LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 33

LADIES' GOSSIP.

— The Princess Olimpia Doria d'Avella, belonging to the patrician Roman family of Doria, among her other jowels has a pearl necklace of four rows of the finest pearls, worth lOO.OOOfr (£4000), each row being fastened by a separate diamond clasp. A few days ago the Princess drove in her carriage to the Pincio (a public garden in Rome), where she alighted to walk a little ; half an hour afterwards, the Princess got into her carriage and returned home. She then perceived that she had lost one of the rows from her pearl necklace. All search proving useless, a reward of lOOOfr for its return was repeatedly advertised, and at last the pearls were restored. It appears that the owner of a small cafe, who, on'the day of the loss was returning from the Pincio, saw lying on the ground the row of pearls with the string broken. He picked them up, and not thinking them of any value, took them home to his wife, giving them to her saying, " I have always regretted not being able to make you a handsome present, but I hope you will be content with this necklace." " How much did you pay for it 1 " the

prudent wife asked. " Five francs," replied i her husband. But instead of thanking her good husband, the lady told him he was stupid to waste his money so foolishly ; and to make peace with his wife, Signor Peppe told her the truth, and she, thinking the pearls false, threw them, without more ado, into a drawer and forget them. Signor Peppe, a few days afterwards, read the Princess' advertisement, and a ray of light seemed to come into his head that the pearls he had found might be the ones advertised for. So off he posted to the Palazzo Colonna, where he was at once conducted into the presence of the Princess Doria, who overjoyed at seeing once more her cherished pearls, at once gave the honest man a bank note for IOOOfr (£4O), who afterwards obterved, " Who would have thought that that bauble that my wife would not even look at was worth 25,000 lire (£1000)." — Russian young ladies are so passionately devoted to dancing that at the end of a season the majority are hustled off, pale and unnerved, to the South of France to regain health and strength before once again they begin their butterfly existence. Russian ballrooms are of a size compared to which even Parisian " salles de bal " are small, and a single turn round the hall of assembly of the Russian nobility is equivalent to 20 rounds in an average ballroom. In the ballroom of the Winter Palace 3000 persons can dance with ease, and the White Room, where the last court ball was held, holds about the same number. —The ex-Empress Eugenic is gathering all her family souvenirs around her at Farnborough. She has arranged one room to represent the Prince Imperial's study a Ghiselhurst, filled with the relics and memorials of her dead son. Another room contains the turning lathe and carpentering tools which Napoleon 111 used in his last days for

exercise, when he could no longer ride. The ex-Empress has had the satin and lace of her wedding dress made into splendid vestments for the priests who officiate in the Imperial Memorial Chapel. —I do not profess (writes a lady correspondent of a contemporary) to teach gentlemen how to dress, but I will repeat here that in Paris, for every wear, pink, bluf>, and red shirts are preferred. The widely open waistcoat is doubtless designed to display as much of the bright coloured shirt as possible, and jet studs are used, which heighten the peculiar effect. So greab is the demand for coloured shirts that the manufactories cannot keep pace with the great demand for them. A prince of the House of Savoy is said to have originated the fashion. — The old order changeth even in customs matrimonial. Ai the marriage of Lord Clifford to Miss Townley some time ago, the bride was given away by her mother ; while, stranger still, the best man, Lord Carnoys, is not a bachelor. — A new name has been found for the inferior order of bazaars. Instead of a " sale of gifts " the title conferred is " bazaarette " — and no doubt the fair stallholders will "charge accordingly." — The Princess of Wales is credited with a rather unusually smart repartee. A very worthy lady, it is said, recently mentioning in her presence the 'much talkedabout betrothal of Prince Eddie, and being laudably anxious to be loyal and to please, ventured upon the trite remark that " marriages are made in heaven." " Except joyal ones," said her Royal Highness, with a quiet smile ; " the society journals arrange those for us." — The young Queen of Portugal and her mother-in-law, the Queen Dowager, have arranged to divide the kingdom for philanthropic purposes into two regions, north and south. Each will take as her own peculiar care one of these divisions, and will do her utmost to promote within it societies for the protection and benefit of the poor and for procuring the means of saving them from misery. — The battle of 'corsets was fought at a collegiate school for girls in North London. Some of the pupils wear stays and some do

