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BELINDA: A BEAUTY THE WINE IN THE GRAPE-FLOWER. Spain or Clapham? A brand new Clapham villa, all dust, dul- ness, and decorum, with “ Mr. Augustus Jones" upon the brand-new doorâ€"plate. A drawing-room, like one's lifs,oppressively stiff and uninteresting, dining-room to match. husband to match, everything to match! Fine Brussels carpets beneath one’s feet; a sun possessing the warmth and cheerfulness of a fartlxing rush-light over- head. Servants to wait upon one and conâ€" sume one’s means; a brougham, perhaps, bearing the Jones coat-oi-arms and liveries; l indisputable respectability, indisputable appearance~value, how much of solid good to one’s self ?â€"well maintained. Amuse- ment, pleasure, play, the quick-coursing blood. the jollity, the “go” of existence, nowhere. So much for Claphaml And Spain? Spain, just across the Pyre- nees thereâ€"Spain, from whence the warm wind blows on Belinda‘s face at this momentâ€"What of that alternative? An uninteresting husband to start with, so much in common has iuturity’s chances both; but not a. stiff, not a. dull one. A genial little human creature in the main is Maria Jose de Seballos, wine merchant and commission agent of Seville, unburdened, ’tis true, by superfluity of intellect, but light of step in waltz or cachuea, and sing- ing tenor love songs passably; his swarthy fingers too bra-ringed, his swarthy looks too bergamoteu for the very finest taste; his diet overtending somewhat toward garlic; and still, if but by virtue of his Spanish pieturesqueness, less vulgar far than Mr. Augustus Jones of Olapham. What would life be by his side? no.1 ‘ In the first place, thinks Belinda, sagely, life, did one marry the littleisrsvillian, need not of necessity be passed at his side at all. Maria Jose would naturally have to look after his agency business, travel to distant countries for wine orders, take his pleasure, as Spanish gentlemen do, in club or cafe, leaving his wife free. Freeâ€"in a flat in a Seville street; no appearance to keep up; no respectability ; a. tiled floor instead of Brussels carpet beneath one’s feet; not a hope of brougham or liveries this side of heavenâ€"but free ! The good warmth-giving sun of Spain overhead; a hundred sweet distractions of dance and tertulia to count the days by ; bull-fights. theatres, and music for one’s Sundays; enjoyment, in short, the rule, not the exception of life, and with only Maria Jose, who, after all, stands comparison with Mr. Augustus Jones right well, for drawback. A name reminding one irresistibly of the musk and millefleur of boudcirs, of Mr. Pope’s verses, china teacups, rouge, pearl powder artifice ! She will be 17 in a month or two, but possesses few of the theoretic charms assigned by poets and novel-writers to that age. Her hands and feet are disproportionany large for her slen- der limbs, her waist is straight but formless, her gait and gestures are masculineâ€"110, not that either, to eyes that can read a- right the girl is as full of potential womanly grace as the grapeflower of wine; and still I dare not call her “feminine,” as people of the north or of cities understand the word. She can play paume, the national Basque fives or rackets, with any gamin of her stature in St. Jean de Luz ; in the excite- ment of the sport will show hot blood like her comradesmoccasionally, indeed, say, at some disputed point of a set match, will be tempted into using a very mild gamin’s expletive or two ; she can row, she can swim, she can whistle. But through her great, dark eyes, poor, forsaken Belinda, the softest girlish soul looks out at you with pathetic incongruity, and though her vocabulary be not choice, she possesses Heaven’s great gift to her sex, a distinctly, excellently feminine voice. Of her possible beauty at some future time we will not new speak. She is in the Chrysalis or hobblede- hoy stage, when you may any day see a skinny, sallow, ugly duckling of a girl turn into a pretty one, like a transformation in a Christmas piece. Eyes, mouth, feet, handleâ€"all look too big for Belinda at pres- ent ; and as to her raiment, her tattered frock, her undarnedâ€"no, I must really enter a little upon the antecedents of my heroine’s life before I make known these details in all the disgraceful nakedness of fact to the public ~ To begin with, the blood of earls and kings (Hibernian kings) runs in her veins. Her mother, the Lady Elizabeth Vansittart, fifth daughter of the Earl of Liskeard, at the romantic age of 41, fell in love with and married a certain fascinatlng Irish spend- thrift, Major Cornelius O’Shea, whom she et accidentally at a Scarborough ball ; endured the neglect, and worse than neglect, of her handsome husband, for the space of two years ; then, happily for herself, poor soul, died, leaving Cornelius the father of one baby daughter, the Belinda of this lit- tle history. Why Major O’Shea, an easy-tempered, easy-principled soldier of fortune, no longer himself in the freshest bloom of youthâ€" why O’Shea in the first instance should have been at the pains to woo the elderly Lady Elizibeth no one could tell, except that she was Lady Elizabeth and that in- terest, that igm's fatuus of ruined men, might be supposed to lie dormant in the Earl, her father’s family. Whatever his motives, whatever his matrimonial disap- pointments, the Major, even his best friends allowed, behaved himself creditably on his wife’s death. Were a band that all but covered his hat, swore never again to touch a card or dice-box (nor broke his oath for three weeks) ; and wrote a letter full not only of pious, but well-worded sentiments to his father-in-lawâ€"from whom, despite many touching allusions to the infant pledge left behind .by their sainted Elizabeth, he received, I must say, but a curt and pom- pous dozen lines in reply. Then, his duties as a widower discharged, Cornelius cast about him to see how he should best perform those of a father. The sum of £3,000, Lady Elizabeth’s slender fortune, was settled inalienably on the child. “ Me little one is not a pauper entirely,” O’Shea would say, with tears in his good-looking Irish eyes. “ If Providence in its wisdom should be pleased to sign my recall to-mor- row, me angel Belinda would have her mother’s fortune to stand between her and starvation.” And so till she had reached the age of seven “ me angel Belinda ” was indifferently boarded, at the rate of about £40 a year, and no