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' he Gypsy’s Sasrifice 0R . *A SECRET REVEALED. ~~â€"-â€"=j *MMW WWW WWM'FrW ' CHAPTER VI. 0n the evening Royce had left Monk Towers an outcast, his broth- er, the Earl 01' Landon, sat in his flux at his house in Frogniore Ga ens. lverybody knows those palatial residences. They stand in the centre of the now fashionable districtâ€"it was a market-garden not many years sinceâ€"and they are, as the advertisements remark, replete with every modern convenience and luxury. The earl's study was an example of what such a room should be. The walls were lined with books; there; was a fourfold screen cov ed with maps; a thick Persian stfiiare occu- pied the centre of the parquet \‘loor; a large moroccoflined table stood by the window; the chairs were mar-_ vels of the upholsterer’s art; the picturesâ€"mostly of a religious char- acterâ€"were India proofs. On the table were Charity Socieâ€"g ties' Reports and blue books; in the big brass paper rack were several religious newspapers. In a reading chair with a revolving seat sat the earl, at the end of the table his pri- vate secretary. The earl was a. young man of thirty; tall, thin, with a long neck which permitted him to wear huge, upstanding collars like sails. He was fair to insipidity; his hair, which he were rather long, was the color, as Royce had once reâ€" marked, of afgravel path. He had no perce tible cyebrotvs, and almost white eye ashes; and his eyes were of. a faded blue which, when he had the headache, became almost white also. He was a very “good” young man; had been one of these boys who “never give their mothers an hour's anxiety;” and, now that he was a m n, was a shining light at Exeter Hal. He was the chairman of at least a dozen charitable associations and a member of as many of those societies which have the promotion: of some fad or crochet for their aim and object. He was ‘a very bad speakerâ€"with a lispâ€"and yet his name was a safedraw for a philan- ‘ thropic meeting, and when he got on his legs in the House of 'Lords, which’ he did about twice in the ses- sion, his fellow peers listened to him with something like attention an'd respect. No one could have looked more “good” this eveningâ€"the evening when his younger brother was enjoy- ing himself xat Cumberlcigh Fairâ€" than the Earl of Landon; as, leaning back in his well-padded chair, with his fingers joinéd at the tips, be regarded his secretary with a gravely bland smile. “And toâ€"morrow, Mr. Jowle?" he said in a soft voice, ‘what have I to do'toâ€"morrow?" The secretary, a little man with a dark, haggard faceâ€"the face of a man overworked and underpaidâ€"â€" looked at his diary. “To-morrow, my lord, at two o'clock, you have to open the new wing of the Asylum for Decayed Collar Starchers, at Walham Green.‘ “H’m, yes. to make a speech. Have you pre- pared the sketch, Mr. Jowlc?” "Yes, my lord, here it is," said the secretary, taking a roll of papers from his pocket. "Ladies and Gentlemen: A public man has many duties to fulfill, but I know of none which would afford greater pleasure than that which I have been calle’d on to tmdertakne to- day. To aid, in however small a degree, the efforts of so praisewonthy a body as the Clean Collar Starch- ers of England in their'cndeavor to establish a charity benefiting the poor and needy of their classâ€"" “H’m, yes, the usual thing, I supâ€"- pose, the sketch. said the earl blandly, taking “It is not too long, I hope?" i "No, my lord; half an hour," said the weary secretary. "After you leave the Collar Starchers you have to dine. with life: Indigent Umbrella Frame Makers Society. “The outline you mean, Mr. Jowle?" “Certainly, the outline merely, my lord." Mr._Jowlc corrected himâ€" self with n discreet cough; and he read the opening of a finished and complete speech. "Thanks. Yes? And then?" “Your lordship has to take chair at a meeting of the Lost Cats Society." “I don't speak there, I think?" "Yes, my lord. Here is theâ€"ahem â€"outlinc. I have drawn a picture of the working man sitting bgside his fireplace with the kettle and the cat