not. Between these parties a trial of strength was arranged, consisting of a high leap, a long leap, a tug- of- war, and a foot race. There were 16 competitors — eight on each side Those who did not wear corsets were victorious all along the line. I — Both George I and George II spent a good deal of their time at Hanover. George 111 did not once go outside the limits of the British Isles. George IV was always convinced that he had commanded at Waterloo. He often alluded to the fact in public, ki.c! used to appeal to the Duke of Wellington to confirm his statement. The Duke usually evaded the question by observing, " I have frequently heard your Majesty say so." But for this apocryphal campaign, however, George was a stay-at-home, and though his brother William had in his younger days been a sailor, and ploughed the seas not always with credit, he did not signalise his short reign by any 7isit to the Continent. It was reserved for the Queen, under the inspiration of Prince Albert, to break through the custom which George 111 had introduced, and pay periodical visits to the Continent. — A pathetic little story has just come to light in Pennsylvania, though the actors have "lain for a century dead." A cave has been discovered containing a skeleton. A green glass bottle stood by its side. Inside the bottle was a faded manuscript addressed to Miss Virginia Randolph, of Richmond, Virginia. The writer, Arthur L. Carrington, in 1778, during the War oC Independence, was cut off by the British, and took refuge in a cave. Some shots from the enemy brought down a huge stone overhanging the cave, and closing the entrance made him prisoner. The manuscript contained his last love-letter. In the churchyard of Richmond the following inscription can still be read on a moss-grown stone — " Died of a broken heart, on March 1, 1780, Virginia Randolph, aged 21 years and nine days." — It is becoming the custom in America for busy women to have young ladies for private secretaries. The femine private secretary keeps the run of the visiting list, answers notes and makes engagements and excuses. Her duties require an excellent education, high-bred manners, and the greatest tact and delicacy. — A fan of goose feathers 1 how unpoetical it sounds, and yet we assure our readers many a lady need only see to wish to possess one. Snow white feathers, with the natural quill? replaced by the staves of the fan, are arranged gracefully together, and only the outbide shows the complete feather. Each feather has a dainty border of flowers painted on it in colours true to nature. The bow is composed of numerous loops of narrow ribbon, the colours of the flowers. — The Season. — In designing watches of the quaintest shape and smallest possible size the artist in jewellery, &c, surpasses himself. Watches are set in bracelets, in umbrella handles, in travelling bags, in handbags ; in short, wherever it is possible to place a timepiece appropriately there are you certain to find an uncomfortable reminder that " time flies." I saw (says a Home correspondent) a very tiny watch square, but with round face of solid silver very deeply embossed, and having a look of great antiquity in a shop the other day, and wondered what use it would be put to. — It would really be interesting to know the colour of the dress worn by Ellen Terry at the Ladies' Kettledrum. In one paper I read " she was attired in a flowing dress of brown satin, trimmed with yellow," another tells me, " Ellen Terry looked oharming in a dress of sage-green ; silk," and somewhere else I see, " Miss Ellen Terry did the honours in a tea-gown of shot satin, grey or dull violet, according to the light, opening over warm orange, softened by lace." By-the-bye, orange, the colour of a Seville orange, green of the brightest emerald hue, and pontifical violet are the colours most to be worn, and will be seen an immense deal this spring. — A young lady in New York has made quite a little competency for herself by trimming lamps, for less energetic people. During her father's lifetime, for whom she kept house, the lamps of which she took personal charge were so nicely adjusted and trimmed that their brilliancy was much admired. Her father's business affairs became deranged, and he subsequently died, so that she was left in comparative poverty; but she determined to turn her knowledge and experience to account by going from house to house among her friends and trimming their lamps, receiving so much per week. The idea proved most profitable, and many other ladies have since followed her example in New York and elsewhere. — The Duches d'UzGs, who has been visiting England, has been favourably impressed with the physical strength of English women, and is determined to try whether French women cannot be persuaded to take more exercise. She declares that the physical education of French women is totally behind that of every other nation. She has founded lawn tennis clubs, supplying the paraphernalia, &c, herself, and paying an English professor to give the necessary instruction ; her daughters take part in the exercises. She has also organised horse races and rowing clubs for her tenants' daughters. — A correspondent writes as follows in a Home paper : — " Your allusion last week to Frederick the Great recalls a curious little incident with regard to the choice of the grave where he lies. In the garden of Sans Souci are five little graves, in each of which one of Frederick's favourite hounds lie buried ; there is also a larger grave where the horse on which he rode during his last campaign, is interred. By the side of the horse, and with the dogs at the foot, he had a tomb prepared for himself, and left strict " orders that he was to be buried there. • I wish to lie,' he used to say, « by the side of those whom I loved best in life.' When he was dead, however, his successor and his Ministers wore sorely embariascd ; for, with every wish to obey the dead king's instructions, knowing the narrowness of their countrymen, they feared the scandal that would result for burying him in unconsecrated ground. In the midst of the consultation of what should be done, a young secretary suddenly sprang to his feet ; it was evident that he had hit upon a solution of the difficulty. ' His Majesty wished to lie by the side of those he loved best,' he cried. 1 As that is clearly out of the question, why not put him by the side of him he hated best 1 The King always loved extremes.' The suggestion was hailed by acclamation,