holidays in a Cork con- vent. Then O’Shea brought his face and lineage once more to the marriage market, on this occasion winning no faded scion of nobility, but the still blooming widow of a well-to-do London lawyer, and Belinda, for the first time since her birth, had to learn the meaningâ€"bitterer than sweet, poor lit- tle mortal, inrheir easeâ€"oi the word home. Belinda crosses her arms, shakes her head philosophically, yawns a litblo, than casts herself full length on the turf, in 0118 of those attitudes of deliUiUl‘lR southern laziness which Murillo’s beggar children have made familiar to 119, Mid, gazing up through the branches of the cork trees at the intense smalt-blue of the sky above, begins to meditate. gunburnt as 9. maize-field in June, un- a‘uackled bodily and mentally by rule as any young gitana who roams the mountains yonder, through what contradictory whim of fortune came. Belinda O’b‘hea by this highsounding name of here? Before she had been a. week under the roof of her father and his new wife, the iron of cold neglect, sharper to a. child’s sensitive nature than any alternation of hnrshness and affection, had entered her soul. The second Mrs. O'Shea. was a. woman whom all the ladies of her acquaintance called “sweet”â€"â€"â€"you know the kind of a CHAPTER I. human creature she must be? A blonde skin, the least in the world inclined to freckle, blonde hair, blonde eyelashes, eyes of a dove, voice of a dying zephyr. A sweet little woman, a. dear little woman, an ad- mirably well-dressed, and, what is more, a wall-conducted little woman, butâ€"not fond of childern. Nothing could more beauti- ‘ fully befit her chamcter and the occasion than her conduct toward her small step- daughter. “ 1 should never forgive myself if the poor darling grew up without regard- ing me as a mother,” said Mrs. O'Shen, not wholly forgetful, perhaps, that the poor darling could call the Earl of Liskznurd grandpaps. “And, though the Major is so sadly indifferent, on the most vitalof all subjects, I feel it my duty to bring her at once under Protestant in- fluences.” But the Protestant influences established-~94 grim London nurse in a. 1 London beck-nursery ; the discovery made, too, that ob‘durute aristocratic connections were in no Way to be softened through the child’s agencyAand Belinda, on the score of love, could scarce have fared worse had she been one of the gutter children whom she watched and envied, through the prison- bars of her window, down in the court below. Had she been ornamental, the bolls of life might have broken differently for her; a. resound-white flaxen-curled puppet sib- ting beside anctliur rose-and-wuite flamen- chignoxied puppet in a brouglmm, being Searcer lass attriicéive, though on the whole more troublilsome, than a good breed of pug. But; she was very far in- dead from ornmucntal; a. skinny, dark complexioned child, with ovenbig Lays: looking wistfully from an ovebsmall face, and hair cropped close, to the head, coupe a msoir, according to French fashion offien adoptedfor theyouugcr children in scmeIrish convcuts. And so, all fortuitous accidents Working together and against her, Belinda. was hit to swivel Her small bofiy nouri- shed on We accustomed, roast mutbon and rice pudding of the English nursery, and soul â€"eager, fervent, hungry little soul that it; Wusâ€"â€"left to starve She tried, implied by the potent neces- sity of loving there was in her, to love her nurses. But Mrs. ()‘S‘nea’a was a house- hold in which, notwithstanding the sweet- ness of the mistress, the women servants shifteél as perpetually as the enamels-yrs in a. pantomime. lf Belinda loved a Sarah one month, Elm must perforce love a Mary the nvxt, and then a. new Sarah, and then 9. Hannah. She tried, casting longing eyes at them from her iron-bound prison-win- dows, to love the neighboring gutter childi'exh-ha‘ppy gutter children, free to make the most of such grimy fractions of earth and sky as fate had yielded them! She tried w~nc; effort was not neecled'here; wit-h all the might of her ardant, harshly- strung; nature, Belinda, throughout those early years OE isolation and neglect, low-d her futhar. Cornelius descended the ladder of life with a philosophic, gentlemanly grace, that added the last drop of bitterness to Mrs. O'Shea‘s cup. It was not the first ex- perience of the kind, it must be remembered; and so long as abundant alcoholic resource fail not, ’tis curious with what ease men of his stamp get used to these little social vicissitudes. O’Shea had worn a thread- bare coat, had frequented a tavern instead of a club, had drunk gin and water instead of claret and champagne, before this, and fell back into the old, well-greased groove of insolvency almost with a sense of relief. ~ Belinda, who could see no evil in what she loved, thought papa’s resignation sub- lime! His dress from ahabbiness degenerated to something worse, his nose grew redder, his hours and his gait alike more uncertain. In Belinda’s eyes he was still the best and dearest of fathers, the most incomparably long-sufiering of husbands. “Rose must have her chignons crimped, must put on her pearl powder and her silk dresses, just as if we were rich, still,” the girl would think with the blind injustice of. her age, “ while papa, poor pupa, wears his oldest clothes and broken boots; yes, and Will sing a song at times to his little girl, and be gay and lightâ€"hearted through it all.” And the wisdom of the whole world would not have convinced her that there could be courage, of a kind, in Rose‘s orimped chignon and silk dresses, and cowardiceâ€" that worst cowardice which springs from the apathetic despair win her father‘s greasy coat and broken boots and gin-and- Water joviality ! Barring the hairdressing duties, which, seeing the strait to which they were re. duced, goaded her to desperation, I should say the change of fortune affected the girl’s spirits but lightly. Children of a certain age rather like catastrophes that cut them adrift from all old landmarks, so long at least as the catastrophes wear the glose of newness. Belinda, by temperament, craved change, movement, action of any kind, and of these she had far more in Bohemia than in Bolgravia. She had also more of her futherl Not a very desirable acquisition, one would say, viewing matters with the eyes of reason ; but Belinda, you see, viewed them with eyes of love-enor- mous difference. The truth was this : Cornelius knew that his last