singing fogetherâ€"-â€"-" "Very good," said the earl, "very appropriate, indeed. I willâ€"orâ€"fill it in. Anything else, Mr. Jowle‘.’" “The for of' .lpparitionsâ€" to-night, my lordâ€"at meeting of the Society the Investigation but that’s midnight." "I am afraid I must forego the pleasure of attending the apparition Society's meeting, Mr. Jowle. Be kind $nough to write an excuse. You can say that I am suffering from a severe cold." "Yes, my lord," secretary, and said the patient be rapidly wrote tin- morocco l J . I suppose I shall liavei I have your schch.” - the g f i l l f l l ith'at his own mother would not have required note. “That is all, my lord," he said; then as he arose he looked up timidly at the great philâ€" anthropist, and, clearing his throat, said: “I am sorry to trouble your lordship, but my quarter's salary was due a week ago, andâ€"I've a sick wife and four children, my lordâ€"if ; you would kindlyâ€"'- “Really, Mr. Jowle, thisâ€"erâ€"reâ€" quest isâ€"erâ€"-most unusual, andâ€"erâ€" serious; if I may say so, it displays, a want of taste and delicacy, on your part. I am afraid you must have grown extravagant. Your salary of sixty pounds a year should be ample to keep you and enable you to put money by. Thrift, thrift, Mr. Jowle is the first duty of a man with a family; and you should alwaysâ€"al- ways, rememberâ€"have money in hand. I was not aware your salary was due. Mention it to-morrow, please. It is too late to-night to get a check cashed, or I would give you one. Goodâ€"night, Mr. Jowle, goodâ€"night“? The unfortunate secretary gathered his papers together and trudged off to his sick wife and four children, and the Earl of Landon taking up his-~"outlines”â€"thcy were all com- plete and finished speechesâ€"com- menced to get them off by heart. He worked very hard at his 105» sonâ€"as hard as an actor who has so many “lengths” of his part to commit to memoryâ€"for a couple of hours pacing up and down the lux- urious room; but toward the end of that time my lord grew restless. His fair face drew into wrinkles of impatience, his two light blue eyes became wistful, and his thin, white hands lost their placidity and twined together; and as the exquisitely carved clock on the mantelshelf struck eleven he started and tugged at his long, fair hair. gT’hen, as the last stroke sounded, he dropped on the table the manuâ€" script of one of the speeches which the secretary had composed, and ascended the thicklyâ€"carpeted stairs to his dressingâ€"room. His valet was busyâ€"he had been reading a. novel a moment beforeâ€"â€" brushing his master’s clothes, but Lord Landon dismissed him. “I shall not whnt'you to-night,’ Perkins,” he said. “Pray do not sit up.” Mr. Perkins bowed and disappear- ed, and the earl sank into a chair as if he were bent‘ upon,meditating on the various works of charity for which he was engaged on the 4 toâ€" morrow; but presently he got up, and stealing on tiptoe to the door listening intently. Then, as if assuned that all was quiet, he went to his wardrobe, un- locked a. drawer at the bottom with a little key, and took out a box. From this box he lifted a wig of gray hair. it was an elaborate and skillful example of the perru‘quicr's art. At the bottom of the box were some'sticks of grease paint, the pigâ€" ment used by actors, and by the aid of these and the wig the Earl of Landon disguised himself so comâ€" pletely that it may safely be said known him. He exchanged the soâ€" her dress-coat for a. rakish covertâ€" coat, and turning the collar up, he stole‘out of the room and (lo'wn the stairs of his own house like a thief. A handsome 'cab was crawling along, and he hailed it and got in. _ "Drive me to Regent Circus," he said. The cabman whipped up the tired horse and reached the circus, and the Earl of Landon got out, paid his fare, and, after glancing to right and left cautiously, walde quickly down a side street. He stopped outside an ordinary tobacco shop. Its door was closed and its: shutters were up; but he knocked with his knuckles at the door, and a tall, soldierlyâ€"lookilg man opened it. "Who's ' there?" he