HERR PAULUS: HIS RISE, HIS GREATNESS, AND HIS FALL

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

HERR PAULUS: HIS RISE, HIS GREATNESS, AND HIS FALL

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.

BY WAITER BESANT, Autbcr of "All Sorts and Conditions of Men," &c. BOOK THE THIRD. CHAPTER 11. SATISFIED WITH HIMSELF. It is pleasing to turn from the winding ways and specious talk of one who wishes to change himself, to his natural, simple, etraightforward ways when ho is making love. Paul, with Bethiah, was shifty and self-conscious. Paul, with Hetty, was bravo and candid of soul. They met where they could, and exchanged a hurried word just to keep up their hearts, but three or four days passed before Paul found an opportunity of a serious talk. Love is very serious. Young people may laugh and joke with each other before they fall in love. After, there are no more quips and jests. When lovers are together they laugh little ; smiles are plenty; it rains smiles and happiness and kisses, but of laughter there is little, and it is soft and low, as when the girl laughs if her lover calls her a goddess and an angel. She likes it, but she knows that the language is a little —just a little—exaggerated. This day—the very afternoon of the day when his old playfellow had brought him back to the cold earth and reality again— he found Hetty alone in Cicely's room, and entered it with the transport of a man who has nothing at all on his' mind but love. In fact, he had nothing. The plain truths he had just heard fell from him and were forgotten for the moment, because he was so fully possessed with love, and because to Him the present was all, and the past and the future did not exist. What mattered if Bethiah disapproved of certain things ? They were old things. And here was his girl looking up to greet him with the light of welcome in her limpid eyes, and a blush upon her cheek. Yet sho dropped her eyes again, because his were so full of longing that they terrified her. He closed the door behind him, and ran with outstretched arms and fell upon his knees, nob to worship her, but to look up in her face. •'Hetty—we have hardly spoken since —that day—" " No," she murmured. "Oh ! Paul, for he was kissing her hands, " you must not. Oh ! you must not." " Must not love you, my dear ?" " You are so far above me, Paul. You know what I am. Not even clever. Who am I that you should love me ?" " No dear, who am I that you should love me ?" " You are so wise and noble, Paul. And you have such wonderful powers." "As for my powers, they have deserted me, Hetty. You have destroyed them. My dear, they gradually vanished as the thought of you began to till my heart. It is strange. I was warned of what would happen. Yet I could not resist." " Oh ! Paul, have I really and truly deBtroyed your powers ?" "Really and truly, Hetty. My mind sin think of nothing but of you. And all my power depended on the clearness and freedom of my mind.' "It is strange. Paul—were you—were you nerer in love with any other girl ?" "No, Hetty—never. For seven years I lived apart from women. My teacher and I had no women in the house. I saw them only when they came to consult him. I never thought of woman's love, except as a danger to be avoided. It has proved a rock, indeed. Yet—oh ! Hetty, if I have your love I shall be the richest man in all the world."