trick was made, Rose that she had the possibility of one still in her hand â€"a. certain Uncle Robert, crusty, vulgar, rich, “living retired” in his own Villa at Brompton. Very different would Belinda’s story have turned out had this uncle chanced to be an aunt. The old lady never lived who could resist the blandishments of Cornelius O‘Shca when he willed to fus- cinete. Upon the coarse, tough heart, the hardened, unhelieving ears of Uncle Litile enough she saw of him. O‘Sl‘lou had. come into a fortune of some lllirby or forty thousand pounds by his second n'nu'iiexgo, and was slsondiugic liko a mam. (Like, 1!. monster! Mrs. O’Eélmu would do- clm‘o pitcously, when the inevitable (lay of reukouiag hat: overtaken mom. VS. ould she ovur hawo consonth to a broug‘uam and men l rvunts and Sunday diunau‘stun- day (-‘llnners with her principlesâ€"4E sl‘lehail known that Major O’Shen was a. pauper. not worth the cont he was married in!) OocusionullyfiNice in three mouthsperhapa, the fwncy would smike Cornelius to lounge, his pipe in his mouth, into the child’s nursery for a game of romps. Occasionally, after emermiuing some extra. fine friends at dinner, perhaps he would bid the servants bring Miss O'Sheu down to dessert, chiefly it. would Beom#bufi Bulimia was happily indiscriminaliveâ€"for the opportunity her presence afforded of airing his connection with the Earl of Liskoard‘s family. On a few blissful Sundays throughout the year he would take her out for a. walk through the parks. '1 his was allâ€"the sole approach to parental love that brightened Belinda’s lonely child’s life; and as years Went on even this scant intercourse between O’Shee and his daughter lessened. Difficulties multiplied around the man; truths of many kinds dmvned upon the poor pink-end- white 1001 whose substance he had wasted. Recriminations, long absences, cruel xe- trenchments of expenditure, falling off of fair weather friends, all followed in natural sequence. And then came the crash in earnest; Belinda’s pittance their only cer- tain support for the future! The house in May Fair must be exchanged for one in Bayswater, the house in Bayswuter must give place to lodgings; the lodgings from “ elegance,” so called, must sink to respect- ability; respectebility to eighteen shillings a week, no extras, and dirt and discomfort unlimited. Belinda, instead of roast mutton and rice pudding, must cut whatever cold scraps chanced to be over from yester- day’s meals, and no pudding at all; insiezvi of yawning over French verbs, or thrum. ming scales on the piano, must run errands, mend clothes, crimp chicgnons, plsit false tresses, and generally make herself the milliner, lady’s maid, and drurlge of her stepmumme, Rose. Robert, the Trishman’s sentimental, repen- tance, touching allueions even to honor and high lineage were alike wasted. Rosie had chosen to throw herself away upon a scoundrel. Don’t talk to him about birth; Uncle Robert called a man a gentleman who acted as a. gentleman. Rosie, poor fool, had made her bed and must lie upon itâ€"for Uncle Robert‘s language was no less coarse than his intelligence. Snill, let her come to want, let the ecoundrel of a husband deoamp, take his worthless pre- sence to any obher country he chose, and keep there, and the door of Uncle liokert’e house would never be closed against his sister’s child. And as the old man had not another near relation upon the face of the earl-h, Mrs. Rose knew pretty well that, O'Shea’s dieappearance once compaeeed. not only would who door of Uncle Robert’s house, but a fair chance for a place in Uncle l Robert’s will, stand open to her. A has? card, lrepeet, was to be played by Mrs. O’Shea. She played it wellâ€"with that instinctive knowledge of male human nature thrill you will find in the very shallowest feminine souls. Uncle Robert wasademocrat to the back bone; tittleâ€" tattle from the bloated upper ten must consequently be distasteful to him, were it but as proof of his own radical theories ; and Rose e ould prattle to him by the hour together about her lady’s card debts, and his grace’s poccadilloes, and her poor dear O’b‘hea’s intimate connection with the aristocracy. Uncle Robert was as proud. of his purse us any self-made man in England. Nothing swelled him with the righteous sense of solvency like the sight of another’s pauporism; still for his niece to have appeared discreditably dressed before the servants, a. poor relation in all the gelling indecency of a merino gown or mended gloves, would have exasperated the old man beyond measure. So Rose took enoollent‘ cure to do her pauperism gen- teelly. In the most scrupulously neat silk dressâ€"“tho lost of all my pretty things, Uncle Robert. Oh, if you knewâ€"wan we poor women help being foolish ?â€"if you Know how dreadiul it is to one to give up the refinements of life l”â€"in the meet be- coming attire, I say, that Women could wear, this simple creature would pay her humble, tearful conciliatory visits to the i Brompton villa, and seldom return with. out a cris I piece of paper, never entirely empty-handed, to the bosom of her , family. From that night until the final sep- aration, scarcely more than a Week, Belinda kept her feelings better under control. She worked a little pursein secret, upon which you may be sure many a. salt tear fell, put in it all her slender heard of pocket money, and pushed it into her father’s not unwilling hand on the day of his depnr:2ure-â€"-instinot telling her what kind of gift would to Cornelius be the wel- come token of filial love. Whon the suâ€" preme moment of parting had arrived, she clung to him, shivering. tearlees, dumb ; While Rosie, whose only feeling was one of cheerful relief, cried almost to the verge of unbecomingness, and uttered every imagin- able wifely platitude about the heart- rending cruelty of the situation, and the dreadful, dreadful pain that her devotion to duty and to her husband’s interests was costing her. Then came the removal to Brompton; fine rosewood and mahogany, excellent dinners, city friends, Uncle Robert’s vul- gar, purse-proud talkâ€"all, it would seem, very tasteful to Mrs. O’Shea. And then, Rona broke the news of her uncle’s proffered genemsiny as O’Shea. sat drink- ing his hot gimandeater after supper, Belinda. mending a. very torn stocking with very long stitches at his side. At last, one fine spring morning, came an overture of direct reconciliation couched in the plainest possible language, from Uncle