and, to-day, in a little chapel in the Garnison Kirche at Potsdam, are two plain black coffins placed side by side. They contain the remains of Frederick the Great and his ; father, between whom was a hatred so intense, fierce, and bitter, that we poor, degenerate, nineteenth century mortals must shrink from the evidences of it as something too ghastly." — All readers of English history are familiar with the account of Sir Walter Raleigh's gallantry in spreading his cloak on the ground for the maiden Queen to step on when she was crossing a London street. Our childish ideas associated the action with dirty thoroughfares and dainty shoes, but in reality it was an act of homage customary in Spain, and not only at that period, but also at the present day. A short time ago the wife of an English artist was staying with her husband in Madrid, and her beauty so entranced some of the gallant Spaniards that they carpeted the street with their clo. n .ks for the lady to walk on. — Miss Cons illustrated, in February, in a forcible manner the valuable work which women may do as members of the London County Council. One of the girls employed at Barnum's Show wrote to the committee complaining of the light in their dressing room. It was so bad, she said, that scores of them had to stick candles in the ground and dress by their light. The matter was one of terrible importance, involving the safety of an enormous building and of 5000 or 6000 people. Yet the committee could not themselves go and examine the dressing rooms ; it was not a matter a man could enter into. So the committee asked Miss Cons to go and inspect the room one evening as their representative. She did so, and found the statements quite true, and Mr Barnum had the matter rectified without delay. — An Emporia, Kan, girl wrote to Jay Gould and asked him to give her a black silk dress, as she was about to be married and her folks were too poor to buy her one. Although she has written four melting epistles to the autocrat she still has no black silk. — At a ball given recently by the Astors — one of the great American millionaire families— every part of the grounds was hung with Chinese lanterns, and all the way from the gate to the drawing room door stood a double row of footmen in plush liveries, with kneebreeches, silk stockings, buckled shoes, and powdered heads — 100 in all. At the end of this file of servitors stood Mrs .Asfcor, just inside the entrance to the drawing room, in white and silver, wearing all the famous family diamonds, which are valued at £100,000. On her right stood her son, young John Jacob, the American parti — a tall, high-nosed, rather aristocratic, blonde boy, immaculately arrayed, without a jewel save three small gold studs down his smooth satin shirtfront. A hot-headed young fellow, and somewhat susceptible, but fast cooling away all his boyish romanticism in the chill splendour of his aureate world. On the other hand of this diamond-bedecked hostess stood Mrs Nellie Waldorf -Astor. Tall, sumptuous, peach-skinned, with eyes like big brown jewels, and a great mass of silken brown hair wrapped carelessly around her head, she is the happiest looking woman in millionairedom, and frankly declares that she has not one wish ungratified. She and her clever husband are thoroughly devoted to each other. They have several handsome, healthy children ; their wealth is enormous ; their social position the highest. There were shoals of millionaires at the ball, all the famous New York beauties, men of distinguished name, a Cabinet member, diplomatist, and half a dozen English titled folk. — A man in San Francisco offers his services to the public as a letter-writer, and warrants his epistles "to start a parent's tear, stir the expiring embers of waning affection, and awaken the full ecstasy of a lover's heart." — The newest fad of fashioa, says a New York letter, takes the form of a be-ribboned ardet, known to the initiated as the "memory hoop." On this there are strung bows of bright-hued ribbon, each one a tribute from some nice young man. It reminds one of nothing so much as the Indian custom of stringing the sca'ps of their enemies to the saddle bow as trophies of conquest. However, the methods of the sweet girl of the period are not so manifestly bloodthirsty, and if she does break Jack's or Reginald's heart it is quite as easily mended as a piece of cracked bric-a-brac, and she has a tangible reminder of them in the butterfly knot of ribbons of the poor boy's favourite colour. " They never send green, you see," remarked a beauty with snapping black eyes; "it might be too suggestive, you know." The " memory hoop " is becoming almost as popular as the bangle bracelet craze, which was at its height about 10 years ago, and to possess which innocent young men were almost " held up " by persuasive maidens, who made as much noise at any movement as the wonderful woman in the nursery ihyme with rings on her fingers and bells on •her toes. — Madame Albani, the celebrated operatic ■vocalist, writes to the New York World " a few notes " about her Majesty the Queen, ■with whom, she adds, "I have had the honour for a long time past of being personally acquainted." In regard to her Majesty's taste in music she speaks as f ollows :— " Her Majesty is very _ fond of music, and is a very good musician. She studied music with Mendelssohn and singing with Lablache. As a consequence of this teaching she prefers the old Italian music to any other ; but at the same time she can appreciate anything that is good in the modern music. This I know from experience as I have sung all kinds of music to her, the new as well as the old. The Queen is much touched by a simple, homely ballad, and after I had sung to her songs like ' Ror-in Ad air ' or 'Old tolks at hon'o'l have &een teais la liui i.;e> Slu \\;\^ oem in rotire;ncr' Igi a pric.*' i.viny ye&i . and iluriut; ihiu time ha- ik>i l>> ci. pivsont at a >iiic'lc operatic performance ; yet she remembers well the old artists and the manner in which they rendered the various well-known roles. For instance, when I was studying ' The Huguenots' and was going to sing it in America, she said* that was one of her favourite operas; that she thought Mario was superb as Raoul, and that, although Grisi sang the music splendidly, she never realised her idea of the character of Valentine."

