wns at present a mere clerk in a large shipping firm, bub expecting a rise in the near future. He was slim and of the average height, not brultanb in intellect bub shrewd, pleasant in converse, gentle in manner, sanguine in spirit, and t.ot rich in good looks, but with nez retrmme and bright grey eyes, inclined to that expression which is. so often classed as •wicked'—wickedness accepted as palat-able-giving a piquancy to what would have been otherwise a decidedly plain foce. Ho could sing a good song, and, as Alias Pennacove was a thorough musician, and a charming singer, too, she enjoyed his visits, and founded a pleasant intimacy. He had come this night for music, bub, finding Miss Pennacove to be absent, he "llowed himself to be gabbed by the Captain for a game ab which the latter was an adept, and mostly won. The Captain took a delight in letting bis opponent think he was well on for victory, and then pouncing on him at the last with a powerful unexpected battalion, crying 'CheckmHe was inwardly gloating now because his young would-be adversary had just made a move to his own destruction, but, confident of success, was_ yet awaiting the next step in the campaign by the wily general of the mimic battle with breathless impatience And as the Captain's right hand hovered over the board, and his white brows almost brietled with effort of thought, a man, who looked very much older than he was, opened the wicket leading to the front garden, trod the path to the veranda steps, mounted them, and walked to one of the open windows, there to stand' and watch alternately the player?, and next to inspect the room with an air of disappointment. •Thunder!' he exclaimed, 'ib ain't the same, or I am dreaming !'

• Check !' cried the Captain. •Ah !' from the man without), •he aio'b changed—looks younger with his seventyfive years, and not a day leßß. Nob twenty years older.' Now, the young player, whoae name was Charles Mountfu, looked annoyed, and made a vain attempt to parry the Captain's attack, which was quickly followed by a jubilant cry from the latter of 'Checkmate !'

' Beaten again, by Jove !' cried the vanquished one good-naturedly. 'Captain, you're merciless.' 'Come, I'll give you another trial,'

offered the winner exultantly,

1 No, thank you, I'm not on. One beating a nigbb is enough. If you don't mind, I'll strum.'

' Sbrum away, th9n ; Una can'b be long now ; she said she would be home early.'

Mountfu rose, and went towards the piano, but on rising, he spied the man at the window, and burned to the Captain with a low-toned remark :

' I say, there's a tramp on the verandah, Captain.'

1A tramp, is it ?' said the Captain, as he swept the chessmen into the drawer of the table. ' I'll have a few words with him, then.'

With the intention of making inquiry into the fellow's wants, and dismissing him from the premises, he strode hurriedly to the door between hall and veranda, just in bimo bo open ib and admit the supposed tramp, who had his hand on the knocker ready for a rap, but dropped it quickly to his side with the sudden meeting of the unexpected door-attendant. The hall-lamp, burning high, threw its rays on the visitor, who was not recognised by the Captain, whose greeting was nob unkind, bub yeb was nob such as anticipated. ' Hollo, my man ! you've made a mistake. Go round to the back if you want a meal, and then clear oub.'

He did nob know the snowy-bearded man who, with bent back, rested a hand on his stick, wore loose,, badly-fitting clobhes, a slouched felt hab low on his forehead, and who looked as if he wanted a moal, bhough he had not long dined. ' Have I growed so han'some that you don't know me ?' he said, looking hard at the man who had taken him for a beggar, and feeling a trifle hurt. . • I'd have spotted you in a crowd—for, as sure asyour name is Timothy Pannacove, mine is Washington Larry.'

1 Lord bless my girl !' ejaculated the Captain with a sbarb, and then a closer inspection ; •so ib is. I know your voice, bub. hang me ! I'd have passed you in the street'

Their handa meb in a fierce clasp, and the now beaming host daovv his guesb into the drawing-room, where Mountfu ab the piano was playing a dreamy waltz very pianissimo, and unconsciously gave an entrance bo bhe two ojd men wibh slow music.