"Oh! Paul." She conferred this boundless wealth upon him. It needed no more words. Why, he knew that she had already conferred this great gift. He kissed her a thousand times, and called her as many sweet and tender names. "Oh !" he replied. "To think that so much happiness was possible! And to think that all these years I have been running after a thing not worth the having, when there was love waiting for me." " But it might have been love for some other girl, PauL" "No, no, Hetty, we cannot escape our fate. I was reserved for you. And will you have me. lam but a common-place man after all; an American without a profession even ; as for my wisdom, that has gone too ; the fine things which you used to admire will never be said again. As for my nobility, perhaps," with a touch of bitterness, thinking of the morning, "perhaps that has yet to come." "But you are Paul, always Paul; whether you are doing wonderful things, or whether you have ceased to do them. It is Paul that I shall love, whatever you say or do." " My dear ; I have met an old -friend of my boyhood. She knows you. She lives in your house. Go to her and ask her to tell you all about me in the old days. She will tell you," he was sure that Bethiah would tread delicately on the dangerous places, " better than I can. She will save me the necessity of explaining quantities of things. Dear Bethiah ! She looks no older than she did some years ago." "Do you knovt. her? Did you really know Bethiah before you knew me? Paul, is it possible that you did not fall in love with ner ?" "Why, I always loved her, I suppose. She was a kind of sister to me. I always told her everything. But as to falling in love —you don't fall in love with your own sister, do you ? And I had to wait for my fate, Hetty, my fate, oh ! my fate !" That Fate which gives a damsel, sweet and lovely, to such a young man, even though his conduct has not been wholly straight, is a kind and generous and forgiving Fate ; no relation at all to the lady who carries the scissors and snips the thread. In the arms of his mistress, Paul forgot everything unpleasant, even the plain truths that Bethiah had presented to him. These truths at the moment caused him pangs unutterable. Now he found the panga needless; he would not bear them any longer. Pangs of this character can be put away by a resolute and imaginative man. Why should he bear them? There was no reason for confessing anything to anybody. His power was gone ; he could no longer magnetise anybody. Perhaps he was fatigued, and suffered only temporary loss of will. Perhaps he was right in attributing the thing to the depth and strength of his passion of love. Very well; let the power go. This innocent Delilah had lopped his lovely locks. Samson's -were doubtless of coarser texture. Very well, no occasion at all to speak of the loss. Even Bethiah's clumsy wayoori r putting the thing as if he had been a common cheat, as if he had never possessed any power—could not destroy the wonderful halo which bis late achievements had caused to spread around hie head, so that he looked and felt like the sun in splendour. He felt that halo pressing lightly on his brows. Hetty, he was sure, saw it. So did Lady Augusta and Cicely—poor, blind girl!—and perhaps Sibyl and Tom, though of them he was uncertain. He was perfectly satisfied with himself. He had come out of his important embassy from the Sage of Abyssinia with Mat. He had perfect reason for the cessation of the powers which had been his cre- . dentials. And besides the whole world—of this he was persuaded—was ringing with the story of his achievements. To the end of time the story of the things he had done would form the brightest page in the Chronicles of Spiritualism. Aβ a matter of fact, the whole world knew nothing at all of his achievements. The Indian paper story was old, and had never found any real credence, and the recent business was going to be kept in the family, because the very remarkable manner in which Mr. Brudenel sold his shares and forgot all about it would nob bear relating to an unsympathetic and sniggering public. Bab thxe Paul did not know, and therefore he was perfectly well-satisfied with himeelf, and went about with stuck-up

chin, naturally. "Hetty," he cried, buoyantly, "leb us talk of the future." •« Yea, Paul; the future." •' What would you like beat, Hetty?" " To go away—quite away—where there are no spirits and no manifeatations."

• The Proprietors of the New Zealand' Hesald bare purchased the sole right to publish tble etory «a the North Uand of Mew Zealand.

