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“Trent,” he said, “I’m sorry we’ve’ had words. Perhaps I said more than‘ I ought to have done. I did not mean? to call you names. I apologise.” ' “Granted,” Trent said tersely, bend- ing over his game. “You see, Trent,” he went on,, “you’re not a family man, are you? If you were, you would understand. I’ve been down in the mire for years, an utter scoundrel, a poor, weak, broken-down creature. But I’ve al- ways kept that picture! It’s my lit- tle girl! She doesn't know I'm alive, never will know, but it’s all I have to remind me of her and I couldn’t part;I with it, could I?" “You’d be a blackguard if you did,”l Trent answered curtly. Monty’s face brightened. “I was sure,” he declared, “that “Trent, you needn't have been so beastly rough. My arm is black and bhle 2mg I am sore all over.” ‘ But Trent remainea Vsrilvéht. Monty crept a little nearer. He was begin- ning to .fgel‘ a vqry tiygjured person. But Trent did not immediately relax his grasp. It was evidently not safe to let him go. His fit of anger bor- dered upon hysterics. Presently he grew calmer but more maudlin. Trent at last released him, and thrusting the bottle of brandy into his coatâ€" pocket, returned to his game of Pa- tience. Monty lay on the ground watching him with red, shifty eyes. “Trent,” he whimpered. But Trent did not answer him. “Am I?” Trent answered nonchalâ€" antly. “Perhaps so! Anyhow those are my terms! You can play or not as you like! I don’t care.” A red spot burned in Monty’s cheeks, and a sudden passion shook him. He threw himself upon Trent and would have struck him but that he '\vas as a (Elmild §n_the_ ryounger , v-..b‘,- man’s grasp. Trent held him at a distance easily and without effort. “There’s nothing for you to make a fuss about,” he said grufi‘ly. “I answered a plain question, that’s all. I don’t want to play at all. I should most likely lose, and you’re much bet- ter without the brandy.” Montivgas‘ foaming with passion ...,I I, ,n- Monty was foaming with passion and baffled desire. “You beast!” he cried, “you low, ill-bred cur! How dared you look at her picture! How- dare you make me such an offer! Let me go, I say! Let me go!" For a moment Monty- stood as though dazed. Then the excitement which had shone in his face slowly subsided. He stood quite silent, mut- tering softly to himself, his eyes fix- ed on Trent. “Her picture! My little girl’s picâ€" ture! Trent, you are joking, you're , n" â€"“I will stake that brqndy,” Trent answered, “against the picture you let fall from your pocket an hour ago." Trent was on the point of an angry negative. Suddenly he stoppedâ€" hesitated~and said nothing. Monty’s face lit up with sudden hope. “Come,” he crisd, “there is some- thing I see! You’re the right sort, Trent. Don’t be afraid to speak out. It’s yours, man, if you win it. Speak me! It will keep the fever off. You do not want money you say! Come, is there anything in this world which I possess, which you will set against that three inches_of brown liquid?” up “You are only wasting your breath, Monty,” he said, “I couldn't touch money won in such a way, and I want to get you out of this alive. There’s fever in the air all around us, and if either of us get a touch of it that drop of brandy might stand between us and death. Don’t worry me like a spoilt child. Roll yourself up and get tols_lee_p_! _I’ll keep wateh‘." “I will be reasonable,” Monty whinâ€" ed. “1 will go to sleep, my friend, and worry no more when I have had just one sip of that brandy! It is the finest medicine in the world for Monty’s eyes flashed evil fires, but his tone remained persuasive. “Trent,” he said, “be reasonable. Look at me! I ask you now whether I am not better for that last drop. I tell you that it is food and wine to me. I need it to brace me up for to-mor- row. Now listen! Name your own stake! Set it up against that single glass! I am not a mean man, Trent. Shall we say one hundred and fifty?” Trent looked at him half scornfully, halt: _deprecating1y. Monty shufl‘led on to his feet, and walked aimlessly about the hut. Once or twice as he passed the place where the bottle rested he hesitated; at last he paused, his eyes lit up, he} stretched out his hand stealthily. But before he could possess himself of it Trent’s hand was upon his collar. “You poor fool!" he said; “leave iti alone, can’t you? You want to poison yourself I know. Well, you can do as you jolly well like when you are out of thisâ€"not before.” “That’s all very well, my friend," he said, “but kindly remember that you are young, and well, and strong. I am old, and an invalid. I need supâ€" pox‘t. Don’t be hard on me, Trent. Say fifty again.” “No, nor fifty hundred," Trent an- swered shortly. “I don’t want your money. Don’t be such a fool, or you'll never live to enjoy it." ad!" ‘n' CHAPTER II.