— It is said that sham pearls are so well made that, when properly set, they cannot be distinguished from genuine ones. They are simply beads of clear glass coated inside with a lustrous solution obtained from the scales of some small fishes — bleak and dace. It takes the scales of 40,000 of the fishes to make 21b of the solution, which is called essence d'orient. The imitation pearls are more durable than the real ones, which are liable to be injured by perspiration or other incidents of wear. — The New York Sun describes a queer mortuary wreath worked by a woman of 70, in memory of her husband. She made it of relics of her late husband and of articles which were the property of the wives who preceded her. The frame is of putty, into which, while soft, the widow placed, among others, the following articles : — In the centre of the top cross-piece are the spectacles of her late-lamented, and a small vial containing pills, which were left over from his last illness. Besides these there are many small stones which he had treasured during life, his jack-knife, a piece of candy, which she says he had left uneaten ; buttons of all kinds from his old clothing, and a small bottle containing cheese made by his first wife. All of this collection is labelled, as, for instance, " The smelling bottle used by the wife before me." Enclosed in the frame is a picture of him whose memory the wreath is supposed to perpetuate. The wreath above the portrait is composed almost entirely of flowers and leaves, each of these made either of some portion of his coat, waistcoat, trousers, neckties, or suspenders, and worked together artistically. The shirt in which he died is honoured by having made from it a showy bird, too wonderful and stiange for description. Just outside the wreath are placed suspender-buckles and watch chains entwined with the hair of the mother of his first wife. Some of the hair from his own head has been made into tendrils, and the stamens of one of the flowers is of the material that lined his coffin. On one side of the wreath is a bunch of raisins he bought her the winter before he died, saying, " Now, don't cook any of these, but eat every one." Balancing the raisins are three wires, each supporting one of his teeth, and behind them is the last toothpick he ever used. — The ring which Elizabeth gave to her favourite, the Earl of Essex, with a promise that no matter what disgrace he fell into she would pardon him on receipt of that token of regard, was naturally a great centre of attraction at the Tudor Exhibition. When Essex was sentenced to death for high treason he gave the ring to his relative the Countess of Nottingham, with an injunction to convey it to her Majesty. This the treacherous lady, at the instigation of her husband, failed to do ; and Elizabeth, mortified at the obduracy of her favourite, let the law take its course. On her deathbed the Countess of Nottingham begged her royal mistress to see her, and then implored forgiveness for the non-fulfilment of the trust. The Queen, violently agitated and highly incensed, shook the dying woman vehemently, crying: "God may forgive you; I never will." Returning to her palace the brokenhearted Queen sunk to the floor, and refused both food and medicine. Cushions were placed round for her support, but with fixed eyes and finger pressed on her silent lips for the space of 20 days the proud, unhappy old woman sat on the ground, and then expired. The famous ring is a sardonyx set in gold, the cameo representing a portrait of the Queen ; the inside is enamelled blue and gold. It seems to have been much enlarged from its original size — a fact that appears to fix the truth of the tradition concerning it. — Vienna, in spite of its exclusiveness, is in many ways the most democratic of cities, as the Eagged Ball amply proved the other day. There, members of the noblest families in Austria were elbow to elbow with shop girls, milliners, and maid servants, all mingling together on terms of the most perfect equality. Even beggars and tramps were not excluded from the festivity, as indeed, how could they be, seeing that the ball is the ball of the ragged, and that the richest of those who go are bound to assume at least the appearance of poverty? The idea of these balls was started some 18 years ago, when a few gentlemen issued invitations to the first of them, for the purpose of at once satirising the Extravagance of the fashionable Viennese, and raising funds to buy clothes for poor children. This year, while dancing was carried on at its wildest and fastest in the large room, in the smaller ones were various artistically arranged grroupa caricaturing the events of the past year. In one of them Stanley was represented in the act of kidnapping Emm Pasha ; in another, a patient was in the agonies of influenza ; Zeitung kept jumping in and out of the box in which he travelled to Paris ; and even our "Jack the Kipper" was there, in effigy at least. The most comic spectacle of all, though, was a group of pretty girls with muzzles on their faces, evidently a rap at the muzzling order. Wild shrieks of laughter kepi re-echoing from the room where the guests were told their fortunes ; queer fortunes, too, they must some of them have been, judging by the faces of those to whom they were told. From first to last the ball was a scene of the wildest gaiety; everyone there, from the beggar to the prince, seemed bent upon having one happy night at least this carnival, and upon forgetting for the time that there was anything to be done in life but to flirt and laugh and dance as Viennese alone can do it. 'Trras Only. 'Twas only a habv's soft; sweet smile, 'Twas only a mother's song ; "Twhs only th(> z°nh-> r which blew awhile, 'T\va3 only Sptinfr all day long '1 was only a modebfc b'l.Mi, 'Twa6 only love's bslght i lay; ''fwas owl}" a silen' , nc-icpti'l li'Oi 'Twhs oulv .1 Siump* i >I,n 'lv <is on'^ a loviuti \.i' ¥ 's ombr ( u c, Tub, orly : .;iisl. >n.: - Iwsv . Twas onu a .til aii'fi 1 ... ot g'itc , 'Twas only Autumnal l>lis>. 'Twaa only a single, muffled knell, 'Twaa only an open tomb ; 'Twas only a snowbound, frozen spell, 'Twas only Winter's gloom. HOME INTEKEBTS. White Cakk.— One cup of milk, two cups of sugar, half cup of butter, two eggs, three cups of flour, one and a-half teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and a little nutmeg. Soda Biscuit,— One quart of sifted flour,