"Wβ will co away, dear. I think"—he spoke as if he~had only to choose his retreat anywhere out of the whole world— I think," he said, considering carefully, that wo will go to America; we will winter in Florida—l do not like the hard winters of the North—and spend our summers on the New Hampshire coast. Or perhaps you would like winter in Sicily and summersay, on the English coast. We will go somewhere_we wilTfind a place where the air is balmy and the sun is always warm. Wβ will have a house with large rooms-I love large rooms-and a library full of books, and a deep verandah, where in the hottest day we shall be able to sit in the shade behind lovely creepers and flowers; there will be a garden full of fruits and flowers ; we will live upon grapes and peaches ; in the evening you will play to mo and I will walk about.° Oh ! I remember, years ago, in the old days, how Bethiah played while I dreamed. I wonder if the dreams will come back to me. I used to turn them into poems —pretty bad they were, I expect, but they seemed beautiful and pathetic to me. I have never had those dreams since. Hetty, let me look in your eyes. Oh ! I see deep depths in them. What gives those depths to your eyes ? You will fill me with those dreams again. Oh ! we shall be so happy— so happy, Hetty." • • She was only half carried away by this vision of happiness, because her imagination could not suddenly rise to the same heights; but still she was half carried away, and she repressed the desire, natural to one who still has her own foot resting on the earth, to ask where the money was to come from. He divined her thoughts. "I have plenty of money, Hettty," he said. "Do not let any thought of money trouble) you. I have got a great pile of money ;it is being kept for me. Besides, I daresay I shall do some work as soon as I find out what I can do. I think I should like to paint; it must be delightful to spread the rich colours on the canvas, and watch them growing into flowers and lovely women's faces. I havo often dreamed of being a painter. But I cannot, unfortunately, draw at all. Bethiah used to draw very well; she made many portraits of me. Sometimes I have thought that it must be splendid to be a great orator, and to move the people, But then—Bethinh used to say —orators have to tell lies and exaggerate and misrepresent, otherwise they cannot move the people." " Don't be an orator, Paul; don t try to move the people." " I will not, Hetty," he replied, virtuously and firmly. "Sometimes I think I should like to be a preacher, but without conviction "—ho went back to the old phraseology of his youth—" that is impossible. As for bein? a lawyer, that is impossible, too, because I should have to study law, and I can never study anything again; I have had enough of study." His mind went oft in an unexpected line. " I have had seven years of study such as never any man had before, I believe. Some day, perhaps, Hetty, I may tell you all about it. Seven years during which I had to think all day long of nothing else. Other young men had friends and fun, I suppose. At least, I have heard of such things. I had no friends and no fun. I seem now to have wasted my youth. It is gone, and all that I took so much trouble to learn and to cultivate has gone too." "Never mind it, Paul." "It made me so different from other younc men. Why, Hetty, when first I came here I could not understand how Tom could be always laughing and joking. I came to imitate him afterwards, but at first —what a solemn, conceited ass I must have seemed to you." " No, Paul. Those were your gifts. "Yes, yes—my gifts. Well, Hetty, I had led a very serious kind of life for a long time—seven years. And the atmosphere of youth and be'auty intoxicated me. And so —I fell in love. And about the future, dear. There is plenty of money. I don't know how much, but there must be a great deal—very likely enough to keep us all our live 3. Not that I don't want to work. Oh ! Hetty, to work for you ! I could clear a forest for your sake !" "I wonder," he went on, "how I could have lived so long without you, Hetty. It seems to me now as if life would not have been worth living. Why, if I were to die to-morrow I should feel that I had not lived inva in, because I have loved. The dreams that I told you of—the dreams that came to me when Bethiah played—l understand them now—they were the first yearnings of a youug man after love. Oh ! my dear. There is nothing in the world worth thinking of beside love. My heart is full of love and of thankfulness and joy for love." He looked so completly happy ; he spoke with such a perfect contentment —in fact, he looked and spoke as he felt—that no one would have guessed the pangs of shame he had endured only that morning in the attempt to put things in a pleasant and comfortable manner to his old playmate. "Paul," Hetty cried, suddenly, breaking up the Paradise, " what shall you say to my mother ?" " I shall tell her that we are engaged, and that I am going to take you away." " Then we must leave her—all alone?"

He made no reply. "Yes," she said. " Yes—l know, we must. Poor mother ! She has something to live upon, and we have never been companions. Oh !we could not endure to bring into our own lives, Paul, the dreadful rappings and the spirits." " No we will have none of the spirits with us. That is certain, Hetty." " Yet, Paul, it is to you that I have told the awful suspicion which has always rested like a black veil between my mother and myself. They are, after all, real spirits who rap for her. My mother may be deceived by them, but she is not a deceiver of others." " Lady Augusta will take care of her, Hetty—and Sibyl, and Cicely, for your sake."

"And there is my father, Paid; it was you who brought me to him. Sometimes I wish you had not. He is —he is —not altogether what I could wish him, is he? And he has been two or three times since ; and he keeps throwing out hints that if I will go with him to America he will be able to do great things for me. And oh !he says he is in the snow line. Can I ever" — she sprang to her feet and threw out her arms—" can I ever rid myself of the show and the medium—the sham and the pretence ? Paul, you will take me away from them, won't you? —where we go, I don't care where it is, we will never hear of this other world except as others hear of it, will we ? We will consult no spirits; we will have no powers and no gifts; we will go through life seeing no more than others see. Oh! Yes, I know—to you, Paul, to you— your gifts have been precious and glorious. But to me my mother's gifts have brought shame unutterable !" " Why, Hetty !" His eyes were soft and suffused, and his cheeks were glowing, his lips were trembling with the sympathy which welled up in him at the touch of pity. "My Hetty. Henceforth, then, there is no other world but that which you can eee with your eyes, and that which you can feel with your heart—my dear, the other world which each of us will see and feel all day long. It will be the other world of each other's hearts."

CHAPTER 111. HUSBAND AND WIFE.

There was not, happily, any occasion for anxiety as to Mrs. Medlock, for even while Hetty spoke of her she was reunited to her husband. Yes. Mr. Haynea Medlock, either stricken by conscience, or led by the reawakening of affection, or guided by eelf-interest, had returned to hie wife after eighteen years of separation. The reunion of souls once parted, the return of heart to heart, is indeed a sweet subject for contemplation. *•»♦#♦ " Lor-a-mercy !" cried the wife. "It's Haynes'." " Yes, Lavinia, I've come back," said the husband.