Robert‘s own lips. Let Major O‘Shm bemke himself to America. one of the colonies anywhere out of England that he chose, solemnly swearing to keep away durng the space of two years at least, and Uncle Robert not only promised to receive bark his niece to preside over his house and Hit an the head of his mble, but to pay O‘Shea the sum of three hundred pounds before his departure. Enough, surely, to last, if the mun had a. man’s heart Within his breast, until such time as he could gain ii decent independence for himself by work. Cornelius was gheent from home, that is; to say, from their dingy lodgings, for the time being, when this occurred; had been abaent more than a. fortnight, Heaven knows on what missionâ€"I believe he called it the Doncuater Spring Meeting to his wife and daughter. He returned late that same evening. rather more hiccoughing of speech than usual, and with just Sixpence short for the payment of his cab-hire in his pocket. “ Of course it is impassible,” sighed Mrs. O‘Shea, with tears in her meek eyes. “ I feel it a. duty to mantion the proposal, if only to Show the Christian spirit. of my relations; but: of course such a separation would be impossible.” “ Impossitfie, Rose!” sighed O’Slxea, his sodden face brightening. Of so fine and discursive a nature was the craature‘s hopefulness, that the bare mention of three hundred pounds and of being rid of his domesticisics sufficed to inspire him with the visions of a. millionaire. “Who talks of impossible? AmI the man, d’ye think 4is Cornelius O‘Shea. the man to let his own paltry feelings stand between his family and prosperity ‘2” Next day was Sunday. Major O‘Shea. dyed his whiskers, which he had suffered to grow gray under the cold shade of poverty, brushed up his coat, put on a, pair 0i lavender gloves, and lounged away the afternoon in the park, his hot as rakishly set on his head, his whole airjuunty as in the palmiest days of his youth. Madame after duly attending morning serviceâ€"for was it not her first duty, said Rosie, her eyes swimming, to offer thanksgiving for her own and her dear O’Shes’s good fortune ?â€"ma.dome, after attending morn- ing service, betcok herself to Brampton, and employed the remainder of the day in talking over events and planning a. thousand agreeable domestic comforts for herself with Uncle Robert. Belinds, poor little fool. cried herself white and sick with passionate grief. She did not want respectability, or boarding schools, or a home in the holidays. She wanted all she loved on earth, her worthless old father, and was to lose him. “ We really have Very different ways of showing our affection,” said Mrs. O’Shea, when she returned well dressed, blooming, full of hope in the future, and found the child crouched down. dinnerless, dirty, her face disfigured and swollen with tears, beside a. fireless hearth. ” I suppose I slmll suffer, more than anyone else by vour pspa’s absence, but I do what is right. I do not embitter the thorny path of duty still more to his feet”â€"~Rosie had always a fine, florid style of metaphor of her own when she tried to talk gmnd-â€"“ by useless tears and lsmzsntmions.” - And in less time than it takes me to write, husband and wife had made up their minds heroically to the sacrifice. The details were not difficult to agree upon. Cornelius would seek his fortune in America, “ the best country on earth for a. man of resolution and ability.” Poor, semiwidowed Rose took refuge at Bramp- ton. Belinda, with the hundred and twenty poundsa year derived from her mother’s fortune, might be considered independent. 8119 should b3 sent to some moderately expensive boarding-school for the next two years, the term of her father’s bunishment.and Uncle Robert had con- siderater said tlmtshe might look upon his house as her home during the mid- summer and Christmas holidays. Belinda inflependentflnrnelius put upon his legs and offaxed his freedom, and Rose restored to a pew in church, fine clothes, and livery servants. What a. touch of the magician’s wand was this! less than a twelve month after Belinda felt the last kissoi her father’s lips, came a New York paper, directed in a strange hand, to Uncle Robert, and containing the bald announcement of Cornelius O‘Shea’s death. The poor, little girl, away at a second-class Brighton boardingsehool, was summoned home in haste; the blinds of the Brampton villa were drawn decently close for four days, and partially lowered on the fifth, or imaginary funeral day; Rosie, for the second time in her life, veiled her sorrow under the most bewitohing weeds. Uncle Robert talked about the mysterious ways of Providence, kept the corners of his mouth well down before the servants, and ere a week was over had made a new will leaving every shilling he possessed at the unconditional disposal of his dear niece, Rose. O‘Shea, in short, in dying had committed by far the best action of his half century of life, and everybody in his house knew it. Everybody but Belinda. 1 Nature has compensation for us allâ€"~gives a neglected little daughter to love, to mourn, even a. Cornelius O‘Shea. Fiercer than ever grew Belinda’s rebellion now against Uncle Robert’s smart furniture, dinners, butler, all of them bought, she would say, her dark eyes flashing fire through her tears, bought with pope’s life. If they had not driven papa away from England he had not died, nor she been desolate! Let them send her awayâ€"anywhere on the face of the earth that was not Brompton. Yes, she would go to school abrond#to Boulogne, Berlin, as they chose. Onlyâ€"pathetic stipulation for her ageâ€"let her remain away until she was old enough to see after herself in life, unaided, and let her have no , holidays. And a charmingly opportune chance of gratifying the girl’s perverse fancies was not long in presenting itself. Sedulously reuding throughthe educational columns of the Times, Rose one morning, with a. lighting of the stepmuternul bosom, came ‘upon the following: BARE OPPORTUNITY F01! PARENTSAND GUARDIAN?! 