Larry, having passed the threshold, stood within the room leaning on hia stick, and cast disparaging glances about him. 'Ib ain't the same,' ho said ♦ Ib ain't gob bhe old hang eomehow.'

Where was the mantelpiece adorned wibh pipes, pouches and cigar-ends ? Where were Jerry and Cicero? The whisky-de-canber, bhe steaming jug, the glasses, spoons, and sugar-bowl, the tobacco fumes, oh, where were they? But for the unchanged Captain he would have been as dazed as Rip van Winkle after his long sleep. The harmony of the waltz filled his ears, but nob his senses ; it might have been a cricket chirping on the hearth for all he heeded it.

He shook his head sadly, and, as if in a trance, allowed the Captaia to lead him bo a chair and lift bhe hat from his head—a ceremony which he had quite ignored in his bewilderment.

' When did you come down ?' Here the Capbain's hearby voice made Mountfu aware that he was no longer alone. He turned on the music-stool, and understood the supposed vagabond to be a guesb. Shrugging hi 3 shoulders wibh some amusement ab his mistake, ho ceased, playing, but began to overhaul a heap of music idly tossed on the piano, holding himself aloof thab he mighb nob intrude upon the Captain and the new arrival. Captain Pennacove, taking his seat close by Washington, pub his question. ' When did you come down?' ' This morning,' answered Larry, waking up to his surroundings. ' I wanted to surprise you—and didn't I ?' • You di.il. I thought you would live and die in North Flinderaland.'

* Knutsford,' curbly corrected Washing ton.

' I mean Knub3ford, only one gebs so used to the old namea, you see. Goldwin and Company ought nob to forget, though, since Knubsford is more prosperous bhan old Norbh Flindersland bied on to bheSouth. Have you come back for good—gob tired of the station ?' ' No, no. I felt a longing to see the old place, and other places and old faces ; but, don't you fear, I'm not going to turn you out of this. I couldn't live here again by myself. I like bhe rough life besb up ab Washingbon. Bub I'm going to have a spell for some months bill I geb tired of doin' nothing.' • And I,' aaid Captain Pennacove—' I am bound now bo live quite a different way bo the old bime. I'm civilised now. I sbop in Phillipia—hoo againsb my will, mind, bub because I like to for somebody else's cake— nob alone on account of the busineßß.' 'Not married?' exclaimed Larry, with something like a gasp.

1 Married ! Once a widower always a widower with me. No ; bub I'm fathered —bettered—whatever you like—with Ben's girl bo look after me. I thought I was going to look after her, bub she looks after me instead. You remember poor Beii—ho was a barrister, you know.

' Yes ; where is ho ?' •In a better place than this, I hope, whore ho died for want of briefs, poor chap, and left destitute his only child. I made her mine, and she's never done repaying me.1

' Ay, I've senn her ' said Larry, who, until the Captain had alluded to his neice, had forgotten the existence of the beautiful girl to whom Roland had introduced him only that afternoon. 'The devil you have! and whero ?' blurted out Captain Pennacove at this piece of information. 'Ab Gobong ; I was there to see Jerry's grave.' 1 And how did you know her?

' Jerry's, boy—l see Jerry's boy.' Larry's eyes brightened as he said •Jerry's boy" with an affectionate intonation, and he was unconscious of hi 3 vague reply, only thinking of him. 1 You saw Jerry's boy—Roland ?' ' Yes ; God bless him ! he's his father's own son.'

•How did you meefc, then?' cried bho Captain, impatient for lucidity. •Ab jerry's grave, of course; ho was throwing flowers there on his stone, and I guessed it was him and spoke to him. He showed me her and the other one.'