asked, “All right, it's I, Scotty," said the lCarl, and the man opened the door just wide enough for the earl to enter. The shop was in appear:1 ancc just like the other thousand and one tobacconists in London; but the earl, lifting the counter flap, passed behind the counter into a long passage and, traversing this, reached a long room fairly iillodl with men and women. The men, were, mos: of them, in evening dress, the women elaborately attired; and ‘ they wore gathered in groups aroundl green tables, upon which stood cards‘ and bottles, of wine and glasses. , In a word, it was one of London’s "silver bells." filled with samblcrs,‘ nfafle and female. I The Earl of Landon, nodding to one and another as if flu-y were old acquaintances, made his way to a table, and sitting down joined in the'game. At first he was cool and cautious,‘ but as the game proceededâ€"it was‘ baccaratâ€"his fade grew flushed, and his thin lips tremulous: the voice to which the audiences at lixetcr llall had listened with grew thick and husky, and his hands as they dealt the cards shook like an uspcu leaf. flu [$130.1 all through the night / such edificat-ion, land the small hours of the morning, drinking the poor champagne, and smoking the poorer cigars; played with that intense absorption of which only the horn gambler is cap- able, Some men are cursed with a l()\'c. of drink, some with a love for the cards and the dice. Sey- mour, lCarl of Landon was afflicted in the latter way. Where he had got his passion from one cannot tell. His father, the general, had never played anything but whist. and never for more than shilling points; but the faint in Seymour's blood had come down slowly but surely from some gambling ancestor, travelling like a root umlerground, to spring up like an upas tree. Now he might have played at his club openly, and like other men ad- dicted to the Vice; but then he could‘ not have been chairman of the De- cayed Collar Starchers Society, otc_, etc.; and Lord Landon was weak and vain, as well as vicious. He wanted to serve the god of respectability and Mammon at the same time, and the "silver bell" in the side street of‘f Regent Street enabled him to do. Scarcely a night passed but he stole out of his house like a thief, and indulged llS craving for the excite- ment of he gambling table. Tin-night the cards had gone against him with a steady persisâ€" tence which almost drove him mad; he loved to win for winnings sake, generally, but toâ€"night he was par- ticularlarly anxious that fortune should smile on him, for he had had a run of bad luck latély, and money was getting scarce. Your born gambler can never leave off, let the luck be as bad as it may, while there is a penny in his pocket, and Seymour sat at the table until his last banknote had gone. The rays of the sun were filling the East with a golden light as he walkâ€" ed up Regent Street with his bagâ€" gard face bent over his turnedâ€"up collar, and his hat pressed well over“ his brow, and be looked around her- vously, for he was lafcr than usual, and several persons were about the streets, and the policeman glanced at him curiously; but he put on a slight stagger as it he were a roysâ€" tercr coming from a late party, and with his face almost concealed reach- ed a quiet street. Here he quickly drew off his wig and put it in his pocket. wiped the paint .from his faCe, turn- ed down his collar, and went with a slow and sauntering step toward Frogmore Gardens. He open- ed the door with his latchkey, and quietly went up the stairs. A servant coming from the upper rooms stifled a yawn, and shrank back against the wall to let him pass; but tile earl did not sneak by her like the guilty thing he was; in- stead, he stopped and said: “A beautiful morning, Mary. I have been for a stroll in the park. We ought to be Very grateful for such weather, Mary." And with a beneficent smile he passed on. But as he closed the door behind him the smile vanished, and a look of utter weariness settled on his face and, undressing, he flung himself 011 the bed, and clasped his hands over his burning eyes. But he could not