That was all. The words are simple. The poetry lies beneath.

• • • • * Ib was the evening. Haynes Medlock, seated once more at his own fireside, was enjoying domestic happiness. It steamed in a tumbler at his side, fragrant, hot, and strong. The lemon lay beside it, and the whisky bottle, only just begun, promised more domestic happiness to follow. "This, Lavinia, he said, " is comfort." In hia fingers he held a churchwarden. This kind of pipe ie a symbol of domestic happiness. It" is leisurely to smoke—indicating tranquility ; it is fragile—indicating mutual forbearance —confusion and violence destroy it—therefore it indicates domestic peace, and cannot be removed from the Hpa for any length of time without

going out. It, therefore, teaches the neces; sity of few words. Its length requires elbow-room; therefore, the children have gone to bed. "Yes, Lavinia," said Mr. Medlock, slowly, " I was wrong to go. You ought to have warned me that there was money in it. If I'd stayed I could have made that money for you. Well, there is still money in it, I've a notion, now." " It's no use, Haynes. The profession 8 wasted away for want of customers. People no longer want to consult the spirits. Why, there's even palmistry cutting into it— palmistry that tha gipsies used to practice. Now, that's all the fashion. The spiritrapping trade's gone—now I'm too old to learn any other Lucky I was able to buy the house when I did." "I've a notion, Lavinia. I came back •with that notion, and it's stuck. First I thought it wouldn't do ; then I thought it would ; then I thought it wouldn't. I came home, Lavinia, because I was tired of being assistant and I wanted to be boss. I knew the whole bag o , tricks, and I said to myself, ' If Lavinia will only join me, there's a fortune in it.'"

"What is it, Haynes?" "It's spiritualism and palmistry and fortune-telling and advice and craniology and telling character from handwriting and casting nativities, all in one. You shall do the spiritualism. I can do the palmistry and craniology—and I know a man who can cast nativities. Wβ can't dress you up to