* Well, you've eeen tho beat girl in the world. I've been talking to you for ten minutes and more, and have never used an oath; that's through her. I'm nob half such a rollicking chap as I was. I uned to swear like a trooper, but nob since she came ; it wouldn't do, you know. When I feel a string of oath 3 coming up I ram them back again, and just let ofl easily a mild "Lord bless my girl!" That never frightens her, and ib comes quite natural now. And she is as clever a3 she is good. Why, man, she's in her second year at the University, and she's going to be a bachelor of arts. What do you think of that ? Think what our mothers would say if theycouldrise and see our girls aspiring to be bachelors, and wearing a University cap and gown !' Larry looked just as must surprised as any loug departed grandmother might could she return to the world this day to find an advance which to her would be but a deplorable retrogression of maidenly modesty. . 'A what?' he cried with some emphasis, not being fully acquainted with the gradual and worthy ascent of the female mind into the realms of learning and letters. • A bachelor of arts !' Captain Pennacove made a proud stress or. tho tttle. 'It is the aim now of a good few of our girls, and they make quite as fair shots as the lads. Roland goes up for his degree soon.' •Ifc'a a queer thing,' remarked Larry,

nob baking kindly to the bold feminine march of inbellecb. •Do you think ib'a a safe thing to leb 'em get ahead of bhe boys? Give her a chance and bhere's no knowing what'a woman will do. She does a power of mischief without bhe learning. Whab do girls wanb with universities ? There'll be no holding of 'em down ab all.'

' Well—' here Captain Pennacove had bo bhrow back his head and laugh sturdily at the other's dismal acceptance of a fact, and his evil prognosticabion thereon—• I don't know much abcutother girls. I do know thab my Una will never be less sweet than she is because she is clever. She'll come in after Roland, bhab's cerbain, and he is working hard.'

•Per'aps,' said Larry, wibh an idea brighbening his sallow face, • thab's why he couldn't come bo-nighb.'

' Come where ?'

ITo the Virginia Arras. Ho said he'd come right enough, bub I gob this instead.' He drew a note from his breast pocket. R«ad ib.'

The Capbain read the following curb lines:

' Roland Goldwin regrets not being able to keep his appointment with Mr Washington Larry.'

'Short, nob sweeb, ain't ib''commenbed its recipient. 'And ib ain't like him. Do you think, now, it's them books of his keeping him away after he promised to come V

' Very likely, or some friend may have dropped ib. He's too honesb a fellow bo wilfully break his word.' (

'He looks ib, anyhow, and I'm longing for him. He' 3 Jerry's own boy. 1 Larry turned his eyes bowardß tho piano, and, remembering what Roland had said in reference to Miss Jessie Locksbud's number of relatives, he glared ab Mounbfu as he had ab Jessie, and added, ' Is thab a Locks bud ?'

' No ; thab's Charlie Mountfu, a friend of oura. I'll call him over.—Here, Mounbfu !' ho called across bhe room ; ' bhis is a friend of niine : haven't soen him over, bwenby years, and he's bleached oub of recognition.>

Mounbfu ab this invitation bo join the Capbain wenb over bo him, and shook hands cordially with Larry.

' Happy to make the acquaintance of any friend of Captain Pennacove's,' he said, and tho words had scarcely left his lips when a door opened from the room which had once been occupied by Larry, and admitted a young lady.

Larry immediately displayed a snail-like tendency, but as he could nob creep bodily into a shell, he drew in his tongue and forebore responding to Mounbfu's hearbiness as ha had been ready to do a second previous, and drew himself bogebher as if with sudden cold, and bent forward with both hands on his stick, standing upright between bis knees.