2 1“ You will be surprised, and I hope pleased, to hear that I am coming all the way to the south of France to see you. I am sure, when I look at St. Jean de Luz on the map, it quite takes my breath away. 1 have always had a horror of the Bay of Biscay, and can never sleep in the train as most people do, and then I am such a coward about strange beds! But of course Spencer will be with me, and as there have been several cases of smallpox close at hand, and I am so frightened about it, Dr. Piokney says the wisest thing I can do is to pack up my boxes and run. I have been vacciâ€" nated three times, and although the doctors say not, I think it always took a little. I do hope there is no smallpox about in the south. If you have not been vaccinated already, you might get it done as a pre- caution before I arrive. I trust, dear, you will find me looking pretty Well. I am in mourning still, but of course slight, for poor Uncle Robert has been dead three months; indeed, the milliuers scold me for wearing it any longer. But I eon- sult feeling, not fashion, in such things, and what can be more becoming than pale lavender silk richly trimmed or a white Sultana polonaise edged with black velvet and a deep fringe l I wish I knew whether hats or bonnets were best style in foreign watering-places. I have written to ‘ The Queen’ to ask, but I am afraid I shall not get the answer before I start. Nothing is seen in London but those large flat crowns, which never suited me ; and the Dolly Vardens have got so dreadfully common; Really, as I often say to Spencer, dress is one long trial. Were it not for those I love, I wouldâ€"Abut this is a subject on which I dare not trust myself to speak. My dearest Belinda. I shall have news to tell you when we meet, of the most deeply in- teresting nature, affecting the future of us both. I am glad you have made acquain- “ A lady of literary attainments, socially unencumbered, and entertaining advanced ideas as to the higher culture and destinies of her sex, offers her society and influence to any young girl of good birth, for Whom improvement by con- tinental travel may be desired. Terms moderate, and paid invariszly in advance. References exchanged." By the next post, Mrs. O'Shoa. and the lady holding advanced ideas were in com- munication. They interviewed each other; they exchanged opinions on the destiny of the sex; they exchanged references. After some battling, the commercial part of the transaction was brought to a satisfactory close, and Belinda, Bullenly submissive to anything that divided her ,from Rose. Brompton, and uncle Robert, made her next great step in life. The name of her new preceptrees (of whom more hereafter) was Burke, Miss Lydia. Burkeâ€"a. name not unknown to fame either in the speechâ€"making or book- making world. And under, or often with. out this lady‘s care, Belindu’s “ culture " has been progressing up to the present time; no material change occurring mesmâ€" while at Brampton save Uncle Robert’s death, which took place about three months before the date at which this little history opens. Some smattering of languages the girl, drifting hither and thither over Europe, has picked up; some music and dancing of a. vagrant kind; a good deal of premature acquaintance with human nature; life opened, I fear, at somewhat tattered pages of her classvbook ; neglect, not invariably the worst educator, for her master. A socially unencumbered lady, bent on correcting the mistakes made by her sex during the past six thousand years, and with the higher destinies of the future of her soul, could scarcely have time to waste on the one unimportant unit immediately beneath her eyes. In few minds are bromi- ness of vision and capacity for small de- tails co-existent. The mind of Miss Lydia Burke was of the visionary or far-embrac- ing orderâ€"an order quite beyond the wretched details of fawn dresses and darn- ing needles. Newton forgot his dinner hour; could a. Miss Lydia. Burke be expected to notice the holes w But this brings me back exactly to the point at which a. certain pride in my poor little heroine forced me into retrospection â€"the holes in Belinda’s stockings. CHAPTER II. AMBROSIAL CASH. It is but too obvious that they are a hop- hazard, unlawful pair. Belinda darns not, neither does she sew. Her clothes go un- counted to the washer-woman, and return or do not return as they list; by natural processes of selection, such as are of tougher fibre than their fellows survive and come together in the end, irrespective of any primitive differences in color or design. Of these stockings that she now wears, one being grey, the other brown, both ragged, it would indeed be hard to conjecture the original stock; nor is their incongruous efiect lessened by a well-worn pair of the sandals of the country, cspm-gottcs, in Basque parlance, linen slippers, roughly embroi- dered in scarlet, and bound high above the instep by worsted sandals. Her frock is of rusty black, texture indescribable ; her hat of unbleached coarse straw, so battered out of shape that one must see it on a human head to recognize it as a hat at all. And she wears her hair in plaits, tight, hideous plaits, tied together at the ends, according to the fashion of the Spanish peasants, by a. piece of frayed-out, once green ribbon. Spain or Clapham? Raising herself lazily from the awardâ€"such mixtures of dust and lifeless stock as here in the south we dignity by the name of awardâ€" Belinda, after several more yawns, draws forth from her ragged pocket a. letter, writ- ten on seapgreen English notepaper, that must certainly have cost the slender double postage, and in a charactorlesa little board- ing-school ladies’ hand : " My dearest Belinda,” “ Dearestâ€"4m her to call me ‘dmrest 1’ when pupa. himself used to think ‘ my dear little girl ’ sufficient I But Rose must be a hyprocrite, even in writing.” tunes with Augustus Jones. He is a. prime favorite of mine~indeed, he will make me correspond with himâ€"youngmen are so foo]. ishâ€"and, as I tell them all, an old woman like me I What you say about his ‘ vul» garity’ is something ridiculous. How can it matter whether his fsther sold patent stoves or not ? Has a young man money ? How was his money made ‘1 is the question the world asks. I only hope he will be still at St. Jean do Luz when I arrive, which may be almost as soon as this letter. Present; my compliments to our excellent friend, Miss Burke, and believe me your own affectionate mamma, ‘ “ ROSE. “ P. S.