look voung, Lavinia." "so, you can't," she replied, with a pathetic sniff. " That's too late." " But we can dress you up to look old, my dear. In crimson velvet, with a snow-white wig, and rings upon your hand, and a little paint under your eyes, you would look truly venerable. An old woman isn't so attractive as a young woman ; but then she looks venerable. She commands respect. People believe in her." "You'll want capital to start with. Where's your furniture and rent and advertising to come from ?" " Til manage that. If only we could get a young woman—Lavinia" —he jerked the pipe over his left shoulder and looked cunning—" there's Hetty." " Haynes! If she would! If she only would ! If you could get Hetty to come with us, you would have the best clairvoyant© in the world. I've seen her under Paul's hands. She went off like a lamb the moment his eyes were upon her. She said whab he wanted her to say ; she stood up when he told her ; she sat down again when he told her ; and she remembered nothing afterwards. It's easy to find a mesmeriser, but a really good clairvoyante—" "Lavinia! say no more—our fortune's made. Of course, she'll come. When first I set eyes on that girl, that is to say, not the first time, which was one-and-twenty years ago—time flies—one-and-twenty yefcrs ao-o. She's n fine girl, Lavinia—a very fine girl—with such eyes and such a figure ! She'll drag in all the men in the place for love, and all the women for jealousy. When first I set eyes on her, I say—but a week ago —I said to myself, snys I, ' young woman, if you were only in my hands'—moaning what I could make of her. But a parent without money—it's like making a law when you've got no policeman." He neaved a deep sigh. "Now if you'll give in, Lavinia, listen. We'll sell this house—that will put us in funds. And we'll go across the water. Lord ! what a show we'll have ! With that beautiful girl dressed—how shall she be dressed? In tights?" " Not in tights, Haynes. It isn't delicate. " In Syrian costume, then ; we'll call her the—the Syrian Syren. Can she sing ? " " Hotty plays and sings very well. "She shall sins-. That shall be part of the entertainment. Mesmeriser ! wnat do wo want with a mesmeriser ? I'll mesmerise her." " You can't." " Well, we can pretend. It is all the same thing." "No, Haynes, ifc isn't the same thing. You can't pretend clairvoyance—not to take in anybody who knows. You might as well pretend to spirit-rapping." "Well, so you can. Everybody knows that." At that moment there were heard from behind tho stove three loud and distinct raps. Haynes Medlock jumped from his chair and upset his tumbler. " Good Lord ! Lavinia, what's that?" " Why," continued his wife, " if ifc is just tho same thing, do a lot of people go round pretending to be mediums? No, Haynes, you take a low view of the profession. I don't say but what we have to make up a good deal. Even Paul does that, I know, with his Abyssinian business, which I wonder he can have the face to put before people who've got heads. To be sure, in that house nobody, except Sibyl, has got anything of a head. They all believe anything." "Who's Paul!" " That is Herr Paulus, the most wonderful medium that ever came over. Haynes, I was beginning to disbelieve in the whole concern until 1 saw what he did. Chick says it's all mesmerism. Well, mesmerism does a good deal of it; but there's more than mesmerism in it. If we could get Paul there would be something in your show ?" " Paul ? There was a fellow called Paolo who used to help the old Professor. What's he like ?" " Like an Italian. Dark hair, lovely black eyes —there—handsome." "It's the same man! Yes, if we could fet him. Why not ? We must have someody, and the Professor's about; come to the end of his rope. Why not, Lavinia. Bring me within speech of him. I did speak to the Professor, but he got on stilts at once." " There's some talk of his losing his power. But that's what he says himsek. Therefore it must be parb of his make-up. They say he is going away. It's the talk ot the servants. I always talk to the servants, Haynes, wherever I go, because there's many a little secret comes out that way, and very useful I've found it." " As for Hetty, now—" " You won't find it easy to persuade Hetty. She's an unnatural daughter, Haynes. She isn't proud of her mother's distinguished position. She won't help me any way. Sometimes she says disrespectful things about the profession. Very-cruel things she has said when I've wanted her to do any little thing for me—just to pass me a roll of paper at the right moment, when it would have made all the difference between a successful seance and a failure. No, not even the crook of her little finger will that girl give me. Spirits must be helped and encouraged, and she knows ifc; but she won't help a bit—says it's cheating." " That's bad. Because we shall want the crook of all her fingers," said her husband. " And something's come over her. She never eays anything ab all now; has her breakfast and goes off to her work; comes home and goes to bed. But now she isn't frumpy any more, and her eyes are soft, he looke happy. Perhaps it's our American lodger that she s so fond of." " Well, Lavinia, she's got to come with us, and do whab we please. Exercise your authority, Lavinia—as a mother." "That's all very well. Bub you are her father. It's your authority, not mine, that's wanted. Let me mix you another tumbler and don't spill it again." " My authority shall be exercised," said Haynes, firmly. '' I shall command that girl. She shall obey her father. I've never commanded anybody yet, but now the time's come I shall go through with ifc. I will be stern, Lavinia." At this moment Hetty arrived. "You here?" she said, with more surprise than welcome. "I thought my mother was not to know that you had come back." "I concluded to come home," said her father, simply. '' Take your bonnet off and sit down. Your mother has gob somebhing bo say to you." " That is to say, my dear, your father—" Hetty turned from one to the other. They were afraid. They looked mean and small beside this beautiful daughber of theirs, to whom they were about bo propose a life of lies. "Well," she said bo her father, "say whab you wanb bo say." " We are going bo America bogether, your mother and me, on business. You will come with us, Hetty, also on business. On advantageous bermsof course," he added. " I shalldo nothing of the kind." "I am your father, Hetty. And your mother is—your mobher. And we mean bo be obeyed/ ;.•,.•'» The words were sbrong, bub bheir effect was greatly marred by the manner of utterance. Also the handling of the churchwarden did nob add to the aufchoriby of the words. " I am not going to obey you. Bub what do you want me to go to America for ?" " Your mother and I, Hetty, are going to run a show—l mean—conduct a high-class