â€"(Continued ) . THE GOLDEN KEY Or "The Adventures of Ledgard.” By the Author of “What He Cost Her." CHAPTER III. I “My little girl," he whispered. “My little daughter.” I Trent had reâ€"lit his pipe and start- led a fresh game of Patience. Monty, standing in the opening, began to mutter to himself. “Look here, Monty,” he said, “you shall have the brandy; you’ve no right to it, and you're best without it by long chalks. But there, you_ shall, have your own way.” Monty rose to his feet and balanced himself against the post. “Never mindâ€"about the brandy, he faltered.» “Give me back the photoâ€" graph” 11 Trent laid down his. own cards calm- ly down. “A full hand,” he said, “kings up.” Monty gave a little gasp and then a moan. His eyes were fixed with a fascinating glare upon those five cards which Trent had so calmly laid down. Trent took up the photograph, thrust it carefully into his pocket without loolging: at it, and rose to his feet. Trent shrugged his shoulders. “Why?” he asked coolly. “Full hand beats three, don’t it? It was my win and my stake.” lupon reflection you would think so. I was suré of it. I have always found Iyou very fair, Trent, and very reas- ionable. Now shall we say two hun- dred?" Trent took his own cards up, look- at them nonchalantly, and helped himself to one card. Monty could re- strain himself no longer. He threw his_han(l u__p9n the ground. “Thénâ€"then take that!” But the blow never touched Trent. He thrust Monty nodded, for his tongue was hot and his mouth dry, and speech was not an easy thing. But he dealt the cards, one by one with jealous care, and when he had finished he snatched upon his own, and looked at each with sickly disappointment. “How many?” Trent asked, hold- ing out the pack. Monty hesitated, half made up his mind to throw away three cards, then put one upon the table. Finally, with a little whine, he laid three down with trembling fin- gers and snatched at the three which Trent handed him. His face lit up, a scarlet flush burned in his cheek. It was evident that the draw had im- proved his hand. “Three’s,” he criedvin fierce trium h . . , , “three of a kmdâ€"nmes.’ But Monty swore a very profane and a very ugly oath. “I’ll have the lot,” he muttered. “Every drop; every drop! Ay, and I'll keep the picture. You see, my friepd, ygu see; dealrthe cards.” Then Trent, who had more faults than most men, but who hated bad language, looked at the back of the photograph, and, shuddering, hesitat- ed no longer. He shuffled the cards anihandefl them to Monty. “Your deal,” he said "laconically “S_a_me.as bgfioye sqppose?” Trent hesitated. Monty misunder- stood him and slowly drew the photoâ€" graph from his pocket and laid it face downwards upon the table. Trent bit his *lip»and frowned. “Rather a foolish game this,” he said. “Let’s call it off, eh? You shall haveâ€"well, a thimbleful of the brandy and go to bed. I’ll sit up, I’m not tired.” Trent made no answer. He did not wish to hear. Already he had re- pented. He was not a man of keen susceptibility, but he was a trifle ashamed of himself. At that moment he was tempted to draw the cork, and empty the brandy out upon the ground. “Trent! Do you hear, Trent?” He could no longer ignore the hoarse, plaintive cry. He looked un- willingly up. Monty was standing over him with white, twitching face and bloodshot eyes. “Deal the car-(15," he muttered simâ€" pl_\§ and §at_dowp. With a Slight gurgling SOUDEL 59‘ “You don’t know my little girl,” looked over his shoulder, and his face ‘ Monty muttered, “How should you? grew haggard With longing Hls‘She’d care little for money or gew- eyes sought Trent’s, but Trent was l gaws, but she’d break her heart tol vsmOking Stondly and 100k19g‘ at the[see her old fatherâ€"come to thisâ€"‘ cards Spread 011$ bef‘ore 111m; as a broken downâ€"worthlessâ€"a hopeless, Chess-Player at his Plecesg miserable wretch. It’s too late. “311011 a very small “Sky” MOI‘tY TrentY I’ll have just a glass I think. whispered softly