-â€"Auggusbus Jones has a. Vina at Claplmm, elegantly furnishedâ€"magihing in the first style I I have often dined there in his father’s time with poor dear Uncle Robert. Augustus will be an exuellentpurti, I can assure you, Belinda, for any girl who may be fortunate enough to win him.” (To be Continued). It would take a volume to record the many “ good things ” which the late James Fahey used to deliver spontaneously among his friends, and nuwspaper asaouiatesâ€" bright sayings and keen witticisms that would have added lustre to lhca humorous literature of the day had they but. innml their way into print, but which have perishad with him, poor fellow ! I rennin» her one: funny story that: went the rounds of “ the boys ” at the time, and made every crowd roar to whom it was; rwounted. Jim, who was editing the Evening Canadian, was invifigd to a. small affair M the Rossin, but failed to attend. Sums of the fellows next: day were Lulling him what a good time ha had missud. “ ["11 sorry, of comma," mid the genial Irishb-mn, “ but the fact is, boys, I really didn’t have bluka nlothes to go in. The only garment I could have (lmned, in con- traxiistinction to ~my unstudiwd Weryday attire, was an old an’m'; a118, as I didn’t care to dress up in that ulate-r and make all the guests who didn’t happen tolmve on ulsters feel jinalous and bad, why, I ambled home and took to my bed. It is quite true I might have unnmmoed m3 self as the Man from Ulster, but it would have occasioned me too conspicuous and painful notoriety. My native instinct, you know, is to he humbla and get in my two columns of stuff a. day withoun any libel suits.” T. â€"Grip. The growingutility of celluloid in the arts is havinga marked effect in lowering the price of ivory, notwithstanding the yearly decrease in the output of the latter. A parody on “The Quick or the Dead,” entitled “ The Rock or the Rye," has been published in Mobile. Here is a sample of it: “ There was a yawping wind aâ€"howl that night, with no mist to moisten it; yet it cringed and whimpered, snored, and was hushed incessantly, as though wet to its skin with a. blizzard. Agemema. was deucedly out up by her beauless walk from the grocery, and from finding thereat no letter from Rye ; for she had expected him to write, remittingly. 1n the jim-jnm lightning she Haw her own profile clear cut athward the suave and complacent sky, like acids on litmus paper ; and the dry, whitey- mauve sand swirled clutchingly about her massive feet in that wetlese wind. And after what thunderous fashion those feet pounded Wermbathward.â€"N. Y. Tribune. If you want to be healthy you must eat regularly, as meat today will not serve you for tomorrow. To be well and hearty eat at every meal timevito be prosperous in business advertise regularly. Stop the one and you starve and die. Stop the other anti yourbusiness takes consumption and dies also. Spusmodio advertising is like having a. ” feast and a famine "-â€"moro famine than feast as a. ruleâ€"and is never satisfactory. To take out your card in dull times is like killing your home because he is a little lame. It is in dull times the most advertieing should be done and it is in dull times that advertising is the most effective, 2w more notice istuken of printers’ ink than than at any other time.â€"Clothicr and Furnishcr. He Got a Demexit. Professor of ChemistryAGentlcmen, I hold in my hzmrl avial of soda. What chemical shall Ioombine with it to pro‘ duee a valuable article of commerce ? Goodsby (waking npyâ€"Br-r-mndyr- Judge. Literal Construction. Irate Father (to young Binks)â€"See here, young man! didn’t; I tell you never to enter my gate again? Young BinksflYss, sir; and I dldn’ clum over the fence. Grécerâ€"Then is when I would trust you I A Queer Cat Story. A correspondent of the Forest and Stream tells a story about a favorite cat that spends a. good deal of her time in a. cosy old arm- chair. Her owner last May put four hen eggs into the chair by way of seeing What puss would do with them in order to make her bed more comfortable. Strange as it may appear, puss took kindly to the eggs and in due time hatched four fine chickens. For weeks after the chickens were hatched she licked them all over every day with her tongue, caressed and fondled with them as much as if they had been her own kittens. Whenever the chickens strayed from the nursery she carried them back in her mouth as if they had been made of the finest of glass. Woulflâ€"be customerâ€"4311b I will have the money thenjd‘ A charming French duohese, so the story goes, had given her promise to attend some festive ceremony at the Trouville casino. Being behind time, she put her gloves on while driving, and never discovered till she stood in the full blaze of the casino drawing room that with her black and white silk costume she had put on one white and one black glove. It appears that her maid had laid out two pairs of gloves for her to choose from, and that the duehess in her hurry had taken one 9f each pair. The mischief, however, could not be undone, and the odd result was that &t the next fashioneble assembly all the ladies at Trouville wore gloves of different colors. A Relnarkable “‘ager \Von. A man won a. wager in Washington a. few days ago by lighting his cigar by the aid of a lump of ice. He took a piece of clear ice, about an inch thick, from the water cooler, whittled it into the shape of a disk, and with the palms of his hands melted its two sides convex, thus giving it the form of a. double convex lens or burn- ing glass. With it he focused the sun‘s rays on the end of his cigar, thus lighting the cigar. How many fires occur in this way than: are said to be “ involved in mysâ€" tery ?” “ Guess I 'you don’t know women!” said Johnny, scornfully; “ wait. till I’ve asked the fiftieth time.” Would-be customerâ€"Will you trust me for a few things for u. cquple of d_a.ysA?_ “So you’re not coming to the school’s picnic, Johnny,” said Mr. Perkins. “Yea, I am," said Johnny. “ Why. Johnny,"exclaimed Mr. Parking, “ your mother said in my presence you could not go." Grocer# Coihe amuud if) s. couple' of days and I will. A “'m'd \Vith the Business Men. A‘xnelie Rives Parodied. One of Jinl’s Jukes. Origin of a Fashion. He Knew W‘anen. A Mndern Trust. dldn’b. How the Most; Experienced [Eronaut in the ‘ World Rlet His Death. TIhe coroner’s inquiry into the death a few days ago in Essex, England, of the famous mronaut Simmons has brought out n. singular feature of the acciilent by which he lost his life and his two companions were dangerously injured, and indicates P- ncw dangcr in ballooning. The evidence shows that tho accifionb, which followeii an attempt to land, during which the anchor was caught in a, toll, was canned by tho bursting of the balloon. The silk was un- usually large and correspondingly heavy, but it was not ripped with one large rent, as w'_ uld have