rest, and presently he got up and, taking his bankbook from a bureau, he looked at it with a haggard frown. “Yes,” he muttered at last, as if he had arrived at some resolution, "yes, I'll try my hand with Irene. The old lady means to secure. her for Royce; but why shouldn’t I have the Tresylian money? Yes, I think I'm a match for them. Besides, it would be a shame to throw away so good and beautiful a girl upon such a scamp as my dear llrothcr Royce. No, no! I must save her. I really .must.” And with the hypocritical smile with which he charmed Exoter Ilall he went to bed and slept the sleep of the unjust. (To be Fontinued.) ___._+_â€"._ ()U'i‘Wl'lvl‘ING THE OFFICER. . “Didn't you c\'t‘l' hear of a cat beâ€" ing used for smuggling?" asked the steward of one of the big ocean liners he sat down to spin a little sca yarn. “No? Well, it's a fact. Not long ago it happened that the ship's can pcnfer had picked up a lot of fine cigars that he wanted to sneak in without paying for the privilege. He didn't know quite how to manage it; but just as we got to port an idea struck him. “A carpentcr always has a sort of case called a ‘bnss' that he carries his tools in. When this one got ready to go ashore he put one of the ship's cuts into his bass and swung it carelessly over his shoulder on the handle of his hammer. As he Came ‘ down the plank the first thing he did was to run into :1 Customs inspcc-' tor. “ ‘\\'hat have you got in your‘ ‘bnss‘?’ demanded the inspector. “ 'Not‘hin' but a cat, sir,’ replied the carpenter, starting on. “ ‘Opcn your bass and let's see,’ ‘suid the other. eyeing the bass sus- piciously. “ ‘I can't. sir: I’d lose my cat,’ 1replied the carpenter. “This settled it \vif'n the inspector. lilo smelt a 11110 case of smuggling. 'llo insislwi, and the carpenter, with 'much grumbling. swung down his bass and opened it. when sure enough ouf jumped a cat and manic u. dash back lo the ship. " "l‘bcrc, I told you ~\ou’if me lose lllf’ mil" said lhc ('111'}!L'1]l,w1‘_ i "The carpenter ucnf back to his cat, and whnu he l'f'llll‘li-I'fl \\.-i.~_; ‘pei‘miifed to p: : ill'fl 1h.- inspector M-v _ lhlll this llllll‘. c. cn', lhmc \vvru a lot of emu f iii-.5 :‘w'x -,. . flush-uni Hi lune cigars insi'lc iii-3 buss, make, gl-L. filCl-EI‘ING APPLES. Many conditions, aside from va- rictal characteristics influence the kfi‘lfing qualities of apples among which are the soil of the orchard, whether it be sod or cultivated, Weather of growing season, especial- ly the latter part of it, presence or absence of fungi, degree of coloraâ€" tion of fruit, size, ripeness, manner of handling, and kind of storage. Baldwins grown on sandy 0r gl‘avclly soil ripen earlier, must be picked earlier, and have a higher Color than those grown on clay, DUC they do not keep so well. Apples grown in sod attain a higher color and keep longer than those grow“ under clean culture. Ordinarily, apâ€" ples keep better when the season has been dry, rather than wet, and when the month of October has been cool rather than warm. The character of the weather has much to do with the next factor, presence of fungi, for a warm, m’oist season is favorable to nearly all the fungous diseases of the apple, and a scabby apple or one inâ€" fected with any of the rots is a very poor investment for the storage man. Indeed, only prime fruit ordinarily should be stored, for number two fruit not only yields small profit from storage, but it hurts the sale of number one, fruit. Overgrown spe- cimens do not keep so Well as fruit of ordinary size. Wellâ€"colored fruit usually keeps best, but it should not be allowed to remain on the tree so «long for the sake of color that it suffers in firmness. For cold storâ€" 1age, fruit should not he so ripe or 'highly colored as is best for ordin- lary storage. Greenings are said to 'hold best in COlll storage when the “bloom will rub off, leaving the skin smooth and shiny, and the same rule .applies less markedly to Baldwins. Methods of harvesting, packing and handling in transportation have the greatest influence on keeping qualâ€" ity. Handlers of apples sometimes roll