one teaspoonful of soda, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, one teaspoonful of salt, mix thoroughly, and rub in two tablespoonfuls of butter, and wet with one pint of sweet milk ; bake in a quick oven. Apple Fritters.— Slice apple into a batter made of one pint of milk, two teacups of flour, three eggs beaten stiff, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and one half of a teaspoonful of salt. Drop in deep lard. Eat with syrup. Beef Roll. — Mince lib of fresh beef very finely, pound ifc well, add three large biscuits well ground, two eggs, herbs, pepper, and salt. Make into a long roll, put buttered paper round it, and bake for an hour. Served cold this roll may be cut into quite thin slices, and makes good sandwiches. Orange Jelly.— One-half teacup of cold water and one-half box of gelatine ; soak onehalf hour, then add a cup of boiling water, one cup of sugar, juice of one lemon, and one pint of orange juice. Strain while pouring into a mould. Cottage Pudding.— One cup of sugar, one tablespoonful of butter, two eggs, one cup of sweet milk, three cups of flour, or enough to make tolerably stiff batter, onehalf teaspoonful of soda, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar sifted with flour, one teaspoonful of salt. Rub the butter and sugar together, beat in the yolks, then the milk and soda, the salt and the beaten whites, alternately with the flour. Bake in a buttered mould ; turn out upon a dish, cut in slices and eat with liquid sauce. A LOST LOVE ; OR, ALL A MISTAKE. My uncle, Reuben Vannote, fell in love with Priscilla Jackson the very first time, and as he was not the kind of a man to waste much time in courting, he choose this way of proposing. Priscilla wore a gown of muslin, and at the belt hung two scarlet pockets, as was the custom in those old times. Reuben having penned a declaration one afternoon took the opportunity (for he was a timid man) of slipping the nDte into one of these pockets when she was not looking. Then he took his leave, and waited patiently for an answer. But none ever came. Poor Reuben was not one to risk his fate a second time, and he ceased his visits to the home of the Jacksons. After a while he went away to England, and Newport knew him no more. He became rather celebrated as a scientific man. The bashfulness of youth gone by, he became a grave, gallant gentleman of the old school, and he had his admirers even among our sex, but he never fell in love, and he never married. At 65 years of age he took it into his head to see Newport before he died. In those years it had become a fashionable watering place. There were one or two great hotels, and plenty of cottages. The sea view was as fine, the sea air as bracing, the girls as pretty as of yore, but they did not wear painted muslins with poppies on them, nor outside pockets of embroidered silk. Reuben Vannote strolled along the beach and looked at the old tower and sighed over the past a little. Then he strolled up the street to the house of the Jackson family. It looked very much as formerly, only the trees were larger and the ivy vine quite covered the brick stable with the pigeon houses on the roof. All its windows were open, and a woman was dusting the shutters. When she came out upon the porch to shake a cloth he spoke to her : " Does the Jackson family live here yet 1 " he asked. The woman gave a