Spiritualist Variety entertainment, of an instructive character. Your mother'sworldwide fame as a Medium—in crimson velvet and white hah-—has preceded her across the wide waves of the Atlantic Ocean. American citizens have long been asking why they, the bigger ani more important half of the Anglo-Saxon speaking race, dwelling under the flag of Liberty, should not have the opportunity of beholding the manifestations which this renowned Medium has lavished upon her own countrymen. That opportunity will soon be granted to them. Lavinia Medlock, whose agent is the well-known Haynes Medlock, for many years largely engaged in the conduct of similar enterprises, will shortly land upon the sacred soil of Freedom, and be greeted by the citizens of that great and glorious Republic. She will be accompanied by her daughter, Miss Henrietta Medlock, a chairvoyante whose feats have been hitherto designedly kept a secreb in order that she might burst with full lustre upon the enraptured gaze of the American Eagle. Henrietta is now in the bloom of her seventeenth year." Mr. Medlock, at this point, carried away by his own eloquence, rose, and assumed a position on the hearthrug, where he stood, his left thumb in his waistooat armhole, and the left hand spread out. In his right he gracefully brandished the churchwarden. The effect of his attitude, combined with his spare figure, open frock coat, and small, insignificant features, was imposing. " Her seventeenth year," he repeated. "In her sweet seventeenth. Heaven never made a fairer creature than this favourite of the spirits. She is dark, with large and limpid eyes, charged with magnetism. Young men have been known to fall down beneath the gaze of those eyes. Constant meditation and communion with the other world have given her youthful face the lofty and abstracted air of the aged philosopher. She is nobly formed. She possesses a voice at once soft, musical, and powerful. She plays and sings only music taught her by the spirits. In the hands of her father, the only operator whom she will admit, she performs the most extraordinary feats—things never before attempted—of clairvoyance. There is nothing that she cannot do. She reads letters in envelopes; she tells the number of bank notes; she prophesies the future; brings news of the absent; conveys messages to the

dead —" " Stop!" said Hebty. " Enough of this nonsense. I will have nothing—nothing to ■do with Your shameful and disgraceful cheats. Oh !it has been misery enough to see what is done day after day—and to hear what is said and thought of mediums; but to join ! to pass my life in it—oh '." * " Hetty, my dear," said her mother, in imploring tones, " don't be hard on us. Think—oh ! think, we are so poor, and there is a great fortune to be made. And indeed it isn't trickery. It is only dressing up the thing artfully so as to catch the people. It must be dressed up. You are a beautiful clairvoyante, Hetty. I have seen you under Paul's hands—the first night he came. Oh ! I could have sung for joy when I saw you. Oh ! we have no right to throw away this splendid gift; it was given to you, Hetty, so that you might make a great fortune out of it for yourself and your parents. Do you think, Hetty, your own father would ask you to do what is wrong ?" Her own father endeavoured to dissemble with the aid of his tumbler. Bui. it was a feeble attempt. The involuntary smile with which he received his wife's last question broadened to a grin. " It is no use," said Hetty, declining to answer that question. " Nothing—not the blackest destitution —would induce me to lead such a life. Besides," she added softly, '' the matter is taken out of my hands. lam engaged." " Engaged ! Engaged ! Oh ! Hetty. To whom ?" " I will tell you as soon as he allows me. Yes ;I am engaged. I will not insult my love, even by listening to such proposals any longer. Oh ! How can you, how can you ? —both of you. How can you, in your old a ge " —fifty seems so old toone-and-twenty ; and, indeed, one is no longer quite in the first blush of early manhood at nfty—" how can yon ?" she repeated, because the conclusion of the sentence was contrary to the spirit of the Fifth Commandment. Then she walked straight out of the room and sought the studio, where Bethiah was reading a novel, with no other companion than her lay ligure. "Engaged! She is engaged!" said her mother. Oh ! She's an arttul creature not to tell me. Who can it be? There's not a young man in the world that I know of that sho knows. There's Tom Langston, to be sure. But he's engaged to Sibyl; and—oh ! Lord ! Haynes, what if it were Paul himself ? It must be. There's no one else. Oh ! Haynes !" "Paul? Signor Paolo, as was? If it's him," said her husband, moved beyond the reach of grammar, " if it's him, don'b say another word about the show. Don't let her set him against us. If it's him, I say, our fortune's made, because there isn't a cleverer, or a more promising man in the Profession. She's a lovely girl, Lavinia ; in greatness and loftiness of mind she takes after her father's family ; in spiritual gifts, no doubt, after you, my dear. Humour her—if it's. him, give in to her. He'll make her a clairvoyant fast enough. And, oh ! with such a son-in-law and such a daughter, my dear Lavinia, our declining years will slide as easy as a drawing-room car, replete, as the advertisements say, with every comfort. Give in to her; humour her; buy little things and give them to her—new gloves, for instance ; make her feel that we look up to her. And, oh ! Lavinia, be judicious, say nothing more about the show. Leave that to her lover. My dear, this is a joyful evening indeed."

]To be continued].