been the mac had it caught on :2 tree, bit was found torn into several distinctv pieces. Besides this, the bursting was accompanied by a loud report, which was heard not only by those near by who were watching the balloon. but by porâ€" 90115 a considerable distance away, who knew nothing of the balloon until after- ward. Mr. Simmons was an mrommt of thirty years’ experience and this was his 495th ascension. When he lundefl from his last previous ascent a. few days before an old lady said to him, “ You men cannot have much care for your lives,” and he replied : “ I have made 494 ascents and I don’t feel very much fear now.” The balloon was the Cosmo, the of the largest ever made, holding 62.000 feet of gas and capable of carrying 2,400 pounds. The basket was of iron wire network, instead of wicker. lie carried a thirtyâ€" pound grapnel and ninety-one feet of rope #too light an anchor and too short a rope, some experts say. He went up about the ‘ middle of the afternoon with W. L. Field and Mr. Meyers, the latter of the South Kensington Natural History Museum, both of whom had made previous voyages. it was intended to cross the channel to France, but, darkness coming on, the party decided to descend for the night. The country was somewhat wooded, and two or three attempts were made to land, but each time ballast had to be thrown out and the balloon sent up again. A field that seemed fairly clear was at last chosen and the grapnel let out. It dragged through a field of Wheat and then caught in a large tree. In an instant the huge balloon pulled up short, swung to the ground, and began to bump up and down, straining at the end of its tether. Simmons pulled desperately on the valve rope and shouted to Field to help him. Meyers held a bag of ballast awaiting an order to throw it out. Three times in scarcely more than as many seconds the great balloon bounded up and down. strug- gling frantically like some immense Wild beast at the end of a long rope. Each time it sprung sixty feet in the air. As it rose the third time to that height there came a sudden report, the silk collapsed, and the car with the three men in it fell to the ground. Men from the fields running up found it battered into a shapeless wreck and its three late inmates unconscious. Hirnmons‘ skull was fractured and he had suffered other injuries. He died in three hours Without regaining conciousness. Mr. Field hada simple fracture of the right thigh and a compound fracture of the loft leg, besides innumerable bruises. Mr. Meyers had internal injuries, and was covered with bruises and cuts. ‘FFdxfl His uncle, old Sam Brown. He inherited everything he has in this world, except the final ‘ e' to his name.” Eronauts can give no satisfactory eX» plunation of the bursfiing of the balloon. It was undoubtedly caused by the sudden stoppage, but why the shrain of a quantity of gas should become excessive on that ac- count has not been explained. It is said that there is one similar case on record.â€"-â€" New York Sun. “Where did young Browne get his money, pqpa?”. _ Fat Widowâ€"Doctor, I want you to answer my questions candidly. Doctorâ€"â€" ertuinly, my dear mafiame. Well, am I in love, or have I only got fatty degeneration of the hesrt ? Old Country Sports. On the 13th ult. Mr. Alfred Nixon, of the Catford Cycling Club, London, started from Edinburgh at 12 noon to attempt to ride to'London on a. “ Safety ” bicycle in 48 hours. He accomplished the journey in two days eight hours. The Comtesse de Paris has earned im- mortal fame at Strnthmy, as the gillies and keepers declare that she is one of the finest shots ever seen on the “ country. side.” Gen. William T. Sherman seems to have not the slightest fear of death, and talks of it. sometimes in an offhand way that is extremely Weird. Not long after Sheridan’s funeral Sherman was speaking to a. friend of the many prominent officers of the lane war who had died. “ I shall have to hurry up,” remarked Sherman, “ and die pretty soon, or there will be nobody but militia. to bury me.” Facetious Visitor in Newspaper office (to Editor)â€"â€"l\Ia.y I use your brains a mo- ment? Editor rMy brains ‘1 Visitor (smilineg picking up scigsors)Aâ€"Yes, sir. Only a moment. I want to»- Editor (with great cordiaiiry) «Certainly you may. Use menu as long as you phase. Always glad toiurnish brains to a man who hasn’t :my. An intereating book might be written about the laws relatingto games and sports. They begin in the time of Richard 11., when servants and laborers were enjoined to use bows and arrows on Sundays and holidays, and to leave all tennis, football, and other games called “ coits, dice, cast- ing of the stone, kails and other sum) importune games." If any one played such “ unthrifty ” gamea they were made liable to six days’ imprisonment under Henry IV. Strange to Say, “ unlawful ” games were allowed on Christmas Day. Here are the names of, some of the unlawful games : Logetting in the fields, slide-thrift (other. wise called shove great), bowling, coyting, ololeoayls, half-bowl, tennis, dicing table, carding, hand in and hand out, and quack. board. What’s a poor burglar going to do for a living if the Women of the land get in the habit of going to bed with a loaded revolver within reach? Two or three cases have recently come to light where burglars have been shot and even captured by women. At the championship angling competi- tion on Loch Levon, Scotland, on the 11th 11115., thirty-two clubs were represented and the takes were generally good. The position of: champion was gained by Mr. Malcolm, Stirling, Whose basket contained 17 trout, Weighing 18 lb. 5 oz. Wareham, Mass.. has amonument to the memory of a. cat that lived to the good old age of 20 years and 2 months. It was not erected by public subscription. Wilson Waddington, of Savin Rock, Conn, is said to be the largest landowner in the United States. He is believed to own over 2,000,000 acres of grazing land in New Mexico and elsewhere, and he hss also made large investments in real estate in Western cities.