long, low shake of the head and said: " The last of the Jackson family died three days ago — Miss Priscilla Jackson. I was her maid. She was getting on in life— 6o years old — and a delicate body always; but I think she would have lived a long while yet if she hadn't had an accident. Her carriage was upset by a tipsy coachman, and she was hurt and shaken. The shock to her nerves killed her, the doctor said. That's her miniature when she was a girl, over the mantel, if you'd step in and look." Reuben stepped in and saw Priscilla, in white and red, smiling at him from the chimney-piece. It was a good likeness. Could she really be dead ? He staggered back and seated himself on the sofa. " And she never married?" he said, speaking aloud unconsciously. " No, sir," said the maid, believing herself addressed. " She never married. Such a pretty girl, you'd not believe it. She had offers, but they did not suit her. Once she told me, sitting just there, sir, where you sit, the Christmas after her parents died, why they did not. She was fond of a young gentleman once, but he came and went and never said a word, and, as she believed, never cared for her. She cried and cried of nights, but told no one, and she lived single until she was 40. Then one day when she was up in the garret she found a pair of red silk pockets in an old box. She had missed the pockets. They used to wear 'em outside, sir, which seems funny now. She had missed them, and never guessed where they'd gone, but somehow they'd been dropped into the box that was carried up garret that very night. She'd not seen them for 20 years, and she took them out and turned them over, and a letter fell into her lap. " It was sealed, and it had her name on it, and when she read it she found it was an offer from this young gentleman. An offer, sir, that she would have said yes to, and thankful. "She knew then, that being bashful, he had slipped it into her pooket, and it had been lost with it, of course. '"I cried ah first, Martha,' she said, ' but afterwards I wa- sjlad. for 1 knew how we hurt loved each nth".. J! wsh too life to jiiiswei ir, e\«,T) i! ! had ki.'-nwi n\ heu j he v.-at bu 1 T ! uptd jsi-iui 1 'inn !jp inij-hi come b-vk in ("I kii'-nv Ihf tm'ii. lie nvw will I'Kiv/nI 'Kiv/n 'O, 1 -, r.L.iJli.-i, -•no jv'l.l, 'mik-i wi -V -{ -v I <>-n '. ''• 1 J V' x ! '<"' Hi '.ir ]inrkeis with the letter in "horn, under her head in the coffin, as she bade me. Sort of like a story, isn't it, sir 1 " "It is very like a story," said my greatuncle. He sat looking at the picture for a while, and the girl went on. The property was left to a charity, all but a legacy to herself, and there was to be an auction next day, and she was cleaning up for it. And then she begged him to rest himself as long as he pleased, and went about her work.

When she had gone Reuben Vannote took the miniature of pocr Priscilla Jackson from the mantelpiece and put it into his bosom, and walked away.

Doubtless the maid wondered long whether that respectable old gentleman could have been the thief, or whether some other had come in at the open door in her absence.

But Priscilla's pretty face lay against Reuben's heart until it ceased to beat ; and I have no doubt that if lovers renew their vows in heaven, these Wo hearts have met there ; these two whom the treacherous buckle of the scarlet pockets parted for ever on earth.