barrels of fruit, allowing them to strike against other barrels. This rough handling may bruise the fruit almost to the middle of the barrel. But some varieties are more easily injured by rough handling than are others. Northern Spy is one of the easiest to bruise, and barrels are often found to go down in storage early on this account. Tolman Sweet and Yellow Bellflower are wry sen- sitive to rough handling. Most storage men believe that arp- ples should go into storage as soon as picked. Others believe that with some varieties it may be well to al- low the fruit to lie on straw on the ground for two or three Weeks to secure higher color. If any discase_ be present, the sooner fruit is put into refrigeration the better. With varieties that ripen very un- evenly, like McIntosh, Oldenburg and Fall Pippin, it is probably best to make two or three pickings, so that fruit of fairly uniform ripeness may be stored. It is impossible to give in any brief way the differences which mark varieties, so that topic is not discussed here. RULES FOR PRUNING. Perhaps the most important tiring is to observe the manner in which the fruit is borne. For instance, an apple or pear tree bears its fruit mostly on fruit spurs, and so would not be pruned in the same way as a peach, which bears its fruit only on the last season‘s growth. A quinCe tree, which produces its fruit on the tips of the growth made the present season, would naturally be pruned different from either an apâ€" pic or peach tree. Likewise the corâ€" rect pruning of grapes is based on the fact that the shoots of the preâ€" sent season produce this year's crop. The same principle in pruning holds true throughout the whole list of fruitsâ€"that is, the manner in which the fruit is borne governs the man- nor of pruning. In a gencnal way it may be said in regard to ill“ fruit that all (lead branches should be removed and the ‘tops of the frees be kept suflicicntly Opcn to nilnit an abuntlanm of sunâ€" light for the coloring of ti1 fruit. Reasonably open tops are .lso of >great advantage in spraying the trees and in harvesting the fruit. {The natural habit of the tree should suggest the form to be adopted by life pvuucr. in other Words, a free ythc branches .of which naturally droop and a tree with a. strong ten- dency toward forming an upright head, cannot readily be Uludc to as} ,sumc a (ici‘idcdly spreading form. (if course tllcsu natural tendencies can be influenced in a measure by the ‘manncr of pruning, but they cannot ,bewbntircly overcome. The tops should , be kept symnn-frical and as Well balâ€" ;zincod as possiblc. The pruning of the ,V‘flrious kinds of small fruits is based ,on the some grin-ml principle as the pruning of fruit fretsâ€"that is, the manner in which the fruit is borne and the charm-fur of the growth should govern iln- fliclllntl of prunâ€" ing. in pruning the apple lowebv-avlcd ll'f‘LS are now thi- rtilu, 'i‘lm main branch Slimlilfl be. so sifumml niui (if-Tzlui'wi u.» :4) hold up Iii» '.‘.'-'ig_;bt of fruil :uui w fluff u lu-ulfiiy lf'i-o sii will llll‘.v‘. \l'iiib- flll' llf'fltl of {a frm- ~311Mb! lrt' s-zfl' II-ully lllH'll to :ill.;v.' fir- ll(‘-‘ circulation of air and it“. .mlz‘m'knwt- of light to color Lin- fruit, ordmrdists are apt to cut too freely when the trees are young, not rculiming that as they get. to bearing age the weight of fruit will ‘ use ' -thc.ir branches to sprcmoss branches should as diSL‘chl'l‘ll. be cut out as soon livery branch should grow away from the centre of the tree instcud of toward it. No two branches should he allowed to rub against each other or to grow so close as to do so when bonding under a Weight of fruit. Pruning can never be done by strict rules owing to no two trees having the sumo form, so, after nil, it is a matter for the best judgment of the fruit grower and cf- ficicncy can only come through pram tical experience and close study. MILK VS. BEEF I‘ltOllUC'l‘lON. The question has often been raised whcfiier a pound of butter fat can be produced from the saline feed that) will produce its equivalent in price' of beef In a good steer of the beef