to h1mself. “I need It win do me good. 1 have been fret- the brandy too. I cannot sleep with- ting, Trent, you see how pale I am.” out it! Trent!” Hp anao‘prpd fnwavrlc Hm hnmo He sucked in his lips for a moment with a slight gurgling sound. He looked over his shoulder, and his face grew hagga’i‘d with longing. His eyes sought Trent’s, but Trent was smoking stolidly and looking at the cards spread out before him, as a chess-player at his pieces, N “I am sure to winâ€"Trent is always unlucky at cardsâ€"such a little risk, and the brandyâ€"ah!” you agreeable?" Monty shook his head. "I don‘t want your money, Trent," he said. “You know that I want that brandy. I will leave you to name the stake I am to set up against it.” “As regards that," Trent answered shortly, “I’ve named the stake; I’ll not consider any other.” Monty’s face once more grew black with anger. “You are a beast, Trent-a bully!” he exclaimed passionately; “I’ll not part with it!" “I hope you won’t,” Trent anâ€" swered. “I’ve told you what I should think of you if you did.” Monty moved a little nearer to the opening of the hut. He drew the photograph hesitatingly from his pocket, and looked at it by the moon- light. His eyes‘ filled with maudlin tears. He raised it to his lips and kissed it. “You seem very anxious for a game," Trent remarked. “Listen, I will play you for any amount you like, my I O U against your I 0 U. Are head. “I don’t Trent," he said. vant that brandy. name the stake I He staggered towards the bottle. Trent watched him, interfering no longer. With a little chuckle of con- tent he seized upon it and, too fearful of interference from Trent to wait for a glass, raised it to his lips. There ‘was a gurgling in his throatâ€"~a little spasm as he choked, and released his lips for a moment. Then the bottle slid from his nerveless fingers to the. floor, and the liquor oozed away in a little broWn stream; even Trent drop- ped his pack of cards and sprang up startled. For bending down under the sloping roof was a European, to all appearance an Englishman, in linen clothes and white hat. It was the man for whom they had waited. (To be continued.) A Test of Lunacy. It is said that in a certain lunacy asylum one of the tests applied to find out if a patient is sufficiently re- covered to be discharged is to givg him a broom and put him in a room with a waterâ€"tap turned full on. If he proceeds placidly to sweep up the water without turning off the tap his standard of intelligence is not deem- ed to be high enough. The Alberta and British Columbia fruit convention at Calgary adopted a resolution calling for reduction in minimum weight of express car-loads. “Look here,” he said, “you shall have the picture backâ€"-curse you! But listen. If I were you and had wife, or daughter, or sweetheart like this"â€"he touched the photograph al- most reverentlyâ€"“why, I’d go through fire and water, but I’d keep myself decent; ain’t you a silly old fool, now? We’ve made our piles, you can go back and take her a fortune, give her jewels and pretty dresses, and all the fal-de-lals that women love. You’ll never do it if you muddle yourself up with that stuff, old ’un. Chuck the drink till we’ve seen this thing thr_ough_at any rate!" “I never heard you speak of her beâ€" fore,” Trent remarked. There was a moment’s silence. Then Monty crept out between the posts into the soft darkness, and his voice seemed to come from a great distance. “I have never told you about her,” he said, “because she is not the sort of woman who is spoken of at all to such men as you. I am no more worthy to be her father than you are to touch the hem of her skirt. There was a time, Trent, many, many years ago, when I was proud to» think that she was my daughter, my own flesh and blood. When I began to go downâ€"it was different. Down and down and lower still! Then she ceas- ed to be my daughter! After all it is best. I am not fit to carry her picâ€" ture. You keep it Trentâ€"you keep itâ€"and give me the brandy.” He staggered up on to his feet and crept back into the hut. His hands were outstretched, claw-like and bony, his eyes were fierce as a wild-cat’s. But Trent stood between him and the brandyAbottle.” 