It was only Una Pennacove, whose power of shedding brightness had nob yeb couched him, whose womanly sweetness was yeb bo draw incense from a woman-haber. Science bells us thab bhe shadow thrown upon the wall leaves its permanent trace there, to be made visible only under the requisite chemical process. An outline of our movements may bo bhus negatived on bhe very walls of our dwelling-houses, awaiting bhe action of bhe necessary agenb bo render ib positive. But daily life holds up to us a similar lesson in simpler form. Love and duty in the home— bo it palace or hut—record their story. Every deed, every word, every bhought, sweetens bhe air, and needs no aid from the laboratory for the revelation of distinct impressions," a centrifugal force of an inward light shoobing rays on all sides. Una Pennacove always made her presence felb for good. She had been dining this nighb with her friend Jessie Lockstud, bub had hurried home bo fulfil her promise bo Mountfu for a singing lesson. She entered wibh-her hab still on, andnqb so flushed or happy as usual, jusb to tell her unclesho had returned, and bo greeb Mountfu ; bub, seeing Roland's friend, she forgot to do both, and walked up to him at once to say, ' I did not know we were so soon to have the pleasure of welcoming you to your own house, Mr Larry.' Mr Larry put his hand out to touch hers— gloved, warm, and ardent in its pressure— and looked ab the carpet as he replied :

,'Thank you, miss.' ' And where did you leave Roland? 1' she asked, determined to put him at his ease, and believing the appointment to be kept. •On tho Gobong platform.'

Larry's hands Bbook on his stick" as he stared at it.

' Oh, I mean to-night; he was to meeb you, I remember.' ' Couldn't come ; sent me word.'

' Then something important must have prevented him, for his hearb was eeb on having a long balk wibh you, I know.' Larry turned to the Capbain after a covert glance ab his niece, and Raid : 1 Then bwo of us are disappointed.'

Bub ho looked relieved bhab this girl could endorse her uncle's opinion on this subject, and in the glance thore dawned something akin bo respect, and a sluggish admiration for one who had helped to soobhe his disappointment, thatone actually being a woman. Una looked thoughtful, and then, ac if anxious to banish something unpleasnnb from her mind and his, persisted in standing thora before him, pulling off her gbves and putting questions abouf the new colony of Knufcsford, while ho, beiner compelled to answer, was mode to talk till use made hia tongue run freer and her less formidable. Captain Pennacovo said never a word, but was ffloatine ovor her protty talk and sweet wile^. Mountfu, on the contrary, was fuming wich impationce. Half an hour after, when plio haH dimposed of her hat and glovoe, and was about to commence the fos?on, her uncle and Washington Larry being on tho verandah smoking, ho said «bo her reproachlul'y : 'I thought Siudbad would monopolise yon nil nk'ht.' 'Why Sindbad?' she asked, with her hands on the koya. 1 Well, d.oesn'b he look as if no had an old man of the sea clinging to his neck ?'

' Ho is old and lonoly, and may have troubles nob to be shaken off. I wish I could relieve him.'

' Is everybody so fortunate in your wishes, I wonder ?' he said, as he set a. so»£ before her, and noted that she wai loss lively—was even apathetic—as Bho allowed her bands to lie idly on the ivory notes and sighed, not wondering why Roland had broken hia promise, bufc partly guessing. 1 Have I offended you ?' he was compelled to ask presently, when she made no attempt to begin his accompaniment. '■ Have I vexed you ?'

'No,' Bho replied, aroused, look offended or vexed ?'

• Why, do I

• Y~ou can never look anything, bub what you are.' Una turned her head impatiently after an upward questioning glance ab his face.

' You vex me when you talk nonsense,' she said; • now sing, if you please.'

So she sbruck the opening chords of the song. ' A pretty pair !' remarked Larry thoughtfully, as he looked towards the piano through the window from the out' side. • A pretty pair,' echoed the Captain— •where? Una and Mountfu ?'

■• Rol

•No,' from Larry, emphatically— and and her.' • Oh ! is that your gamo ?' cried Captain Pennacove, who wiahed for nothing better than to see his darling Roland's bride a very few yeara henco. ' Well to that I say 11 Amen !" ' By which it may be perceived that the faculty of match-making and pairing may be found in grey-headed old men, and ia nob conGned to officious matrons and anxious mothers.

( To be Continued.)