type. Dairy men contend that it can, some beef men that it cannot. Let us consult the findings of Lawes and Gilbert on the question. These ablcst of experimenters, who have spent their lives at suck work, and in some cases many years at a single experiment, have recorded rt~ suits as authoritative as any known investigations. They find that the fattening steer, gaining 15 pounds Weekly, yields 1.13 pounds of ni- trogericus substance, or lean meat free of water, while the dairy cow in the same time yielding ’lf) quarts of milk daily, returns in this milk 6.6 pounds of nitrOgcnous substance. or six times as much. Again, the ox would store .22 pounds of mineral matter while the cow would secrete 1.35 pounds, over six times as much. The steer would gain 9.53 pounds of fat, and the cow gives 6.33 pounds in her milk, about twoâ€"thirds as much. This is, however, oflset by 8.32 pounds of milk sugar for which the 0x has no equivalent. Reducing this sugar to its fat equivalent would make the fat product of the coW equal to that of the steer. Thus we see that in the manufacture of fats the cow equals the steer, and in mineral and the valuable nitro- genous foods exceeds the latter fivcl times. This being the case, wecairnot con- clude that dairying is necessarily more profitable than the raising of cattle, for this depends upon the re~ lativo demand for beef and dairy products. I’eoplcs' tastes do not al- ways demand the food that is the cheapest. Beef will be bought even though the same amount of nutri- ment can be purchased in dairy proâ€" ducts for oneâ€"third the Cost. This, however, is true, that as the popu- lation becomes more dense people resort to producing those kinds of food from which nourishment can be had most economically. Accord- ingly We find _(laif‘ying superceding the raising of beef in those localities where the population is more dense. As to returns for feed consumed in each case, the Ohio station finds that the. feed which will add three pounds live Weight to the average steer will enable the avemge dairy cow to produce one pound of butter fat. Taking this as a basis, each one can figure out for himseii from the current prices received for the products, and not forgetting the extra labor on the dairy side, which is the most profitable for his parti- cular locality. DEF EC'I‘I VIC POULTRY Hf ) USE. “How can we make our poultry house warm at low cost? We built a new house last year, but the foWls freeze and do not lay. The house is 50 by 15 feet and faces the north. “'0 did not make any scratching shod as we did not think it was necesâ€" sary.” The best way to make a poultry house warm is to paper it with far- red paper or some other heavy and durable paper. Fowls will not free/ls in a house even at the zero temperaâ€" ture, provided 1â€"hc wind is kept out. We would advise our corre- spondent to immediately paper lllr: house, and also place abundant straw in the house for tho fowls to scratch wt- in. This Will keep flu-in warm. pn-sumc our correspondent has his roosts rm the stair order, and the fowls fluff freeze are those that have occupied the top roost, bcingns they were nearest to the roof and the most exposed to the drafts. The roosts should be placed on a ich-l, about, two feet oll~ the ground. This will prevent the foWis from crowding. _.___.+_._. N0 DIS/\I’I’OlN’l‘IIENT, The preliminary agitation inst-purâ€" ablc from a 11-min vlf‘t'llOll was in .iull swing, and one of the candidates for 21 certain division was holding forth as to what his courise of ac- ition would be in the event of his being. ,.1,.Cl.(,...|, Om» of his question- tors in the hall sccmcd inclined to 'doubt him. 4 _ ; .qhm Siiy you'd 100k ill-tr) filings 'thoroughly,” commented the heckler. "'NOW, would you have (‘Ollragu lmpmh In go down into the SI'WCI‘H 1and sw- tbc disgraceful state tlwy'm l. ., ‘11:? l "f'vrfainly," was the reply. "[ llwiiuvp in going to the bottom of Vania-fixing." : “\Yn-ll." cried another I‘m-Inlmr of ‘fl‘o audience, “you Won't be (“Sup ipuinfmi in that when fhn [fall's (lg. Winn-ll." \‘i-nicc is built upon SU\".'lll)"l‘.V(l 1,-- llands.