- A new feature of picnics andlawn partieg has broken out in England, suggested by the Prince of Wales. It consists of wheelâ€" barrow races, only the conditions are that each gentleman shall take a. lady in his wheelbarrow, and the two who come in first get a prize. This novelty may be ex- pected to strike this country about next season. THE BALLOON BURST. What Ailed Hannah. The Obliging Editor Made That Hilnself. Juttings of a Day. How the Ladies of New York are Dressing this Seasonâ€"The Latest Way of Arranfi ing the Hal 1‘. A New York correspondent writes : The bustle must gol Can you imagine anything so delightful as to be able to sit on a chair away back in comfort, instead of resting Ono’s self by sitting on the edge of the chair and bracing your shoulders against the back, causing backache, neckache and headache ? Many of our best dressed ladies are discarding the bustle altogether. The effect in some cases is startling, and one is apt to remember one’s school days, when our brothers compared us to a yard of pump water, and called us gawky. However, it is the fashion and quite the correct thing. I met a young lady on Broadway richly attired in a suit of sage green, plain undershirt of lighter shade, a directoire coat of the darker, long straight f coat tails in the back, cut away in the front, a vest of heavy broche, white ground and’pale damask roses, double-breasted ; a long boa of cream lace was carelessly tied about the throat ; a large hat of birds' breasts, wings and eagle‘s claw holding the rim against the crown, over a face, young and dashing, With a “ I know I’ve left my bustle at home ” kind of a. look. She tripped along and many Were the admiring eyes turned in her direction, although I hearda dude on the corner remark that “ that girl was as flat as a pancake.” A NEW WAY OF DOING THE HAIR since the hustle is being discarded is a la cm'fl‘urc Josephine. Hair of medium length is now easily dressed ; gather the hair up on the crown of the head, tie it firmly, curl the ends and pin all around the head closely, not quite to nape of neck ; the bang must be pointed and narrow. It is very tedious to dress the hair in this style, but effective. Many ladies wear false curls pinned closely about their heads instead of curling their own hair; bands of steel, pearl beads or jet are worn with the coiffure. A new fad is the long cane, with silver and gold head, carried with the directoire costume and trimmed, like the little pugs waddling by the side of their mistress, with a bow of ribbon to match costume. New hosiery is displayed for the coming season in gorgeous colors. Wide stripes of delicate flesh tints and deep- crimson ale seen ; in others checked efleots are given in contrasting colors. The hosiery this season is anything but modest in colors, and the neat black hose will soon be a thing of the past. Sauntering up 5th avenue, I met a Montrealer, who came to this city not long since for the benefit of nis friends ~a lawyer, fair, with the air somewhat of a Sherbrooke street bank clerk ; but, alas l the velvet coat had; disappeared, and he was attired in the latest New York out. The downy moustache was trimly curled and his legal highness stood gracefully poised against one of the pillars of the 5th Avenue Hotel. rolling his eyes and making frantic efforts to dissolve the head of his cane. Of hu nareda of druggists bear witness to the efficacy of Polson’s Nerviline as the most potent pain remedy in the world for all kinds of pains. Nerviline is composed of newly discovered ingredients, and is‘ eqimlly good for internal or external use. Purchase a 10 cent Sample bottle. and test it at once. T. R. Melville, Prescott, wriyes: “ My customers who have used Nerviline speak highly of it, and I am satisfied it will take a leading pluace in the market before long.” Try Polson’e Nerviline for pains. Sold by druggists and country dealers- everywhere. Wholly unlike artificial systems. Cure of mind wandering. Any book learned in one reading. Glassesof 1,08 7 at Baltimore. 1,005 at Detroit 1,500 at Philadelphia, 1,113 at; Washington 1,216 at Boston, large classes of Columbia. Law students. at Yale, Wellusley. Oberlin, University of l’enn,, Michigan University. Chaumuquamto. etc. Endorsed by RICHARD Paoomon, the Salem tint, Hons. W. W. As’ron, JUDAH P. BENJAMIN Judge GIBSON, Dr. BROWN, E. H. COOK. Prin,N.Y Smte Normal College, etc. Taught by cones pondence. Prospect g‘Posr FREE from v “ “fin” r A“ ........ “:11I1 ._- First young wifeâ€"They didn't bring: hogjne an_y fish. Seuondvyoung wifeâ€"That's my principal reason for believing they went fishing. is most distressing, not only to the person afflicted if he have any pride, but to those with whom he comes in contact. It is a delicate matter to speak of, but it has parted not only friends but lovers. Bad breath and caturrh are inseparable. Dr. Sag-3’s Cntarrh Remedy cures the worst cases as thousands can testify. ~Qfiwwg Young wife (gloomily)â€"Do you suppose our husbands really went fishing last Sat- urguy? _ Widowâ€"But, my dear sir, what a gigan-- tic bill of costs you have made for this short deed oficonveyancgz Attorneyâ€"I merely Wished to prove to you, madam, what a. lucrative profession. mine is, and What an excellent match I should make for you. Seéond young Wife (confidently)â€"~I am sure of it. “ Tis better not to be, than be unhappy," and no one can be happy whose system is deranged by poisonous secretions. Nearly all ills that flesh is heir to arise from torpid liver and derangement of the digestive organs. Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Purgative Pellets correct irregularities of the liver, prevent constipation and promote good health. Buy them off your druggists. ” 011! where shall rest be found 7” The worn~oub mother sighs: Stockings to mend, and trousers to darn, Dishes to wash, and butter to churn, While my back fuels to break, and head and heart; burn, And life is a constant friction. 'l‘hu summer came and went, The matron no longer sighs; Elastic her seep, and rounded her cheek, \Vork seems but. play, life is now sweat, And the clumgu was made in one short week, ' By Dr. Pierce‘s Favorite Prescription. Positive remedy for those demhgementa, irregularities, and weakness so common to womankind. FatherHCertninly she does, Mr. Young- head. Visitor â€"I am glad of it, I adore music myself. A piace well excuted fairly carries me away. Fatheyrâ€"Jennie, give us a. selection on the piano.â€"L1fe. It requires just double the power to pro- pel a steamship twenty miles an hour that it does to drive the same vessel sixteen miles an hour. THE COOK’S BEST F RENE Visitorâ€"Does your daughter play, Mr. Phirkin? MEMORY THE LATEST FASHIONS. 'f’vr‘coisfiblsmwfifzé7 Fltnfi‘fie" NJ. A Lawyer Pops the Question. Took Him at His Word. MARVELOUS DISCOVERY. Sufficient Evidence. Au Offensive Breath DONL42 88 The Testimony