7 out his hand and held his assailant away at arm’s length. Monty burst into tears. “You don’t want it,” he moaned; “what’s my little girl to you? You never saw her, and you never will see her in your life.” “She is nothing to me, of course," Trent answered. “A moment or so ago her picture was worth less to you than a quarter of a bottle of brandy." “I was mad,” Monty moaned. “She _was__gny own little daughter, God help her In this picture the Kaiser em; his brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, are seen on a visit to the headquarters of General von Heeringen, who Is 111 command opposite Rheims. The three sat down to tea and discussed the plans of campaign. A GERMAN “TEA PARTY" on Very few poultryrnen know so much that they can learn nothing from the experience of others. Try to waste no feed, either by over feeding, careless methods, or oneâ€"sided diet. Unless you give your flock regul care, they do not pay to keep. Pullets should be separated from cockerels as. soon as sex can be dis- tinguished. Quickly kill the chicks which are dwarfed or crippled when hatched. Rush young birds towards matur- ity if you wish large profits. Select breeders early and dispose of all other male birds. May chicks pushed to maturity, make fall layers to fill in the time when eai‘lier hatched birds are rest- mg. No mixed flocks can give the satis- faction of a single breed. One’s favorite breed is usually the best with which to win success. Kindness Shown to fowls pays in increased egg-supply. _Lice multiply rapidly in uncleanly surroundings. Just a little obsérvation will prove that the I-know-it-alls never make sugcessful poultrymen. Hens are not magicians; so cannot manufacture eggs unless given the proper materials. Indolence and poultry-breeding make a combination which would bapkrupt a wealthy financier. Cull closely, for it does not pay to board idlers. Do not attempt too much to accom- plish thoroughly. Every insect left to mature will de- crease the profiits of the flock. \F-i-l-tâ€"h spells failure. ‘Good stock is the best foundation but it must be handled with common sense. Balanced rations supply maximum of nourishment with minimum of waste. Poultry Alphabet. A utility bird is rarely worth doc- toring, the axe being an excellent surgical instrument to apply to sick fouls. Possibly no farm live sfock pays There’ s a Flavour of Distinction â€"something intangible but truly entrancing. Skilful blending of the finest ‘hill-grown' teas and scrupulous cleanliness in preparation is the secret. This flavour constitutes the individuality of SALADA and will never change, no matter how costs may rise. B 79 Hens are Profitable Assets. THE WESTERN FRONT in every cup of “How do I get there?” t] cant asked. “You go down this field,” haggard laborer, “turn down to the barn, turn to the left low the lane.” “I don’t know," said the hairvest hand. “I ain’t never seen it in day- light yet.” A farmer worked his harvest hands from 4 o’clock in the morning until 9 o’clock at night. A man looking for work hollered to a hand over in the big wheat field, asking him if he could get a job. He was advised to ask at the house. “What color is the house painted?” asked the applicant, doubtfully. The refuse from the kitchen can be profitably turned into eggs rather than given to some worthless cats and dogs. The table scraps are excel-‘ lent diet for fowls. Care must be exercised in feeding refuse from the kitchen or the outcome may be fatal. If foods where large quanti- ties of salt were used in their pre- paration are given to the fowls they may gorge themselves on this salty food and great loss of fowls may be encountered. One party who had salted a quantity of sweet corn found late in the spring that this corn was no longer wanted for cooking pur- poses and thoughtlessly threw it to the chickens. An excessive amount of it was eaten and in a few hours many of the fowl had died. ' In much the same way a farmer lost a fine bunch of young chickens by feeding them salted mash potatoes. A hen if given a chance to forage will find a large part of her feed and during certain seasons of the year will be able to lay a goodly num- ber of eggs without any further feed.‘ This fact has caused the hen in a great many instances to be neglecte and shift largely for herself. 0' course when thus disregarded 5115 cannot be expected to be as profit‘ able as when given good care and attention. as big a profit for food as do hens- Secms strange, but true, that one egg will pay for the keep of a. dozen hens one day. ____â€"â€"â€" A'pr unplnwan" F Not Seen in Daytime. «Iowan/9'0 the app1i< said the the road and fol-